Respond to the Word

Respond      Love the Lord your God      (YP; 10 mins) 

Reminding ourselves of the greatest commandment 

You will need: plastic wristbands, or ones made from strips of paper joined with glue or a stapler; marker pens. ? 

• In verses 37-38 of today’s passage, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy  6.4-9, words that form part of the Jewish Shema. Deuteronomy 6.8 instructs the Jewish people to bind these words ‘as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates’. Explain to the group that they will do the same with wristbands. 
• Invite everyone to take a wristband and to write the words ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind’ on it with the marker pens. You may like to play the song ‘Love the Lord your God’ (see Sing) during this activity.  
• Invite them to wear their wristbands and conclude together in prayer. ?
• Invite everyone to keep their wristbands on for the coming week as a reminder. 

Wondering     Heartfelt love     (VYC+C+YP; 15 mins) 

Talking about how we share love 

You will need: 10-15 printed pictures of different ‘hearts’ (do an internet search for ‘love hearts’ or ‘pretty hearts’). ? 

• Invite the group to sit in a circle and help you scatter the heart pictures in the middle of the circle. ? Invite each person to choose the heart they like best. ? 
• Ask them: I wonder why you chose that heart. I wonder what that heart means to you. I wonder how our family, carers and friends show us that they love us. I wonder how we show our family, carers and friends that we love them. I wonder how we can show love to people who might need our help. I wonder who we find it hard to show love to.

Play     Sharing Jesus’ love      (C; 10 mins) 

A game to identify some of the ways we share love

• Invite the group to sit in a circle. Ask everyone for suggestions for sharing Jesus’ love with other people. ?Invite the group to chant, ‘Jesus came to share his love; we share his love by...’ You may like to clap it. ? 
• Ask for a volunteer to move round the outside of the circle in time with the chant. 
• When the group says ‘by...’ the volunteer should tap someone on the shoulder. That person will then describe one way they can share Jesus’ love with other people. ? 
• The original volunteer sits down in the second person’s place. The chant starts again and the second person then goes round the circle and taps someone on the shoulder. And so on, until everyone in the group has played the ‘tapping’ role.

Think     Riddles     (VYC+C+YP; 10 mins) 

Unravelling trick questions 

You will need: for VYC: a copy of Rumpelstiltskin; for C + YP: printouts of some riddles and puzzles. (Try the following sites:
•    www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/kids-jokes+34/10-easy-riddles-for-kids+12735.htm
•    www.funhuh.com/funny-riddle/easy-riddles-for-kids-333

or put ‘Riddles and puzzles for children’ into a search engine). ? 

• Remind the group that in today’s story, Jesus was asked a question to test him. 
• With very young children, read the story Rumpelstiltskin, in which the Miller’s daughter has to solve a riddle in order to keep her baby. Afterwards, talk about the story and the riddles in it. How were the riddles solved? Do the children have any favourite puzzles? ?
• Ask older children if they know any riddles (e.g. What is black and white and read all over? A newspaper!). Share any that you know, or print them out beforehand from the internet and test the children. Can they invent any of their own?

Sing and dance      Love the Lord your God      (C+YP; 10 mins) 

Praising God in song and dance 

You will need: a recording of the song ‘Love the Lord your God’ and the means to play it (you can preview it here); space to do a circle dance (or free dance if it is preferred); a Bible. ?

• Invite the group to sit in their own space in the room. ?
• Sing together, ‘Love the Lord your God’ (see Sing), or play a recording. 
• Explain that the commandment to love God and our neighbour is important to both Christian people and Jewish people. ?
• Read Deuteronomy 6.4-5. Explain that these words are special to the Jewish people. Read Matthew 22.37-38. Explain that these words are special to Christian people. ? 
• Play and sing the song again a number of times. 
• Invite everyone to join in with a circle dance, or make up their own free dance to the song.

Pray      Praise the Lord your God      (VYC+C+YP; 10 mins) 

Making a heartfelt gesture 

You will need: the crown and heart from Prepare the space; decorated hearts from the Gathering activity (and/or the heart template); pens; a bowl of heart sprinkles from a party shop (enough for a small amount each). ?

• Gather the group round the crown and heart. ?
• Invite the group to write the name of someone on the heart shape that they decorated at the beginning of the session. ? 
• Invite everyone to think how Jesus might help that person. ?
• Go round the circle inviting each person to put their prayer heart beside the crown and heart. They can say the name of the person aloud or not, as they wish. ?
• Invite each person to take a small amount of the sprinkles from a bowl and sprinkle them on their heart, saying,  ‘Jesus, be close to and bless (add name). Amen.’