Now and then we have all age services that coincide with communion Sunday, and for the last couple I prepared my liturgies deliberately to be child-accessible.  In our church, children may receive communion at thier parents'/carers' discretion.  I am sharing them here because they might be useful as jumping off points for other people.  All I would ask if you do use them is that you don't pass them off as your own, and that you don't publish them without asking me first.

A while back I posted one here and now here are two more.

This first one was on the day that the beheading of John the Baptist was the lectionary reading...

Invitation

Herod had a banquet

And he invited all the important people he could think of

And did everything he could think of to impress them

And in the end he did something very foolish

Because he didn’t want to look silly

Jesus spoke of a banquet

Where all the important people said ‘no thank you, I’ve got a better offer’

So the host invited everyone else who could be found

People of other races and languages

People who might drink too much or say the wrong thing

People who were too poor to invite him back

He did something that seemed very foolish

But God’s foolishness is beyond human wisdom

Jesus had a small dinner party

Just him and his closest friends

They wanted to celebrate how good God had been

A very, very long time ago

Jesus said things that seemed very strange, even a bit silly

But his friends remembered the words

And passed them on, for a very, very long time

So that even today we can share in a special memory meal

Institution

One of the first followers of Jesus, called Paul wrote down what he had learned: [read from 1 Cor 11 GNB or other 'easy' langauge version]

Prayer

Party-loving God, you gave us this special way of remembering all that Jesus has done for us,

So that as we take tiny bites of bread and sips of wine it is like being in a great banquet

To which everyone who ever lives is welcome

Help us to be thankful for all Jesus has done, even though it seems strange and we may not understand it

And help us to live like him, giving ourselves for other people

Amen.

Distribution

Acclamation

It seems crazy, God that you would allow Jesus to die

But in his death we find new life

It seems impossible, God, that Jesus would rise again,

But in his rising he shows us death is never the end

It blows our minds, God, to think that Jesus might come again

But this is the hope that we live towards

An upside down Kingdom of justice, peace and joy.

(c) Catriona Gorton 2012