  footprints
Fair Trade display
cheesy feet
Foot scrub
mapping.
searching the gloop
Sheila explains story
Rae tells story
feet washing
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| | | Messy Church - 24 February 2019 |
Crafting tables
The theme for Sunday 24th Messy Church was 'I'm not doing that', taken from John 13, 1-17: Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet
It
was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had
come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his
own people who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The
evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas,
the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that God,
the Father, had put all things under his power, and that he had come
from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal,
took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his
waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash
his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped
around him.
 He
came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to
wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what
I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,”
said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered,
“Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then,
Lord” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands
and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a
bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you
are clean, though not every one of you is.” For he knew who was
going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
When
he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned
to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?”
he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and
‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I,
your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one
another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I
have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than
his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now
that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
With
the birth of the baby Jesus the very first Christmas, God reminded us
how great his love for us is – in a few weeks from now at Easter
we will more clearly understand the full extent of that love, and about
some of the things we can do to show Christ’s love to those in
need. WE learned too how important it is to know that God loves us,
even when we seem to be quite alone.
This month we thought more
about the nature of God’s love, shown to us through Jesus, a love
that never fails, even when we might not deserve it, or when we feel
unworthy of it.
In this story we are clearly reminded that
Jesus, who came as King, was never too proud to be a servant, doing the
most menial of tasks – for how else was he truly to show his love
for those around him.
How easily do we do what we are
called to do - love our neighbour, even to the point of doing those
things we don’t want to, because they are tiresome, unpleasant,
or even plain revolting? With some shame, we have to admit that most of
us have our boundaries. With Jesus help we can overcome this part of
ourselves, and begin to model what it means to truly love our neighbour.
Our crafts included -
SERVANT KING PUPPET We
used two man shapes cut from white card, decorating one in a simple
dull coloured robe, the other a brightly coloured robe, decorated with
sequins. After drawing on faces and sticking on wool hair, we gave the
brightly dressed figure a shiny crown. We glued the figures back to
back with a lolly stick sandwiched between them, so turning from one
side to the other showed the king become a servant. We talked about the
differences between a King and a servant. Which would we rather
be…. And why? Why was Jesus the King was happy to become a
servant.
THANK YOU CARDS We
thought of someone who does an unpleasant job to keep our environment
clean – in your family, school, workplace, community etc, and
made a thank you card for that person. We talked about how often we
fail to notice the people who clean up after us. Remembering that Jesus
washed his friends’ feet helped us appreciate more the things
folk do for us. Was that a job we would like?
CHEESY FEET! This
is the favourite that we could eat when finished. We made foot shaped
cheesy biscuits, and marked their names on them. We talked about how
“cheesy” feet can get! At the time and place Jesus lived it
was the custom to wash people’s feet for them when they arrived
at your home, as a sign you cared about them. And that’s what
Jesus did for his friends. We thought about what it would be like
to wash someone else’s cheesy feet! Our cheesy feet biscuits were
baked in the oven to be ready for our return after Celebration time.
THAT’S DISGUSTING! This
on not only felt disgusting but the smell matched the look. We were
invited to search a large basin/bowl of cold porridge, with potato
peelings, onion skins, and other 'disgusting' items to find jewels
hidden within. Sleeves rolled up but still the smell and feeling on our
fingers was simply awful, but hidden in the depths of the 'gloop' were
jewels in the shape of red and white beads. Rubies and diamonds in a
sea of slime. We talked about how hard it is to touch things which are
disgusting. What would you be prepared to do to give a gift for someone
you love?
 FOOT SCRUB When
Jesus washed the feet of his disciples he would have used water with
oils and scent to clean and freshen their feet. We made up our
foot scrub mixing two parts salt with one part olive oil in the
jar, then adding a few drops of scented oil.We had the choice of
'chocolate orange' or orange and cloves' scents. The result was a
refreshing foot scrub, with the jar decorated and labelled could be
given as a gift for someone who spends a lot of time on their feet
helping/serving others? We talked about the scent of the oil, and who
would enjoy having their feet pampered with our foot scrub.
WHOSE PAW PRINTS? We
had to guess which paw prints went with which animal. We talked about
what a mess feet can make! Who cleans up the messy footprints in our
home?
 PRAYER ACTIVITY Sheila
Anderson brought a map and we put our feet cut outs on the road and
talked about the journey that Jesus took during his life on earth.
IS IT FAIR? Fair
trade fortnight begins on the 25th February. We had a display of
products and places they come from usually involving tasting some
chocolate!! We talked about what “fair trade” is and why it
matters…. to the people involved, to us, and to God.
CELEBRATION TIME Sheila
Anderson led our celebration time in the church with Rae Hunter
telling us the story, of Jesus washing his disciples feet. We recounted
that a King would not usually wash his servants feet, but how Jesus was
sent by God to serve us, and teach us to serve others, particularly
when they are less able than ourselves, through poverty or disability.
We sang songs and prayed for others less fortunate than ourselves,
thanking God for his love in our lives.
Mealtime chat
A
great meal together offered time to talk about what we had heard, the
crafts we had undertaken, and what we had learned. Our biscuits had
been baked and we took them home to enjoy later that day.
Messy Church; learning about God and Jesus through story, craft and song.
The next Messy Church will be Sunday 31 March
Published - 26 Februuary 2019
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