submitted: Roger Gustafson

required: necklace with various different elements

Good morning, boys and girls!  Know what this is?  Sure, it’s a necklace.  A couple of friends of mine went to Hawaii on vacation a few weeks ago and brought this back for me.  Pretty, isn’t it?  It’s got all kinds of tiny seashells and stones. There are an awful lot of things on this necklace, aren’t there?  Which one of them do you think is the most important?  This one? (It’s pretty
big)  Or this one?  (It’s very colourful)  Take a look: which part of this necklace is the most important? Actually, the most important part of this necklace is the one part that you can’t see: it’s the string that holds it all together.  In fact, if it weren’t for the string, there wouldn’t be a necklace at all.It’s kind of like that with us here in church.  See all those grown-ups out there?  They all look different, some big, some small, different colours, just like us – but we’re all held together by something that you can’t really see: the Holy Spirit.  Today’s the day we celebrate God’s gift to us of the Holy Spirit, and we’re grateful that that Holy Spirit, even though we can’t see it, is what really holds us together and gives us the power to live as God’s people.

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Have various electrical appliances or battery powered toys/ objects…  show how they do nothing until they are plugged in..  heavy work of the ironing… unless it’s hot!    Radio no use without batteries and so on…   we can do nothing unless plugged into God!

Bible Link: Ezekiel 37, Acts 2

Ask children what the puppet can do… walk… dance… jump etc…  demonstrate….  then ask what the puppet can really do… nothing!   Only has life when someone else is pulling the strings.
We have life by the Spirit (cf Dry Bones Ezekiel 37)  – but no strings! – God gives us life but also free will