Explore & respond

Adult & All Age

Drama: Heart transplant

This monologue – by a man or a woman – touches on the themes of a new heart and life through death.

I had a heart transplant a while ago. It wasn't an easy decision. But the old heart was diseased and dying, set in its ways, needing more than patching-up. Chronic heart failure, I was told. My blood vessels also congested with years of living. I was struggling for breath and life. I couldn't go on as I was. My life was at risk.

But I was scared at the idea of a transplant. So I tried do-it-yourself remedies instead. Stringent diets, foul potions, vigorous exercise, elaborate therapies to improve my condition. Many oughts and shoulds and musts, but they led only to a hardening of the 'oughteries'. They gave the illusion all was well but only made things worse. My physician said the heart at the heart of things was desperately rotten.

In the end the choice was clear. Something had to die in order for me to live. So I surrendered my hope of performing my own remedy and meekly lay down and slept – and let the master surgeon do his work. A suitable donor was at hand: I took my chance.

When I woke something had changed. There seemed to be new life and energy – but also a struggle. My body fiercely protested at the new stranger in its midst, and tried to reject the new heart. It wasn't easy. Sometimes my family didn't understand. But I felt I'd made the most important decision of my life and got it right.

I think, from time to time, of the donor who saved me. I feel his generosity is written on the heart he gave me. If you like, I feel I'm living out his life. It's a small price to pay for what he's done for me.

Just an image of course. Some people have this operation young, some old, sometimes sudden, sometimes slow. Sometimes they notice a difference, sometimes not. But take care: it is a matter of life and death. Have you had a heart transplant?

Respond to the Word: The hour has come

Activities for adult and all-age groups

List the number of ways we make promises — crossing our heart, shaking hands, ‘blood-brothers’, exchanging rings, raising hand in salute, holding badge on (football/rugby) shirt, singing anthems, exchanging contracts … Why do we make promises? Do promises come with different levels of expectation of fulfilment? What makes them different? What is important about ritual? What is important about the ritual of promise for us?

Reflect, in silence, on a promise to others, God or myself that I didn’t keep. What happened? How do we feel? What would we like to do about it? Can we start again with a promise ritual? Who needs to know about this to help it become real?

Develop a church covenant — let it be a promise statement of faith, the priority values and mission of your church, how you will relate to God, the world and others. When complete, print it on every order of service, make prayer cards with its inclusion for the congregation, put it on a poster placed on the front door; include it on calling cards and invitations to special services, events and so on.

Make covenant friendship bracelets together. Use three pieces of thread or string to symbolise any of the following: God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Faith, hope and love; Gold, frankincense and myrrh; God, the Church and me; Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Describe examples to show the possibility of ‘no longer remembering’, such as a slate to wipe it clean, a floppy disc which can reformatted, a wax tablet which can be heated and reset; or writing letters in the sand and watching when the tide comes in and goes back out.

Respond to the Word: Take his hand

Activities for adult and all-age groups

What is a prophet? Place newspapers or magazines in the seats for people to browse. What examples of prophets can we find in politics, economics, the environment, the Church? Cut them out and display around the church.

Draw up a CV for a prophet. Include: birth, age, education, qualifications, professional experience, other relevant experience, qualities, criminal declaration form.

Survey your children and young people about what they consider to be the three main issues of God’s concern. The world? The environment? The Church? The local community? This should provide helpful information for developing programmes during the coming months. Discuss how to draw the young people in to contribute to or develop reflection groups that explore these issues in more depth. Might they make ‘a report’ to the congregation and leadership, recommending ways in which the church could be further involved? Could they develop liturgies? Could they hold a conference and invite other churches and/or youth groups as well as interested stakeholders to participate?

Could you imagine your church being recognised as a prophetic church in your community? Is this desirable? How might you make it a reality? What space do we give for our ‘prophets’ to confront us with God’s word? What might be the consequences?

Respond to the Word: Conflict and peace-making

Activities for adult and all-age groups

'We are all experts in conflict but how many of us are experts in following the ways that make for peace?' Print this sentence in the order of service or place on an OHT or Powerpoint™. Break into buzz groups and discuss how expert we are in conflict. What are the ways that make for peace? Gather the answers on a flipchart or by having groups write on sticky notes. What themes are noticeable?

On a personal level, reflect on whether you are known more for your conflict(s) or your peace-making. It could be a challenge to ask others their opinion of you on this, especially those closest to you. Go deeper by considering whether I believe I am known more for:
a. conflict. If so, how do I feel about this? Am I externalising an internal conflict I don't know how to deal with?
b. peace-making. If so, is this because I hide away from conflict. What conflicts might I be hiding from? Why?
Find someone you can trust and invite them for a coffee to share your questions and insights.

Place a large map of the world at the front of the church. Ask people what conflicts are taking place around the world. Mark them with a pin or sticky dot. Invite the congregation to join small groups to find out more about each conflict. Light a small candle and place one beside each conflict while holding a minute's silent prayer. This could develop into a regular liturgy for a specific conflict. Let other churches know you are doing this and invite their participation.

Invite someone with experience of an international conflict to talk about their experience and how it has shaped their faith and life.

Find out about the work of mediation, conflict resolution or restorative justice. What agencies are providing these services in your area? Ask them what they would like you to pray for. If they are looking for volunteers, place an information point in the order of service.

Children & Young People

Respond to the Word

Activities for children and young people

For children

Finger paint harvest

Enlarge the ear of wheat template and photocopy and cut out two copies on thin card for each child. They should use yellow finger paints to make thumbprints to colour in the first one. The second ear is left blank. Both heads are then attached to yellow straws and set to one side for the prayer activity (see Active prayers ).

Join the company

For this activity you will need to decide on your preferred method for making a pipe cleaner figure. (Instructions may be found on www.familyfun.go.com .) You will need up to four pipe cleaners per child and a selection of different coloured tissue paper, scraps of material and lengths of wool.

Give each child pipe cleaners and show them how to make a figure. (Younger children could be given a ready-made figure.) Then suggest that they dress their figure in modern clothes. When the figures are dressed, place them alongside the figures in Bible dress around the cross in the sand tray. Make the point that the disciples were some of the first people who were drawn to Jesus, but today he is still drawing people from all over the world into a right relationship with God.

Grain — ground — grow

Remind children of Jesus’ words in John 12.24 as follows:

Before the grain of wheat is planted it is a single grain on its own. (On the command ‘grain’ children walk around the room separately.)

It falls into the earth and dies. (On the command ‘ground’ they drop to the floor.)

But then it grows and multiplies. (On the command ‘grow’, they get into groups and hold hands.)

Repeat the exercise as a game, telling the children the size of group they must multiply into, for example ‘grow into threes’, ‘grow into fours’. Each time when the groups have formed, those who aren’t part of a group are out.

Stardust mission

On 7 February 1999, Nasa launched the spaceship Stardust with a mission to capture comet dust and bring it to earth. You will find up-to-date information of the mission on the children’s section of the Nasa website. Visit the website and use the information you find there to compile a short multiple choice quiz suitable for the ability level of your group. (There is a ready-made multiple choice quiz on comets and the stardust mission in the ‘Tails of Wonder’ section of the site.)

Talk with the children about the mission and do the quiz (on-line if possible). Chat about how humans will benefit from the success of this mission. (We will know a lot more about comets). Compare with how we benefit from the success of Jesus’ mission.

For young people

Love tracks

Give each young person a quiz sheet on which to name the song, group/artist and state what it says about love. Use a love compilation album and play 10 different song introductions. Each correct answer would be worth a point.

Hear hear

Ask the young people to work in threes and name each other A, B and C. Ask A and C to sit back to back. A is invited to draw a picture, B has to give verbal instructions to C and C has to try to produce the same picture using only the instructions given. Discuss the importance of clear messages and of active listening rather than just hearing.

Reality ring tones

Give each young person a different action, words or phrases such as ‘save the world’ ‘love and care’, ‘life is tough’ and ask them to make up a ring tone, that would convey that feeling to others. You may wish to have some percussion and homemade instruments ready for use. A tape recorder to record the final tones and explanations could be available for each group to use.

Talk about

Discussion ideas for children and young people

For children

Write the words ‘Mission Statement’ on a flipchart.

Explain to the children that these days almost every business and organisation has a mission statement. People looking for jobs are encouraged to write mission statements too. A mission statement should be no more than four sentences long and answer three main questions: What are we here for; what should we be doing; what do we believe? Note the three questions on the flipchart and then ask children to look at the Bible passage and decide which verses show us how Jesus would have answered them. Ask the children what sorts of thing they think he would want his followers to put into their mission statements. After noting their suggestions on a flip chart, compare them with the mission statements on the display board (see Prepare the space ). Finally give the children individual cards with the three questions on and encourage them to write or draw their answers to create their own personal mission statement.

For young people

Ask the young people what sayings or proverbs they know. Do they agree with them and what do they think they mean? For example, ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’, ‘many hands make light work’. What are our own slogans or mottos for a Christian life?

Share with the young people some of the tough situations we might face in life, talk about who we can turn to in times of need and how these people support us. Consider with them:

Do we always recognise who is supporting and encouraging us through life?
Do we need to thank those people?
Are we there to support others in life? How can we use our talents to help others to grow?
Help the young people to understand that we have both a horizontal and vertical relationship with God. We are aware that God walks with us and suffers and laughs with us. Yet we are also aware that God gives us an ideal and a challenge to fulfil so we can grow closer together in God’s love.