Lenten materials compiled and edited by Julia Frisbie, with childrens materials written by Anne Kayser and additional contemporary elements from Maria Maxwell.

ContentsRoad Map3Letter of Appeal from Pastor4Worship ResourcesAsh Wednesday5Week 1: Give Up Excess8Week 2: Give Up Indifference11Week 3: Take Up the Charge13Week 4: Take Up the Challenge16Week 5: Lift Up The Hurting18Week 6 (Palm Sunday): Lift Up the Healed20Week 7: (Easter Sunday) Look Up to Overcome23Childrens MessagesFirst Sunday in Lent32Second Sunday in Lent33Third Sunday in Lent34Fourth Sunday in Lent35Fifth Sunday in Lent36Palm Sunday Childrens Message37Sunday School Materials for Children Grades Pre-K to 2Sunday before Ash Wednesday38First Sunday of Lent40Second Sunday of Lent41Third Sunday of Lent42Fourth Sunday of Lent43Fifth Sunday of Lent44Sixth Sunday of Lent45Sunday School Materials for Children Grades 3-6Sunday before Ash Wednesday46First Sunday of Lent47Second Sunday of Lent48Third Sunday of Lent49Fourth Sunday of Lent50Fifth Sunday of Lent51Sixth Sunday of Lent52Materials for Youth or Adult Sunday SchoolRoad Map54Sunday School Skit54Week 1 of Lent: The Start of Jesus Ministry55Week 2 of Lent: Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection55Week 3 of Lent: Jesus Shakes Things Up56Week 4 of Lent: New Life and Second Chances56Week 5 of Lent: Jesus Shows Great Emotion57Week 6 of Lent: Palm Sunday57Labyrinth Instructions57Daily Lenten Devotions64Mission MomentsMalaria Basics Mission Moment67Mission Moments from Kanzenze, Democratic Republic of the Congo67Church Growth Mission Moment: Kortihun, Sierra Leone69Sister Abigail Mission Moment: Nyadire, Zimbabwe70Muriel and Tiaima Mission Moment: Sierra Leone70

Road Map

January: Appoint leadership team (including Sunday school and youth leaders). Meet to go over the road map and determine a goal.

February: In your church newsletter, include a letter of appeal from the pastor. Order giving envelopes, collection boxes and other needed supplies from shop.umc.org.

Two Sundays before Lent: Introduce the theme to your youth group or an adult Sunday school class. Invite them to prepare a skit for the Sunday before Lent.

Sunday before Lent: Print the Giving from Abundance calendar to include as an insert in each bulletin. Invite your youth group or adult Sunday school class to perform their skit during your worship service (possibly as part of the childrens moment).

Each Sunday during Lent: Keep reminding your congregation about Imagine No Malaria by using the social media graphics, bulletin inserts and/or worship resources provided in this toolkit. Use the supplementary Sunday school activities to teach children about Imagine No Malaria.

Palm Sunday: Remind people to bring the money they have collected through the giving calendar for the special offering on Easter Sunday. Include giving envelopes as an insert in the bulletins.

During Holy Week: If your youth group or adult Sunday school class has created a labyrinth, plan to consecrate it during worship on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday or Holy Saturday. Additional prayers and litanies are available for these days in the worship resources packet.

Easter Sunday: Celebrate the risen Christ with a special offering for Imagine No Malaria. Make sure briefly to explain the program or show a short video clip for any visitors. Make giving envelopes available.

April or May: In your church newsletter, include a letter of thanks from the pastor, announcing the total raised by your church during Lent.

Letter of Appeal from Pastor

Dear Friends:

Watching a small child die from malaria is a horrific experience. First, come the headache, tiredness, weakness in the joints and general malaise, followed by a very high fever. Then the fevers effect on the brain causes the childs muscles to jerk, just before the end. ~Tom Gillem, Interpreter, July/August 2009.

Our church has the opportunity to change this image and help eliminate deaths from malaria. Through Imagine No Malaria, we can save thousands of lives. It is possible to give without loving, said John Wesley, but it is impossible to love without giving. Imagine No Malaria is our opportunity to respond to our calling to show our love through our generous gifts.

In 2006, our church embraced the message Send a Net, Save a Life through Nothing But Nets. Over four years, we raised $7.5 million for this cause, and in doing so, ignited the passion of our members for global health. Now, through Imagine No Malaria, we have increased our participation tenfold, because we believe we are called to strengthen the infrastructure of malaria treatment and prevention to ensure the greatest impact of this effort. Our efforts may have started with nets, but they will not end there! We will revitalize hospitals and clinics that treat malaria and distribute medication. We will support and train additional community health workers who educate communities about proper net usage and other simple ways to prevent malaria. We will build communications networks to spread health information. Finally, we will enhance partnerships with leaders in global health to leverage the greatest impact of our resources.

On Easter Sunday, please join us in a Sunday to Save Lives and help our church reach our goal to raise [$X,XXX]. During all services on this day, members can return gifts to support Imagine No Malaria by using the special envelope provided and placing it in the offering.

Deuteronomy 15:7-8, CEB says, Now if there are some poor persons among you, dont be hard-hearted or tight fisted. To the contrary! Open your hand wide to them. You must generously lend them what they need.

We are blessed to live in a country where diseases of poverty like malaria do not touch our lives on a daily basis. In Africa, a child dies from malaria every 60 seconds. We can help to provide hope through this effort. Five dollars is enough to provide a lifesaving course of medication. Ten dollars protects a family. Just imagine what $100, $500 or $1,000 could do. How many lives will you save?

The spirit of Christ is in our church as we care for each other in our times of need.

Blessings,

[INSERT PASTOR NAME]

Worship Resources

Sunday before Ash Wednesday

Show the Malaria by the Numbers video, available at http://youtu.be/yDpTeD7f9uE, and have your youth or adult Sunday school class introduce Imagine No Malaria as a theme for Lent. Include the Giving from Abundance calendar as an insert in every bulletin.

Ash Wednesday

Lectionary Years A, B and C: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, CEB. This Scripture describes how to give, pray and fast in humility. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The way we spend our time, money and energy reflects our true passions. Lent challenges us to become passionate about God once more as we hear and read stories of Jesus life. This year, we are using Imagine No Malaria as a way to focus ourselves on Gods work in the world.

Calls to Worship

Leader: God, as we enter this Lenten season,

All: Help us feel your spirit close by.

Leader: Move us to generosity,

All: And not to pride.

Leader: Move us to prayer,

All: And not to performance.

Leader: Move us to sacrifice for the sake of love,

All: And not for the sake of self-punishment.

Leader: Everything we have on earth will pass away,

All: But your love lasts forever.

O God, you delight not in pomp or show,

but in a humble and contrite heart.

Overturn our love of worldly possessions

and fix our hearts more firmly on you,

that, having nothing,

we may possess everything,

a treasure stored up for us in heaven.

(Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 11)

Prayers

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth.

Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence,

so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift

are we given everlasting life,

through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

(United Methodist Book of Worship, page 323)

Cover me with ashes, the thick-smoke soot of the earth.Make my breathing like the journeyfrom death into life second by second, prayer by prayer.

Cover me with a cloak bring me low to the earth,your justice whispering to me like the gleam of red rocks,the colors dancing in the darkness.Let me know the power of sage and cedar in my bones,not that I may trap them there,but bring them forth in words.

Cover me with darkness with the presence of my elders, their tears falling around me, reminding me of why we are here sighing, groaning with our singing, longing to hear us into being,stretching us beyond breathing and praying and weeping.

Cover me with mercy let the bones you have crushed rejoice, like the woman who channeled every ounce of courage and dignityto touch your cloak and find new life.Breathe unto me life anew, of possibility, of beauty, of balance,of grace.

Cover me with mud bring me to my lowest state, so that in my weaknessesI see your strength the reflection of your eyes in the brokenness around me, the fullness of your love in the depths of our hearts.

Cover me with ashes the ashes of my grandmother, who in living her days knew no strangers,worked tirelessly with worn handsand lifted grandchildren high into the air.

Cover me with mercy let my cheek come to rest on the cold earth, its faithful presence a call to walk humblybeyond myselfbeyond my fearsand ever on to the red road that leads to your love.

xs Changer. Cover me.Cover me with ashes.Change me.

(By Adrienne Trevathan, director of Christian education, Northminster Presbyterian Church, Evanston, Ill. As a Native American (Port Gamble S'Klallam) and United Methodist, Adrienne is seeking new ways to weave these traditions together as a part of her teaching and work in the church. http://www.gbod.org/resources/changer-a-prayer-poem-for-ash-wednesday)

Prayer in Poetry: Blessing of the Ashes

All those daysyou felt like dust, like dirt,

as if all you had to dowas turn your facetoward the windand be

scatteredto the four corners

or swept awayby the smallest breathas insubstantial

Did you not knowwhat the Holy One can do with dust?

This is the daywe freely saywe are scorched.

This is the hourwe are markedby what has made itthrough the burning.

This is the momentwe ask for the blessingthat lives withinthe ancient ashes,

that makes its homeinside the soil ofthis sacred earth.

So let us be markednot for sorrow.And let us be markednot for shame.

Let us be markednot for false humilityor for thinkingwe are lessthan we are

but for claimingwhat God can dowithin the dust,within the dirt,

within the stuffof which the worldis made,

and the stars that blazein our bones,

and the galaxies that spiralinside the smudgewe bear.

(By Jan Richardson)

Imposition of the Ashes

God can works wonders with dust.

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return. Amen.

Altar Decoration Ideas

Remove all shiny objects and flowers from the worship space. Drape burlap or another rough gray or brown cloth (to symbolize sackcloth) over the altar. Perhaps, make a small campfire the week before and let some logs burn halfway before dousing the fire and allowing them to cool. You can then bring the charred logs into the worship space and arrange them on the burlap. You may also choose to include:

Tea lights

Bowls of ashes used for anointing

Song Ideas

Lord, I Want to Be a Christian, UMH 402

Sundays Palms Are Wednesdays Ashes, TFWS 2138 (new words to a familiar tune)

Come and Find the Quiet Center, TFWS 2128

Dust and Ashes, W&S 3098

Falling on My Knees, W&S 3099

A Wilderness Wandering People, W&S 3113

The Lords Prayer by Mark Miller (possible choral anthem)

Treasures in Heaven by Burlap to Cashmere

Multimedia Resource

Meditative video about Ash Wednesday by Trinity Cathedral Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB_OflgtJwg

Dear God 2.0 by The Roots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Qr5oKKP-M&ob=av3e

Week 1: Give Up Excess

Lectionary Year A: Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus is tempted in the desert.

Lectionary Year B: Mark 1:9-15. John baptizes Jesus; Jesus is tempted in the desert.

Lectionary Year C: Luke 4:1-13. Jesus is tempted in the desert.

When Jesus went into the desert, he was giving up food, shelter and an opportunity for instant notoriety after Gods spirit had come down like a dove at his baptism. Sacrificial giving was a crucial part of his relationship with his Father. We, too, are called to give from Gods abundance. It is our privilege to give up excess and turn it into a holy offering.

Calls to Worship

As we walk through the unfamiliar and unknown,

Walk with us, God.

As we are tempted to gather more than we can possibly carry for the journey,

Help us trust that you will provide.

As we are called to give things away,

Replace those things with your love.

God, we need you in the wilderness and on the journey.

We step out in faith because we know you go with us.

(Adapted, Ministry Matters Living Stone resource 2013)

In the deserts of the heart,

Let the healing fountain start;

In the prison of his days,

Teach the free man how to praise.

(From the poem In Memory of W.B. Yeats by W.H. Auden)

Prayers

Eternal God, rock and refuge:

with roots grown old in the earth,

riverbeds run dry,

and flowers withered in the field,

we wait for revival and release.

Abide with us

until we come alive

in the sunrise of your glory. Amen.

(2002 Consultation on Common Texts, administered by Augsburg Fortress Publishers, from Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 16)

Lord, prevent us from falling into the sin

of believing that the slavery of Egypt

is better than the struggle in the desert. Amen.

(From the church in Nicaragua, Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 69)

Poem: The Desert Has Many Teachings

In the desert,

Turn toward emptiness,

Fleeing the self.

Stand alone,

Ask no ones help,

And your being will quiet,

Free from the bondage of things.

Those who cling to the world,

Endeavor to free them;

Those who are free, praise.

Care for the sick,

But live alone,

Happy to drink from the waters of sorrow,

To kindle Loves fire

With the twigs of a simple life.

Thus you will live in the desert.

(By Mechthild of Magdeburg, translated by Jane Hirshfield, from Women in Praise of the Sacred, 1995)

Altar Decoration Idea

Use a purple cloth to symbolize the season. Cover the altar with rocks of various sizes. Gather three clear vases of various shapes. Fill them halfway with sand. Place one bare branch in each vase and arrange them on the altar among the rocks. The finished altar should look simple and spare.

Song Ideas

Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days, UMH 269

What Gift Can We Bring, UMH 87

God, How Can We Forgive, TFWS 2169 (new words to a familiar tune)

Live in Charity, TFWS 2179

Amazing Abundance, W&S 3120

For the Sake of the World by Bethel Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9oqi86yS3g

Multimedia Resources

Gratitude by Nichole Nordeman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpSxEWXE_mo

Week 2: Give Up Indifference

Lectionary Year A: John 3:1-17. Jesus speaks with Nicodemus.

Lectionary Year B: Mark 8:31-38. Jesus rebukes Peter: take up your cross and follow me.

Lectionary Year C: Luke 13:31-35. Jesus longs to gather Jerusalem like a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings.

In these Scripture passages, Jesus shows deep emotion as he foretells his transformation from life to death and Resurrection. He is passionate about Gods plan. Malaria attacks the most vulnerable people in the world, and we know it is not part of Gods plan. This week, challenge one another to give up indifference and take malaria personally. In order to end preventable deaths, we must work with true passion alongside our Creator.

Calls to Worship

The needs of our world are too numerous to name.

Shelter, food, clean air and water ...

Our gifts touch these needs,

but the biggest gift we can give is to love the world

so much that we give of ourselves.

Nothing will transform need more than sacrificial love.

Todays offering is just the beginning.

Something drew us together this morning

Something we cant name but which we experience in worship

Some holy mystery we call God

Some sacred calling we hear in the life of Jesus

Some indescribable hope we feel when we gather in the Spirit

May our experience of the Divine transform our doubts and fears and prepare us to love the world.

(The Indescribable Radiance of Love, Service Prayers for Transfiguration Sunday, was written by the Rev. David Bahr, pastor, Park Hill Congregational United Church of Christ, Denver, Colo. 2010 Local Church Ministries, Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 44115-1100.Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.All publishing rights reserved.http://www.ucc.org/worship/worship-ways/nlb/advent-christmas-epiphany/epiphany-transfiguration.html)

Prayers

Jesus prayed that we might be one: one in spirit, one in mission, one in communion with each other and with you. Today, God, we confess fumblings and failures in accomplishing unity. We think first of our needs, and not your abundance. We treat lifesaving resources as pocket change. We have divided the world into us and them, even as we try to make a difference. Forgive us, O God.

On this communion Sunday, give us eyes to recognize your reflection in the eyes of Christians everywhere.Give us a mind to accept and celebrate our differences.Give us a heart big enough to love your children everywhere.We thank you for setting a table with space enough for us all! Amen.

Adapted from the Africana Worship Book, Year B, (Discipleship Resources, 2007) http://www.gbod.org/resources/a-prayer-for-world-communion-sunday

Change our hearts, O holy one. Jesus longs for us and wants to give us new life, but unless we turn away from our worldly things and toward him, we are not ready to be changed. Help us get ready. Conquer our indifference. Light us with passion to improve the lives of people living with malaria, and as we pursue that goal, help us come face-to-face with you in an encounter that changes us for good. Make us hungry for your face and for your reimagined world. Amen.

Altar Decoration Idea

Start with last weeks altar setting (purple cloth, various rocks, and vases with sand and bare branches). Portray transformation on the three branches. Leave one branch bare. On the middle branch, glue tiny tissue paper buds (1-inch squares of tissue paper, rolled tightly). On the third branch, glue small tissue- paper flowers. Viewed side by side, these branches depict a reawakening as the sap rises.

Song Ideas

This Is a Day of New Beginnings, UMH 383

Quando El Pobre (When the Poor Ones), UMH 434

Give Me Jesus, W&S 3140

For Everyone Born, a Place at the Table, W&S 3149

Jesus Messiah by Chris Tomlin (2008): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=1008615

Captivate Us by Christy Nockels (2004): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=560992

Multimedia Resource:

Inmate Gift Fights Malaria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL-Y4GfWr5U

Week 3: Take Up the Charge

Lectionary Year A: John 4:5-52. Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman at a well.

Lectionary Year B: John 2:13-22. Jesus drives out the moneychangers from the temple in Jerusalem.

Lectionary Year C: Luke 13:1-9. Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree that will not bear fruit.

Todays theme is Take Up the Charge. In the Scripture passages, Jesus disrupts the status quo by talking with a Samaritan woman, driving out the moneychangers or entreating his listeners to change their lives. This is in line with many of Jesus parables, in which the kingdom of God turns the normal order of things on its head. Jesus is a disruptive teacher. Our church has the opportunity to disrupt the status quo of malaria. Malaria is a disease of poverty. It affects mostly poor people and keeps them poor. However, we can eliminate it in our lifetime. This is a good time to review Imagine No Malarias four program areas:

Communication Our work in each community starts with public-awareness campaigns through radio, cellphones and schools. We are trying to get the message out about what causes malaria, how to prevent it and where people can get treatment.

Education We teach leaders to apply for grant funding through the health board system. We also train community health workers and equip them to improve health in their neighborhoods. This is what makes our program sustainable.

Prevention Networks of volunteers, led by community health workers, go door-to-door distributing bed nets. We also clean up stagnant water and target use of pesticides inside homes.

Treatment We work to improve access to health care in sub-Saharan Africa by building infrastructure and supporting our 300+ United Methodist Church health clinics and hospitals so they have the medicine, staff and facilities they need to fight malaria. This also equips them to fight other diseases.

Through all of these strategies, we try to make sure that the malaria status quo of lost lives and lost opportunities does not continue forever.

Calls to Worship

Show us, good Lord, how to be frugal

Till all are fed;

How to weep

Till all can laugh;

How to be meek

Till all can stand in pride;

How to mourn

Till all are comforted;

How to be restless

Till all live in peace;

How to claim less

Till all find justice.

(Peter W. Millar, Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 77)

Just as Jesus turned societys norms on their heads,

Help us disrupt the status quo this season.

Throughout history, children have died from mosquito bites.

But we can imagine a world with no malaria.

Help us to take this dream

And make it real.

Just as Jesus preached good news to the poor and broken,

Help us to spread the word.

Just as Jesus healed the sick,

Help us to stop needless suffering.

Prayers

O Lord our God, listening to us here, you accept the prayers of our sisters and brothers in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, the Americas and Europe. We are all one in prayer. So may we, as one, rightly carry out your commission to witness and to love in the church and throughout the world. Accept our prayers graciously, even when they are somewhat strange. They are offered in Jesus name. Amen.

(From the church in Ghana, Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 69)

God, today we pray for the family of Domingos Antonic. He was 8 months old and weighed only 15 pounds when his family brought him to the hospital. His malaria was advanced, and he was completely unresponsive. He struggled to breathe, but the hospital had no oxygen tank. He needed a transfusion, but the doctor did not have a small enough needle for his tiny veins. We lost him that day. We will never know what blessings he could have brought to our world. Guard his soul, Lord. Comfort his parents, aunts and uncles. Sustain his community as they struggle to keep their other children alive. Guide the doctors and nurses. Lord, use us today to make sure that hospital gets the supplies it needs. With your help, we will see a day when children like Domingos are safe from malaria. Amen.

Altar Decoration Idea

Use the same altar decorations as the previous week, but add a photo of Domingos [available in the Graphics folder], framed or mounted, among the vases. Add a strip of white tulle snaking through your desert-scape to symbolize a bed net.

Song Ideas

We Cannot Measure How You Heal, W&S 3139 (new words to a familiar tune)

Heal Us, Emmanuel, Hear Our Prayer, UMH 266

Wounded World That Cries for Healing, TFWS 2177

You Are Mine, TFWS 2218

Come, Let Us Dream, W&S 3157

God Is Able by Reuben Morgan, Hillsong (2010): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=1849637

Multimedia Resource

Imagine No Malaria ministry overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE6DiD0QOho&list=PLByvp1Kd0UotFdnNAlBMHZTe5yD9C9JB4

Week 4: Take Up the Challenge

Lectionary Year A: John 9:1-41. On the Sabbath, Jesus heals a man born blind.

Lectionary Year B: John 3:14-21. Jesus explains his presence in the world to Nicodemus.

Lectionary Year C: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32. Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son to a room full of tax collectors and sinners.

Our theme is Take Up the Challenge on this fourth Sunday of Lent. The Scripture passages describe new life and second chances. The man born blind gets a new lease on life when Jesus heals him. Jesus explains to Nicodemus that Jesus has come into the world so people can be born again into a different kind of life eternal life. The parable of the prodigal son describes God as a loving father whose arms are always open, even when his children make mistakes. As we take up the challenge of building a new world without malaria, we fight for the sake of children and pregnant mothers who would otherwise die from this disease. We fight to give them a second chance at life abundant.

Calls to Worship

Come let us worship and praise God

Creator of heaven and earth, who is still creating and re-creating.

Come let us worship and praise God

Jesus, who ushered in a new order and a new way of life.

Come let us worship and praise God

Holy Spirit, who empowers us to transform.

Come let us worship and praise God

Trinity, holy mystery, imagination itself!

(Adapted, Ministry Matters Living Stone resource 2013)

It is by our love that we are known to be followers of Christ.

It is by trusting that we become fully human.

It is by changing that we hope to grow.

What we were when we came here, we will not be when we leave,

For we have met each other in the presence of God.

Let us therefore show love to one another.

Gods love will transform the world!

(Adapted, Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 76)

Prayers

O God, be with our brothers and sisters who suffer from malaria today. Slow the course of the parasite. Cool the fevered brow. Comfort the aching muscles. Steady the hands of the caretakers. Jesus the healer, be present in Africa. Lift away the disease so that those who are afflicted get a new lease on life. Make us your hands and feet, that in helping to end malaria, we are also born anew. Amen.

God of all nations, your love and mercy surround us, wherever we are. So many people are suffering from malaria. Help us to learn about the suffering of others and give us the wisdom and compassion to act. It is so easy to look the other way. With open hearts and open minds, we seek to learn what you would have us do. We ask all this in your sons name. Amen.

(By the Rev. Marji Bishir, Imagine No Malaria 2013 Lenten Devotionals)

Altar Decoration Idea

Remove the photo of Domingos from your altar. Add more tissue-paper buds and flowers so that the formerly bare branch now has buds, the once-budding branch has flowers and the formerly flowering branch has flowers and leaves. Add more tulle so that it begins to overflow from the altar.

Song Ideas

The Summons, TFWS 2130

In Christ There Is No East or West, UMH 548

Sent Out in Jesus Name, TFWS 2223

Risen by The Indigo Room (2013): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=1990263

Lift High (also known as Broken People Call His Name) by Steve Fee (2007):

http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=974654

Multimedia Resource

Sierra Leone Church Growth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnxCXPo0HMw

Week 5: Lift Up The Hurting

Lectionary Year A: John 11:1-45. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.

Lectionary Year B: John 12:20-33. Jesus predicts his death.

Lectionary Year C: John 12:1-8. Mary anoints Jesus feet with oil.

Our theme in the fifth week of Lent is Lift Up the Hurting. In all three lectionary cycles this week, Jesus shows his empathy and humanity. He weeps with Mary and Martha before raising Lazarus from the dead. He is full of sorrow and fear as he approaches his final days. He is deeply moved when Mary anoints him with oil. Jesus was fully God as the mysteries of the next few weeks will prove but also fully man. Because Jesus empathizes with us, we are called to empathize with each other. That is what it means to lift up the hurting: not just to send money for a quick surge of self-satisfaction, but to be moved with compassion for families affected by malaria. We lift up the people of sub-Saharan Africa, not as faceless beneficiaries, but as our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Calls to Worship

We worship a Christ

Who is fully God, and yet fully man.

We worship a Christ

Who is moved by compassion to heal and protect.

We worship a Christ

Who becomes vulnerable for the sake of others.

We worship a Christ

Who calls us to follow him!

Prayers

God of our ancestors, when your children are suffering, hear our cry. Help us to remember your faithfulness in ages past, and teach us to offer ourselves and our gifts as generously as you do. Let our giving bear witness to your love and make it possible for others to experience the abundant life Jesus offers. May our journey this Lent draw us closer to Christ and so to you. Amen.

(By the Rev. Kerry Greenhill, Imagine No Malaria 2013 Lenten Devotionals)

Dear Lord, make me an instrument of your peace and love by sharing with others that they may have freedom from the disease of malaria. May we do this not for our own ambition, but simply out of interest and love that we have for others, as Christ has for us. In Your name, we pray. Amen.

(By Dr. Peter L. Paulson, Imagine No Malaria 2013 Lenten Devotionals)

Altar Decoration Idea

Add to last weeks altar by draping additional tulle so that it spills onto the floor. Print out and frame/mount pictures of children and their families, arranging them with the tulle and vases.

Song Ideas

O Love, How Deep, UMH 267

There Is a Balm in Gilead, UMH 375

Rule of Life, W&S 3117

Forever, W&S 3023

Come, Now Is the Time to Worship, W&S 3176

Greater by Chris Tomlin (2014): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=2240401

Multimedia Resource

Imagine Text to Donate video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaQDTdAR-qc&list=PLByvp1Kd0UotFdnNAlBMHZTe5yD9C9JB4&index=2

Week 6 (Palm Sunday): Lift Up the Healed

Lectionary Year A: Matthew 21:1-11. Jesus enters Jerusalem.

Lectionary Year B: Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16. Jesus enters Jerusalem.

Lectionary Year C: Luke 19:28-40. Jesus enters Jerusalem.

On Palm Sunday, our theme is Lift Up the Healed. The United Methodist Church operates more than 300 hospitals, clinics and health posts across the African continent. Staff and volunteers, who dedicate their lives to improving access to health care, have already saved thousands of lives. The death rate from malaria has been cut in half!

In the lectionary passage, Jesus rides into Jerusalem and puts it all on the line for the people he loves. God calls us to do the same. God calls us to step outside our comfort zones in the fight against malaria. As we celebrate Jesus triumphal entry, we also celebrate the people whose lives have been spared from malaria. (Most of the focus for this week is on Jesus story, not the Imagine No Malaria story, and that is appropriate.)

Calls to Worship

We tell your story.

We follow in your footsteps.

Lead us Into Holy Week!

We walk toward the city.

We wait in the garden.

Lead us onto Holy Ground!

We journey toward death.

We hope for resurrection.

Lead us into Holy Joy!

(Shout Hosanna!Service Prayers for Palm/Passion Sunday was written by the Rev. Daniel B. Randall, senior pastor, First Congregational Church, UCC, Bristol, R.I., and a USAF chaplain (reserves). Copyright 2011, Local Church Ministries, Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 44115-1100. Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education. All publishing rights reserved. http://www.ucc.org/worship/worship-ways/year-a/le/lent-service-prayers-2.html )

Come and give thanks!

Our God is doing miracles!

Parents can rest easy knowing their children are safe.

Children have a chance to reach their potential.

Come and hear the good news!

Gods love is stronger than disease.

With our gifts and prayers,

We can lift up precious lives.

Prayers

Creator and Lord of us all, we are marching with you to Zion. Remind us again of your power to break through even the dissonance and incongruence of life. We pray for our brothers and sisters on the continent of Africa who daily face the challenges of poverty and disease. In the words of Sir Isaac Watts, Come, we that love the Lord join in a song with sweet accord and thus surround the throne. May the harmony of our individual voices create a symphony of praise that gives life to your children around the world. We pray in the name of Jesus who died that all might have life. Amen.

(By the Rev. Janice Griffith, Imagine No Malaria 2013 Lenten Devotionals)

Lord, we are too nervous to ask for help from one another. The Master needs your donkey, but we're afraid to ask.

Lord, we are afraid to give you what you ask. Help us realize that what we have is just a gift from you.

Lord, we are too proud to lay our cares before you.Help us to lay our cloaks on the colt, on the road, on your way.

Lord, we have been quiet in our praise, our shouts of Hosanna! sound like mice whispering.Put palms in our hands; help us in grace to stand.

Lord, we have looked from the pinnacle of the temple,craving, protecting and manipulating power.We have told you, time and time again,make the crowds pipe down!Break our hearts of stone; let us see your steadfast love,and bring forth your kingdom in this place.

Lord, forgive us for what we have not asked; forgive us for what we have asked that was not needed, for what we have kept that was needed,and for what we have given that was unjust.

Hear the good news. Christ came riding a donkey of peace and reconciliation,not a charging warhorse of judgment. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.Glory to God. Amen.

(Adapted, A Prayer of Confession for Palm Sunday by the Rev. Nathan Decker, http://www.gbod.org/resources/the-master-needs-your-donkey-a-prayer-of-confession-for-palm-sunday)

Altar Decoration Idea

Add palms to your existing altar design. Put some in the vases alongside the branches, tape others to the back of the altar so that they point upward behind it, and lay many on the ground in front of it.

Multimedia Resource

There Is Hope for You by William Elliot Whitmore, with art by He Qui (Lenten meditation from the perspective of Jesus): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-27PYq60WSg

A Message for United Methodists from Rear Admiral Tim Zeimer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLoM4LqbsOg

Song Ideas

All Glory, Laud, and Honor, UMH 280

Hosanna, Loud Hosanna, UMH 278

I Will Enter His Gates, TFWS 2270

The Trees of the Field, TFWS 2279

Hosanna by Brooke Ligertwood, Hillsong (2006): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=979900

Hosanna (Praise is Rising) by Paul Baloche (2005-06): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=559270

Week 7: (Easter Sunday) Look Up to Overcome

On Easter Sunday, as we celebrate the risen Christ, we also celebrate the role we play in the fight against malaria. Collect the special offering generated by the Giving from Abundance calendars. Make sure to provide a brief overview of Imagine No Malaria for visitors through a bulletin insert, video clip or brief announcement so they, too, can participate.

Calls to Worship

God of new beginnings, you wipe away our tears and call us to care for one another.

Give us eyes to see your gifts, hearts to embrace all creation and hands to serve you every day of our lives. Amen.

(2002 Consultation on Common Texts, Worship and Song Worship Resource, page 71)

Morning has broken, but this morning is different.

The birds are singing tunes of joy in the trees surrounding the graves.The flower buds are bursting in colors vibrant around each stone.

We've come to visit the grave of a friend, but "he is not here."

The sun is rising in the east; the shadowed grays turn bright! The Son is risen in our hearts; darkness and death end in defeat.

Now we understand what Christ said, what God did.

Now we can proclaim, CHRIST IS RISEN! HALLELUJAH!

(By the Rev. Nathan Decker, http://www.gbod.org/resources/morning-has-broken-easter-call-to-worship)

Prayers

Lord, we can still see miracles performed by your hands, if only we look. Allow us to be your hands and feet here on Earth each day so that the miracle of the elimination of malaria may occur. Every life that is saved is a reason to celebrate. Praise be to you, O God. Amen.

(By Margo Jacobs, Imagine No Malaria 2013 Lenten Devotionals)

Good God, we are so blessed that Jesus made room for us at the table. We are so blessed that the love of Christ breaks down every wall and helps us to see the entire human family as brothers and sisters. Help us to see Imagine No Malaria as a way to return to the Lord for all his bounty. Let our support of Imagine No Malaria be just another expression of your invitation to be at the table together, sharing of the abundance you have given so freely. Hallelujah! Amen!

(By Rev. Gary Henderson, Imagine No Malaria 2013 Lenten Devotionals)

Altar Decoration Idea

The liturgical color for Easter is white, so decorating with white tulle (representing mosquito nets) is appropriate. Cover the altar with as many flowers as possible. Have at least one piece of netting loose on the altar to collect the Easter offering.

Multimedia Resource

Thanks to You play this video before the offering so visitors get a brief overview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3yYhDnxiX8

Communion Litany

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise!

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Creator of heaven and earth.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

Your Spirit anointed him

To preach good news to the poor,

To proclaim release to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed.

O Lord, we have fallen short of the example of your son, Jesus Christ.

We can do more for those who are oppressed, blind, captive and poor. Too many children still die from the bite of a mosquito. Today we celebrate Gods vision for our world and the new life of the Resurrection by helping to end malaria.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are beloved and forgiven!

In the name of Jesus Christ, we are all beloved and forgiven! Thanks be to God!

On Jesus last night, he gathered with his closest friends for the Passover dinner. During the supper, Jesus took bread and gave thanks to God, saying, Take and eat. Every time you do this, remember what I have taught you. After the supper, he took the cup and gave thanks to God saying, Drink from this all of you. This is the cup of grace, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Every time you do this, remember what I have taught you.

O God, pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on all your beloved children around the world. Help us to see your grace, forgiveness and surprising joy in the empty tomb. Your amazing love will always have the last word.

Amen.

(Drew Frisbie, 2014)

Song Ideas

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today, UMH 302

Easter People, Raise Your Voices, UMH 304

In the Garden, UMH 314

Woke Up This Morning, TFWS 2082

Trading My Sorrows, W&S 3108

Christ Is Risen by Matt Maher (2009): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=1004257

Happy Day by Tim Hughes (2006): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=558069

Offering

Assign children and youth to be readers and ushers for this offering.

Reader: Todays offering will benefit Imagine No Malaria. Every minute, a child in Africa dies from malaria, even though we know how to prevent and treat it. However, United Methodists can imagine a better world where no child lives in fear of a mosquito bite, and with Gods help, well make it happen! Hear what our brothers and sisters in Sierra Leone say about it.

[Play the Thanks to You video]

Sung response: Our God Saves by Paul Baloche: http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=1018722

[While the congregation learns this simple melody, four ushers come forward to remove the net from the altar and bring it to the head of the aisle. Each usher holds a corner so that people can place money in the middle. Then, singers pause between the verse and the chorus while the instrumental music continues.]

Reader: We have saved our gifts for an entire season. Today, we bring them forth and dedicate them to the God who gave up everything for us. We will do it in the African style by singing and dancing while we give! When moved to do so, make your way forward and place your offering in the net. Today, we have the power to save lives.

[Continue the sung response. It may be helpful to prep a few key people for this moment so that they will be ready to dance first. Continue the song until people are finished coming forward.]

Reader: Dear God, thank you so much for working through us to help save lives and create a better world. Our gifts represent a tiny fraction of what you have given to us. We stand in awe of your generosity. Death will never have the last word. In the spirit of Christs Resurrection, bring new life to communities affected by malaria. You have already brought new life here. We can feel it! Thank you, God. Hallelujah!

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before Easter

We realize that every church has different traditions for the three days leading to Easter. We have tried to provide a variety of adaptable resources that can fit into your services, whether you celebrate Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, or some combination.

The Passion

Lectionary Year A: Matthew 26:14-27, 66 OR Matthew 27:11-54. Jesus is killed.

Lectionary Year B: Mark 14:1-15:47 OR Mark 15:1-39. Jesus is killed.

Lectionary Year C: Luke 22:14-23, 56 OR Luke 23:1-49. Jesus is killed.

Calls to Worship

May the Christ who walks on wounded feet

Walk with us on the road.

May the Christ who serves with wounded hands

Stretch out our hands to serve.

May the Christ who loves with a wounded heart

Open our hearts to love.

May we see the face of Christ in everyone we meet,

And may everyone we meet see the face of Christ in us.

(Adapted from the traditional Celtic blessing, Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 15)

From Bethlehem to Nazareth,

From Jordan to Jericho,

From Bethany to Jerusalem,

From then to now,

Come, Lord Jesus.

To heal the sick,

To mend the brokenhearted,

To comfort the disturbed,

To disturb the comfortable,

To cleanse the temple,

To liberate faith from convention,

Come, Lord Jesus.

Today,

To this place,

To us,

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

(Wild Goose Group, 1998, Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 13)

Prayers

Eternal God, when nothing existed but chaos, you swept through a formless void and brought forth order with the creation of day and night. We celebrate day as it brings forth light that enables us to see the beauty of your creation. We cherish the stillness of the night where your promise for the world is revealed to us as we rest. Day and night, darkness and light, they belong to you. You created them and you called them good. Yet God, in the beauty of creation, chaos still appears. Chaos can remind us of what weve overcome. Chaos can lead us to seek realities different from that which weve become complacent in. Chaos can turn us into better versions of ourselves, but chaos can also consume and destroy us. From the chaos of lies, misinformation and ignorance, defend us. From the chaos that severs right relationships and leads to the study of hate, violence and war, save us. From the chaos of fear, release us, and from the chaos of unexpected suffering and untimely death, heal us. Remind us to pray together and for one another. Teach us to mourn together and for each other and lead all of your people to fully rest in the assurance that whether we are in deep waters or walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with us. With the audacity of faith, and through the power of your Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen!

(By Janjay Innis, http://www.umcmission.org/learn-about-us/news-and-stories/2014/august/0806aprayerfortheworld)

There are questions that wait in the shadows, doubts that lurk, and so we shut the lights off and try to sleep. The kind of despair that forms its own tape over our mouths when we try to pray. The question trembles in our chest, fights its way out of our throats and sticks in the air, vapor like warm breath meeting cold wind: God, where are you? Maybe I shouldnt question you, maybe I shouldnt doubt you, but sometimes I do. Sometimes life and tragedy and grief make it difficult to believe you. I want to. But sometimes its hard to. So, where are you now when I cry, when I try, when I want to know why? Where do I find your quiet in the midst of the noise? How do I not mistake your silence for the thought that you dont hear my voice? There are questions that wait in the shadows, doubts that lurk and so we shut the lights off and try to sleep.

(From Garden, by The Liturgists. Used with permission.)

Tenebrae Prayer

Dear Jesus, because you became human, suffered and died, we know you are with us even in our darkest nights and deepest valleys. Tonight we remember your final moments. We also remember the innocent lives extinguished by malaria. Hear our silent prayers tonight. We will put out a candle every 60 seconds to signify one life lost to a preventable, treatable disease. Be near us, Lord Jesus.

[Silence as candles are extinguished, one every minute]

Jesus, guard these souls and keep them close to you. Comfort their families. Help us to end this disease. Until it ends, have mercy. Amen.

Altar Decoration Idea

Dismantle altar decorations completely. Use only a black cloth and candles to decorate the altar and remove any other decorations in the worship space.

Song Ideas

Eat This Bread, UMH 628

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, UMH 286

Were You There, UMH 288

We Sang Our Glad Hosannas, TFWS 2111 (sing all but the last verse)

Jesus Remember Me, UMH 488

At the Cross by Darlene Zschech (2006): http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/songdetail.aspx?iid=1798199

(See Taize service below for additional music suggestions.)

Foot-Washing Litany based on John 13

Necessary items include pitchers of lukewarm water, basins and at least one towel per person.

Leader: It was Jesus Christ who humbled himself on his last night by kneeling before each of his closest friends and washing their road-weary feet before the Passover Feast. This was a servants job. An unpleasant task. And yet, he did tenderly, it with tears of affection in his eyes.

All: O Lord, teach us to be humble!

Leader: As Jesus tied the towel around his waist, the disciples became uneasy. Was this some sort of test? It was clear Jesus meant business as he wiped their feet clean. Peter couldnt bear the thought of his teacher and Messiah doing such a task. But Jesus assured him that this was part of a much bigger lesson. He would miss out if he didnt allow the master to become a servant.

All: O Lord, teach us to serve!

Leader: In washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus gave us an example of how to live our lives in service to God and our neighbors both near and far. As we gather today humbly to wash each others feet, we remember children of God around the world who are suffering. We imagine their feet: calloused, mosquito bitten, muddy because even asphalt is a luxury would we be willing to wash those feet? Help us today to wash away our guilt, our trepidation and anything else that holds us back from serving our global neighbors with Gods living water. With Gods help, we will make malaria a thing of the past.

All: Thank you, Lord, for the chance to be your hands and feet in a world of need! Amen.

Jesu, Jesu (UMH 432)

All are invited to come to one of several foot-washing stations to kneel and serve one another until everyone has had an opportunity to wash someones feet or hands.

Leader: Will you join me in prayer?

All: Jesus, you are our teacher and our Lord. We are humbled by your example and called to do likewise. We pray today for those all around the world who are afflicted by disease, war and poverty. Jesus, just as you sought out those living on the margins to offer new life, we are called to change the world so it reflects your love. Amen.

(Drew Frisbie, 2014)

Labyrinth Taize Service

Youth or adult Sunday school materials include instructions for making a labyrinth. If your church participates in this project, this is a great way to dedicate and use the labyrinth. If not, you can still sing the Taize songs and do the reading; just skip the dedication. Set up a darkened worship space with candles and assorted chairs and pillows for seating. Taize songs repeat many times until the spirit moves the assembled group to silence. After a minute of silence, begin the next song. Keep the music quiet and simple to facilitate meditation. The Holy Saturday reading can be read aloud, printed in a bulletin, or simply written on paper and placed in the center of the labyrinth. Print a notice or announce that someone is available just outside the worship space to pray with people.

Reader 1: Dear God, were here today to present this labyrinth to our church.

All: Please bring peace to every person who walks on it.

Reader 1: Help it remind us of what weve learned during Lent this year.

[Silence when each person who helped create the labyrinth can think about the word they painted on it]

Reader 1: Let it be a sacred space where we find you at the center of our lives.

All: Guard our steps, and help us to know that you are with us.

Reader 2: Sometimes when we pray, we focus inwardly and forget to focus outwardly.

All: Its easier not to think about children who have malaria.

Reader 2: So we put up walls and say, This problem is too huge! Theres no way I can make a difference.

All: But the walls we create are not as powerful as your love.

Reader 2: This labyrinth leads us to the center of our faith, where we remember that every child of God is precious.

All: Help us to tear down the walls!

[As a group, carefully peel off the blue tape to reveal the lines of the labyrinth. Joyful noises are appropriate! If your group likes to sing, choose a few favorite songs for this time. It will take a few minutes. When the tape is off, place candles around the labyrinth. Slowly dim the lights and light the candles.]

Reader 3: Ephesians 3:20, CEB, says, Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us.

All: We have the power to create beautiful things and save lives.

Reader 3: God, thank you for working through us today!

All: We really can change the world.

Pastor: Thank you! We accept this labyrinth as a precious gift. We promise to take care of it and use it with joy. Let us pray.

All: In the name of God who created us, taught us how to live and walks beside us wherever we go, we dedicate this labyrinth. May it be a tool for peace, centering and connection here at our church. O God, without you, none of our projects or prayers have meaning. Accept this gift as a symbol of our love for you. Just as we dedicate the labyrinth to your service, we dedicate ourselves. Amen.

In the Lord Ill Be Ever Thankful, TFWS 2195

Come and Fill Our Hearts, TFWS 2157

Bless the Lord, TFWS 2013

Live in Charity (Ubi Caritas), TFWS 2179

Holy Saturday Reading (below)

Wait for the Lord, W&S 3049

Exit in silence

Holy Saturday Reading

Oh, my God! Where are you? In the Sabbath garden, silenced, broken, behind the stone my God is lost to me.

Oh, my God! Where are you? In the bodies of children too young to name, almost weightless when tucked into the soil my God is lost to me.

Oh, my God! Where are you? In the grief which first shatters life into before and after, then consumes, chaperons and carves me my God is lost to me.

Oh, my God! Where are you? I resist my day of rest and prepare Sundays burial spices. I take the night watch even though I am spent. I wait. I beg my lost God for the dawn and my lost God holds vigil.

Childrens MessagesFirst Sunday in Lent

Visual prop: Gift bag of box wrapped in Christmas paper containing bright green Imagine No Malaria bracelets

Script: Merry Christmas! (After children laugh and correct you): What? It isnt Christmas now? Do I have the wrong season? Well, what season is it now? (Kids will probably say winter; if anyone says spring, acknowledge whatever early signs youve noticed maybe little green shoots pushing up through the ground. If anyone says Lent, affirm this answer and ask if he/she knows what Lent is about.)

In the Christian calendar, the word for early spring is Lent. Its the season leading to Easter.

Advent was the season leading to Christmas, when we remembered Baby Jesus. During Lent, we remember Jesus as an adult. When Jesus grew up, he did and taught some amazing things. Lent is a time to learn about that.

Lent reminds me of Christmas because both are about Jesus, and both are about gifts (hold up wrapped package). When Christmas was coming, did you think about what gifts you might get? Yeah? Well, during Lent, its time to think about what gifts you might share.

Its tempting to keep our gifts all to ourselves (hug the wrapped present and say something like this is all mine!). Even Jesus was tempted to use his gifts just for himself, but he knew God wanted him to share his special gifts with all sorts of people. He gave up some of his gifts for us.

Many Christians have a tradition of giving up something for Lent. Usually its something they like but might not be very good for them maybe TV or candy.

This Lenten season, many United Methodist Christians around the world are going to give up or share a gift that can help others. United Methodists have a theme for this Lent: Give up a gift, take up a cause, lift up a life. Thats what Jesus did. In church and Sunday school, we can learn more about what he did, and what we can do during this season leading up to Easter. For right now, I think its time for me to give up holding on to this gift, and to share it with all of you! (Let the kids help unwrap and/or reach into the present. Give a bracelet to each of them.)

Youll find out more about what these spring-green bracelets mean in Sunday school today!

Lets fold our hands now and say a prayer:

Dear God, thank you for sending your son, Jesus, into the world. Help us learn about him and become ready to share as he did. Amen.

Second Sunday in Lent

Note: This message assumes that Imagine No Malaria Lenten Calendars were already introduced to the congregation and Sunday school students.

Visual props:

Pipe cleaner mosquito inside a small opaque container

Imagine No Malaria Lenten calendar

Collection container (jar or small box) with some money in it

Script: Good morning! Today I need your help to get rid of some evil villains! Ive captured one of them in this box (hold up the opaque container). Do you think an evil villain could fit inside this little box? Well, the big monsters you see in some movies couldnt fit in here, but there are some tiny monsters that can do a lot of harm. Can anybody guess what kind of villain this is? (Reach in and pull out the pipe cleaner mosquito.)

Yeah, its a mosquito! See, here are its six legs and its evil little eyes and its long proboscis thats what it uses to suck your blood! Its like a creepy little vampire! And do you know what? Real mosquitoes are a lot tinier than this pipe cleaner one.

Have you ever been bitten by a mosquito? Yeah? Did you get a bump on your skin that itched a lot? Around here, mosquitoes can make us itch, but they usually dont make us sick. In some other places, though, especially in Africa, theres a type of mosquito that only comes out at night, and she carries a bad disease that makes millions of people sick! Who remembers what that disease is called? (Give the kids a chance to answer.)

Malaria. It isnt something you can catch here in the United States anymore; we got rid of malaria in this country a long time ago. But children who live in Africa are in danger because of villains like this (hold up the pipe cleaner mosquito again).

The good news is that we can help protect malaria! Some of us here at church have already started doing that. (Hold up the Imagine No Malaria Lenten calendar). How many of you (ask kids and the whole congregation) are doing the activities on this Imagine No Malaria Lenten calendar? If youve been collecting some money each day (hold up jar/box with coins in it), then you are helping to fight bad bugs like this one (hold up the mosquito).

How many of you helped your parents count all the medicine bottles in your house this past week? That was one of the first activities on this Lenten calendar, wasnt it? Did it surprise you to find so much medicine in your house? Most of us can go to a doctor or drug store to get medicines we need to help us get and stay well. But many people in poor countries have trouble getting medicines they need. Thats one thing the money we collect (hold up the jar) this Lent can pay for: it can help hospitals and clinics in Africa provide medicine for people with malaria.

When Jesus walked on the Earth, he showed concern for people who were sick, and he helped them. He taught his friends to do the same. This Lent, lets try to be like Jesus and do what we can to help people. Lets be thankful for the good things we have, and share some of our money so other people can get what they need to be healthy.

Now lets fold our hands and pray together:

Dear God, thank you for blessing us with so many good things. Please help us to bless others as Jesus did. Amen.

Third Sunday in Lent

Visual props:

Bed net or large piece of filmy fabric folded and wrapped in a bag, mailing box or envelope

Pipe cleaner mosquito

Script: Good morning! Someone just gave me this package (hold up whatever youve wrapped the bed net in). Im curious to find out whats inside. Lets find out together! (Pull out the net and unfold it.)

Hmmm I wonder what it is. Maybe its some kind of clothing (get up and wrap the net around you like a shawl). Well, maybe not. It isnt very warm because it has all these little holes in it. Hey, maybe its a fishing net! Lets see (try casting one edge of it out in front of you while you hold on to the other edge).

Well, that didnt work quite right. I dont think I could catch many fish this way, do you? Hmmm maybe I could make a hammock out of this thing. What do you think? (By now, some kids who were in Sunday school last week will recognize that its a bed net and say so. If not, prompt them with questions like, Have you ever seen anything like this? or Did you have something like this in Sunday school last week? What did you do with it? Let a few of the children help you hold the net up like a tent over a few other kids).

OK; I see. This is a bed net to hang around people who are sleeping. Why would people want to sleep under a bed net? (Give kids a chance to answer, and help paraphrase any relevant responses.)

(Take out the pipe cleaner mosquito). Remember this little villain? Yeah, its a mosquito. What if this were one of those mosquitoes in Africa that only come out at night to bite people? What if it carried that bad disease, malaria, that makes so many people sick? (Make the mosquito fly into the net.) The net keeps mosquitoes from the people under it. The mosquito nets our church gives people in Africa have a little mosquito poison on them, so when the mosquitoes land on them, they die (make a choking noise and drop the pipe cleaner mosquito off the net).

Weve learned that when we only give out nets without explaining what they are and how to use them, people try to use them for all sorts of other things like wedding gowns, fishing nets and hammocks. Thats why a big part of the Imagine No Malaria project is about teaching. The United Methodist Church teaches community health workers to teach everyone in a whole village why these nets can help keep their families safe, and how to use them right.

Thats kind of like what Jesus and his disciples did long ago. They traveled from village to village, teaching and healing people. They helped all sorts of people. By helping to raise money for things like nets and education, we can help all sorts of people, too.

Lets pray together: Dear God, thank you for the example Jesus set for us. Please use our gifts to help others get and learn what they need to stay healthy. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Visual prop: Photograph of Bill Gates large enough to see easily for the size of group you expect

Script: Hi, everyone! I have a picture to show you this morning. Do any of you know who this man is? (Hold up the photo and move it around so everyone gets a view of it.) No, it isnt Jesus! (If no one guesses right, give some hints): I have read that, at some point, this man was the richest man in the world. Hes a computer genius. He started Microsoft. He and his wife, Melinda, also started a foundation to give money to make the world a better, healthier place. Its called the Gates Foundation.

Yeah, this is a picture of Bill Gates! Many people envy Bill Gates because hes so smart and rich. Many people also admire him and his wife because they have been very generous to a number of good causes.

One of those causes is ending malaria. In fact, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given $5 million to Imagine No Malaria, the United Methodist project weve been talking about lately. Yeah, thats a lot of money! You might wonder, with so many good causes to support, why would Bill and Melinda Gates choose this one?

Bill Gates says one reason is that we know how to prevent and treat malaria. Do you remember what we learned about last week that can stop mosquitoes from biting people and giving them malaria? Thats right: bed nets. When people learn how to use bed nets right, they can protect themselves and their families from catching malaria. If some people are already sick with malaria, medicines can help them get better.

The United Methodist Church has been providing bed nets, education and medicine for quite a few years in many African countries. In those countries, less than half as many people die from malaria now. In fact, a child lives every minute who otherwise would not have survived.

Bill Gates could see that what our church is doing is working. He also knows that in some African communities, four out of every 10 people who go to a hospital or clinic have malaria. That one disease takes up so many resources that there arent enough left to treat other problems. If we could end malaria, the doctors and nurses in these places could spend more time helping to cure and treat other illnesses.

Bill and Melinda Gates have made fighting malaria one of their causes. So have many people in our own church. (Turn to the congregation and ask): Please raise your hand if you have helped raise money for Imagine No Malaria. Thank you for taking up this cause!

Lets pray together: Dear God, thank you for working through all kinds of people, rich and poor, to help all kinds of people. Please work through us, as you worked through Jesus. Amen.

Fifth Sunday in Lent

The following suggestion for an enactment of John 11:1-44 would take longer than an average childrens message, but could substitute for a straight reading of this Scripture passage, thereby combining the childrens message with the Gospel lesson for the day.

If you can recruit enough volunteers to enact the story of Lazarus as a skit, it would be an engaging way to tell the story. Ideally, you would need to cast a narrator, Jesus, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, a messenger, a few disciples and a few mourners/witnesses to the scene at the tomb. Having Lazarus come out (perhaps from behind the alter or organ) wrapped like a mummy would be unforgettable for kids! It would be powerful to see Mary, Martha and their friends follow Jesus instructions: Unbind him. Let him go!

Heres a lead for such a skit that would relate it to Imagine No Malaria:

During this season of Lent, we have been learning about Jesus and about a project inspired by our desire to follow Jesus example. Do you remember what that project is called? (Wait a few seconds for a response, and give some hints if necessary: Many of us have been raising money for this project. Weve been learning about it in Sunday school.) Its called Imagine No Malaria. Our Lenten theme has been Give up a gift, take up a cause, lift up a life.

Todays Scripture lesson is about Jesus lifting up a life. Its from the Gospel according to John. Its a long story, so rather than just read it to you, some of my friends will act it out for you while I narrate.

(Begin reading John 11:1-2 as Mary and Martha walk out in front of the kids.)

The way you adapt the story to a skit will depend on how many players you have and how much time you want to take recounting the details of the story. You could do something as simple as having two other readers in addition to the narrator, one for Jesus and one for all other speaking parts; you could have a cast of two dozen all in costume, with a different actor for each speaking part, plus many other actors playing the rest of the disciples and crowd. Or you could just tell the story.

Palm Sunday Childrens Message

Visual props:

Palm branch

Imagine No Malaria calendar

Jar or other clear container with some coins and bills in it

Script: Hosanna! What do you think that means? Hosanna! (Listen to responses.) We say Hosanna today because its a special day, right? What day? Yes, its Palm Sunday (wave your palm branch). On Palm Sunday, we remember when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkeys colt and hundreds of people came out to greet him with songs and shouts of joy! They said, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Thats a quote from one of King Davids psalms, and it was a way of saying Hurray! Here comes the hero weve been waiting for! He has already done great things, and now hes coming to our city to set things right!

Many people in Jesus time hoped that Jesus would fix all their problems right away. They cheered for him because they believed he would free them from injustice under Roman rule and from every kind of sickness. The Bible tells us that Jesus did speak and act out again injustice, and he did cure many people who were sick, but he didnt do it all at once. He left much work for his followers like us to do.

Ill bet when United Methodist community health workers arrive in African villages where they have visited before, they are greeted with songs and shouts of joy and high expectations. After all, the death rate from malaria has been cut in half since they started bringing bed nets and teaching people how to use them. Many people who would have died from malaria are alive today because of lifesaving medicines made available by the Imagine No Malaria project.

Stopping malaria isnt something we can do all at once, or by ourselves. It will take the help of many people over several more years to get rid of this awful disease for good.

How many of you have been helping by doing the activities on the Lenten calendar and collecting money for Imagine No Malaria? (Hold up your calendar and cash container. Acknowledge the adults in the congregation as well as the kids who raise their hands.) Thats great! This is the last week of Lent Holy Week when we remember Jesus last week before his death and Resurrection. Lets try to complete what we have started, and bring what we have collected for Imagine No Malaria on Easter Sunday. Together, we can make a difference. We can lift up a life!

Sunday School Materials for Children Grades Pre-K to 2

Be sure to check out the Imagine No Malaria coloring book!

Sunday before Ash Wednesday

Ten-Minute Sunday School Lesson Add-on for Grades K 2

Supplies needed:

Imagine No Malaria Lenten calendars (one for each child)

Jars or boxes for collecting coins and bills

Blank sticky labels for jars that can be labeled and colored

Crayons and/or markers

Cups and fresh water; snacks, if possible

A globe or map of the world

Enough coins to complete one easy calendar activity

Outline for lesson:

Consider having all the children sit at tables for snacks and cups of water. While they are eating, give them a simple explanation about what Lent is a time when we learn about the grown-up Jesus getting ready for the first Easter.

Ask children to pick up their water cups and look in them. Ask if they see any bugs in their water. This should get them looking and giggling. Look in your own cup, saying something like, Hurray, no bugs! and then drink the water. Make a satisfied sound and smile. Invite the kids to do the same.

As kids finish their snacks, explain that in some places in the world especially in Africa there are bugs in much of the water. These bugs sometimes carry diseases that make people sick. (Point to Africa on a globe or map). Malaria is a bad sickness that many people in Africa catch because it is carried by mosquitoes that hatch in still water.

Distribute blank sticky labels to kids as they finish their snacks and water. Before you pass out crayons or markers, explain that during this Lenten season, people in our church will collect money to help get rid of bad bugs in Africa. A special Lenten calendar will help us know how much money to put in our jars each day. (Pass out a calendar to each student). Explain that this calendar helps us realize some of the blessings we have that help us stay healthy, like fresh, clean water with no bugs!

Ask an older student to look at a particular day on the calendar and read what it says. (Choose a day that asks you to count something your classroom has, such as light switches or electrical outlets). Call on a few younger kids to find and count those things in the classroom. As they count, drop a coin in a jar or box for each one. Tell kids that this money will help pay for fresh water, mosquito nets and medicine to protect people from getting sick.

Brainstorm a few ideas about how to decorate sticky labels to go on collection jars/boxes. Then pass out crayons and/or markers. Encourage kids to draw something that will help them remember what the containers are for and help them (if they need and want help) with printing words like Imagine No Malaria. Then help them affix labels on their jars/boxes.

When parents pick up their kids at the end of Sunday school, make sure the adults get the calendars and containers.

First Sunday of LentK-2nd Grade Lesson Add-on

Note: This lesson should immediately follow the first childrens time story in which all the children receive bright-green Imagine No Malaria bracelets out of a gift box or bag from the storyteller.

Supplies needed:

A few extra bracelets for kids who dont have them

A few extra Imagine No Malaria Lenten calendars for kids who missed last weeks lesson

A few extra labeled collection containers (jars or little boxes) for kids who missed last weeks lesson

Pictures of magnified mosquitoes, stagnant water and people under bed nets (Many images are available online, so consider bringing a laptop or tablet.)

Play dough or clay for each child

Timer

Outline for lesson add-on:

Gather and seat children together at tables or in a circle. Ask them to hold up their hand if they didnt get a green bracelet. Distribute bracelets to those who dont have one yet. Ask if anyone can read the words on the bracelet (help them as needed). Ask if anyone remembers from last weeks lesson what malaria is. Remind them that malaria is a bad disease carried by mosquitoes that only bite people at night, mostly in Africa. Show pictures of mosquitoes, stagnant water where they can hatch and a family under a bed net. Can the kids guess why the family is sleeping under a net?

Hold up an Imagine No Malaria calendar and ask kids to raise their hands if their families have started using one. Tell them you have extras for their parents if they didnt get one last week. Demonstrate how to use the calendar by asking an older child to read a particular days activity (choose one that tells you to count something you have in the classroom but didnt count last week). Have a few younger kids look for and count these items. Put a coin in a container for each item counted.

Tell kids that you will give this money help to protect people from malaria. Encourage them to talk with their parents about giving some money for this cause, too. Tell them you have extra jars/boxes for their families if they didnt get one last week.

Make a Jesus connection: Jesus gave people good news. He told them God loved them and wanted to help everyone who turned to God. He told people to love and help each other. We can help people in Africa by giving money to Imagine No Malaria. The money can pay for bed nets, medicines and other things people need to get rid of mosquitoes and sickness.

Activity: Tell kids they get to make play-dough (or clay) mosquitoes and germs, and then squish them! Pass out play dough or Sculpey. Put a picture of a mosquito where kids can see it, but encourage creative-looking germs of whatever variety kids want to make. Set a timer for this activity, letting the kids know that when it goes off, everyone gets to squish his or her bugs!

When parents pick up their children, be ready to provide Imagine No Malaria Lenten calendars and labeled collection containers to any who didnt receive one the previous week. Encourage adults to involve their children in counting things in their home that are listed on the calendar, and to give thanks for these blessings.

Second Sunday of LentK-2nd Grade Sunday School Lesson Add-on

Supplies needed:

Mosquito net or similar filmy fabric

Pipe cleaner mosquito

Imagine No Malaria Lenten calendar

Outline for lesson:

Gather children, preferably in a circle on the floor. Ask if anyone remembers the name of this church season. Affirm that it is Lent, the season leading to Easter. Hold up an Imagine No Malaria Lenten calendar and ask kids to raise their hands if theyve been using the calendar at home. Praise the kids who have been, and ask them to name something theyve helped to count in their homes. Ask if they thought about these things before or felt thankful to have them. Can they imagine not having sinks with clean, running water?

Pull out the pipe cleaner mosquito and hold it up so kids can see but not touch it. Ask if anyone remembers from the childrens message in church what it is. Ask if anyone remembers the name of the bad disease that some mosquitoes carry, especially in Africa. Reassure them that they wont catch malaria from mosquitoes here, but help them understand that children in some parts of the world are in danger because of the sickness they can get from mosquitoes that bite only at night.

Pull out the bed net (or big piece of similar fabric). Explain that nets like this can protect whole families from mosquitoes. Ask a few kids to lie on the floor next to each other and pretend to go to sleep. Ask a few other kids to help you make a tent over them with the net and whatever you can rig up to hold it. To be protective, the net must go all the way to the sleeping surface (or be tucked under it), and it cant be touching someones skin because its possible for a mosquitos proboscis to stick through the netting and into a person lying against it. The kids will learn that its harder than it looks to get the net just right all the way around the sleepers. Use the pipe cleaner mosquito to pretend to bite sleepers if they arent protected completely by the net.

Acknowledge that this is hard. Thats why The United Methodist Church has trained thousands of community health workers in Africa to teach people why bed nets are important, and how to hang them right. The money we are raising helps buy nets, but it also helps pay for education so people learn how to keep their families safe from bad mosquitoes.

Make a Jesus connection: People often called Jesus Teacher because he taught people about things that mattered. Ask kids if they can name a few things Jesus taught, like maybe the Golden Rule, or the two most important commandments (to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves). Affirm what children know, and help clarify it. Then build on it. When someone asked Jesus, Who is my neighbor? he told about a foreign man who stopped to help a stranger who was badly hurt. Jesus told everyone listening to do the same. Jesus taught that God cares about all people, no matter what country they are from, and we should too. When we help someone even someone on the other side of the earth we act as that good foreigner acted in Jesus story.

Third Sunday of Lent

Sunday School Lesson Add-on for K-2nd Grade

Supplies needed:

arge piece of poster board or butcher paper with open block letters (ready to color): TAKE UP A CAUSE!

Crayons or markers

Ready-made Imagine No Malaria poster

Lesson outline:

Invite children to gather around a table or other hard surface where the TAKE UP A CAUSE poster is spread. Help them read it and understand that it means to work at solving a hard problem. Ask who remembers the name of a problem that makes so many people sick in Africa the disease carried by mosquitoes. By now, some of them will probably be able to answer, Malaria!

Show them the ready-made Imagine No Malaria poster. Tell them that ending malaria is a cause on which our church has chosen to work. We need a reminder to keep at it.

Ask children to color in the letters of the poster so people can read them easily from a distance.

When the letters are colored, go on a quick field trip to hang the handmade and ready-made posters side by side in a place where many people will see them. Let the kids help choose the place (maybe give them a choice of two places) and help affix the posters with sticky putty or tape.

Make a Jesus connection on the way back to the classroom and/or when you arrive there: Jesus went to pray and teach in a building like a church. People called it the temple. He cared a lot about what happened in the temple. Jesus cared about how people at the temple used money. He got mad when he saw some people making other people pay a lot of money for things they were supposed to have to get into the temple. He turned over their tables so the money they had taken rolled all over! Another time, he watched people give offerings of money at the temple. He noticed when a woman with very little money gave all she had.

Some people in Africa have very little, but still give as much as they can to help their neighbors. When people in the United States give as much as we can to help people in Africa, we use money for a good purpose that honors God.

The posters we helped make and hang will remind people in our church to use some of their money for a good cause. You can remind your family to keep doing the activities on the Lenten calendar. Putting in a little money each day will add up to enough to buy bed nets and medicine for people who need them.

Fourth Sunday of LentAdd-on for K-2nd Grade

Supplies needed:

Hula hoop

Enough string, rope or masking tape to make a circle on the floor about 6 to 8 feet in diameter

Human costumes (not animals or movie characters) that will approximately fit kids

Small, individually wrapped treats that everyone can eat without a mess

Outline for lesson:

Before class, set hula-hoop in the middle of the floor and make a larger circle around it with string, rope or tape so there is room to stand between the hoop and the larger circle.

As children arrive, invite them to put on a costume (this could be as simple as a firefighters hat or a small flag from another country for them to hold). If you dont have enough costumes to go around, thats OK; whoever doesnt have a costume (or doesnt want to choose from the selection you have) can stand inside the hula-hoop. Make sure at least two kids and one adult are in the hoop together. This small circle represents our closest friends and family.

Ask the kids with local-looking costumes (like the firefighters hat) to stand between the circles. As their teacher, you can stand between the circles, too. This second circle represents our community.

Everyone in the room who is outside the circles represents the wide world. Ask the kids which groups God loves. Ideally, they will answer, All of us! or God loves everyone. Thats the point.

Turn toward the kids in the smallest circle. Explain that Jesus told a story about two brothers who lived and worked together on a farm with their father. The younger one wanted to leave, so his father gave him half of all he had, and the young man went away (lead one child out of the inner circle and outer circle and across the room). This son spent all the money and then felt hungry and lonely. He decided to go back home and tell his dad he was sorry for what he had done. (Lead the child back into the hula-hoop). His father was so happy to have him home safely that he threw a big party! When the older brother found out, he was angry. (Prompt another child inside the small circle to pout.) He thought his little brother had wasted their dads money. But the father assured the older son that there was plenty for him, too. He asked his older son to celebrate his brothers return with him. Jesus said God is like that father: God wants us to love and forgive our brothers and sisters and others close to us. He wants us to live and eat together in peace. (At this point, the adult in the inner circle gives each child in the inner circle some treats.)

Jesus also taught that God wants us to care about and help other people in our communities (gesture toward the kids between the two circles). Jesus healed, taught and fed many people near him. He taught his disciples to do the same. (Start passing out treats to kids between the circles and ask people in the inner circle to share their treats with them so everyone has some.)

Jesus also taught that God loves the whole world. God cares about all people everywhere. (Gesture toward the kids outside the circles.) Start handing them treats and ask the kids who have been inside the circles to step out and share with those who have been outside the circles.

Ask kids to sit together at tables or in a big circle before they unwrap and eat their treats. While they enjoy their snacks and some water, remind them that our work for Imagine No Malaria is like stepping outside the circles of our close friends, family and community. Its sharing with the wider world. Just like sharing with people we know well or who live near us, its important to God, because people everywhere are important to God.

Fifth Sunday of LentAdd-on for K-2nd Grade

Supplies needed:

Poster board or butcher paper of similar size as the one used in class two weeks ago (for the Take Up a Cause banner) with open block letters on it spelling LIFT UP A LIFE

Pictures of all sorts of people from magazines and catalogues, scissors, glue sticks and/or crayons or markers to color the banner letters

Sticky putty or tape to affix the banner on a wall

Lesson outline:

Spread the banner on a table or other flat surface where kids can gather around and work on it. Put supplies where they can reach them.

As children arrive, invite them to start gluing pictures of people into the open block letters of the new banner (you may need to help them use scissors to trim pictures so they dont overlap too much and make the words hard to read). If you prefer, just have them color in these letters as they did with the banner two weeks ago. If you have some pictures but not enough for the whole banner, have the kids color the first three words and just use glued pictures to fill in the word LIFE.

While kids are busy filling in letters, talk to them about the childrens story theyve just heard in church about Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life. Ask them if theyve ever felt like Martha and Mary at the beginning of the story. Have they ever been worried about someone they love who is very sick? Listen to their stories.

Tell Muriels story: Muriel was the mother of four children who all got very sick at the same time. She took them to a United Methodist clinic near her village in Africa. The doctor said all four children had malaria. Muriel was afraid they would die because malaria had killed so many children in her country. But the doctor gave Muriel medicine for her children, and all of them got better! Muriel was so thankful that she brought the most valuable thing she owned a milk goat to the clinic to pay for the medicine. The doctor and nurses at the clinic would not take her goat; they told her that people like us already paid for the medicine people who had given money to Imagine No Malaria. Muriel was so surprised and grateful that she decided to be trained as a community health worker so she could teach other families how to protect their children.

Help kids see a parallel between Jesus lifting up the life of Lazarus and us lifting up the lives of children like Muriels. Jesus had power to restore life and health, but even we have power to save lives from malaria.

Go on a short field trip to the same place where you hung the TAKE UP A CAUSE banner. If theres room enough, hang up the new LIFT UP A LIFE banner next to or under it. If theres not room for both, put the new banner over or in place of the old one. Let kids help aff