Prayer / Worship Activity
Option 1
5 minutes
Before the service, hide lots of little treats around your meeting place. These could be as simple as wrapped sweets, but you could wrap up small toys (such as bouncy balls or spinning tops). Welcome everyone to your service and tell the congregation that you found a little treat (hold up a sweet / present) under your seat and now you’re wondering if there are any more hidden in the church.
Set people off looking for the treats. Say that if anyone finds more than one, they should share it with others who don’t have any. Ask some volunteers to share what a difference something good has made to their morning.
Go on to share a story where someone (this could be God, a family member, friend or stranger) made a real difference to your life. It should be something big, rather than just a sweet! If you don’t have an example yourself, find someone in your community with a suitable, relevant story and ask them to tell everyone about it.
Option 2
10 minutes
Before the service, prepare a slide show with lots of pictures of things in your life that you want to give thanks to God for. Break into pairs, small groups or family groups (ensuring those not with a family are integrated into existing groups) and ask everyone to share what they have to thank God for.
After a few moments, ask for volunteers to share with the whole church what they have to thank God for, and enjoy celebrating those things together. Go on to pray for the whole church: say a sentence thanking God for all these good things, then ask everyone to shout out what they want to thank God for. Finish your prayer by asking God to help us bless others too.
Story
10 minutes
Before the service, make a big scroll. You could make it look old by ‘painting’ the paper with cold tea. Tie it up with some string or ribbon and then hide it somewhere in your meeting space. Hide a big bag of ‘money’ too (chocolate coins or a collection of metal trinkets). Make a couple of crowns, one suitable for an eight-year-old and the other for a man in his 20s. You will need two volunteers – an eight(ish)-year-old boy and a man in his 20s. The man will need to be able to act out the story as you tell it. You will also need someone primed to ‘find’ the scroll and bring it to the front. Use this script to tell the story of King Josiah:
Long, long ago, in the kingdom of Judah – that’s the land around the city of Jerusalem – there was a boy called Josiah. (Invite an eight-year-old boy to come to the front to be Josiah.) Josiah was a prince! His father Amon was king of Judah. But, when Josiah was only eight-years old, Amon died and Josiah became king! (Put the smaller crown on your volunteer’s head.) Unlike his father, Josiah obeyed God, just like his ancestor King David did.
After Josiah had been king for 18 years, (thank your eight-year-old king and ask him to sit down; invite a man in his 20s to come forward and place the larger crown on his head) he sent one of his officials to go to the high priest in the temple and collect the money the people had donated. (Ask the congregation to look for the money that had been collected. Once the money bag has been found, it should be brought to the front.) Thanks! Josiah gave the money to the men repairing the temple.
But the high priest had found something else! (The scroll should also be brought to the front, with your volunteer saying, ‘I’ve found this scroll. I think it’s The Book of God’s Law!’) The Book of God’s Law! Well, Josiah had to find out what was in it. (Give the scroll to the king. He should open it up and look at it.) What Josiah read made him very upset. (Ask the king to look upset.) He tore his clothes in sorrow. (Jokingly ask the king if he wants to tear his clothes – he will probably refuse!) He realised that his family, his royal ancestors, had not followed God’s way.
‘God must be so angry with us,’ said Josiah. He sent some people to talk with God’s prophet, to tell him to ask God what the king should do. The news was not good. God was angry he was going to destroy Judah because they had ignored God and turned their back on him. So, Josiah read The Book of God’s Law to the whole nation. He destroyed everything that was used to worship other gods, such as Baal and Asherah. He tore down altars and destroyed shrines to other gods.
And finally, when all this was done, Josiah told the people that they were going to celebrate the Passover to honour the Lord. The Passover was a festival where the people of God remembered how he rescued them from slavery in Egypt. No one had celebrated Passover for many, many years. But here, in the 18th year of Josiah’s rule, the people came together to honour God.
Reflective response to the story
Option 1
5 minutes
Explain that Josiah realised that things needed to change in the life of the country: the people weren’t honouring God – it had to stop. Ask the congregation to think about the things in their life which aren’t honouring to God. What things do they need to change? Have a time of confession and repentance. You could use the appropriate part of your church’s liturgy here, or encourage people to say sorry to God and ask for his help to change. (You could play some reflective music as people do this.)
Option 2
20 minutes
Echo Josiah and the people celebrating the Passover by celebrating Holy Communion together. Comment that Josiah and the people turned back to God and honoured him by celebrating Passover – remembering when God had saved them from slavery in Egypt. Explain that you’re going to celebrate Communion to celebrate Jesus saving us from the slavery of sin. Follow your church’s practice of celebrating Communion, helping everyone to feel part of the process and foster the feeling that this is a whole-church activity.
Group Discussion Questions
10 minutes
Divide into mixed-age groups (you could use the same ones as earlier in the service). Give younger children some paper and ribbon so that they can make their own scroll, but make sure that you include them in the discussion.
- What was your favourite part of the story?
- How do you think Josiah felt when he realised his country had not been following God?
- How do we feel when we realise we have done something wrong and have to say sorry, and change our behaviour / lifestyle? Is that change easy to make?
- If you have an older group, consider the fact that all Josiah did wasn’t enough to save Judah in the long run (2 Kings 23:24–27). Why do you think Josiah made all his changes, even though he knew it wouldn’t save his descendants?
