Psalms with children
Rev Silvia Purdie has crafted some wonderful ‘kids friendly’ versions of Psalms, to open up the wealth in the Psalms in ways that kids (and adults!) can relate to in fresh ways. Every couple of weeks we will post a new Psalm on the Kids Friendly website. They are designed especially for use in worship or children’s ministry groups. They could be used as a call to worship, read by a child, or alternate lines by a child and an adult, or responsively with the congregation.
The book of Psalms is the greatest worship and prayer resource we have. Unfortunately Psalms can be hard to use with children … they jump from one emotion to another, they rave on about enemies and threatening violence, they are often too long or too short and we don’t know if we’re allowed to just use the bits we like and ignore the bits we don’t. Traditional translations are full of big words and experiences that kids struggle with … and so we tend to use other forms of poetry and prayer with kids and forget about the Psalms. Which is a tragedy!!
These are not translations of the Biblical Psalm, but a response to it. They seek to honour the meaning and context of the Psalm and to enable our congregations, including the children, to bring to God our own emotions and experience. Psalms are 3,000-year-old treasures, and bringing them alive again today will, I hope, deepen our participation in the life of God, in Christ Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. I hope you find them helpful.” Silvia Purdie.
Download more Kids Friendly Psalms or email Silvia about her work and she’ll happily send you more Psalms, reworked in different ways.
Psalm 3: The Shield around me
(written by Silvia Purdie)
I’m sick of hearing it!
I get it at school and at home and on TV and on the internet,
people saying “Don’t be stupid!
You’re dumb to believe in God!”
I know they are wrong
I know that you are real, God!
You are strong and solid under my feet
You fill my heart up to the top with love
You hear my voice and answer me
When I feel down, you lift up my head
When I am tired, I curl up and rest
safe in you.
Hey, world! I’m not afraid of you!
Say what you like, think what you like
I know who I am
I belong to Jesus Christ
I belong to the Father of all
I belong to the great Spirit
my blessing, my shield, my glory!
Come and See
Come
and See is a great blog from two Kiwi mums (Gail and Vanessa) who love to participate in informal, inclusive and creative worship that welcomes and involves all ages. They have been leading “Come and See” worship services at their church in Governor’s Bay (Christchurch, New Zealand) for three years. comeandseegovbay.wordpress.com
We gather resources, ideas and inspiration from many websites and want to share them with others so they too, like us, feel encouraged to open hearts and minds to the wonders and blessings of God’s grace.
A Gift from our Cousins
The Uniting Church of South Australia have developed some really good resources that guide your all age worship planning and offer a large range of themed all age services ready to pick up and go!
Friends and Heroes – FREE DVD’S for all age worship
A tip from Lucy Moore’s blog: www.messychurch.org.uk/messy-blog
“Friends and Heroes have some great videos that are just the right length for use in Messy Church celebrations – 2-3 minutes or thereabouts. They use footage from the Friends and Heroes DVDs to illustrate the song lyrics, so they go beyond just the story in the title. They’re excellent quality, both in sound and images, and the style is attractive to adults and to children. And the Christmas one has a most attractive donkey. Well worth checking out and seeing where they might fit with your themes over the coming year, even if you’re not covering that exact story. These are free, which I think most generous of F&H.”
See http://www.friendsandheroes.com/uk/music-videos
Tried and True Resources for All Age Worship
Rosie has recently released Volume 2 of her All Age Worship resources.These books are full of practical and creative ideas for all-age worship services.
Rosie’s hope “is that this book would be useful for leaders wanting to try all age family worship. I’ve tried and tested these ideas with success in smaller Parishes where we opted not to have a “Sunday School” but rather include children in every aspect of worship”.
Rosie’s books can be ordered from Philip Garside Publishing Ltd, found at the following link:
https://pgpl.co.nz/monthly-selections/mid-march-2019-selection/