Children's Liturgy (Oratorio)
Twenty-Fifth
Sunday in the Ordinary Time (Year
A)
Sunday 24th September, 2023
Preparing the worship space
Colour:
Green
Theme: Coin to represent Wage/Salary
Welcome: Today Jesus tells us a story about some
workers who all receive the same wages, even though some worked all day and
some just worked for an hour. Does that sound right to you? Let’s think some
more about this today. His ways are not
our ways.
==== 7:00 - 7:03 ===
Entrance Song
Chorus He said
freely freely
You have received
Freely freely give,
Go in My name
And because you believe
Others will know that I live
Verse 1
God forgave my sin in Jesus' name
I've been born again in Jesus' name
And in Jesus' name I come to you
To share His love as He told me to
Verse 2
All pow'r is giv'n in Jesus' name
In earth and heav'n in Jesus' name
And in Jesus' name I come to you To share His pow'r as He told me too.
Ask: What was last week’s
theme? <“Forgiveness....”> <70 times 7>
We talked about forgiveness. Does
anyone remember why we should forgive each
other? <so that God
can forgives us too>
//V// In the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
//R// Amen.
//V// May The
Grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ,
And the love of God,
And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with you all. //R// And with Your
Spirit.
==== 7:03 - 7:08 ====
NEWS TIME :-)
==== 7:08 - 7:11 ====
Penitential Rite
Dear little children, let us acknowledge
our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.
Confession
of our sins I confess to the Almighty God, and
to you, my brothers and sisters, that
I have greatly sinned in my thoughts
and in my words in what I have done
and In what I have failed to do
-strike the breast 3 times as you say- through
my fault through my fault through my most grievous fault THEREFORE I ask Blessed Mary Ever Virgin
all the Angels and Saints and you, my brothers and sisters
to pray for me to the Lord our God…
Oh Lord
Have Mercy.
Have Mercy on us oh Lord
For we have
sinned against you.
Show us, Oh Lord, your mercy And grant us
your salvation.
You were sent to heal the contrite of heart.
Lord have
Mercy
Lord have
Mercy
You came to sinners Christ have
mercy
Christ have
mercy
You are seated at the right hand of the father
to intercede for us.
Lord have
mercy.
Lord have
mercy.
May the
almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to life
everlasting?
AMEN
==== 7:11 - 7:14 ==== With a loud
voice lets sing the Gloria!
GLORIA
– Eco Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to the Father...x2 To Him be glory forever!!x2
Alleluia Amen
x2
Glory to God,
Glory to God, Glory to the
Son...x2 To
Him be glory forever!!x2 Alleluia
Amen x2
Glory to God,
Glory to God, Glory to the Spirit...x2
To Him be glory forever!!x2
Alleluia Amen x2
Opening Prayer
Generous and giving God, you created the
world with enough for all to share. Help us to share what we have been given
and make sure all
your people have enough.... Amen
.
=== 7:14 - 7:19 ====
Liturgy of the Word Introduction of the first reading.
Today’s first reading is from the
Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah. This reading from Isaiah reminds us
of some of the things we have been talking about in the last few weeks. Listen to this reading and see if you hear
anything that you recognize.
A
prepared child/children come and take the reading.
Isaiah 55:6-9 (GNT)
6 Seek
the LORD while he may be found,. 7 Let the wicked leave their way of life and
change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the Lord, our God; he is
merciful and quick to forgive. 8 “My thoughts,” says the Lord, “are not like
yours, and my ways are different from yours. 9 As high as the heavens are above
the earth, so high are my ways and thoughts above yours.
This is the word of the
Lord;
All say “Thanks be to God”.
Ask: Did
you hear anything that we have talked about?
<forgiveness, that God is
Merciful> And we hear that God’s ways are not like our ways. What do you think that means? <that
we don’t always understand what God does> God is always fair with us and loving and
forgiving.
Let us now focus on our responsorial Psalm:
< The Lord is near to all who call upon
him.…> 3x
Introducing the Gospel
Say: Today’s Gospel reading is taken from the book of
Matthew. In the Gospel today, Jesus
explain what heaven will be like. He
uses a PARABLE about a man who owned a vineyard, a place where grapes are grown
– to make wine. The man in the PARABLE
went out one day to hire some workers to work for him picking grapes. Let’s
listen to Jesus’ story and see if we can understand what happens...
....with
Alleluia!! –
WE SING WHILE STANDING AND
WELCOME THE GOSPEL!!
CHORUS: HALLELUIAH, HALLELUIAH X3 YELELE YELELE
HALLELUIAH.
1.
EYENDE MBELE, HALLELUIAH
X3 YELELE YELELE
HALLELUIAH.
2.
MOTO, MOTO, HALLELUIAH
X3 YELELE YELELE
HALLELUIAH
The leader reading the gospel, silently says: “Cleanse our hearts
and our lips almighty God, that we may worthily proclaim your Holy Gospel”.
The Leader starts:
-The Lord be with You,
-And with
your Spirit. A reading
is from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. Glory to You, O Lord
Matthew 20:1-16 (GNT)
The Workers in the Vineyard
Jesus
told his disciples this parable:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his
vineyard.
Going out about nine o'clock,
the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.'
So they went off.
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o'clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o'clock,
the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,
'Why do you stand here idle all day?'
They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.'
He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
'Summon the laborers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.'
When those who had started about five o'clock came,
each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
'These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day's burden and the heat.'
He said to one of them in reply,
'My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?'
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be
last."
“The Gospel of the
Lord”
Glory and Praise to you
Lord Jesus Christ.
==== 7:19 - 7:24 ==== (*)
Tell your prepared reflecting story to motivate the children, but according to
the Gospel and at children’s level of understanding like
in the suggestions
below…
Gospel
reflection:
Ask: How much did the man pay the
workers? <a full day’s pay> Did
they all work a full day? <no>
Do you think that the man was fair?
<discuss – the man actually
did pay each worker exactly what they agreed to work for, but most of us would
feel that this was not fair>
Say: How does this story tell us about
heaven? <God promises all of us the same reward – eternal life> From the moment we choose to follow Jesus and
work hard at being good, whether we are young or old, we get the same
reward. God is very generous with
sinners!
Memory Verse: Mathew “Matthew 20:16 “…. <‘ And Jesus
concluded, “So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will
be last.”>....”
Let us
stand up and we profess our faith.
Profession
of our faith
I believe in God the Father, Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our
Lord:
--bow
down--
Who
was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary:
Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died and was buried:
He
descended into hell: The third day he rose again from the dead: He ascended
into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: From there
He will come to judge the living and the dead:
I believe in the Holy Spirit: the holy catholic church: the communion of
saints:
The
forgiveness of sins:
The
resurrection of the body:
And
the life everlasting.
Amen.
==== 7:24 - 7:26 ==== Prayers
of the Faithful Now is the time to pray for our stuff :-) Intercessions. You may want to ask the
children to offer their own prayers or you can use the suggestions here. We
believe that God is generous and fair and so we pray together:
Leader: We join together
now in prayer to God who loves and forgives us:….
Prayer 1. We pray for world leaders: that they may do all they can to make the
world better and make sure that all people have their fair share.
We
pray to the Lord...
Prayer 2 We pray for our
brothers and sisters throughout the world, especially those who are poor: that every
single person throughout the world may have what they need to live... We pray to the Lord...
Prayer 3.
We pray for our parish, family and friends: that we may be generous
and fair to all people in our communities…
We
pray to the Lord...
Prayer
4.
Living
Lord, we give You thanks for Your generosity and Love. Help us to take no more
than we need, but consider others too. We
pray to the Lord...
==== 7:26 - 7:28 ==== Silently, each one tells God your
petition.
We
ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen
==== 7:28 - 7:30 ==== Song Interlude:
Walk Walk in the light, walk walk in the light, Sing as we give in our
offertory and we walk to the big
church... NOTE-- after the song, is
being sung, we pick the children that will perform next Sunday....
Bring up A child in a way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6
