Today’s Messy Church

Tuesday 5th May 2020 from Erika Pryde (Mission and Outreach Worker)

Well, Hello to you all, how have you been? – We are in strange times still where we can’t meet together for Messy Church, but I hope you will take time to read this and think of all your friends that we usually see at each month. The team send their love to you all.

Some of you will have been out and about looking for the picture clues to the Messy Church safari. Hopefully you found all 26 creatures, if you didn’t we are going to leave them out for a few more days. Do you know something? Ruth and I had a message to say some of the animals had got lost ! How on earth can they get lost in the local parks? We went out to have a look and do you know what, it was true, we hunted around in the grass and the flowers, under the trees and by the fences and benches but we couldn’t find them anywhere.

We were going to give up when we remembered the story Jesus told of the LOST SHEEP.

Today’s story:

This is a story from the Bible and you can read it in full in Matthew chapter 18:10 -14.

          ‘Be careful, Don’t think these little children are worth nothing. I tell you that they have angels in heaven who are always with my Father in Heaven. If a man has 100 sheep but one sheep gets lost, he will leave the other 99 on the hill and go to look for the lost sheep. I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that were never lost. In the same way, your Father in Heaven does not want any of these little children to be lost’ (The Youth Bible)

This story really shows us what sort of God our Father in Heaven is, he bothers about the one in 100—that is important to remember especially at this time when we keep getting numbers in the news all the time. It also tells us that he will not send someone else to find that one sheep but will search for her himself, God comes looking for us. He won’t give up until we are brought home safely. He is a God who wants to rescue us from danger and keep us from falling over the edge of the cliff. He picks us up and carries us, and when we are safe, he celebrates. In the lost sheep parable in Luke 15:3– 7 Jesus says the shepherd has a party to celebrate finding the sheep.

Well, after thinking about that Ruth and I had to keep hunting and eventually the lost creatures were restored to their places in the park!

Have you ever been lost? Or have you lost someone? How did it make you feel?

Can you get everyone in your family to say their name as if they were sheep –  Eeeeriikaa, Skoooooch, Raaacheel, Eeeemiiiily, Ruuuuth, Aaalaaan, Waaaalteeer, Eeeeiiiileeeen

Try it and get everyone to say it at once—do you sound like a herd of sheep!

How about doing some lost sheep crafts?

Why don’t you try retelling the story including in it where the shepherd had to go to find his poor lost sheep?

Do you know the Bear Hunt story? How about telling it to each other but putting the lost sheep in place of the bear?

We’re going on a sheep hunt

 We’re going on a sheep hunt,  

We’re going to find the lost one,

We’re going to find the lost one,

We’re not scared,

We’re not scared

Uh-oh!

Grass!

Long wavy grass

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

Oh no! We’ve got to go through it

Swish, swash, swish, swash, swish, swash

We’re going on a sheep hunt…… add in actions for all the verses where the sheep might have wandered off to.

Steep Hill, High Fence, prickly thorn bush, deep river, muddy meadow, rocky crags, dark forest, going past dangerous animals,  (Don’t forget the actions!)

Uh Oh! A cave!

A deep dark cave!

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

We’ve got to go through it.

Tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe

WHAT’S THAT?!

A shiny wet nose!

Two little ears!

A big wooly fleece!

IT’S THE LOST SHEEP

HURRAY!

Lets get home to celebrate

Back through…. The cave, past the dangerous animals, through the dark forest etc……

Arts and Crafts:

Perhaps you could do some pictures of the places in the story that the sheep might have gone through on her wanderings.

If you have time you could make a sheep with a cotton wool or tissue paper body stuck on card and some pegs for legs, cut out a head with little ears and make a shepherd finger puppet .Use the pictures to tell the story while the shepherd walks through the landscapes looking for the sheep.

Messy Church crafts

Finger puppet shepherd/ shepherdess, Draw the shape on a piece of card, an old cereal box will do, cut around the shape and carefully cut out the finger holes, then colour your puppet to look like a shepherd. You could add a scrap of material for a headdress

Toilet roll Sheep

Cover the toilet roll with glue and stick on cotton wool balls or scrunched up tissue paper. Make a black head out of a scrap of card,  glue on two plastic bottle lids for legs

Finger paint sheep

On a dark background use white and black paint to make your sheep using a thumb print for a head and overlapping with a finger print for ears

Sheep collage

On a dark background paper or card draw or glue a thumb shape for a head, then spread glue around in a big oval shape stick on tissue or cotton wool, add 4 stick legs.

You could make a food craft sheep using a round biscuit, marshmallows for wool and icing to stick them to the biscuit. Use your imagination for legs and head, what have you got in the house?

Prayer for today:

Thank you, Lord that you came looking for us. Help us to be on the lookout for others who are in need of our help in our community.

Thank you that you share our burdens and problems, help us to follow your example and share the load of those who feel overwhelmed.

Thank you, Lord that you love to be at home with us, and that you are a God who loves to celebrate with us.

AMEN