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Prayer / Worship activity

Option 1

10 minutes

Read out Genesis 1:1–2:4, asking volunteers to stand in different parts of your meeting space and read out each day of creation. At the end of the reading, ask the congregation to consider how this creation story makes them think or feel. They can chat with their neighbours or think about it on their own. If people want to share from the front, provide space for them to do so.

Option 2

5 minutes

Explore with the congregation different ways to praise God. You could think about football chants and how they glorify a football team. Can you come up with a football-style chant or praise to God? Or maybe you could create rhythms using clapping and / or percussion instruments. Spend a few minutes praising God with the chant or rhythm you have devised.

Story

20 minutes

In three areas around your meeting place, set out craft stations big enough for a third of the congregation to work around each one. They should have plain paper (both white and coloured), scissors, felt-tips and other art and collage materials, glue and sticky tape. The stations should be:

Heavens

Templates for angels, planets, stars, suns etc – anything that represents ‘heavens’.

Earth

Templates of different animals, plants, birds, reptiles and fish. You could also provide magazines with coloured pictures of these creatures and plants.

Peoples of the Earth

Magazines with pictures of people from around the world (National Geographic is a good publication to use). You could download and print out these from the internet.

Invite the congregation to choose a station. Explain that everyone is going to make a visual aid to use as you read out Psalm 148. This Psalm invites all parts of creation to praise God.

As people go to the stations, position some volunteers at each one to help people discover what to do and also to divert people to other stations if one proves particularly popular. These volunteers should also help people chat as they work, asking people why they have chosen that planet / animal / photo of a person to work on. They can also ask the people at their station what they think it means to praise God.

Once everyone has finished, invite them to return to their places. Ask everyone to lift up their visual aids – compliment the congregation on their creativity! Explain that you’re going to read out Psalm 148 and, when people hear their visual aid mentioned, they should wave it in the air and cheer. Also explain that, when you’ve read out the final line of the Psalm: “Shout praises to the Lord!” everyone should think of something to shout in praise to God.

Give time for people to think about this, and encourage adults to help children and young people decide what they might shout too. Then read Psalm 148 out slowly and expressively. You might need to do this more than once, so that people get the hang of it. Once you have finished, comment that although not everyone worships God now, there will come a time when God will live with his people and everyone will praise him. Read out Philippians 2:10-11: “So at the name of Jesus, everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord!”’

Reflective response to the story

Option 1

10 minutes

Have an extended time of sung worship to help the congregation think about what they have discovered today. You could try some of these songs:

‘At the name of Jesus’ (Mission Praise 41)

‘Angels praise him’ (Psalm Praise 11 – this is quite an old book!)

‘From the highest of heights’ (Indescribable) (Songs of Fellowship)

‘Psalm 148: Praise the Lord from the heavens’ (Graham Kendrick, USA Live Worship CD)

‘I’m gonna clap my hands’ (Great Big God CD)

Option 2

5 minutes

Before the session, put together a slide show of photos of the things mentioned in Psalm 148. Show the presentation and play some reflective music. Ask the congregation to watch the photos and think about how all these things praise the Lord. At the end of the presentation, challenge the congregation to think about how they themselves will praise God in the coming week.

Alternatively, if it is possible for people to go outside to a garden or park, take everyone out and ask them to look at the trees and plants. How do they praise the Lord? How can everyone do the same this week?

Group discussion questions

10 minutes

Split into mixed-age groups to discuss these questions:

  • What’s your favourite part of the Psalm?
  • What’s the most important part?
  • Are you in the Psalm?
  • What are you going to do because you’ve read this Psalm?