Read this reflection, pausing at the gaps. Each time you pause, invite them to imagine God saying their name at that point.

Listen to me ______. Before you were born ______ I knew you. I named you ______. I have given you, ______ the right words to say, I will protect you ______ in the shadow of my hand. You are mine, ______ and I will look after you. I will send you ______ out into the world. You ______ will be a light to the nations so that all people will know about me.

Allow some time for the children to respond to this. Provide paper, pens, colours, craft material, a quiet corner and a listening ear for the children to choose how they would like to respond. You might also provide a copy of the reflection with the blank spaces for those who would like a copy to write their own name in the blanks.

Picture reading

Fold an A4 sheet of paper into eight squares so that each child has a grid into which they can draw pictures of things mentioned in the Bible passage (Isaiah 49.1-7). Some of them are: far flung islands, world, straight arrow, name, God’s eyes, light to the nations and so on.

Translate

Provide a range of translations of the Bible. It is always useful to have different ones available even if you usually stick to one. Invite the children to look up this passage in the variety of translations.

Encourage them to find it using the contents and referencing not by page number. Compare translations to see if any different images are presented.

Compare other passages including some of the images from John 15.

 

For young people

What do I look like inside?

Hold up an onion. Invite half the young people to describe the onion on the outside. Invite the other half of the group to describe what the inside might be like. Ensure they describe the texture and smell.

Now ask them to invite another person to describe them in words as if for a police missing person poster.

Next ask each person to invite one person who knows them well to describe what they are like. Include what they are good at, their interests and things that they like about them. Finally see if that person can say what they think that person might be doing in ten years’ time.

A recipe for life

Provide a fruit or vegetable for each young person and a number of recipe books. Give each person a fruit or vegetable and ask them what they might do with it to make it nice to eat. Now invite everyone to find two interesting or unusual recipes from the books.

Help them to share their reasons for choosing the recipes and suggest how many other things they could do with their piece of food.

Better together

Jesus needed the disciples to help in his mission of teaching, healing and proclaiming. Set the group different challenges that they must first try to do individually, using only one hand (tying a shoelace, wrapping a present, peeling an orange, and so on). Then ask them to work in pairs, each pair linking arms in the middle, so that they can use only one left and one right hand between them. Repeat the challenges. They might still be difficult, but it will be easier to work together. Reiterate the point that Jesus calls people to help him in his mission — even though that can sometimes be difficult or challenging.

Bad news/good news

As soon as Jesus had begun to gather the disciples, he set out on mission with them, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. But it can be difficult to be bearers of good news when the world seems to focus on bad news. Show a recent TV news bulletin (or provide copies of the day’s papers) and invite the group to make prayerful responses to each of the items mentioned, allowing discussion on ways our faith in God can help us to connect with the world in which we live.