Category Archives: Children’s Sermons

Children’s Sermon – 7th Sunday after Epiphany – Matthew 5:38-48

Prepare: The only thing you need is someone who is willing to let you hold their arms down.  It could be a child, youth or adult, but they need to be willing to play along (and not freaked out by having their arms held down!),

 Invite the children to gather as you normally do, but once they are all there make a grumpy face.  Kind of go back and forth between normal and grumpy a few times and see if you can get one of the kids to ask what you are doing.

 Yeah . . . I’m practicing my grumpy face.  See, I was reading the Gospel today and Jesus is talking about how we should love our enemies.  Jesus actually says that we should love people who  want to be mean to us and it made me grumpy!  Then I noticed something a little strange, my face got really tired of being grumpy.  I took a lot of effort to stay grumpy, like way more work than just being happy and content with the world.  But here’s the worst part – after I worked on being grumpy for a while, I noticed that it got easier.  So I started thinking about being grumpy, and it’s a lot of work to being with – harder than being happy or loving, but if you work at if for a while it gets easy and might even be a habit!

Let me show you what I mean, I need a volunteer (this would be where you need to have someone who’s arms you can hold down.  Alternatively, you could have the person use a door frame or even just the wall if that is a better option for you.) OK, this person here is going to work really, really hard at lifting her arms up to the side, and I am going to hold her arms in place.  (Hold the volunteers arms to their sides, or have them push out on a door frame).  Push really hard!  We are going to work at this for about 30 seconds.  Then, when I say so, I want you to just let your arms hang at your side. (If they do this right, their arms will *float* up away from their side because the muscles are now used to pushing out and up!)

See, first she tried really hard, and now it’s just a habit for her muscles to want to lift her arms!  So, if you practice being grumpy, like I was doing, eventually that is just what you act like all the time!  Jesus wants us to love our enemies because all people deserve love, even if we don’t like them.  And if we work hard at being loving then that becomes a habit, too!

 Jesus loves you even when you feel grumpy!

 Good and loving God, we know that we are called to love everyone, but it just so hard! Fill us with your love and give us the strength to share that love even with people who are hard to love. Amen

 For the worship station, simply invite people to repeat the arm experiment for themselves.  Give a little space for people to talk, reflect and giggle at the silly ways our bodies do things.

Children’s Sermon, 4th Sunday after Epiphany – Matthew 5:1-12

Prepare: You really don’t need anything for the children’s sermon, but if you want to have something (I find it works better to have something to show), find something that says “hope” on it.

 As the children gather, invite them to talk about what they hope for.  Give them a little time to think, and a little space to enjoy being hopeful.

  Those are fun things to hope for!  I wanted to think about hope today because I hear “hope” in the Gospel today.  The Gospel story that we hear today is often called the Beatitudes.  There are whole books written about this little story in the Bible. People wondering who Jesus was talking about and why.  People wanting to point out who is on each side of the sayings – these people are poor, so Jesus must be talking about them.  Or, when I’m sad I know that I am one who is mourning.

I hear many of those things in this story, too! But I also hear a message of hope.  At different times in my life I think that I have been on both sides of all of these sayings.  I have been merciful, but I have been mean, too.  I have been poor, and I’ve had more than I needed. I have been happy and sad.  I have been put down because of what I believe, and I have put others down for what they believe. When I think about it like that I start to see this a little differently.

No matter who you are, no matter what is going on, there is always room for hope.  Hope doesn’t always mean that you are going to get what you want – hope is more like a sparkling of something that keeps you going. Jesus gives us hope that when we feel like we are at the bottom – under a pile of worry and sadness, we can still rise up out of it.

 God of hope, be with us when everything seems to be going wrong. Give us hope to see a better way forward.  Joyful God, be with us when everything seems to be going right and help us remember your love for the times when we need hope the most. Amen.

 Jesus loves you in the good times and in the bad times.

  What do you really hope for?  Ask the congregation this question and offer a chance to put into prayer.  One way to do this is to have paper handy for everyone, invite them to write their hopes on the paper, then collect it and read it as part of the prayers of the church.

You could also form prayer circles if you have room and time!  Have people gather in groups of 4 to 8 (no more than that!) and offer hopes within the small group.

Children’s Sermon — God’s People Caught in Light and Love Matthew 4:12-23

Gather the children with you. If you can get a big net or even a small one as a visual that is good. If not, it’s ok to to just describe it. Ask the children if they have ever seen a big fishing net? How many fish do you think it can catch? Some big fishing boats can get 100,000 fish a day! What kind of fish do you think they catch? Yes they may be trying to get a certain kind of fish but when they put out the net and scoop it up, they will catch whatever kind of fish are together in that area.

In today’s story, Jesus is calling his disciples, so inviting specific people to follow him and help him share about and tell God’s love to all the people. He goes out to towns and areas where people who do not know about God are told that they too are a part of God’s children and a part of God’s love. So Jesus wants to catch all kinds of people to hear about God. So I was looking around at everyone here up front and you have something the same–you are all kids! Wonderful children of God! Now look behind you, is everyone out there a kid? No! Are they all the same age? Look around the whole room, are we all exactly the same kind of person? No! But does God want to catch us all? Yes, God wants us all to be caught up in God’s love. So let’s see how can we show that together? Let’s invite some volunteers who are not kids to come up here and join us around (or in) our net! (It can be a good idea to plant some people who would be willing to come up at this point). Will any of you who are retired come up front and join us? Will any of you who are grandparents? Parents? Young adults? Teenagers? Gather a few people to come join the kids.

OR if you cannot get people to come out or think your group will not go for that. Have the kids stand up and hold hands and then connect them to adults sitting in the pews by holding hands and ask everyone to hold hands for the prayer showing we are all a part of who God loves.

Jesus who fishes for people! Thank you for catching us in your love. Help us live in this love and share it with others. Amen

 

You are caught and held in God’s love all the time +

 

 

Have fish shaped paper for people to write prayers or thanksgiving for a person or an area that is not like them but that God loves.

Children’s Sermon – Baptism of Our Lord

Prepare: Find a few kinds of seals. They can be images, but better would be examples that the children can touch and hold like a sealed jar of jelly, a wax seal on paper, maybe your church’s seal if you have one. Also find an oil stock for baptism, or a little bowl with olive oil on a cotton ball.

 As the children gather ask them what they think of when you say the word “seal.”  You will probably get people talking about aquatic animals, not wax seals, but that’s fine!

Today in the Gospel we hear a story about Jesus getting baptized.  Jesus is in the water, but there were no seals there.  The kind of seal want to talk about isn’t an animal, and really isn’t even in the story about Jesus that we hear today!

(you could gather around your baptismal font if that is possible)

We still baptize people today, sometimes it looks a lot like what happened to Jesus, sometimes we use a bowl of water, called a font, and lots of different things in between.  But there is something that we often say at baptisms that we don’t hear in the story, it is a blessing that sounds like this:

“(name), Child of God, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the Cross of Christ forever.”

Did you hear the word “sealed” in there?  Yeah, really not talking about an animal! That kind of seal keeps things fresh, or secure, or shows who something belongs to.  I have a few examples here – this jar is sealed to keep this jelly fresh until we want to eat it.  A wax seal on an envelope show not only who it came from but also proves that it hasn’t been opened, and a seal like this one shows that this book belongs to this church. (Modify this as needed!)

So when we hear that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit in Baptism, what do you think that means? (give a little space here)

Right!  Good!  And when we seal people in Baptism we often use a little bit of olive oil on their forehead. 

Now you get to decide what to do.  Either have the children seal each other with a tiny amount of oil, repeating the words that you say, or the time to bless them all yourself.  depends on how much time you have!

 Loving and merciful God, we rejoice in the gift of baptism. Thank you for claiming us as your own and sealing us into your care. Amen.

 Child of God, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the Cross of Christ forever.

 Invite your whole congregation to come up and remember their baptism!  You can either just let them dip their hands in the water, or you can offer them oil to seal someone that they came up with.  Or!  Even better – ask some of the children to stay and bless people!

One warning – mess with the amount of oil you use on the cotton BEFORE you try this.  it really only takes a very little bit.  You don’t want oil dripping down faces!

Holding It Together Matthew 2: 13-23 Christmas 1 Year A January 1, 2017

Invite the children (and adults!!)  to come forward and immediately grab a hold of a rope tied to create a circle . Make sure everyone is holding on! Ask,” Could you hold this rope in the shape of a circle all by yourself? No, that would be very hard wouldn’t it! We need each other to do hard things and I’m so glad that all of you are here! This rope reminds us that we are all connected and when we need help all we have to do is look around to see that we are not alone. God’s love holds us together, much like this rope connects us.

 In our story today, we hear that baby Jesus and his parents, Joseph and Mary had to go to Egypt in order to keep Jesus safe. It would have been scary for them! But God was with them and do you think that people would have helped them along the way and when they arrived in Egypt? Yes! God makes sure that we are never alone! All we have to do is look around to see those who are helping! Just as we hold on to the rope, we hold on to each other and God holds on to all of us! How can we hold someone with God’s love? What if there is a new kid in class? Or in our neighborhood? Or someone who is scared or alone? You are part of God’s work in the world to hold us all in love!

Have a simple, printed calendar of January 2020 with room under each day for writing (perhaps a calendar where each day is a square). People can take one home to write where they see God holding them or a neighbor each day. Also, have a paper map of the world hanging up and people can place a pin for the part of the world that they are praying for.

God of yesterday, today and tomorrow, you hold us always in your love. You promise that we are never alone no matter where we may be. Bind us and hold us together! Amen

+You are held by God+

See God’s Love With Us! Matthew 1: 18-25, Advent 4 Year A, December 18, 2016

 Have a crèche or the nativity scene where the children can gather around. If you already have the baby Jesus in the manger in your congregation, have the baby removed for this message. Ask the children “what’s missing from our scene?” Hopefully they will say Jesus! Say, “Jesus isn’t in the manger yet, as we celebrate his birthday next week. We have been waiting these last four weeks to finally see the baby Jesus, haven’t we? It’s hard to wait and it’s hard to know what we can’t see. We keep looking for baby Jesus, don’t we!”
 Our story today is about Jesus being born and that finally, Mary and Joseph saw baby Jesus! Have seen a new baby? They are very tiny and everyone is very excited about them aren’t they? Moms, dads, brothers and sisters have waited to see what this new baby will look like and it can feel like someone is missing. And when the baby is born, it’s almost like the baby has always been with us because we immediately love them . When we love someone, it feels that we have always loved them. This is what God wants us to know and so had Jesus come as a baby. When Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and Wise men looked at Jesus, they were looking at God’s love! When we look at each other we are also looking at God’s love! God has always loved us and will always love us. God wants us to see this love and to know that this love is forever. In sending Jesus as a baby, God says that love is never missing from our lives, Jesus and his love is always with us. This love is with you, and you, and you and you and everyone here, and everyone not here. Jesus tells us that when we love other people with kind words and actions, that we are showing people Jesus’ love for everyone to see! Let’s put the baby Jesus in the manger to remind us of this love and sing “Jesus Loves Me.”

Have the phrase “See God’s Love With Us.” printed out with each letter of the phrase printed on a separate sheet of 8 1/2 by 11 paper. Hang the letters up so that it reads as the phrase and have pens, markers, etc. available. Invite people to write words of where they see God’s love and action in the world that begin with each letter of the phrase “See God’s Love With Us.” (You can also have more than one phrase/word.)

Dear Jesus, you came to the world as God’s own love to be with us. Your love never leaves us and is always with us. May we not be afraid to share this love so that evryone sees you and your love! Amen

 +God’s love is with us+

Children’s Sermon for Christmas Eve/Day – Luke 2:1-20

Prepare: You don’t need much for the children’s sermon.  You can, if you want, have some small gift for the children.  I would suggest a small star or small sheep if you want to do that.  The only other thing that might help is a familiarity with the Christmas song “Do You Hear what I Hear?”

 As the children gather ask them  if they know the Christmas story. If they do, ask them what their favorite part of the story is.  If you have a tight schedule you might want to skip this, but it is a chance to hear where they are with the story and it might change how you do the next part!

 Well, I have a story about the Christmas story. I think that most of us know the Christmas story, but did you ever think about how that story got to us?   I was thinking about that because I was listening to a song called “Do You Hear What I Hear?” The song starts with the wind whispering to a lamb, the lamb tells the shepherd, the shepherd tells the king and the king tells everyone!  The message is that Christ is born!

As I was listening to the song I started thinking about the story of Jesus, and I realized that the song is probably not that far off.   OK, OK, in the actual story there isn’t a talking sheep, but think about the story that we hear at Christmas.  Mary and Joseph know what’s going on because an angel told them – that’s kind of like the wind whispering to you.  The angels also told the shepherds who came to see.  Later on there were thee wise men, or maybe kings who heard about Jesus somehow and came following the light of a star!

So there is just this handful of people who know what is really happening in that little stable in Bethlehem, and they all manage to keep it quiet for a long time. We don’t really hear much about Jesus as a child, but then Jesus’ story gets really interesting! More people hear about Jesus as a teacher and healer, they tell their friends and neighbors, who tell their friends and neighbors.  The word of God spreads far and wide, churches spring up in the far corners of the world, books are written, songs are written, there are paintings and sculptures made, plays are performed, people are feed, baptized, blessed with God’s Word all over the word and throughout the centuries of time.

And it all started with an angel telling people to “Come and see.”

So, this Christmas, I encourage you to invite some one to come and see. It doesn’t have to be today, or tomorrow, or even this month.  But be like those angels and shepherds, the friends and neighbors – invite someone to “come and see!”

 Emmanuel, God with us, thank you for coming to us. For coming to us as a baby at Christmas, as a healer when we are sick, as a teacher when we are struggling, as a savior when we are lost. Give us the courage to tell the story, and to invite people to come and see! Amen.

 May God’s peace go with you

 A game of blessing telephone!  Start with two children.  Give them each a blessing and ask them to go bless two other people. Each person then blesses two more, etc.  Give it a little time to spread through the whole congregation!

You can use the blessing above, encourage people to make the sign of the cross on foreheads or on hands as they bless.

Children’s Sermon for Advent 3, Year A, Matthew 11:2-11 December 11, 2016

Preparation: a helper, a letter, your phone if you want to text

20130822-223520.jpgGather the children with you. Have your helper deliver you a message in an envelope before you get started. Say, “oh, hello, this is for me? wow!  A letter! A message in a letter!” Open the letter and read the scripture “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
That is the last part of the scripture we just heard for today. Jesus is sending a message!

20130822-223633.jpg“What kind of message do you think he is sending?” Take answers. Have your helper whisper to you that the words say messenger, not message. “oh, it says messenger, not message. Hmmmm… Well what’s the difference? Let’s see, how do you get messages today? Do you get letters in the mail? What about phone calls? or texts? or snapchats? There are a lot of way to get messages to people now. I know when Jesus was on earth with people, there were not as many ways to get messages to people. There were letters that were delivered by people, but also there were messengers who went ahead to let people know what was going on. John was telling people about Jesus before Jesus was even in town with them. Jesus is telling the followers that yes, John’s messages are about him and yes that they should listen to John.”

“Do you know who else are messengers in the Bible? Angels, the word for angel means messenger. There were many angels in the Christmas story telling people about Jesus–can you think of any? Yes, Mary and Joseph and the shepherds. Messengers are a part of how we share good news and bad news and are apart of how we tell the story of Jesus. Most of the stories of Jesus we have are ones that were told over and over before they were written down. And the stories that we have about God in our lives are good ones to send messages about–either by telling, or writing texts, or letters. you know I have a friend who texts me prayers, and I just love getting that message and that connection with God! What are some ways you can be a messenger? Who would you like to send a message to?”

You can either hand out cards or paper as a way for them to write messages now or encourage them to do that at home. You could also compose a text together and send it to someone right there!

20130822-224425.jpgGod of light and love, Thank you for your messages and your messengers. Help us to give messages to others about you. Amen

20130822-223908.jpgMay your light shine even as Jesus shines in you

 

 

FaithCross_WorshipHave cards for people to write a message to someone. Or write the best message about God they have heard. Or give some sample text prayers for people to take a picture of our write on their own.

Children’s Sermon for Advent 2, Year C – Matthew 3:1-12

Prepare:  You will need to create an “obstacle course” of some kind.  If you have a place to make an actual course go ahead!  If not, you can just come up with a wondering or difficult route to get to the children’s sermon place.  Maybe make a few cards that have instructions for how to move, like hop on one foot, crawl, crab-walk, etc.  You will probably want to gather the children in a different place than usual, so that you can travel a little.

20130822-223454.jpg As the children gather, tell them that you are going to be traveling across the sanctuary to the place they can hear about the story.  Tell them that the journey is to “prepare” them, because the story says to prepare the way of the Lord! And that the rest of the story is waiting for them when they get there. Then go ahead and travel by what every way you have come up with.

20130822-223633.jpg Finally here!  That was a tough trip just to go across the room.  Now, the rest of the story!  We heard that we are supposed to prepare the way of the Lord, and Jesus seems like a complex guy, so I came up with a complex way to get here.  Let’s see if I did it right!

The story says, “Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.” 

Straight?  uh oh.  Our path was not straight! Sometimes we do that same thing to Jesus.  We say that we are all set to let Jesus in, but we put up road blocks, and make Jesus do funny walks just to prove that he really wants to be part of our lives.  But in Advent – as we prepare for Christmas – we are told to clean out all the road blocks, to get rid of the rules and restrictions of what Jesus can and cannot do, and make Jesus’ path straight and easy.

We are called on to do some work!

20130822-223749.jpg Loving God, we thank you for sending us your Son, Jesus. We are trying hard to make a straight path for Jesus, but sometimes it’s really hard to do.  Give us courage to keep working, and thank you for sending Jesus, even when we are not ready and the path is not straight. Amen.

20130822-223908.jpg God finds you even on the crooked path!

FaithCross_Worship Find something that you congregation is working on – like a long-term service relationship in the community, or having supplies on hand for people in need – and create a list of “road blocks” to getting that done.  Put the list up somewhere in the worship space, or include it in the printed materials. Start a discussion about how to move forward.  What can be done to get the blocks out of the way and move on with the project?

Children’s Sermon Christ the King Year C Luke 23:33-43 November 20, 2016

Preparation: For the children’s sermon you will need a regular wall calendar and a liturgical calendar–a larger size will be helpful. For the worship station or to hand out at children’s sermon if you choose you will need liturgical calendars, preferable not colored in, and copied on regular sized paper.

20130822-223520.jpgGather the children up front with you and show them your regular calendar. “Ask, what is this? Yes, it is a calendar. It shows us in straight lines what days are coming next, which ones have past and what we can see coming in the future. What are some things you know are coming on the calendar” (point out Thanksgiving, Christmas, maybe have other church saint days or festivals on there too, anything that might be important to your context)

20130822-223633.jpgI brought another calendar with me as well. Show them your circle, liturgical calendar. What is different about this one? Yes, it goes in a circle. And it tells a story about our life with Jesus. Point out the different seasons in the circle. Then explain where we are now–on the edge of the end of one year and the beginning of the next:  “In the bible reading today we heard the story of Jesus on the cross, being made fun of really and crowned the king. And it is the story of how he died and the promise that God is with us in life and death. And next week you will start to hear the stories of Jesus being born–how God came to be with us in life and death. So it goes in a circle, our story with Jesus. It does not have an end and it is not a straight line because God is with us in our stories and experiences of life that start with birth, give us life, and remain with us in death. And the story of God keeps going like a circle, with no end. This is why the church calendar goes in a circle too, to help us remember these promises of God.”

20130822-224425.jpgNever ending God, thank you for your story that keeps going. Thank you for your love that is with us and keeps going. Show us how to follow Jesus in all the days of our calendars and all the days of lives. Amen

20130822-223908.jpgMay you know God’s circle of love and never ending life +

 

FaithCross_WorshipPrint out individual liturgical calendars and use a color code to have people color in their own calendar to take home. If you google liturgical calendar images there are many choices, some free, some you need to pay a small download fee. You cans also draw a circle and make into sections and label yourself!