Transfiguration Sunday
This Sunday is the last one in the season of Epiphany. When we are gathering in the church, this is usually an All-Ages Service and so we have tried to make our video service as close to that as possible. We hope you have enjoyed it with your family today.
Lorrie read the book “The Big Orange Splot” in the Time for the Young at Heart today. She chose it because she thinks it ties in with all the themes for this Sunday – Transfiguration, Black History Month, and Valentine’s Day. Can you see how they are all related? (Watch the story again if that will help you.)
It is tricky to think about loving someone if you don’t know them, isn’t it? That’s why it is so important to learn about others, especially those who are different from you in some way or those who live in a culture very different from your own. The more we learn about someone, the more we can see the ways they are like us, with the same worries, hopes and dreams. We put aside our preconceived ideas and see them for who they truly are. We might say that “we see them in a new light”. We look at them in a different way – and sometimes that even makes them look completely different in our eyes. It causes a transfiguration! It might not be as spectacular as what the disciples described in today’s scripture story but it is just as important a change.
Can you think of some ways that seeing someone in a new light might make a difference
in your school?
in your neighbourhood?
in the world?
In the story we heard today, Mr. Plumbean and his neighbour say, “My house is me and I am it. My house is where I like to be and it looks like all my dreams.” Later, all the people on the street say the same thing about the whole street.
What do you think that tells us about how the people on that street changed the way they felt about each other? They certainly stopped saying negative things about those who were different, didn’t they?
How do you think our world would change if we said, “This world is us and we are in it. This world is where we like to be and it looks like all our dreams.”?
At the beginning of the story, the houses all looked exactly the same – green roofs, orange walls, and green window frames. At the end of the story, each house was unique. No one felt they had to be just like someone else to fit in.
What do you think are the advantages of being just like everyone else? What are the disadvantages?
What do you think made it possible for the people to change their minds about needing to be all the same?
Response Activity Ideas
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My House
Using the template, or designing your own shape, fill the house with your colourful ideas and dreams for yourself, for your family, and for your community and the planet.
Encourage others in your family (siblings, parents, grandparents, etc.) to make their own house, too! Notice the similarities, differences, and talk about what makes each one special. Maybe you could share them on the BCUC Facebook page for everyone to enjoy!
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Same, Same, But Different
Visit https://kidsinothercountries.org/ and watch videos of children from other parts of the world. Think about how your life is the same and different from the children in the video(s).
Fill in the Venn diagram or tell someone about what you learned!
Younger children may enjoy listening to the story Same, Same, But Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze11Q-S8-LA and talking about the differences between the 2 children in the book and their own experience.
Transfiguration Colour-by-Number
Transform the mix of shapes into a picture by colouring by number!
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