Arms wide open

Hi kids!

How beautiful Jesus is and his message! He is very clear and simple.  God will judge us on our love and service towards others.  What we do with others, we are doing with him.  He is in the poor, the sick, the prisoners and even in the strangers.  Do we think of Jesus when we meet or see these people?  Can the people who are hungry and thirsty, the immigrants and the homeless, the lonely, the bullied, the sick, the prisoners and their families reach me and I reach them?  Is my life all about me and there is no room left in my heart, mind and day to love and serve the needy ones around me?

“…I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Jesus told us in the parable (Mt 25vers 35).   Around us we see many strangers, some are immigrants, others are people and children with whom we have never met before, some strangers can also be people whom we meet regularly but we were not open to welcome them.  There are times when we can feel like strangers too! Jesus does not use fancy words to show us how we should welcome others, he speaks of food, clothing, something to drink, protection from the elements and welcoming others with respect, care and love.

The prayer space we are going to do today is called Arms Wide Open and  to do it  we need:

• A wide armed figure template
• Biro jew markers

Start by taking some time to remember your first day at school or the first time you went to practice a hobby somewhere after school.  You felt like a stranger.  You will never forget that teacher or that coach who welcomed you and led the other kids get to know you and welcome you too.  Take some time to think of strangers whom you can give a warm welcome.  It could be someone in your neighbourhood or at school.

5 second  pause.  

Stick the hands to the long arms one on each side, write the names of the people you thought of on the body template provided and stick it to the long arms and hands. After you join the hands together like a big hug, pray to God to help you welcome everyone with kind words and actions.

A 10 second pause gathered in prayer.

Bye bye friends till we meet again.