Tag Archives: Christmas

Children’s Sermon – 2nd Sunday of Christmas, January 3, 2016, John 1:10-18 (and a little following!)

Prepare: Make two signs. One should have a large circle that says “this is the way.” This sign should be sturdy enough for some small children to run into. The other should have an arrow pointing to the side and also have the words “this is the Way” on it, but note the capitalization.

If you are going to also do a worship station, then make the sign with the arrow big enough for people in the congregation to either write directly on it or to add post-it note to it.

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Invite the children up and show them the sign with the circle (keep the other one hidden somewhere). Invite them to try to walk through the sign (you should probably stand behind it to keep it from falling over – and you may want to just get one or two volunteers!)

Ask them if they had any success getting through the sign that clearly says “this is the way?”

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In the Bible story that we hear today there is a man named John who has some ideas about Jesus. We might know this guy better as John the Baptizer. He talks about Jesus as being greater than him, and as being before him. He even says at one point that he is not the way, but he came to point to the one who is the way!

Which brings us back to our sign here. What if instead of a circle it had an arrow that could point to Jesus? Maybe something like this! (pull out the other sign)

We can use this sign to point to all the things that remind us of, and bring us closer to Jesus!  Can you find some things like that? (let them find a few symbols of Jesus in the room, maybe help them get started if they need it)

Jesus is the Way, and John points us toward him. Sometimes we do our best to act like Jesus – being kind, and loving, and forgiving – but maybe we should practice acting like John, too.  We should work to point the way to Jesus!

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+ You are a child of God, born of God’s will. +

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Giving and loving God, you not only gave us Jesus, but you gave us people like John who point the way to Jesus! Help us to point others to you. Amen.

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For a worship station, invite people to think about, and write down ways that they have pointed to God in their lives, or ways that they wish they had pointed to God.  Then hang the sign up in your church for a few weeks to remind people to point to God!

 

Children’s Sermon First Sunday of Christmas, Luke 2:22-40, December 28, 2014

Prepare: For the children’s sermon you will need a nativity set plus two more figures to be Simeon and Anna. Set up a table with blank paper doll cut outs and crayons and/or colored pencils for the worship station. You can also just have plain paper and pencils for people to write on in you don’t have time for the paper dolls.

20130822-222604.jpg  Gather the children around the nativity set and ask them to tell you about the figures that they see. Once they have gotten to everyone there, ask them if anyone is missing.

FaithCross Yep, there are the kings, and the shepherds, the angel (or angels!), some animals, Mary and Joseph and the baby. It does seem like everyone is there, doesn’t it? I think, though, that we could add some people to the story.

Today in the Gospel lesson we heard about Simeon and Anna. These two people had been waiting for Jesus for a long time! God had told them that they would see Jesus before they died and they were very old when he was born, but like the shepherds and the kings, they were some of the first people to see Jesus and to know who he was!

Simeon and Anna were waiting and preparing, just like we all did during Advent. They know that Jesus was coming, just like we all knew that Christmas would be here soon. There was a difference, though, because we all knew that Christmas would be December 25th, just like it always it. Simeon and Anna didn’t know when Jesus would be born, they just had to wait and trust that God would fulfill the promise. They heard the good news, and felt the same joy as the shepherds and the kings, so I think we should add them scene, so I brought two more figures to add to this nativity. Let’s put them in place.

20130822-223749.jpg  Faithful God, we thank you for the witness of Simeon and Anna, and their long wait to see Jesus. Be with us when whenever we wait for news, good or bad, in our lives. Give us patience, faith and courage to be faithful followers of Christ. Amen.

FaithCross_Worship Just as we added Simeon and Anna to the nativity set, invite the congregation to add someone of their own to the set. Simeon and Anna were witnesses to God’s promise, and are for us today a witness to faith in God’s good works.  Who in your life has been a faithful witness? Who has been a steady and patient believer in God and in you?

Make a paper doll of that person (or write a little about them) and add them to your nativity set at home!

FaithCross_BlessALT  God’s promises are fulfilled in you!

 

~GB

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