Shine!
Could you be a light for Jesus!?
Today we’re looking at a when Jesus tells us we are the salt and light that
the world needs…but what does this even mean?
The service starts at 9:30am on stwderby.online.church
But this button will go live about 11am on Sunday 16th May for you to watch the service again if you missed it live! You won’t want to miss out!
Hope you enjoyed our Werb’s Kids Service this morning!!
We love how everyone is getting involved so don’t miss out! Just email Amy (amy.farrar@stwderby.org) so that we can keep making it better and better and involving more and more people!
This morning in our service we looked at Matthew 5v13-16 when Jesus talked about us being salt and light which the world needs. We talked about how it was a bit of a funny phrase especially to be called salt! But we will look at this in more detail in a minute.
We began by talking about shadows and silhouettes which form when light hits an object and creates a dark space and the outline looks like the object itself.
We began this morning by playing a game looking at shadows and silhouettes trying to work out what these things are! Here is another version of this game if you’d like to play again!
One of the reasons we played this game is because we are thinking about the importance of light and the difference it can make!
Today we are looking at a well known passage where Jesus calls us salt and light that the world needs! We know how important light is. We use it to see and to help us each day so we’re gonna think about today what this means for us to be people that carry God’s light inside us and how we shine for him each and every day.
Jesus tells us we are the salt and light of the world.
But what do you think this means?
First let’s think about salt. Now we put salt in things to bring out flavour. You’d put it on your chips to help them taste better don’t you! God wants us to help the world taste better and be better and that’s why we are called salt here.
But let’s now think about light as that’s easier to get our heads around.
Have you ever seen those fun luminous stars that glow in the dark?
During the day, the stars absorb the light from the sun, and when you turn the light off, or it gets dark, they shine. They will probably only shine for an hour or so before the energy they got form the sun runs out, but if you turn the light on, they get “charged up” again.
They often don’t need a lot of light from the sun to shine but the more time they spend “charging” often the brighter they will shine.
These stars are a bit like us and God.
God is good. He does good all the time.
People are not naturally good.
If we spend time with God, praying and reading the Bible and worshipping, we can be “charged up” by God so that we have some of His light and we shine a bit. We do good deeds when God helps us to.
If we don't spend time with God, we don't get charged up and our shine goes away – just as the stars don't shine if the light doesn't charge them up first.
But why should we want to shine? Why should we try to do good things?
When we shine a little bit, people who are near us might see God working in us.
We are God's witnesses his ambassadors his people and we are meant to point others to him – when we do good we show that God can affect people's lives. If people know that we believe in God but we do bad things, they won't think God is any use and they won't want to become Christians themselves.
We are naturally bad – our goodness comes from God and should reflect God to other people. The luminous stars light up a small portion of a room after they have taken light from the sun. So we get light from God and radiate that to a small number of people that we come into contact with.
God wants us to make an impact wherever we go. He wants us to shine our lights for him and to partner with us to help change the world.
At the beginning of the year we looked at what it means to be a world changer as well as this week's session. HERE is the link to this session so you can remind yourself that you ARE a world changer.
GO DEEPER!
SPARKS (Preschool)
In your bedroom do you have any special lights that help you sleep?
Lights help us to see what’s going on around us but they also make us feel safe too. Light is really good!
Why not, have fun playing a game with a blindfold!?
See if you can guess what things are when you can’t see them!
It’s so much easier when we can see!
What do we need in order to see? We need eyes but we also need light.
If it is really really dark we still can’t see.
Jesus has something to say about light in the Bible - in fact he says he is the light! But then in our passage today, Jesus also tells us we are light too.
Jesus wants us to shine in our world too and to make a difference.
Finish now by saying this prayer.
“Dear God,
Thank you that Jesus is the light of the world and showed us what it means to shine.
Help me to shine like a light for Jesus.
Amen.”
FLAMES (KS1)
What did you think of the passage today?
When Jesus talked about us being salt and light he was saying that we are to make an impact on what’s around us. We are to help make things good.
Have you ever turned on a torch in a really dark room?
What difference did it make?
Do you ever help to cook at home?
Do you add salt? Salt helps make things taste better and Jesus wants us to make the world better!
Whatever room you’re in make it dark or dim to help you think about light. How do you feel?
What makes you feel this way?
Sometimes people do bad things in the dark so they can hide.
Have you heard about any bad things that happen in the world. How do these things make you feel?
Look around the dark room - can you see all the corners? You definitely can’t see proper detail or maybe aren’t really know for sure what’s there.
Now switch on a torch (maybe on your phone or if you have one to hand) and shine it all around the room into the corners.
Can everyone see what’s there now? Does it make it less scary? Yes!
Now make the room completely light. How does everyone feel now? Better? The world can be a bit of a dark and scary place sometimes but the Bible tells us that Jesus is the light of the world. He came to shine into the darkness. And if we have Jesus walking beside us, shining like a light, we can be sure that even in the scariest times he will somehow make it ok.
Jesus also tells us that we are light too.
When we follow Jesus he helps us shine too.
The way in which we shine is by being kind or good to others. By making the world a better place you shine light in the dark!
BLAZE (KS2)
Have you ever thought about what Jesus means when he calls us salt and light?
Why don’t you grab some crisps. What flavour is your favourite? There will definitely have in them salt! Salt helps things taste better.
In the same way that salt helps food to taste better, followers of Jesus are called to be stand out and be different and, in doing so, make the world a better place. Followers of Jesus are also called to bring His light into a dark world and that light is the Good News that, whatever our situation, we can have hope for today and for the future, by making the choice to follow Jesus.
Now think about light. Do you have any lights in the room that you’re in?
What’s the difference between them being on and off? Think about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, living different 'salty' lives and bringing light and hope to the world.
Salt and light are important! They make a big difference to the things around them.
Salt makes a difference to the way things taste and we can in the same way help make a difference to the world around them through following Jesus.
How do you think you could do this?
A while ago we looked at how we could influence the world so you might again want to look HERE is the link to this session so you can remind yourself that you ARE a world changer.
But we have also looked recently at the fruit of the spirit:
LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIECE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, GENTLENESS, FAITHFULNESS AND SELF CONTROL
Think about how these things help us be salt and light in the world. Maybe discuss some situations. For example, if someone is being bullied you could stand up for that person and not allow it to happen; you could offer to pray for someone who was feeling ill or upset. What other things can you think off.
Why not draw a cartoon strip showing someone being light for Jesus in school.
FUN ACTIVITIES + CRAFTS!
For those who LOVE colouring and activity sheets check these out:
Create a picture using salt. Stick it to the page using glue. You might want to use black paper so the salt can be seen better but if not you could instead paint it once it’s stuck down!
Light Craft
Create your own city on a hill using THIS website! You’ll need some cardboard tubes or any kind of recycling to make into buildings and some plastic candles that glow so that you can see the lights within the buildings in the city!Salt Experiments!
We’ve talked a lot about salt today and I’ve found there are some pretty cool science experiments that you can do with salt!You’ll need: Ice cubes, bowls, salt’n’shake crisps, tea cups and spoons that have been tarnished by tannin, salt.
You can try one, two or all three of these salty ideas!
Activity 1: Salt Melts.
You will need 2 dishes of ice cubes.
Add salt to one of the dishes and see how much more quickly the ice melts in that dish.Activity 2: Cleaning.
Sprinkle salt onto metal spoons and mugs that are stained with tannin. Rub with damp fingers and the tannin will come off.Activity 3: Flavouring.
Open a pack of “salt and shake” crisps and allow the children to try them in their natural state. Then add the salt from the bag. Ask the children how they preferred the crisps? What did the salt add?After doing the activities what have you learnt about salt?
Salt has other uses, too. We put it down on slippery roads, we use it to kill slugs, it can soothe a bee sting, help cook food more quickly, make a sore throat or ulcer better – as well as give food flavour! How amazing is salt!
WORSHIP + PRAYER
This song is all about being light. Whilst you listen to it pray and ask God to help you be salt and light at school and at home this week.
Created by Amy Farrar using several different sources including energize.net
