We always seem to be beginning. Or at least we tend to speak about how we start our journey of faith. To some, that seems redundant. “We began long ago,” they might think. And that could be true. Yet, each day is a new beginning, a reaffirmation of the desire to be a disciple of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. So, once again, the journey begins.

Even though there are those of us who are more seasoned travelers on the journey of faith, we constantly meet new disciples. Rather than being slowed down by this, we are rejuvenated by the zeal that new converts often bring with them. “The journey begins,” then, is a time of celebration and hopefulness. We are looking forward to becoming the community that we long to be and are described as being by the one we follow.

Ask the children’s department to invite the little ones to draw a picture of God at work in their lives. Use these pictures to decorate the sanctuary and to guide the prayer and meditation time in worship. How do those who are truly beginning their journey of faith speak about or envision the God we worship together?

Each week throughout this series, introduce the children to a weekly worship “word of the day.” You could make a sign to hold up each week with the word printed on it. If you have the capabilities, have the word placed on the screens used during worship. Use the time to reinforce who, what, where, and when throughout this series.

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

Exodus 1:8-2:10, NIRV (emphasis, mine)

⁸Then a new king came to power in Egypt. Joseph didn’t mean anything to him. ⁹“Look,” he said to his people. “The Israelites are far too many for us. ¹⁰Come. We must deal with them carefully. If we don’t, there will be even more of them. Then if war breaks out, they’ll join our enemies. They’ll fight against us and leave the country.”

¹¹So the Egyptians put slave drivers over the people of Israel. The slave drivers treated them badly and made them work hard. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses so Pharaoh could store things there. ¹²But the worse the slave drivers treated the Israelites, the more Israelites there were. So the Egyptians became afraid of them. ¹³They made them work hard. They didn’t show them any pity. ¹⁴The people suffered because of their hard labor. The slave drivers forced them to work with bricks and mud. And they made them do all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians didn’t show them any pity at all. They made them work very hard.

¹⁵There were two Hebrew women named Shiphrah and Puah. They helped other women having babies. The king of Egypt spoke to them. He said, ¹⁶“You are the ones who help the other Hebrew women. Watch them when they get into a sitting position to have their babies. Kill the boys. Let the girls live.” ¹⁷But Shiphrah and Puah had respect for God. They didn’t do what the king of Egypt had told them to do. They let the boys live. ¹⁸Then the king of Egypt sent for the women. He asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹The women answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like the women of Egypt. They are strong. They have their babies before we get there.”

²⁰So God was kind to Shiphrah and Puah. And the number of Israelites became even greater. ²¹Shiphrah and Puah had respect for God. So he gave them families of their own.

²²Then Pharaoh gave an order to all his people. He said, “You must throw every Hebrew baby boy into the Nile River. But let every Hebrew baby girl live.”

Moses Is Born

2 A man and a woman from the tribe of Levi got married. ²She became pregnant and had a son by her husband. She saw that her baby was a fine child. And she hid him for three months. ³After that, she couldn’t hide him any longer. So she got a basket made out of the stems of tall grass. She coated the basket with tar. She placed the child in the basket. Then she put it in the tall grass that grew along the bank of the Nile River. ⁴The child’s sister wasn’t very far away. She wanted to see what would happen to him.

⁵Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile River to take a bath. Her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket in the tall grass. So she sent her female slave to get it. ⁶When she opened it, Pharaoh’s daughter saw the baby. He was crying. She felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷Then his sister spoke to Pharaoh’s daughter. She asked, “Do you want me to go and get one of the Hebrew women? She could breast-feed the baby for you.”

⁸“Yes. Go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and feed him for me. I’ll pay you.” So the woman took the baby and fed him. ¹⁰When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter. And he became her son. She named him Moses. She said, “I pulled him out of the water.”

Object:

Picture of the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz or a picture of something that suggests courage.

Word of the day:

Who

Message:

Do any of you recognize who this is in this picture? (Hold up the picture, or, if you use screens in worship, have it placed on the screen so the entire congregation will have the opportunity to see it.) Do any of you remember what the lion was seeking from the wizard? The Cowardly Lion wanted the wizard to give him courage. Where does courage come from? Are some people born with it, while others are not?

In today’s Bible story, Moses’s sister, Miriam, saw the king’s daughter pull her baby brother out of the water. Even though Miriam was a slave girl and the king’s daughter was an important person, Miriam walked right up to the daughter to talk to her. Miriam could have gotten into a lot of trouble walking up to the king’s daughter, but she saw the chance to help her brother.

She asked the king’s daughter if she could take the baby to a Hebrew woman to help take care of him. The king’s daughter agreed, so Miriam went to get Moses’s mother. The king’s daughter told Moses’s mom to take care of the baby and that she would pay her to raise him. Moses’s own mother got to keep on taking care of him for a while. Miriam’s bravery came from love. Miriam loved her baby brother so much that she wanted to help him – even if she had to put herself in danger.

Most people aren’t born with courage. But just as the Cowardly Lion and Miriam both learned, love can make anyone very brave. Love for one’s family or one’s nation can do that. And love for God can give great courage to people— even those who think they are cowardly or shy. Today’s worship word of the day is “who.” As you think about who you are this week, either full of courage or not, I invite you to think about who God is. When a person loves and pleases God, doing the right thing becomes important. When we do the right thing, we truly understand who God is.

Prayer:

God, you are the provider of courage. You are the provider of love. Allow us to do the right thing and make the right thing become the most important thing, for when we do what is right, we truly know who you are. Amen.