- Say you’re going to be a little part of (name your church) church at home today.
- Light a candle and pray:
With the light of this candle, we remember the light of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God, you are here with us now and also with our friends and family in their homes today.
Especially we remember that you are also with… (invite everyone to remember people from church, school, extended family, neighbourhood)
Thank you, Jesus, light of the world. Amen
- During the social isolation of COVID-19, it’s hard to be close to others. Make a list of everyone you miss at the moment or who might be feeling lonely.
- Say: the first Christians loved being together. They called it ‘koinonia’ (co–ee-non-ya) or ‘fellowship’, something like friendship but depending more on being linked together by Jesus than on whether they liked each other. They knew it was something they had to work hard at! The Bible says, ‘They devoted themselves to… fellowship’ (Acts 2:47). Some of the early Christians were as difficult to get on with as some Christians are today! But Jesus wanted a church where everyone was welcome.
- Take a handful of Lego figures, Playmobil figures or soft toys – anything to represent people – and arrange all but one in a tight group. Put the other one a little way away. Ask what everyone thinks might be going on in this scene. How does it feel to be one of the group? How does it feel to be the one on their own?
- Watch the story of Zacchaeus, retold here. Then read the story of Zacchaeus from Luke 19:1-10 and ask everyone to stop you during the story any time they notice someone being cut off from fellowship and any time they notice someone being brought into fellowship.
- Listen to ‘We all stand together‘, sung by frogs.
- Pray by throwing a ball of wool around the people in your household – as you throw the rest of the ball, hold on to the strand of wool, and keep on holding on to it as the ball keeps being thrown, so that each person is connected in turn in a messy web. You can carry on as long as you have the energy… Each time the ball is thrown at you, say someone’s name from your ‘lonely list’ you’d like to pray for and everyone else reply ‘Amen’. If you’re on your own, you might like to French knit, knit or crochet, naming a person to pray for with each stitch or row, ‘knitting them together’ in prayer.
- Say the Lord’s Prayer together, with or without actions.
- Say the Messy Grace if you usually do that at Messy Church.
- Blow out the candle, changing the light from visible to invisible light.
