"A ray of sunlight shining upon a smudgy window is unable to illumine that window completely and transform it into it's own light. It could do this if the window were cleaned and polished. The less the film and stain are wiped away, the less the window will be illumined, and the cleaner the window is, the brighter will be its illumination, The extent of the illumination is not dependent upon the ray of sunlight but upon the window. If the window is totally clean and pure, the sunlight will so transform and illumine it that to all appearances the window will be identical with the ray of sunlight and shine just as the sun's ray... The soul upon which the divine light of God's being is ever shining... is like the window." (St. John of the Cross)
Titus 3:3
Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled by others and became slaves to many wicked desires and evil pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy. We hated others, and they hated us.
Titus 3:4
But then God our Savior showed us his kindness and love. He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy.
Titus 3:5
He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:6-7
He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did. He declared us not guilty because of his great kindness. And now we know that we will inherit eternal life.
Have 2 pieces of glass of equal size. Earlier, have the children write with white board marker sins on one of the glasses.
Have one child hold a flashlight. I created a card board cross, made the center yellow, an cut a hole for the flashlight to shine through the center.
Have another hold the clean glass.
Paraphrase St. John's message.
Substitute the glass with the sinful one. Talk about it for a little bit.
Read a verse and then comment.
Have another child read a verse and comment.
Have another Titus 3:5.
Clean off the glass with a rag.
Get the kids to tell you what is cleaning the glass. "GRACE" is the answer.
Have someone read Titus 3.6-7
Wrap it up!
