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Gospel Talk with Children: Let Us Go Rejoicing

Peg Bowman


At the responsorial psalm on the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King we will sing the antiphon “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the LORD.” Psalm 122 is the song of pilgrims to Jerusalem and calls us to go forward into the temple of God. One might use this antiphon as a theme song in preparing children to hear the Gospel readings during these final weeks of Ordinary Time in Year C.

The Gospel of Luke
It ought to be difficult to stay still while reading the passages of Luke that are given to us for these Sundays of autumn. Of course, we adults stand quietly as the stories are read to us, and we expect our children to do so as well; but it will be difficult, if the stories are really proclaimed in a way that captures their dynamism. Week after week we’ll be immersed in the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel that, more than any other, truly brings us into the “house of the Lord.” How can we bring these stories to life for our children and ourselves? What will impel us to “go rejoicing,” to step into these stories with joy?

Challenging Stories
It is always effective to invite people to place themselves into a Gospel story and to imagine what they would say or do. It is never more effective than it is with these particular passages from the Gospel of Luke. The passages that we read during these weeks give us glimpses of Jesus’ daily life, his companions and the many needy people who crowded around him each day. It’s as if we’re being invited to get closer and closer to him and to learn something about the working of his mind, to “go rejoicing to the house of the LORD” and ultimately to Jerusalem. These passages also present some of Jesus’ most paradoxical teachings. Each week we will hear him challenging listeners in amazing and sometimes even troubling ways. “Who do you think should be first?” he asks us. “What servant gets to sit down and rest before he has finished serving his master?” he challenges. Jesus will even praise a dishonest servant, bring an unworthy son back to his forgiving father, and go home for dinner with a tax collector.

Preparing Children for the Weekly Gospels
To prepare children for Sunday, bring these stories to life by telling them dramatically rather than just reading them; by using story boards or chalk talks; by inviting children to role play, or by writing or drawing not only about what happened, but also what might have happened if they had been there. Ask them, “What would you say to Jesus if he asked you that?” “What do you think the older brother did then?” “What do you think the people in that crowd said after Jesus did that?” You won’t find any other collection of Gospel passages that so consistently, over two or three months, lend themselves to these kinds of conversations and activities.

If you review all the Gospel passages from the Sundays of September, October and November and read them in one sitting you will be able to see how we are being called into closer contact with Jesus and toward the New Jerusalem with each passing week. The ironic twists, the paradoxes and the unlikely heroes of these stories lead up to the greatest paradox of all: on the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King we meet our King hanging on a cross. And, if we have immersed ourselves in these weekly Gospels and faithfully received this Good News, we will indeed go rejoicing into the Lord’s house as Jesus says to us, along with the good thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Margaret Bowman is the director of liturgy at Sacred Heart Parish in Marengo, Illinois (sacredheartmarengo.4lpi.com). She is a frequent contributor to Catholic periodicals on catechesis and parish liturgical life.