Trinity Sunday Made new Welcome to this twenty

Trinity Sunday ‘Made new’ Welcome to this twenty second session of 2021 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 hear about a meeting between Jesus and one of the Jewish leaders called Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, probably so that his friends wouldn’t see him talking to Jesus said a very strange thing to Nicodemus because He could tell that this Jewish leader did not believe that He, Jesus, was the promised Messiah and God’s Son. Jesus said that to enter God’s Kingdom we must be ‘born again’. Let’s see if we can find out what Jesus meant. Please run pages 4 to 11 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, the voice recordings will play automatically, but click on the You. Tube videos to play them. You may have to go to full screen if you are using a phone. You will need to print out pages 13 -21 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 coloured card Glue, Sellotape, Scissors Paint and brush (not too thick) Pom poms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, clothes pegs, tissue paper Scrap items such as yoghurt pots, cardboard tubes, egg box, material, wool, beads, buttons. Today is Trinity Sunday when we think about the three persons who make our one loving God. It is a bit of a mystery that there can be one God yet three parts or persons to God, but that’s OK. It does make sense that we humans, adults as well as children, are not able to completely understand God. So, today on Trinity Sunday we celebrate what we know about God - that He is the loving Father, who gave His Son to save the people of the world, and sends the Holy Spirit to give us a new life. We also celebrate the God who is more than we can ever fully understand.

“Up-cycled and made new” You will need: • Paper bags • Scissors • Construction paper or card • Glue and/or tape • Decorative materials (markers, crayons, stickers) • Old cardboard tubes, paper cups, plates, scrap pieces of material and wool or other random items. Set out a variety of materials, some for decorating and some for re-using. Encourage your children to use their creativity in creating new objects out of old ones. Decorate, change, and adapt old materials to be useful new things or just fun! In our worship session we will see that we are “made new”, too, when we have faith in Jesus!

Trinity Sunday ‘Made New’ 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 understand what it means to believe and be ‘made new’ through Your Holy Spirit. Thank you, Father, that we can know and love You because of Jesus, Your Son, and we can walk with You each day through the presence of Your Holy Spirit. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. We will sing a song which talks about the Spirit of God coming to us and making us new. We ask the Spirit to melt us from our unbelieving shape, to mould us into a new believing shape, and to fill us and use us in working for God. You can play instruments and dance as we sing ‘Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me’.

John 3: 1 -7, 16 -17 International Children’s Bible There was a man named Nicodemus who was one of the Pharisees. He was an important Jewish leader. 2 One night Nicodemus came to Jesus. He said, “Teacher, we know that you are a teacher sent from God. No one can do the miracles you do, unless God is with him. ” 3 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth. Unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s kingdom. ” 4 Nicodemus said, “But if a man is already old, how can he be born again? He cannot enter his mother’s body again. So how can he be born a second time? ” 5 But Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth. Unless you are born from water and the Spirit, you cannot enter God’s kingdom. 6 A person’s body is born from his human parents. But a person’s spiritual life is born from the Spirit. 7 Don’t be surprised when I tell you, ‘You must all be born again. ’ “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. God gave his Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. ” 16

Made new In the Bible today, we learn about a man named Nicodemus who came to Jesus late one night, because he was hungry. No, he wasn't looking for a late night snack; he was hungry for spiritual food. He was hungry for the truth about the kingdom of God. He came to Jesus because he had questions and he knew that Jesus would have the answers. As Jesus was talking to him, he said something that Nicodemus didn't understand. He told Nicodemus, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. ” Nicodemus was really puzzled by what Jesus said. He just couldn't understand how someone could be born again. To this day, a lot of people still have trouble understanding how that can be possible. Here is something that might help us to understand what Jesus meant. Just look at this butterfly! Isn't it beautiful? I think the butterfly is one of the most beautiful things that God has ever created, but it wasn't always so beautiful. As you probably know, the butterfly started out as a fuzzy little caterpillar. Now some people may think caterpillars are cute, some may think that they are funny, but probably no one would say that they are beautiful.

A caterpillar is like a worm -- and worms are not beautiful! But caterpillars are very hungry. They eat and eat, until one day the caterpillar spins a cocoon about itself and stays there for several weeks. When it comes out, it is no longer a caterpillar, it has been miraculously changed into a beautiful butterfly. God didn't just take a caterpillar and stick some wings on it and paint the wings all different colours. When the cocoon opens and the butterfly crawls out, it is a new creation. The caterpillar is gone! It has now become a butterfly. That is a good picture of what Jesus meant when he said we had to be "born again. " Jesus explained to Nicodemus that a person is "born again" when God’s Holy Spirit enters into their heart. We have physical bodies and physical birth, but being born again happens through the Holy Spirit. When we believe in Jesus and invite Him to come into our heart, we become a new creation - like the butterfly. God doesn't just clean us up and slap on a little paint, he makes us a new person. Do you know what we have to do to receive this new birth? Take it! All we have to do is believe and trust in God and accept His free gift of salvation and eternal life. Jesus told Nicodemus that God loved us and the whole world so much that He gave up His son. What a beautiful gift! That message wasn’t just for Nicodemus. It’s for us, too! All we have to do is believe and receive that new life. We can be “born again”, too!

We are going to sing again now. We have talked about butterflies in our worship, so let’s sing about one as well. We sing about lots of animals in this song, so it would be good if you stand up and do some actions. We imagine being these different animals and worshipping God in their way, but we thank God that He has made us how we are. Each a unique creation. So stand up, do some actions and sing ‘If I were a butterfly’.

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. Although we know that we cannot fully understand how great and wonderful you really are, we thank you for revealing yourself to us as Father who loves us, Son who died for us and Holy Spirit who makes us new. Help us to learn more about you and the great love you have for each one of us. We ask this in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen Let’s pray to God now for all those in need at this time. Dear Heavenly Father, as more and more people receive their second Covid vaccine, and we are allowed more freedom, we pray that cases of Covid will not rise, and variants will not affect our gradual return to normal. We ask that You will be with those who are still affected in any way by the virus and the effects of lockdown. Please help them all to know and feel Your comforting presence and Your guiding hand in their lives. We pray that You will enable all those in government to make important decisions about coming out of lockdown wisely and justly. Please give strength and health to all those caring for people in hospitals or care homes, and also to all those who are now able to open up their businesses again. Help each one of us to play our part in bringing about a successful return to normal life by not being fearful, but being careful and caring of others. 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. (next page)

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/ -

Paint a butterfly Print out this page and cut out the halfbutterfly. Take another A 4 sheet of paper and fold it in half across its width, then open it out again. Place the half-butterfly on the right-hand side of the paper up against the fold. Paint around the edge of the half-butterfly. Remove the template and colour the halfbutterfly on your folded paper with brightly coloured paint. Fold the paper sheet along the fold you have already made. Press down on the paper, then open out the page and let the paint dry. You should now have a full butterfly picture.

“New Creation Butterfly” You will need: • Scissors • Paper • Markers or decorating materials • Glue and/or tape • Lolly sticks or clothes pegs • Tissue paper • Pom poms • Pipe Cleaners • Googly eyes First make a “caterpillar” by attaching poms to a clothes peg or lolly stick. Add googly eyes and pipe cleaner “antennae” if you like. This is the ‘old creation’. Then make a “butterfly” by attaching paper or tissue paper wings to another peg or lolly stick. You can use the shape below to trace some wings on tissue paper and cut them out. Add some googly eyes and pipe cleaner antennae. This is the ‘new creation’. We are a new creation when we have the Holy Spirit in our lives

Born Again! In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. " John 3: 3 Can you help Nicodemus find the way to Jesus?

The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus The pictures on page 20 tell the Good News of Jesus in a simple way, and you can use them to help you tell Jesus’ story to other people to help them believe, so that they can be ‘made new’ too. Print pages 19 and 20 on card if you can, or print on paper and stick them on card. Colour in the pictures. Cut out each square and think of what you would say about each one. Keep them together so that you can use them to help you talk about Jesus. We are going to make a carry-case so that you can keep your cards in one place. Take the card printout of page 19. Cut on all the solid dark lines (including inside the handle) Fold firmly on all the dotted lines and make a case shape. Before folding down tabs marked B, glue tabs marked A to the sides. Fold down tabs marked B over the A tabs and glue in place. Make sure you have cut the inside line of the handles and fold each handle up. Bring the top down, tuck in the side pieces and the small flap by the top handle. Use stickers to decorate your case. Stick the text box label (on the same page as the pictures) to the outside of the carry-case.

The Good News of Jesus

Easy Shortbread Butterfly Cookies Ingredients: • 100 g butter • 200 g icing sugar • ½ tsp vanilla extract • 10 shortbread fingers • 20 pretzels • 5 mikado sticks (or matchstick chocolates • 1 Tbsp hundreds and thousands sprinkles Method: First make the buttercream icing. Whisk the butter until soft and fluffy. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl with the butter, a little at a time, whisking as you go until completely combined. Add the vanilla extract and whisk again until combined. Spoon the buttercream icing into a piping bag with a large closed star piping tip. Pipe a line of icing stars down the centre of each shortbread finger. Push two pretzels into the icing on each biscuit to form butterfly wings. Break short lengths off of the mikado sticks and push two pieces into each biscuit for antennae. Finish each butterfly with a pinch of sprinkles scattered over the top. Serve and enjoy!