Comment: Sometimes, even in families, people find themselves at odd with one another. Rivalries, alienation, separation, and fighting can destroy family ties, turning loved ones into enemies. That is the case for David and Absalom, and also the case for the brothers in Van Leeuwen’s Sorry. A concept to explore with the children of your church would be the grief and love experienced by David and the brothers, despite the fact that their family member has become an enemy. Love and anger can be complicated feelings, particularly when it comes to family or close friends. This text and story invite us to explore and be mindful of the complicated reality of life, feelings, and relationships.
Comment: “…let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors…Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up…” What a perfect opportunity to help children explore the use of truthfulness and kindness in their words. Being Frank helps readers differentiate between speaking the plain truth, an speaking truth in ways that are loving, grace filled, and useful for building up. When Frank speaks the truth served with pepper, it harms his relationships, so Grandpa Earnest helps Frank learn how to shape his words to speak the truth served with sugar. This week, wonder together with the children of your church about the ways truthful words can build up or tear down.
Comment: These bread texts can be weird, even for adults, yet Jesus as the Bread of Life is an important enough concept that the lectionary dwells on it for several weeks in a row. Mom Pie parallels well with this text, exploring what it is that Jesus as bread teaches or reveals to us. In the story, boys who are aching to spend time with their mom make a pie out of things that remind them of her. For we who are aching to know and dwell with God, Jesus is like that pie, he is the thing that can be touched, smelled, tasted, heard, to better help people connect to God.
We are happy to welcome back Noell Rathbun-Cook as our Lectionary Links writer for the next four weeks.
Lectionary Links: Sunday, August 9, 2015 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.