Date Posted:10 February 2017

DOWNLOADS

Multi-Age Easter Services

The Intergenerational Team, also known as the Intergen Team, role is to encourage and equip congregations and leaders in discipleship with young people, including children, youth, young adults and families. Located in South Australia they produce quality resources for Uniting Churches.

http://sa.uca.org.au/intergen/church-resources/all-age-worship/easter-services

Enage Together - Worship Ideas for Lent

In this resource you will find ideas to complement a series of six typical services originally created by Rev Brian Cole for Lent in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary. What this resource includes is a range of additional suggestions that encourage greater participation by people of all ages and facilitate intentional intergenerational engagement. These ideas are highlighted with either a “Say”, “Prepare” or “Do” symbol.

Available for download Wednesday 22 February 2017

Lent Photographic Images

Kim Cain has kindly offered a collection of his personal photographs for your use. In this bundle you will find 27 photographs for use in your congregation or faith community.

Download and use them (here) for Pew sheets, worship slide backgrounds or prayer reflections. Each slide acknowledges it’s Kim’s work but feel free to use the images in whatever way sparks your imagination. Please respect the copyright information.

Worship Resources

Are you looking for a creative, engaging addition to your worship over the season of Lent and Easter?

Here are wonderful Australian resources:

Poetry by Neryl McCallum, Sharonne Price and Karan Hudson
Fun drama by Craig Mitchell
Three complete Holy Week Services including Stations of the Cross, Foot Washing and a Service of Shadows
Music by Alison Campbell Rate, Paul Somerville and David MacGregor
Liturgy and reflections by Christine Gilbert, Alison Whish and Wendy Perkins

$15 plus $6.50 P&H. To get your copy today, contact us on 8267 2657 or admin@cmla.org.au

LINKS

Creative Spirits

For Lent I'd also recommend the resources on Aboriginal Australia gathered together at Creative Spirits. Designed for teachers in schools and providing a range of resources, it has a commitment to positive stories as well as accurate information. https://www.creativespirits.info/.

Click on the links for 376 Aboriginal films, 417 Aboriginal books, 107 Aboriginal musicians, for example.

On 2 March it's 50 years since legislation for the citizenship referendum was introduced, and 27 May marks 50 years since the vote on that. (We could have a think about liturgical resources for this too.)
https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/history/australian-1967-referendum

Silence - Movie

The other recommendation would be a movie: Scorsese’s Silence which is on release at various places right now. There is substantial theological reflection on the movie already available online including:

Lent Ideas (Building Faith)

Building Faith (www.buildfaith.org) is a free website that offers practical resources for faith formation with children, youth, and adults. Published by the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary, Building Faith is trusted by Christians from a wide variety of denominations. http://www.buildfaith.org/?s=Lent&x=0&y=0

Lent & Easter Ideas (Carolyn C Brown)

Many worship planners want to include the children in their congregation’s worship in ways that help them experience God’s presence now and help them grow as worshiping disciples. Figuring out how to do that on any given Sunday is not always easy.

This lectionary-based blog offers specific helps for specific Sundays. It is not about children’s sermons, although I hear people are using the ideas here to create them. It is not about children’s church services which separate children from the rest of the worshiping congregation, although I hear people are using these ideas to build those services too.

http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/year-c-observing-lent-and-easter-in-2016.html

BOOKS

ON A FRIDAY NOON: Meditations Under The Cross” by Hans-Ruedi Weber,

Published by the World Council of Churches in 1979 is written in two parts: the first comprises over thirty meditative texts and reproductions of art work from different cultures across the centuries; the second gives a descriptive explanation about how the death of Jesus has been significant across different cultures and centuries.

Over many years, I have made great use of this book through the season of Lent, in parishes in Australia and the South Pacific. In every location, its impact has been significant and its content pertinent

Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday BY Alan Lewis, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003)

This is not a book for beginners, but is a mature work of theological reflection, written out of the experience of terminal illness, addressing the reality of death and its meaning for human life in the light of the Christian tradition. I read it every Easter.

The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge,(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015)

This is a comprehensive study of the understanding of Jesus’ death in Scripture, history and theology. But above all it is a call to put the death of Jesus back to the centre of Christian worship, faith and practice. A long read, but an essential subject.

Raising Abel: the recovery of the eschatological imagination, 2ed. by James Alison, London, SPCK, 2010.

"Raising Abel is a theological exploration of a huge change of mind: the change which the apostolic group underwent as a result of the Resurrection—and how that paradigm can transform the world today."

Creative Ideas for Lent & Easter: 80 Seasonal Activities for Use with Children

Ideal for 4-11s Creative Ideas for Lent and Easter contains a wealth of inspirational ideas and activities for Lent and the Easter season. All the ideas use readily available materials and have instant appeal. From the traditional Simnel cake through a living Easter tree to a 3D action ascension scene, this book will inspire church leaders and families to deepen their experience of Lent, Easter and the Easter season. The activities are ideal for children aged 4-11, but can be enjoyed by people of all ages. There are more than 80 ideas, many of which could become a tradition within families, churches and local communities each year. Ideas include: Creative Lenten countdowns Seasonal cooking ideas Creative ways to pray Ideas for celebrating saints' days and other festivals within the season Ideas for celebrating Holy Week in the home Local community events.

Sharing the Easter Faith with Children: Helping Children Observe Lent and Celebrate Easter

Carolyn Brown has done it again! As with all of her books, Brown writes clearly and helpfully, with conviction and passion for what to share and how to share one's faith with children. Sharing the Easter Faith with Children is theologically sound, biblically focused, educationally on target, and developmentally appropriate. It should be required reading for every parent, educator, and pastor who wants to communicate and celebrate the Easter faith with children. Brown packs a lot of practical suggestions, insights, and activities into this very readable resource. I am confident children will mature in their understanding and affirmation of the Easter faith when they have been nurtured in families and congregations that take seriously what Brown offers

Categories

2017 Lent Recommendations