Sunday 21st June 2020 - "Sticky Love!"
“Sticky Love!”
Worship:
‘My Hope is in the Lord’ by Cave Quest with Lifetree Kids:
‘God is Love’ by Nick and Becky Drake:
Word:
How do we grasp the amazing hope that nothing can separate us from God’s love?
Some things seem to go together, to match, it’s difficult to think of one without the other; like bride and groom, cup and saucer, bread and butter and so on. Play a game to see how many pairs you can match. You might want to do this as a word game where the adult says one thing and the child tries to find its partner or you might want to use the PDF with mixed pictures to play a matching game.
Today we are going to explore something that will always go together with us, and that is God’s love—it is always there for us and nothing can separate it from us. When we think about God’s love, the perfect match that should come to mind, is you!
Talk together about things that stick. It might be good to have some props here; blutack, parcel tape, sellotape, post-it notes, electrical tape, masking tape etc and to try out how sticky they are by trying different sticky fixings on a bin bag or similar. (You’ll discover that post-it notes fall off quickly, but parcel tape will rip the bag it sticks so well….)
Look up Romans 8: 38-39 together (ICB is a good version). Some things to think about:
- What do you think when you hear these promises?
- How do you feel about how much God loves you?
- What can sometimes separate us from people we know? How is it different with God?
With older children you might want to reflect upon more of the chapter; Romans 8: 31-39 and dig deeper into the same questions, looking back over the Easter story.
Talk about the fact that God loves us, no matter what; His love is sticky, we can’t shake it off! It is stronger than parcel tape or super glue! When we trust Jesus as our Saviour, nothing is going to separate us from God’s love. We can choose to live with this hope and this confidence, choose to remember that God will never leave you and that He loves you. As today is Father’s Day; God shows us that only He is the perfect Dad!
Activity suggestions:
Under 5’s - Print out the tie shape and design a tie for someone who shows you ‘sticky love’. It might be your dad or someone else special; who loves you and cares for you; who you enjoy spending time with and learning from. (See PDF ‘Tie Template’)
5-11’s - Make a bookmark for someone who shows you ‘sticky love’. It might be your dad or another special individual. (You could use the tie shape as a template if you choose for the bookmark.) Find some promises from the Bible that show God’s love as your Heavenly Father and write them on the bookmark. You might want to keep a note of these for yourself too! A few to get you started; 1 John 3: 1, Matt. 7: 9-11, Romans 8: 15-16. (See PDF ‘Tie Template’)
Reflection:
If you have some playdoh or similar - reflect on how the Romans 8: 38-39 verses make you picture God. Use a few different colours to represent what you picture. Spend some time thanking God for loving you and for promising never to leave you. Then squash the playdoh into a ball - notice how you are now unable to separate the colours - this is just like God’s love - it is always with you!
Talk about what you are thankful for. We’re going to shout out things we’re thankful for. So say together - Lord we thank you for ….. and take it in turns to shout out something that you are thankful for - you could jump up at the same time (make it an active, noisy, fun prayer!).