Forbid Them Not Year B: Involving Children in Sunday Worship

Carolyn Brown provides helpful and creative ways to communicate the lectionary passages with children. Each week is full of helpful ideas to ensure that the message of the Bible is communicated to children in a way that they will understand it. What a helpful resource to have in my library.

The Forbid them not series is a wonderful companion for any congregation using the revised common lectionary. Each week the lectionary readings are examined from a child's point of view and the author identifies images or themes that would be meaningful and easy for children to digest, with effective examples of how to integrate these concepts into worship through hymns and children sermons. In addition, there is a worksheet that is designed to look like a typical church bulletin and has activities related to the themes of that week's lection. It has been important for use in our congregation as they study the texts and themes during church school and then can participate more fully in worship as they identify themes and passages that have been clearly explained to them. In short worship becomes significant and prductive to them and the worksheet is a wonderful tool to keep them engaged and contemplative when the liturgy is less meaningful to younger worshippers. My only criticism is that oftentimes, as a teacher one would prefer a little more indepth examination of the readings, but overall it is a worthwhile investment!