Let Everything That Has Breath Praise God

Based on material prepared by Christian women of Cameroon

Leaders’ Notes

Objectives:

• We all will think about everything in creation that breathes.
• We will also understand why all things that breathe are called to praise God.
• We will share our new knowledge with our friends.
• We will show others that God can be praised through singing using traditional and modern instruments.

Preparation:

Please use this resource as appropriate for the age and ability of the children in your care.

This year we will pray especially for the children of Cameroon in Africa.

Choose five children to portray children in Cameroon.

The map of Cameroon should be used to show Cameroon’s position in the world. Useful background material, words to songs, music score and a music CD are available from the local convenor or from WDP, PO Box 27088, Christchurch 8640. To add authenticity to the service, you are welcome to copy the CD.

Explain how World Day of Prayer is celebrated by 170 countries in the world and it is an opportunity for all Christian women and men, girls and boys, parents and children to learn about another country, pray for them, and learn and share from each other.

The cover artwork portrays Ps 150, where we praise God everywhere with trumpets, harp, guitars and lyres, drums and dancing, harps and flutes, loud cymbals or tambourines.

The Psalmist concludes that:

• Everything that has breath should praise the Lord
• All living creatures should praise the Lord

World day of Prayer Childrens Service - From Cameroon 2010

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord

Opening Prayer:

Oh Lord, the Children of Cameroon join their hands with the children of the whole world. We come together to talk to you. Help us to raise our voices today in praise of you. Amen!

Song track 1 CD: Let everything that breathes praise the Lord

BIBLE READING: Psalm 150:1-6

Leader:

When I get up in the morning

All:

Thank you Lord, you are there

Leader:

When I go to school every day

All:

Thank you Lord, you are there

Leader:

When I play with my friends

All:

Thank you Lord, you are there

Leader:

For the beauty of our world, for today, and for tomorrow

All:

Thank you Lord, you are there

Leader:

For the seed we plant and for the rain that makes it grow

All:

Father, we thank you

Leader:

For the sun that brightens the harvest

All:

Father, we thank you

Introduction:

In Cameroon, as soon as the rains come, the countryside becomes beautiful. All the plants start to sprout and the hills and valleys are like a huge basket of flowers. Even the animals look refreshed. The ducks and chickens are seen running around and around. Everybody is happy and hopeful that there will be food for people and the animals. Goats, cows and horses all graze on fresh new grass. At this time, we are all happy and surely we are saying to God, “Thank you for such beauty and plenty.”

Background to Psalm 150:

Psalm 150 is the last psalm in the Bible. The word psalm means song, which is why when we read a psalm we want to stand up. The words of this psalm teach us about knowing the will of God and praising him for his love, compassion, and power. It is also assuring us of a place in God’s world, for we are called to follow him faithfully. Young boys and girls everywhere in the world stand with us and praise the Lord.

Question: What are the things that breathe in Cameroon and how do they praise the Lord?

Dibo:

Human beings:

They sing, clap, dance, talk, pray, and worship God using all parts of their body.

Animals:

They make sounds unique to their species, like barking, crowing, meowing, neighing, mooing, and quacking. They run, jump, creep, swim, and glide

Plants:

They sway to the direction of the wind, shake, produce flowers, leaves, and flowers, and bear fruits.

Question: Who are those who are called to praise the Lord?

Malep:

Children, oOrdained men and women of God, children, angels, brothers and sisters, parents (father and mother), friends, doctors, teachers, families, and everybody who is alive. The animals, like the birds, crickets, cats, dogs, horses and cows, plants and fish.

Question: What can we do to praise God?

Esso:

We can sing church hymns, clap our hands, read the Bible, and bow and kneel in prayer. We can dance and play musical instruments like drums, bands, rattles, shakers, and tambourines. We can praise God with our whole body, our voices, our hands, our feet, our arms and legs. Even wild animals, like tigers, lions, and leopards praise God.

Question: How will you praise God?

Kenfack:

Sing songs of praise to him.

Thank God for parents, money and food.

Thank God for all the nice things he gives us.

Do the right thing.

Edube:

Obey God and his word.

Tell my friends about God, and what he has done for me.

Give thanks to God through praise and worship

Song: Listen to track 2 from the CD ‘I will praise him everyday.’ or use a song of your choice.

Prayer:
Teach us to pray for the world, to take care of all the good things you have given us such as trees and birds, flowers and animals. Help us to be kind to little creatures like butterflies and to admire delicately made cobwebs. Help us to see every wonderful thing in the world and praise the Lord for creating it.

Spontaneous Intercessory Prayers for:
Orphans
Street children
Children unable to go to school/church
CTrafficked children who are sold to strangers
HIV- and AIDS- positive children
Poverty stricken children
Children with special needs or who are differently-abled
Children who get into trouble
School dropouts

Conclusion for the Intercessory Prayers:
Thank you Lord God that we are alive and that we can praise you with our whole being, not because we are big, intelligent, rich, or famous, but because you made us and we belong to you. For if God is for us, nothing can separate us from his love. Amen.

Closing Song: Jesus for life

Benediction: (spontaneous)

Memory Verse:
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!.
-Psalm 150:6 (NIV)

Children in Cameroon blow the terracotta water whistle to praise God.

About the Children of Cameroon:
Children in Cameroon have beautiful voices and most of their games are sung. Also in the Sunday schools, the children sing choruses to praise God and are very involved in the service of worshipping God.
Cameroonian children are very good at having fun on their own and with friendspeers. With music, crafts and games they learn how to communicate, to share, to negotiate and to solve their own disagreements. In Cameroon the children speak French or English and their local language. Many speak both English and French.

Challenges Faced by Children in Cameroon:
While education is compulsory in Cameroon, s. Secondary school tuition fees mean that some parents are unable to send their children to school. Fewer girls enrol in primary school in Cameroon than boys. In rural areas there may be a lack of primary school teachers, with rural/urban disparities in school attendance. There is limited access to formal and vocational education for children with special needs, children falling behind in their primary education, with a high drop out rate. Early marriage, unwanted pregnancy, and domestic chores are some of the problemssocio-cultural prejudices that contribute to low education rates.

Cameroon is said to be a source, transit, and destination country for children trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and domestic workservitude, nannies and street vending. Besides poverty, malnutrition strikes more than one in five children in Cameroon and threatens the development of their intellectual and physical capabilities and survival. Malaria, HIV and AIDS and malnutrition are the main causes of child mortality, which account for 77 percent of all diseases that affect children in Cameroon, according to the Ministry of Health and UNICEF.

Games:
Games in Cameroon are connected to activities of daily life. Children often splash and play in water. For children, water is much more often a source of work: washing clothes, soaking cassava tubers, bathing, fishing, and transporting water back to the village. Some games relate directly to work like balancing a calabash or bucket on the head. The following are some of the games played by Cameroon children:

1. Water Drumming
Little girls, especially in rural areas, slap their hands in and out of the river water. Slapping the water this way produces a wonderfully rhythmic sound to which those at the shore can dance and clap and sing. Those in the water can also dance joyfully to the beats of this water drum. It is a most amazing sight to behold especially when several little girls are involved in making different sounds that harmonize and produce unbelievably beautiful music. Games like these cause children to spend more than an hour in bathing in the village stream or fetching water.

2. “Tiger and Goat”
Players stand in a circle holding their hands very close. The tiger is out of the circle, and the goat is in. While the song is going on, the tiger is looking for ways to enter and catch the goat. When the goat is caught a new player takes over. Players sing a song with the name of the tiger and goat bleating sounds. Players do all they can to protect the goat from the tiger. In many Cameroonian folktales, the tiger and goat are sworn enemies. The tiger always ends up eating the goat. The one who is the weakest link in the chain and allows the tiger into the ring to get the goat becomes the goat.