Welcome to ROOTS at home for 28 June 2020

Worship at home resources for everyone linked to Matthew 10.40-42.

ROOTS is a partnership of denominations and other Christian organisations and has been publishing lectionary-based worship resources online and in print since 2002.

Go to: Resources for families; Resources for adults

Copyright

You are welcome to copy this material for use in your own resources e.g. printed sheets or web pages including audio/video recordings. If you do so, please include this acknowledgement to ROOTS:
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd (www.rootsontheweb.com) 2002-2020.
Reproduced with permission.

The world ablaze:
Prayers for difficult times

For families

Introduction

Welcoming people has looked very differently recently; however it’s still a really important principle and today’s passage shows us just how simple that needs to be. Consider how, when it is possible to do so, you can make your home, church, community a welcoming place for all. Use what you make in your worship together to do this now as far as you possibly can.

Gather

Use this prayer as you begin your time of worship together. Nominate a leader or all join in together.

Sing to the tune of ‘Bobby Shaftoe’:

I am welcome, so are you (x3)
welcomed all by Jesus.

Read

Share the Bible story using the idea below to help you explore it together.

Bible story

Open the Bible at Matthew 10.40-42: Jesus wants us to welcome everyone as we would welcome him.

Welcome and wave

Tell the story, asking the children to listen out for the word ‘welcome’. When they hear this word, they should stand up, wave their arms in the air and cheer.
This method of telling the story would also work well for a group meeting online.

View print version

Jesus said to his disciples, "Wherever you go, if people welcome you, then they are welcoming me, too. And if they welcome me, then they are also welcoming God."

He continued, "If someone welcomes a prophet and welcomes them because they are a prophet, then they will receive the same reward as a prophet. If someone welcomes a good person and welcomes them because they are good, then they will receive the same reward as a good person.

And if someone helps one of these little ones – if they give them only a cup of cold water because they are one of my followers – then they will certainly be rewarded."

Activities

You may wish to use these additional resources to worship together and/or the activity sheets for children.

Recognition

Print out some pictures of famous people who you think the group will recognise, and disguise them by drawing hats, beards, moustaches on them with a marker pen. Alternatively, distort some pictures of people on a smart phone. Can everyone identify them?

Talk about how we recognise people. How can we recognise God if we have never seen him? How is he visible in other people?

Count your blessings book

Keep a record of the reward of blessings

You will need: A4 paper, a hole punch, wool/ribbon, felt tips.

God’s reward often comes in the form of a blessing.
Give each person three sheets of paper to hold together and fold in half to make a booklet. Punch two holes along the spine, thread with wool/ribbon and tie in a bow.
Write ‘Count your blessings’ across the front of the booklet and decorate as desired.
Encourage everyone to take their booklets home and use them to keep a note of all the good things that happen to them. Remind them that each one is a blessing and encourage them to thank God for them.