This is For You

The material for this theme can be used in two distinct ways. For some it would make sense to
emphasise the ideas and images of the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper that emerge from the readings and
thus use the theme as a five week reflection on this central aspect of the Church’s worship and
community. For others it would be more helpful to emphasise the theme simply from the point of view
of the Church which is called, fed and sent into the world by Jesus. Either route can be followed by
picking up on the ideas and images that are developed form the bible readings.

The theme is held together by one verse from Luke’s Gospel; Luke 22:19 ‘And he took bread, gave
thanks and broke it, and gave it to the, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance
of me.” Each week explores this verse in two ways, one is to reflect on Christ as the bread - his
giving to us in our need and for the world. The other way is a reflection on the Church as Christ’s
body - which also like the bread is to be given for others. Luke recalls Jesus’ doing five things with
the bread, these are linked with the lectionary reading for each week as a key to unlock something of
the bible’s meaning. In each week we remember an aspect of that verse, we remember Jesus taking
bread in the first week, the second week Jesus giving thanks, the third week breaking bread, the
fourth week naming the bread and in the final week Jesus giving bread. The dynamics of giving and
receiving, blessing and breaking, being taken and being sent that the verse expresses, become a
symbol of the rhythm of the Christian life within the Church community.

July 30th
Enough for all - Feeding of the five thousand
He took bread - Christ calls the Church

Introduction to Theme
Christ calls us to be the Church for it is through the Church that the work of God is done. In the same
way that Jesus uses the generosity of the child to feed the five thousand, so our willingness to
become his body means that the world can be fed.

Aim of week
To celebrate what we bring to worship, to challenge each other to generosity, to affirm each others
gifts and to worship God who accepts what we bring, and can do immeasurably with it (Ephesians
3:14-21) and (John 6:11)

Image for the week

Flour, warm water, yeast, sugar. These should be brought in by different people and then mixed
together in a clear class bowl in the right quantities to make bread. This should be done at the
beginning of the service and if all goes well the dough will rise during the service. See poem “Feast of
Life”

Call to worship
May you, in company with all God's people, be strong to grasp what is the breadth and length and
height and depth of Christ's love, and to know it, though it is beyond knowledge. So may you be filled
with the very fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:18-19)

Bible Readings
Ephesians 3.14-21
John 6.1-21 -

Suggested songs, poems, other readings

LP 63 Here I am wholly available
HP 697 Just as I am

The feast of Life

Come on,
let us celebrate the supper of the Lord.
Let us make a huge loaf of bread
and let us bring abundant wine
like the wedding at Cana.

Let the women not forget the salt.

Let the men bring along the yeast.
Let the guests come,
let the lame, the blind, the crippled, the poor.

Come quickly,
let us follow the recipe of the Lord.
All of us, let us knead the dough together
with our hands.
Let us see with joy
how the bread grows.

Because today
we celebrate
the meeting with the Lord.
Today we renew our commitment
to the Kingdom.
Nobody will stay hungry.

(Elsa Tamez - Celebrating Women

Just a housewife

I packed five cakes of bread and two small fishes,

Sent him off, my youngest lad,
To take his father’s dinner to the field.

Came back alone he did, all goggle-eyed.

My fresh baked-bread that varmit gave away

To some young travelling preacher out of Galilee.
It fed five thousand people. What a tale!

It can’t be true …… but if it is ………..

What kind of dough did these hands knead
This morning?
(Cordelia Baker-Pearce - Celebrating Women)

Meditations
Here in my hands
grubby from a day’s play
a nearly new lunch
that would have been enough for me . . .
just

All I have to offer

and if you don’t want it
I could quite understand
because I was looking forward to them,
and I had saved them up
for now

But I understand
you had a problem
and I thought, perhaps,
but then again,
perhaps not
that this might help you
a little

So? I’ll be off then,

and I’ll take these with me shall I?
It was only a thought,
My lunch
these hungry people
and you.

You need them?

Well, OK then,
I did mean what I said
Though I was looking forward,
you understand,
to eating them
myself

But - well, here goes,

have them,
bit warm, bit mashed up
but - well you did say,
though what you can do
with five loaves and two fishes
I’ll never know.

Prayers
A prayer with hands and actions
(The actions can be taught before the service starts)

Leader
Come let us worship
Response -
Our hands ( hold hands out)
holding ( cup hands)
touching ( reach out)
caring ( hold hands with each other)
bringing (raise hands of neighbour)
each other to God
who loves us.

Leader
You welcome us
we are happy to come
Response

Leader
When we get things wrong
you help us put it right
Response

Leader
You welcome us and we welcome you
it is good to be together
Response
Group ideas
Every one to bring with them to Church something that represents what they do for God in the home,
church, work or in the world. Two or three people could be asked to share their symbols. Use the
meditation about giving while people hold their symbol. This could occur during the offering.

Endings
Now to him who is able through the power which is at work among us to do immeasurably more than
all we can ask or conceive, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus from generation to
generation for evermore! Amen. (Ephesians 3:21-22)

August 6th
All needs met - I am the bread of life
He blesses the bread - all that are taken are blessed.

He meets needs
He feeds the hungry with what they need
He blesses what he takes - gives thanks to God, wants the best for what is taken.

Introduction to theme
We all come with needs as well as gifts. Christ blesses (or give thanks for the bread), he blesses us,
and meets our needs. He is the bread of life, the essential food, the basic requirement for a full life.
Ephesians returns to the idea of the body but clearly it is a struggle for the Church! We have gifts to
build each other up. Again - not only is Christ the living bread, but we are there for each other as
Christ’s body, to nourish, encourage and help.

Aim
To recognise our own needs, and the needs of each other for feeding. To honour the way different
people’s gifts meet our needs in the church. To Worship God who sustains us.

Image for the week

A large crusty loaf displayed as if for harvest thanksgiving. The loaf needs to be brought to the front
at the beginning of the service in thanks for God’s goodness.

Call to Worship
`Come to me, all who are weary and whose load is heavy; I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble-hearted; and you will find rest for your souls. For
my yoke is easy to wear, my load is light.' (Matthew 11:28-30)

Bible Readings
(Feast of transfiguration, Hiroshima day)

Ephesians 4.1-16
John 6.24-35

Suggested songs, poems, other readings.

Andrewtide

The crowd had listened to your word,

With love their hearts and minds were fired,
The miracle of what they heard
Still kept them close, though hungry, tired.

As daylight left the crowded slope,

You saw their simple, human need,
Sent Andrew and the rest in hope,
To find, to gather, and to feed.

The smallest gift a child could share,

Some bread, two fishes, simple food,
Broke in your hands to love and care,
To feed the hungry multitude.

Like Andrew, now we turn and seek;

Earth’s hunger haunts us, stark and real;
We fear the gifts we find too weak
The world’s distress to touch and heal.

Now send us, searching, for the gift

That hides in every human soul,
That in your hands sin’s power can shift
And make your world and people whole.

Use us, your friends, to seek and trace

The gift that seems of smallest worth,
To shape the miracle of grace,
The love to feed a hungry earth.

(Anna Briggs - Celebrating Women

Tune Angelus or any other slow reflective 8.8.8.8 tune)

Meditations

Thank you for this bread

not for jam on it
not for butter on it
not for the filling in it
not for what its with
but for it, plain and simple and satisfying
meeting my need,
sufficient for hunger.
Source of life.

Dramas

The Free Gift

This sketch has five characters. The first is a narrator who wanders across the stage offering this gift
to four stationary characters. The characters remain frozen until actually spoken to, and re-freeze
when the conversation is over. The point of the sketch is to show how foolish we are to refuse God's
gift.

Characters: Narrator, Self Reliant Man, Timid Person, Angry Yobo, Holy Joe.

N Here is a Man, a SELF made man, self reliant, self assured, self confident.
He knows what he wants and he knows where he is at.
Now then Sir, take this Gift? (As he speaks the man awakes and pulls back
from the offered 'gift")
SR How much'?
N It's Free, quite free - only you must use it.
SR It can't be free. I didn't get where I am today by giving free things to
strangers.
N It IS free, and you're not a stranger. It's the gift you most want.
SR What's it for?
N Life, joy, love, happiness.
SR What?
N Life, joy, love and happiness.
SR Oh that! No thanks.
N Why not'?
SR I'm self reliant, self assured, self confident, self made (As he speaks he
freezes again. Holding himself tightly and bowing his head. N. moves on to the
next person who is timid.)
N This person is timid, mouse like, frightened, unsure, shy, not a real person,
but always inside people. Hello! Will you have this gift? (Timid Person
awakes and draws quickly back in panic)
TP Go away. You're frightening me what do you want'?
N I want to give you something?
TP I don't want something.
N But it's for you.
TP It can't be I didn't order it.
N It will make you brave to love, to speak, to hope.
T.P Go away, I'm too scared to be brave, I'm shy and frightened and I hurt
easily.. please, please, please go away. (As TP speaks she too shrinks
away, huddled into a crouched position)
N This is a person too, he may not look like a person, he's angry and cross, he
hurts all over, inside and out, he isn't loved and he can't love.
Friend.... (Y wakes up in aggressive mood and looks around)
Y You talking to me Sunshine?
N Yes.
Y Well I ain't your friend so push off.
N I've got something for you.
Y And I've got something for you if you don't get lost.
N It will free you from hate, hurt, and pain, it will take time, but the cure will be
for ever.
Y I'm not afraid of pain, I can take hurt so come on, try and force it on me.(As
Y speaks he raises his fists and freezes in a threatening position)
N Now here is the last person, the saddest.... perhaps, She is a Christian. A
regular Christian, she prays EVERY day, and has sore knees to prove it.
Wake up sister (She wakes up and looks a little disturbed by N)
S Who are you?
N I am the bringer of gifts.
S Really well the church wants a few new chairs.
N A better gift than that.
S A new minister?
N Better than that.
S What then?
N Joy in worship, love in service, faith in fellowship, peace in your heart.
S I've got that, I've got real Joy, DEEP Joy. I'm really happy absolutely fulfilled,
a very happy and content Christian. My heart is full of Christ and longs its
 glorious matter to declare... .(As S speaks, which she does in a very
depressed and gloomy way, she too freezes into a prayerful position
kneeling on the floor.)
N (Turns to congregation) And YOU, WILL YOU RECEIVE MY GIFTS?

(The last line is spoken after a short pause, loudly and clearly addressed to the audience end with a
bow,)

Prayers

Abundant God,
fill our emptiness with your fullness,
match our poverty with your richness
strengthen us in our weakness
and turn our meanness into a generosity of heart
for the needs of the world.
Amen

Group ideas
Everyone in the group needs a small roll of bread. The bread is used as a focus for prayer.

Thanksgiving - take the bread and think of all the processes that have gone into bringing it to you.
Give thanks for the bread

Intercession - break the bread and think of all the places where people are hungry for food or love, or
security. Tell each other where you would like to share the bread.

Petition - eat some of the bread and think quietly of your own needs, physical, spiritual, emotional and
ask God to help you meet them. Keep silence together.

Fellowship - share your bread with each other and thank God for the fellowship of all ages that is the
Church.

Endings
We came empty
And now we are full of Christ
We came in need
But are needs are met
We go in peace
To love and serve the Lord

August 13th
No price too great - Christ’s self giving
He breaks the bread - all that is taken is reshaped

Broken from old ways (Ephesians reading)

Christ broken for the world
Wounded Healer - Henri Nouen

Introduction to theme
The readings remind us of Christ’s self giving linking it to the image of Bread which resonates with the
words “this is my body broken for you”. There is also the other breaking, the breaking of repentance
that takes up the theme again of the Church as bread, itself needing to be broken. Brokeness and
cost become the theme to explore
Aim
To “Live in love as Christ loved you and gave himself up on your behalf, an offering and sacrifice
whose fragrance is pleasing to God”. Ephesians 5:2

Image for the week

Image - a large loaf broken in two. The bread can be brought to the front of the church at the
beginning of the service and broken as a call to worship.

Call to Worship
God broken for the world
entering our brokeness
feeding the hunger of our souls
enter into our lives
that we may worship and adore.

Bible Readings
Ephesians 4.25-5.2
John 6.35, 41-51

Suggested songs, poems, other readings.

We lay our broken world

We lay our broken world

In sorrow at your feet;
Haunted by hunger, war and fear,
Oppressed by power and hate.

Where human life seems less

Than profit, might and pride,
There to unite us all in you,
You lived, and loved, and died.

We bring our broken towns,

Our neighbours hurt and bruised;
You show us how old pain and wounds
For new life can be used.

We bring our broken hopes

For lives of dignity;
Workless and overworked, you love,
And call us to be free.

We bring our broken loves,

Friends parted, families torn;
Then in your life and death we see
That love must be reborn.

We bring our broken selves,

Confused and closed and tired;
Then through your gift of healing grace
New purpose is inspired.

Come fill us, fire of God,

Our life and strength renew;
Find in us love, and hope, and trust,
And lift us up to you.

(Anna Briggs - Celebrating Women)

(66.86 Short metre many tunes are suitable, e.g. Franconia)

Meditations

Must I be whole before I can be holy?

Come to terms with who I am,
cope with all my inner darkness,
live with my story
before my story intertwines with yours?

Must I be healed before I can heal?

Be free of pain and strong again,
recuperate from wounds and hurt
accommodate my damaged soul
before I can stand with you?

Must you call me now

in all the muddle of my life,
and honour the person I am
with the possibility of who I will be?
Can this confusion of self, so far from worthy
become holy in your company
a channel of your love for others
that is blessed as the love flows?

Prayers

Prayer for wholeness

God,
Giver of Life
Bearer of Pain
Maker of Love,
you are able to accept in us what we
cannot even acknowledge;
you are able to name in us what we
cannot bear to speak of;
you are able to hold in your memory
what we have tried to forget;
you are able to hold out to us
the glory that we cannot conceive of.
Reconcile us through your cross
to all that we have rejected in ourselves,
that we may find no part of your creation
to be alien or stranger to us,
and that we ourselves may be made whole.

Through Jesus Christ, our lover and our friend.

Amen
(Janet Morley - Celebrating Women)

Break us away

Break us away Sovereign God

from the wild roots of our unruly lives;
that we may be grafted into the true stock
of your kingdom
Break us up Almighty God
in our distorted misshapen lives;
that we may be remodelled in the image
of your son

Break us apart Crucified God

in our comfortable faith;
that we may be food for the hungry
in a broken world.
Amen

Group ideas
In small groups take a Chocolate bar. Spend a little time thinking how wonderful it is going to be to
eat it. Think of all the people who have worked hard to bring the chocolate to us! Relish anticipation.
Then stop and think how each one will be able to have some. Break the bar, share it, eat it.

What is the cost of sharing to us?

How might God want us to be shared as a Church with the world?

Endings
Go boldly into the world
to share this Gospel truth in all you do and all say,
that Christ came into the world for the broken
that they may be whole.

August 20th
In Love with you -The Lord’s Supper
He names the bread “This is my body” - he only gives what is his to give.

“Who ever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, remains in me and I in him”

To be in love
To belong to Christ
Bread becomes part of us physically as Christ does spiritually

Introduction to theme
We are given our identity by Christ. As he names the bread, his body, so he names us as his own. It
is said that you are what you eat, the bread and the wine literally become part of your body and this is
a powerful image of the way Christ becomes part of us that is symbolised in the Eucharist. God is
love and to be in Christ is to be in love and for love to be in us. Worship is thus more than something
we do, it something that changes us, brings us closer to God - allows God room to move in us,
healing, challenging, equipping and sending.

Aim
To come closer to God in worship and prayer, to come closer to each other as we journey to the
centre of being, To be changed by our worship and service into the image of Christ.

Image for the week

Bread and Wine and Water brought to front at the beginning of the service. See the dialogue for the
Offertory.

Call to Worship

Accompany us in our journey now,

into the depths of love
that lost in this most mysterious place
we may find our selves in you.

The Table Is Set

The table is set and all is prepared,
the food it is ready
and the drink is all poured
the carpets rolled back
so let dancing begin

Come here and eat

and enjoy all that’s given
do not hold back
or refuse what is made
return generous giving
with wholehearted joy
for the banquet is started
and we must not be late.

Now is the time for joy and for laughter

now is the time for feasting and pleasure
For the creator has called us
to the banquet of life.

Bible Readings
Ephesians 5.15-20
John 6.51-58

Suggested songs, poems, other readings.

I will change your name 267 HoF

A Dialogue for the Offertory

(Source unknown)

The Bread
Leader: Brother/Sister, what gift do you bring to the Lord’s Table?
Reply: Brother/Sister, I bring bread, the best that could be found.
Leader: And what does your gift signify?
Reply: It represents my daily work, the best that I can offer of the labour of hand and brain.
Leader: Brother/Sister be assured your gift is acceptable to Christ. He will receive it, bless it,
consecrate it, transfigure it and return it to you as his body to strengthen you for further work in His
name and to His glory.

The Wine
Leader: Brother/Sister, what gift do you bring to the Lord’s table?
Reply: I bring wine, that which makes people’s hearts glad.
Leader: And what means your gift?
Reply: It represents all joy, delight and happiness which God gives us in our daily lives - the love and
grace which he pours upon us, the love of friends and dear ones, all good things that have befallen us
since last we came to the Lord’s Table.
Leader: Brother/Sister, be assured your gift is acceptable to Christ. He will receive it, bless it
consecrate it and return it to you as His blood, saying, “Enter into the joy of the Lord.”

The Water
Leader: Brother/Sister, what gift do you bring to the Lord’s Table?
Reply: I bring water, pure and clear.
Leader: What means your gift?
Reply: It signifies my tears, my sorrow, my pain. It represents the waters that have come to my soul.
It signifies my sin and my penitence for sin.
Leader: Brother/Sister, be assured your gift is acceptable to Christ. He will receive it, bless it,
transfigure it and return it to you, saying, “Behold and see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow.”
He will restore your soul, giving you peace of mind and tranquillity of spirit.

Meditations

Eucharist

Lord Jesus,
thank you for inviting us to your table,
for here, you show us our lives

the daily bread of our work and care

the wine of delight, pressed from the fruits
of our creativity
and our brokeness, with all its pain
and appalled self-knowledge.

We celebrate the life that is ours,

for your eternal word is
that it is precious in your sight.

And here you offer us your life,

broken to share life
poured out to renew life
promised to transform life.

We celebrate the life that is yours

pattern of reality for us.

And here, your life and our lives

become one in spirit and in flesh
moving out into the world.

We celebrate the life that is

love revealed
love given and received
love in action.
(Kathy Galloway - Celebrating Women)

Prayers
Go-between God:
inweave the fabric of our common life,
that the many-coloured beauty of your love
may find expression in all our exchanges.
(Jennifer Wild - Celebrating Women)

Group ideas
Another food idea for groups to think and worship together. A bunch of grapes is shared out among
the group. Once again give thanks together as you think of all the people who have been involved in
bringing the grapes to us. Remember the role of creation and the creator in this! This week let the
group simply remember all the great and wonderful things in the world. For each thought eat a grape.
You may need a big bunch!

Endings
The feast has not ended
for it does not end here.
The party continues wherever you go
For when you’re in love
the world will love with you
And when love is in you
the joy’s just begun.

August 27thth
Ready for anything - The whole armour of God
He gave it and said, “This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me”

Christ equips us
Christ sends us
Armour is ironic - we don’t really have much protection from it.

Introduction to theme
Jesus is “food for the journey”, the one who meets the needs of those who follow, the new Manna in
the wilderness. It is a vulnerable food source, one you have to trust will be there when you need it,
because you can’t store it up. In a similar way the armour in Ephesians, which is meant to equip you
for the fray, is not very secure. If you really wanted to be safe you would be better to lie and cheat or
show aggression - for attack is the best form of defence. There is a certain irony in calling truth and
peace, “armour”. To wear such armour is to be vulnerable. To take such food with you is to travel
light.

Aim
To find strength in the promise of God’s provisions for our faith journey, to be challenged to live
vulnerably in God’s love, to worship God who sends us and stays with us.

Image for the week

The Bread, Wine and Water in a Picnic basket or rucksack - ready for a journey. Carried separately to
the front of the church and assembled at the end of the service in preparation for leaving.

Call to Worship
I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever.
The bread which I shall give is my own flesh, given for the life of the world.' (John 6:51)

Bible Readings
Ephesians 6 10-20
John 6.56-69

Suggested songs, poems, other readings.

May the mind of Christ my Saviour - HP

Coming down to earth

In the bread shop,

among the homely smells
and human conversations,
I started to weep with joy:
for the dailiness of bread
and shared meals’
people meeting and needs met,
the sacraments
of love and laughter.

(Jan Sutch Pickard - Celebrating Women)

Blessing of Bread
Blessed are you, Holy One of Peace, for you promise
your people food for the journey, nourishment for the struggle.
Blessed are you, Holy One of Peace, for you sent your
people manna as they wandered in the desert.
Blessed are you, Holy One of Peace, for you are the
bread of life.
Blessed are you, Holy One of Peace, give us this day
our daily bread, the bread of freedom from war,
the bread of peace for all peoples.
Blessed are you, Holy One of Peace, for you taught
our mothers to break this bread. Fill us with the
rising power of this bread.
Blessed are you, Holy One of Peace, for you keep us
hungry for a world without war.
Let us extend our hands, palms up, and bless this bread.
Blessed are you, Holy One of Peace, bless this bread
with your gifts of peace.

(Diann L. Neu - Celebrating Women

Meditations

Manna has a short shelf life

hang on to it too long
and what was sweet will turn sour
Each day sufficient for the day is given
nothing for the future to protect against doubt.

How can the new gift of each new day

find room in your hands if they’re full of the old?
How can the fresh and the new and lovely
flourish alongside the old the musty?

Manna has a short shelf life

but daily it comes
so the good gifts of yesterday
do not become the burden of today.
and tomorrow?
Who knows, but we know it is good.

Dramas
The Armour Sketch

Cast: Narrator, five or six characters to mime his words, playing the various characters in the story.
The stage is set with a tableau, that is various characters frozen in action. When the narrator speaks
they mime the words, sometimes as a group, sometimes only as individuals. Actions look best all
done together when all the group are doing them. Some of the main suggested actions are included in
the script, but make up your own, keeping the characters moving if you can.

Narrator: Once upon a time, long long ago, far far away, there was a people. (People
move for the first time as if they are waking up)
They weren't a very nice people, they were stupid and horrid, dull and unkind, full
of hurt and hate. They fought like cats and dogs. (Fight for a very few seconds, just to
make the point, fight should be like very small children squabbling, with noise if possible)
But worst of all they were completely and thoroughly, genuinely and absolutely
scared of each other.(actors turn away and generally cower and whimper)
 They were so frightened of each other that they had an idea (all say ”Ping!")
They would put on armour to protect themselves from being hurt. (as each item
of clothing is mentioned the actors mime putting it on) They put on metal vests,
metal underpants, metal shirts, metal Doc Martins, metal Levis, except they couldn't
put on their Levis till they'd taken off their Doc Martins, they really were very stupid. Now
metal Levis, metal hats and metal gloves. (When dressed return to previous tableau
position, frozen and still).

Once upon a time, long long ago, far far away, there lived an unhappy and
miserable, depressed and sad and still horrid people. (Start to move - stiffly)
They were still full of hate and hurt, locked in their armour, and now they fought like
elephants and hippos. (Fight for a very few seconds with a real ROAR of sound)

And of course now they were really terrified of each other.

They were so miserable, so uncomfortable and they daren't take their armour off
and it itched so. They couldn't play in the sand, because their joints stuck. They couldn't
swim in the sea because they sank. They couldn't lie in the sun because they cooked
to a turn. But worst of all, by far the worst of all, they couldn't get close enough to
cuddle.
(Each "couldn't" will need I or 2 people illustrating it. Drowning all make "glug,
glug" sounds and an enormous clang for an attempted cuddle between two of the
characters)

Seeing how miserable his people were the King/Queen of the Land decided to
go and have a little chat with them. She/he wore no armour, she/he liked swimming too
much AND lying in the sun, AND digging in the sand.... and cuddling more
than anything else.
All: Wot no armour!
Narrator: They all said.
Actor 1 HOW disgusting.
Actor 2: HOW rude.
Actor 3: HOW very wrong.

Narrator: Some were secretly jealous (one or two turn away)

Some were openly friendly but even they hurt him/her.
(back slapping and handshaking should leave un-armoured King/Queen looking
slightly damaged and hurt)
But some were outright beastly to him and they stomped and they stamped and
they crushed and they mashed and they really WALLIED him.
(In time with the Narrator on or two actors should close in on the Queen/King
stamping their feet, building up the violence to a realistic looking putting in the
boot)

This could be the end of the story, but some, even those who had mashed him,
began to think how good his life had been compared to theirs. One dared to remove his
glove.
(All say "Josh!") Another her helmet (All say "Wow!")
 And yet another his boots. ("Good Heavens")

And those who tried called themselves the "Children of the Queen/King".
(Some gather around the King helping him stand again and embrace him,
then all bow to audience)

Prayers

Give to us each day

the courage to love honestly
the energy to love tirelessly
the intelligence to love wisely
the strength to love constantly
for the sake of Christ our Lord
Amen

Group ideas
Bring food items for a journey. Use your imagination - but my pack would have some fruit,
sandwiches, crisps, chocolate and a drink. Give thanks for the picnic and then eat it together. It
doesn’t need to be a full blow meal - a pleasant token gesture will do!

What do we need to keep us going in every day life?

How does God provide for us?

Endings
Bless, O God, the places we shall see,
Bless, O God, the way that we shall go.
May Christ walk the paths we walk;
May his peace be received by all who welcome us
And his blessing remain in the places through which we pass.
(St. Columba)