Christ the King Welcome to this thirty fourth

Christ the King Welcome to this thirty fourth session of our different church. As usual we have a Bible story and some thoughts about it. Plus some ideas for fun things to do at home that are linked. And some songs and prayers for you and your family. Today we are thinking about what Jesus will do when He returns in glory as king over all nations and people. That time will come, but we don’t know when, and Jesus will sit on His glorious throne with all the angels, and He will gather to Him all those who are His children. Those who have believed His word and who have obeyed His commands to love God and love their neighbour. Please run pages 3 to 9 of the Power. Point as a slide show so that you can access the hyperlinks and the recordings. The slides move on with a click. You will need to print out pages 11 - 15 to do those activities.

These are things you could use in this session: Simple musical instruments (shakers, tambourines, pan and spoon etc. ) Crayons or other colouring items Pencil and ruler Sheets of paper and card Glue, Sellotape, Scissors Silver foil (or shiny card) Jewel stickers and star or heart shapes 2 large craft sticks, cotton wool, felt or fur fabric type material Today we are looking at Jesus returning as King and reigning over His Kingdom on earth and in Heaven. One of the items that a king usually has is a crown, so we are going to make a crown. Method Using an A 4 piece of (shiny) card, draw a line lengthwise down the middle (on the back side if using shiny card). Draw a zigzag line down the card, trying to make the points the same distance from the middle line and equally spaced. Cut along the zigzag line. Place one piece flat in front of you with the points at the top. Put the other piece next to the first, then slightly overlap it so that the points are continuous, and Sellotape together. If you have plain card you could wrap it in silver foil now to make it shiny. Decorate with jewel stickers or hearts and stars. Measure the crown around your child’s head and stick at the right size.

click Christ the King We are coming together to worship and praise God so let’s begin with a prayer. Heavenly Father, as we come before you in our separate homes, unite us in our worship of you. We ask that you will be with us and still our minds to hear your words. We pray that You will help us to love You and show that love by being loving and caring to all those around us. Whenever we see someone in need, please help us to remember what You have told us to do. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen We are now going to sing a song which tells us to prepare for Jesus’ coming by making way for Him in our lives and our hearts. When He comes there will be dancing and laughter and singing if we have placed Jesus before everything else. Wear your crowns and dance and play instruments as we sing ‘Make Way! for Christ the King’ Click in the box Make Way, Make Way for Christ the King

Matthew 25: 31 -46 New International Version The Sheep and the Goats 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. ’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? ’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. ’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. ’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? ’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. ’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. ”

Christ the King This Sunday is called Christ the King Sunday, and it is called that because our reading tells us about when Jesus will come again in His glory to reign as king over everyone. Jesus Christ is King. So let’s think about kings. I expect you all know what kings look like - what they wear, what they carry, and what they have. Here a few ideas: A Crown A sceptre Lots of jewels A Royal Robe If all these pictures show what a king looks like, then we have a serious problem today, because we are supposed to remember Jesus as Christ the King, and He certainly didn't look like the kind of kings we're used to! But Jesus did have a crown and it looked like this And Jesus did carry something He carried a cross…. and all our sins

And Jesus doesn’t want lots of jewels and earthly treasure. What He values as His treasure are our obedient hearts and our love. So what does our Bible reading tell us about Jesus Christ the King? It says He will come in His glory with His angels, and He will sit on His glorious throne. If you can imagine brilliant sunshine in the sky, radiating all around, then I think Jesus in His glory might shine like that! Then the Bible tells us that everyone will be gathered in front of Jesus. All the people in the world! And Jesus will separate the people into two groups, like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. A lot of the stories in the Bible use shepherds and sheep as illustrations because all the people would know what shepherds did and how they worked with the sheep. Even in the towns and cities everyone would know the work of the shepherd because many of them would own sheep and goats, and the shepherd would gather them all up and take them up to the hills to find grass. Sheep and goats would graze together in the fields, but at the end of the day the shepherd had to separate the sheep from the goats so that each went to its right place. The shepherd had to know which were sheep and which were goats and he probably put them in different pens on his right side and left side. Separation was not just splitting the group down the middle, but taking each one and putting it on the right or left side.

How do you think Jesus will tell the ‘sheep’ from the ‘goats’? Jesus as the King will say to the ‘sheep’ on his right, ‘ Come into my kingdom, you who are blessed by God. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me. ' “When did we do that? " the righteous ones will ask. And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!' Then the king will turn to the ‘goats’ on the left and say, 'I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me. ' Then they will ask, 'When did we refuse to help you? ' He will answer, 'I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me. ' And they will be sent away, but the righteous will go into eternal life in God’s kingdom. It is not that doing good things will get people to heaven. It is all a part of loving Jesus Christ the King. When we love Jesus, and truly belong to Him, we will show love for others as Jesus shows love for us. That is how Jesus can tell his sheep from the goats. .

We are going to sing another song now which needs you to stand up and do some actions. The song is about Jesus being the King of kings, so you need to pretend to put a crown on your head. Then open your arms out in praise of the Lord of Lords. Next you make the sign for Jesus by pointing to the palm of each hand as if you were showing the nail marks in Jesus’ hands. Then you pretend to put the crown on your head again. We sing ‘ He is the King of kings’ He is the King of kings

Let’s say a prayer Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your words in the Bible that teach us about Jesus and His love for us wherever we are. As we learn more about Jesus and his coming in glory as King to judge the world, please help us always to be ready and willing to show that love to those in need. At the moment there are people who are hungry because they cannot get to the shops or can’t afford food. There are people who feel imprisoned because of isolation. There are people who are sick. Please help us to do what we safely can to support these people and those who care for them. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Let’s pray to God now for all those in need at this time. Dear heavenly Father, we bring before you all those who need to feel your love right now. We pray for those who are grieving a loved one, those who are sick, those who are struggling to understand all that is going on in our country and in the world, and all those who are just finding life difficult at the moment. Please be with them and help them to know and feel Your comforting presence and Your guiding hand in their lives. We give You thanks that there is now a real possibility of a vaccine for Covid and we thank You for the abilities and talents of scientists and technical workers. We pray that You will enable all those who have to make important decisions to use the abilities You have given them wisely. Please help each one of us to care about others and to show that care in all that we do and say. In Jesus’ name. Amen. We are now going to say the Lord’s prayer, Let’s join in with the children who are saying the Lord’s prayer in this clip. The Lord’s Prayer

If you want to take a picture of any of the things that you have made and put your name and age on it and send it to me, we could put it in the gallery on our church website: www. saintalbanswickersley. org. uk Or get someone to take your picture holding any of the activities, and send that in. Or you could post pictures on our church Facebook pagehttps: //engb. facebook. com/pages/category/Community/St-Albans. Church-Wickersley-923620921067631/ - Be a sheep not a goat Print out the following page on card Cut out the sheep shape and the goat shape and the two word boxes. Draw a line down the middle of two large craft sticks and colour the bottom 1 cm black. Glue one stick to the back of the sheep shape and one to the goat as in the picture. Glue cotton wool to the back of the sheep over the craft stick and a bit to the top of the head. Glue a piece of brown /grey/white/cream felt or fur fabric to the back of the goat. Glue the right text box to the sheep and to the goat. Remember that if we love Jesus then that love should show in what we do. Then Jesus will be able to tell that we are His sheep.

Feed the hungry Give water to the thirsty Be kind to strangers Help the sick and needy Visit the lonely and isolated Too busy to help others Turn strangers away Spend all your money on yourself

Crown Biscuits Ingredients 125 g butter or margarine 55 g caster sugar 180 g plain flour – sieved Fondant or royal icing Edible decorations To bake 1. Heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5. 2. Cream together the butter and caster sugar until smooth then gradually stir in the flour to form a smooth paste. 3. Wrap the shortbread in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. 4. Roll out the shortbread to 1 cm thickness on a work surface lightly dusted with flour. 5. Using a crown shaped cutter (or cut around a crown shaped template) cut out the shortbread crowns and place on a baking tray. 6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until pale-golden brown. 7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. 8. Decorate with coloured royal icing or fondant cut to shape Use a template like this to make a crown shape if you haven’t got a crown-shaped cutter.