PRAYER / WORSHIP ACTIVITY
OPTION 1
10 minutes
Before the service, place a variety of locked padlocks, boxes / objects with combination locks, lengths of rope / string tied in tight knots, necklaces with tangled chains, toy puzzles requiring manipulation to disentangle or to achieve an objective on some tables. Invite people to gather round them and try to open / disentangle them!
Ask volunteers from different tables to say what their ‘puzzle’ is and how they are getting on. How does it make them feel? When everyone is sitting down again, suggest that our lives can sometimes seem like an obstacle course. No sooner have we got over one hurdle, than another appears! Ask everyone to think about any challenges they may be facing: big or small. Lead a prayer thanking God that nothing is impossible for him and that he wants us to ask him for our daily needs. Thank God that he cares about the things that concern us. Pray that he may speak to everyone present as they listen to the story.
OPTION 2
5 minutes
Before the service, cut a large figure from white card to represent an angel and display it at the front. Ask several people to describe waking up this morning. Who or what woke them? How did they feel? What did they do to get ready for the day? Ask young people who brought them to church today? Ask adults who, in their ALL-AGE SERVICE #2
past, encouraged them to become a Christian, resulting in them being at church today. You could point out that God is often at work in our lives even though we don’t realise it at the time. In a moment of quiet, ask everyone to silently thank God for someone who opened a door to the Christian faith for them. They could write the names of these ‘angels’ on the white card.
STORY
15 minutes
Before the service, print these words onto card: ‘While Peter was being kept in jail, the church never stopped praying for him’ (Acts 12:5). This verse will act as a chorus during the story for everyone to join in.
Set up an aisle like a simple obstacle course, with objects at intervals to represent the various hurdles Peter had to overcome in order to escape prison, for example: a chair on which there is a chain and padlock to represent Peter’s cell ; on the floor in front of that Peter’s clothes (a coat and some sandals); in front of that, two kneelers to represent the soldiers to whom he was handcuffed; two kneelers representing the soldiers guarding his cell; a stair gate to represent the iron gate of the prison and a wooden board to represent the door to Mary’s house.
Give out torches in advance to some volunteers and ask them to spotlight the props as you mention them. Ask others to be ready to act as stagehands. Practise the chorus and encourage everyone to say it boldly. Tell the story using the script.
Friends! Imagine that we’re meeting together as a church, not here but in Jerusalem. We’re some of the first Christians, as they now call us – those who follow Christ. It’s only 12 years after the first Easter, and Herod Agrippa is king. He’s the grandson of Herod the Great – the one from the Christmas story – and just as cruel. Oh, how he loves to bully us, and all because it makes him popular with some of the Jewish leaders. That’s why we can’t meet in public, but we’re here at Mary’s house, with this door to the street firmly locked. (Spotlight the wooden board.) We can’t take any chances, you see. Herod has already killed our dear brother James, and now he’s arrested Peter and thrown him into prison. But we all trust in God and (hold up the verse and lead the congregation in reading it out loud.)
It’s his trial tomorrow and things aren’t looking good. Herod will have him killed, just as soon as the Passover festival is over. His only chance is to escape. But that’s not very likely. Consider this: The iron gate to the prison – LOCKED! (Shine torches on stair gate.) Peter’s cell – guarded by TWO SOLDIERS! (Shine torches on the pair of kneelers.) And inside, Peter bound in HEAVY CHAINS and HANDCUFFED to soldiers on either side. (Shine torches on the chair and nearby kneelers.) We can hardly bear to think of our dear friend, exhausted after all the questioning, slumped and sleeping like a dead man.
We feel so frightened, angry, helpless. And yet there is something we can do. We can keep praying for Peter. We’ve been praying with all our hearts and our minds; praying with all the chain-breaking, bar-bending, gate-rattling might we can muster. Didn’t Jesus tell us that nothing is impossible for God? Surely Christians all down the ages will say that. (Lead the reading of Acts 12:5.)
And so here we sit, deep in prayer and barely aware of a distant knocking, of muffled voices. Suddenly, Mary’s servant girl Rhoda bursts into our meeting room, disturbing our peace. Her face is flushed and she’s breathing fast. But she speaks calmly enough. ‘Peter is at the door,’ she says.
There’s a moment of silence as we take it in. Then people shake their heads. ‘You must be mad, Rhoda,’ says one. ‘Yes, you’re out of your mind!’ says another. But she keeps on saying it. ‘Peter is at the door!’ ‘Well if he is, then it must be his ghost!’ says someone else.
(Address the congregation.) Friends! What do you think? (Pause.) Remember! (Lead the reading of the verse.) The knocking starts up again, more insistent now, and we all go to the door. We unlock it, and there stands Peter. We are amazed. Our prayers have been answered.
We all ask questions. But Peter waves his hand at us, telling us to keep quiet as he starts to explain. This very night, he was asleep in his cell when he was rudely awoken by a sharp nudge in the ribs. He opened his eyes and saw an angel standing over him. His light flashed around the cell. (Shine torches all around.) ‘Quick, get up!’ said the angel, and Peter felt the metal chains fall away from his wrists. (Ask a stagehand to take the chain away.)
‘Now get dressed!’ said the angel. ‘Put on your coat and sandals and follow me.’ (Shine torches on clothes.) So Peter did what he was told, just as if he was dreaming. (Ask a stagehand to take the clothes away.) He followed the angel straight through the first set of guards. (Ask a stagehand to remove the nearby kneelers.)
And then they passed the second set of guards. (Ask a stagehand to remove the second pair of kneelers.) And all the time, Peter felt as if he was sleepwalking. They came towards the locked iron gate that led to the city. (Shine torches on the stair gate.) And it opened for them by itself. (Ask a stagehand to open the stair gate.) On they went, and when they had walked the length of one street, the angel suddenly disappeared.
Peter told us it was then that the truth dawned on him. ‘Oh, now I see!’ he said out loud. ‘I haven’t been dreaming at all. God sent that angel to rescue me from Herod and the terrible things he was planning to do to me.’ So Peter came straight here to Mary’s house. He knocked on the door and he heard Rhoda call through to him, ‘Who’s there?’ ‘Let me in! It’s me, Peter!’
Well, Rhoda recognised his voice all right, but the funny thing was, she was so excited that she just left Peter standing there in the street while she ran back to tell us the amazing news!
REFLECTIVE RESPONSE TO THE STORY
OPTION 1
10 minutes
Ask people to suggest how they imagine the church in Jerusalem prayed for Peter (for example, earnestly, regularly, boldly, faithfully etc). Divide into groups, and give each one a triangular (or mountain-shaped) piece of paper and a pen. Point out that the Bible says that faith can move mountains! So how ‘bold’ do we make our prayers? Ask each group to agree upon one really bold one-sentence prayer for a given area of life. (For example, the Church, the countries of the world, your own village or town, your church, the children’s groups, schools etc.) When each group has written their sentence on the triangle, form all the triangles into one big mountain shape.
OPTION 2
5 minutes
Say the following prayer and encourage people to think about the part of the prayer that feels right for them. Allow a good pause between each line for thinking:
Loving God, we praise you for your love and faithfulness, and that when we call, you answer us.
All-knowing God, we praise you that wherever we go, you are there and that your hand guides us and holds us fast.
All-powerful God, though we walk in the midst of trouble, you stretch out your hand to save us and to fulfill your purposes for us.
Forgiving God, we thank you that you sent your son, Jesus to save us from the wrong things we do and to set us free to do your will.
GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Split into mixed-aged groups. Allow young children to do some ‘maze’ puzzles or to make some paper chains. Make sure that you include them as you chat.
- I wonder what part of the story you liked the best...
- I wonder what the most important part of the story is...
- I wonder why the people in the story didn’t believe that Peter was at the door...
- I wonder if Peter knew his church was praying for him when he was in jail...
Vickie Howie is a children’s author and ‘storytelling’ workshop leader
