Welcome to ROOTS at home for families
Copyright
You are welcome to copy this material for use in your own resources e.g. printed sheets or web pages including audio/video recordings. If you do so, please include this acknowledgement to ROOTS:
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd (www.rootsontheweb.com) 2002-2020.
Reproduced with permission.
Read our article ROOTS at home - support for nurturing faith at home (www.rootsontheweb.com/faithathome)
Introduction
Jesus’ ‘last speech’ in John’s Gospel talks of the relationship that exists within the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The challenge for us is not only to begin to understand and enter into that relationship, but also to play our part in it by glorifying (lifting up) God.
See Bible notes for more information on the passages for today.
Gather
Use this prayer as you begin your time of worship together. Nominate a leader or all join in together.
Light a large candle.
We light this candle to remember
that the light of Jesus Christ is with us.
Let us glorify his name.
Amen.
Read
Share the Bible story using the idea below to help you explore it together.
Bible story
John 17.1-11: Jesus talks to the Father about being glorified and prays for his followers.
Three responses
Teach everyone actions to respond to the following words:
Father/God/Jesus – give a round of applause
Glory/glorify/glorified – whoop and cheer
You – point at the sky in triumph.
Then read the passage and ask the children to use the actions at the right moments.
Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the hour has come. Now is the time for me to be glorified. You have given me power over everyone. I will give eternal life to all those you have given to me. They will know you as the one true God and they will know me as Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
‘I have brought glory to you in the way I have lived my life on earth. But now I have finished the work you gave me to do. And so, Father, the time is right for you to glorify me in heaven.
‘I have told the people that you sent me and that you are God. They believe in you and have been faithful to you. They know that the things I have taught them come from you, and that everything I have comes from you.
‘I am not asking for the world’s sake, but for the sake of those who belong to me. And all those who belong to me are yours. Now I am no longer in the world, but they are still in the world. I am leaving them to come to you. So I ask you, Holy Father, to protect them in your name, so that they may be as one, just as you and I are one.’
Glossary
to glorify: to praise or honour greatly
eternal life: fullness of life in God’s presence, both now and after death.
Talk
Spend time reflecting on the Bible passage, using the questions below as appropriate.
Talk together with children
- What does it mean to glorify someone or give them glory?
- How do you think you could give Jesus glory in your life?
- How does God demonstrate his glory in the world today?
Talk together with young people
- How do you think you would respond if you were hearing Jesus pray this prayer?
- What would you expect Jesus to pray about?
- What do you think it means for Jesus to be glorified?
Activities, songs and prayers
Choose from the activities below and do any or all of them in any order you wish. Some are designed for younger children and some for young people. However we hope using a mix will work for any ages in your household.
Play
Glory to you, no, to you!
Explore how the Trinity glorify each other
Ask everyone if they know what the three persons of God are called. Do they know the proper name for God being three in one? It’s a hard concept to understand, but we can think of each member of the Trinity like a note in a musical chord.
You could use a keyboard to demonstrate this or work with the group to sing in parts.
- Ask everyone to imagine that God the Father is a C (play or sing it). It’s a good note and it’s a C on its own, it doesn’t need anything extra.
- Now ask them to imagine that Jesus is an E (play or sing) – again, the sound is complete in itself.
- Finally, invite the group to imagine the Holy Spirit is a G (play or sing) – again, all there.
However, when you put the notes together (play or divide into groups and sing), they make a chord and that’s something else! Each note makes the others sound more amazing. You can experiment further with this if you have time.
Create
Name in lights
Create a glorifying piece of art
You will need: pictures of ‘names’ in lights (see examples below), card, coloured pens or pencils, stick-on decorations.
Examples: Billy Elliot; War Horse; Strictly Come Dancing; Lenny Henry
- Have a look at some pictures of people’s names in lights – theatre boards or posters. Talk about how there are some describing words or ways of ‘lifting up’ the person or advertisement being promoted.
- Explain to everyone that they are each going to create a ‘name in lights’ poster for Jesus. Ask them to make some suggestions for describing words about Jesus.
- Let the children create posters that look like Jesus’ name in lights outside a theatre.
Think/reflect
Spend some quiet time reflecting on the passage, as well as what you have been doing in the activities you chose.
Definition
Agree together a definition for the word ‘glorify’, providing dictionaries and thesauruses as well as everyone’s own knowledge. Generate a list of as many synonyms for glorify as you can.
In our words…
Ask everyone to create an acrostic poem for the word ‘glorify’ with each sentence an expression of praise to Jesus, lifting him up.
Invite everyone to work in pairs, as a whole group, or individually. Share your completed poems, perhaps with the wider church.
Play this song in the background to provide inspiration: Glory to God forever, Steve Fee & Vicky Beeching on Hope Rising.
Pray
Finish your time of worship by praying together in any way you choose (there are more prayers on our Prayers page).
Praise words
Distribute brightly coloured card stars or sticky notes and pens and ask everyone to write a single word of praise on each one (they can write on multiple stars).
Gather the word stars together to create a shared prayer and invite everyone to call out words that stand out to them as you pray together.
On Good Friday,
Jesus died on the cross.
On Easter Sunday,
Jesus came back to life.
At the ascension,
Jesus went to heaven.
Now we wait for Pentecost;
Father, send the Holy Spirit
to fill our lives
and to be with us always.
Amen.
You may wish to use the additional resources below to worship together and/or the activity sheets for children.
Sing and listen
Preview songs on YouTube, buy online and download.
What a mighty God we serve
Jesus you’re my superhero, Hillsong Kids on Superhero
We really want to thank you, Lord
Glory, Casting crowns on Casting crowns
I give you glory, Outbreakband on Alles drin (live)
Glorify thy name, Shane & Shane on Seven
Unshakeable, Fred Hammond on United tenors: Hammond Hollister Robertson Wilson
How great is your love, Phil Wickham on Living hope (the house sessions)
See also Same Boat @ HOME
Live your faith
If you are out exercising this week, point to things in creation and talk about how amazing God is to have created them.
Activity Sheets
(Links to the PDFs for these can also be found at the end of the page.)
Notes on the Bible story for parents and carers
- As John’s Gospel reaches the climax, here he records Jesus’ last ‘speech’, which is in fact a prayer, crying out to his Father the desires of his heart, that through his actions to come God would be glorified.
- There is something here of an expression of the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit lifting one another up to be glorified (vv.4-5: ‘I glorified you…so now, Father, glorify me…’). This is something the theologian Richard Rohr refers to as the ‘divine dance’ of the Trinity, in which each part of the Trinity glorifies another part, and never itself.
- The term glory is often associated with heavenly light, but in this passage several other meanings emerge. The crucifixion will be the hour in which Jesus is glorified (v.17). Jesus has also glorified his Father by finishing the work he was sent to do (v.4). Jesus even says that he has been glorified in his disciples (v.10). Glory is deeply relational and mutual: Jesus requests that the Father glorify the Son so that the Son may glorify the Father. Glory is something to bestow on another.
- Here is the great challenge for us today, as followers of Jesus that we would continue to lift him up, and bring glory to God through our actions and our relationship with one another, echoing the relationship between the Trinity – as Jesus prayed: ‘that they would be one, as we are one’.