In our annual ‘Blessing of the Kids’ celebration we have incorporated a special moment to bless the grade six kids as they move to a new stage in their lives.
This idea involves giving strawberry plants as a gift and inviting the grade sixers to hand out the communion meal.
Grade six Graduates Right of Passage Blessing
We are celebrating today, the special milestone that a few of our church family have come to this season. (Names) are finishing their primary school education and becoming teenagers.
Welcome them to the stage.
This is an exciting time of discovery, challenge and stepping out. These young people are at the age where they will make decisions for themselves about what they believe. What subjects they will study. Which passions they will pursue. How they will spend their resources and the sort of people they want to be at home, in school, in work, in the car, on the sports field, in cyberspace, with friends and at church.
When Jesus was twelve years old his parents lost him at a festival. He got in a lot of trouble! When they found him he was in the temple, spending time with the leaders. He was asking questions tying to nut out what he was really all about. Jesus realized it was a new time in his life. One where he needed to figure out and embrace what life was all about for himself.
We want to celebrate this special season today as you graduate from primary school and kids church to high school and youth. We look forward to seeing you engage with the world, we look forward to the ways you will share with us here.
Gift and Prayer (Strawberry plant)
We are going to give you a gift that comes with our prayer.
God we ask that you will grow these people before us, may each day bring them into a fuller awareness of your love and a greater respect for who you created them to be.
We give you each a plant with our prayer that you will grow deep in knowledge, strong in body and great in faith. This fruit represents our prayer that love and mercy will be the marker of your life, a sign to everyone that you are a friend of Jesus.
Communion
Now these young people are going to serve us communion as their first step into a new season in our shared church life.
By Emma Morgan
