Login / Signup

Free Access

Praxis Sees The Light

Children's Story
Praxis, the pixie whose skin changes colour according to his mood, was bright, bright blue. He was feeling very fed up. All by himself with nobody to play with, he had nothing to do but get into mischief. His mother was annoyed with him for eating all the jelly she had ready for tea, and she had ordered him out of the toadstool.

The Wise Old Pixie, the only other pixie with skin that changed colour but who was so wise and loving that his colours blended to pure white, was angry with Praxis too. He had been told that Praxis had skipped school, and even though Praxis had explained about his really important errand, helping the youngest squirrel to find the hazelnuts he had buried last year, the Wise Old Pixie had not been impressed.

"School is a gift, Praxis," he had said. "If you don't attend school, you can't learn."

"But I learn so much more out of school, in the woods," Praxis had argued, but it was no good.

The Wise Old Pixie ordered Praxis to spend the next two Saturdays in school.

Praxis had turned bright red with fury, for all his Pixie friends would be out playing while he was alone in school. Now that he was out of school, all his friends had finished playing and had run home, hence Praxis was blue.

He wandered off into the woods, and because he was so bored and so lonely, he made his way into the deep, dark wood, where all the pixie children were forbidden to go. "I don't care," Praxis thought. "Nobody loves me so it doesn't matter what I do. I shall go there if I like. Then I'll go back and tell my friends all about it."

At the thought of boasting to his friends about his bravery in venturing alone into the deep, dark wood, Praxis brightened. His bright blue skin became paler and paler as Praxis' miserable mood disappeared.

As he pushed his way through the brambles and the bracken, the thorns and the thickets, Praxis heard voices. It was then that he remembered why the pixie children were told to avoid the deep, dark wood. It was because the goblins lived there, and as every pixie knew, goblins were evil and loved to capture pixie children whenever they could.

Now very afraid and becoming rather yellow, Praxis turned to go as quietly as he could, but goblins have acute hearing and their little pointed ears pricked up. Standing perfectly still, scarcely daring to breath, Praxis stopped, but his yellow skin was growing brighter and brighter with fear. He dropped to his knees and began to crawl slowly back through the wood, hoping he wouldn't be seen by the goblins, but he was spotted immediately. With a whoop and a cry, six goblins began to race toward him.

Praxis waited no longer. He leaped to his feet and began to flee, tearing through the wood, ignoring the thorns and the prickles that clawed at his skin and tried to stop him. He ran and he ran and he ran, until the voices faded and he could run no more. Then, gasping for breath, he stopped to listen.

There were no goblins anywhere near. He didn't know it, but once they had chased Praxis away, they had swaggered back, laughing and jeering over the frightened pixie.

But now Praxis had another problem. He had run and run and run until he had no idea where he was, and the sun had gone down. It was now quite dark.

Praxis began to cry. As the tears trickled down his little pixie cheeks, they left blue streaks of misery in the yellow of fear. Praxis didn't know which way to go, or what to do.

"Oh, please help me," he sobbed.

As if someone had heard his plea, he suddenly glimpsed a light flickering in the distance. Praxis began to make his way toward the light, which grew stronger with every step he took. At last he burst out of the wood and found himself outside his very own toadstool house. His mother had lit the lantern to guide him home.

Praxis ran in and hugged her. "Thank you for the light," he cried. "It showed me the way and brought me home!"

And his skin changed to a bright, shocking pink.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 7 | OT 12 | Pentecost 2
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 8 | OT 13 | Pentecost 3
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 9 | OT 14 | Pentecost 4
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: This is a role play activity.

Note: You will need to select six children to play roles in this activity. If you have a smaller group, you might ask some older youth or even adults to play the parts of the two attackers and the man being attacked. I will give suggestions for how they can play their roles, but feel free to help your children make the story as fun and memorable as you can. I have used boys and girls in the various roles, but you can change those however you want to change them.

* * *

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Katy Stenta
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
George Reed
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
For July 13, 2025:
  • Samaritans Among Us by Dean Feldmeyer based on Acts 2:1-21. Samaritans were despised and dismissed by the original audience who first heard Jesus tell this parable. Who are the Samaritans in our lives and how does this parable apply today?

StoryShare

Frank Ramirez
I say, “You are gods,
    children of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, you shall die like mortals
    and fall like any prince….”
(vv. 6-7)

There have been any number of brother-sister acts that achieved a measure of fame. Take the Carpenters, famed for their singing, musicianship, and songwriting skills. Also worthy of mention are John and Joan Cusack who have acted together in over sixteen films.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Wayne Brouwer
An ancient legend tells of a remote mountain village where people used to send their senior citizens out into the woods to die. The villagers had an eye to the future; they felt that those beyond a certain age would only slow down progress or use up valuable resources to no economically profitable end. Those who reached a certain age weren’t “put out to pasture” or “put out of their misery”; they were simply put out of other people’s way.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82
The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is more than 2,700 feet high—over half a mile tall. It has 160 floors and is twice as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. It is home to the world’s fastest elevator which reaches speeds of forty miles an hour. The Burj Khalifa also hosts the world’s highest outdoor observation deck (on the 124th floor) and the world’s highest swimming pool (on the 76th floor).

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Mabel hummed a familiar hymn tune as she made her way to church. She always enjoyed her Sunday morning walk. It was one of the few times she felt safe to walk alone through the inner city, for she knew nobody would be up at 7.45 in the morning. Today was a particularly beautiful morning, with blue sky, warm sunshine, and the song of a few intrepid blackbirds who still inhabited the city.

SermonStudio

James Evans
Often, a distinction is made between the pastoral or priestly work of the church and the prophetic work. Pastoral care has to do with the care of souls, the offering of comfort in times of loss. The priestly character of pastoral work seeks to mediate the presence of God to those who are hurting.

Schuyler Rhodes
Trusting is never easy. Even in the best of relationships, people step into trust slowly. There is wariness -- questioning -- worry. What happens if trust is betrayed? What if this doesn't work? Sometimes it's like a dance. We step in and out of trust, moving to the rhythms of fear. For many, the routine is achingly familiar. Indeed, it's not easy to trust.
John Jamison
It was back in the days when the railroad was the most common mode of transportation. There were automobiles, and some airplanes, but the steam locomotive was the way most folks traveled and the way that most of the goods were distributed around the country. After dinner, people sat in the drawing room and listened to the radio programs, fading in and out from some faraway location, over the magical broadcasting signal.
Robert Leslie Holmes
Not many tourists to Washington, D.C., look for the Federal Bureau of Standards offices. It's the Capitol and the White House, the Supreme Court Building or the Smithsonian most of us want to see when we go there. Yet, at the Bureau of Standards offices something very important is stored, something that impacts your life and mine every single day. Have you ever bought the materials for a new project? When you did, most likely you purchased so many inches or feet or yards. Or, you stopped to buy gasoline for your car and purchased it at a certain price per gallon.
David O. Bales
I have the two best jobs in the world. I teach social studies at Leon Griffith Junior High School (a fairly small junior high) and I am Sunday School Superintendent at Calvary Presbyterian Church (an enormous church school). Each job is my vocation. I tell people that at school they'll find my room where the halls cross. At church they can look but probably won't find me. I'll be in someone's classroom. At each job I practice what I most deeply believe: it's how you see the world that determines how you respond to it. I'll give you an example, actually, two examples.
Erskine White
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
(Stuart K. Hine)

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL