Children’s Sermon John 14:15-21, Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 25, 2014

Preparation: Have a picture of your mom or dad or another family member that you may resemble. Doesn’t have to be exact.

20130822-223520.jpg  Gather the children. Say, “I have this picture of my mom (or whomever) and it’s interesting because we have some similarities. We have the same color hair, eyes, height. But more than that, she and I both like fish, both play piano, and both like to ski. We are alike in many ways. Some of this is that we are related and so we share genetic traits, some of this is that we spent a lot of time together. Families are very important. They shape us and we tend to be like someone in our family. Who are you like in your family? Do you and your siblings like similar things? Or with your mom and dad, aunt uncle? Has anyone in your family ever told you that you are like someone else in your family? Yes, we can be like our family members and share likes, dislikes, hair color, words we use, etc.

Do you ever wonder what Jesus means when he talks about the fact that God is in Jesus and Jesus is in us and we are a part of each other? That we share life together? It’s really confusing and hard to think about isn’t it? We can’t really explain it well because we can’t see God in us and in others but just like we share traits with our families, Jesus says that we share traits with him and with God. The biggest trait that we share is love. Jesus says this is how everyone will know that you are part of God’s family is by showing love. Just like people may know that you are part of your family you live with by how you look or act, Jesus says by showing love you for every person, then everyone will know that you are part of God’s family. When we all share this love it connects us like family. Jesus says that everyone is in God’s family and promises to be with us always to help us remember that.

What are ways that Jesus showed love? (Accept all answers) What are ways that we can show love? (Accept all answers) These are great ways to show God’s love and to include everyone in the family of God!

20130822-223749.jpg  Dear Jesus, thank you for being with us always. Thank you for showing us how to be like God and love everyone. Thank you for making us one big family in your love! Amen.

FaithCross_BlessALT  Have kids go to their families and people in the congregation turn to one another and make the sign of the cross and say, “Jesus loves you and so do I.”

Worship station idea: Invite people to bring a picture to share of their family and have a big piece of butcher paper shaped like a heart (or more than one) to tape them to. Have families write their last name and one similarity or unique thing about their family. If you can’t do pictures-have them draw their family and do the name piece or just do the name and unique family trait. Have a another station close by for people to write prayers for their families and neighbors.

-BW

 

Children’s sermon John 14: 1-14 Fifth Sunday of Easter Year A May 18th, 2014

ffjChildrenSermonPreparation: Have a couple of maps handy to show the children. Have one that is very simple that even a young child could point to a well defined location on the map. Use that map for your object lesson. Have crosses (one for each child or for everyone present!) cut out some printed off or old maps to hand out.

20130822-223520.jpg Be reading a map as you ask the children to join you where you lead children’s time. Look confused and turn the map every which way. Say to the children, “So I’m trying to figure out how to get to (town or location close to your church marked that they would know). I’m looking at this map but I can’t make heads or tails of it. Can you help me?” Show the children the map and hopefully they will point to the location! If not, you can help them. Say, “Oh thank you so much for pointing the way to ______. I sometimes get a little lost and confused and need help. We have maps and phones to help us get places don’t we? Sometimes we have to ask another person for help too!”

20130822-223633.jpg In the Bible story for today, Jesus is telling the disciples that there is room for everyone in God’s house and that he would soon be returning to God to live there. Jesus says that they should know the way because they have been hanging out with Jesus. But the disciples were confused and didn’t know the way. They were probably thinking that they could use a map! But Jesus tells them that HE is the way. Jesus is like our map in life. When we wonder what to do or say we can look to what Jesus did and said. Should we be nice to people? Yes! Should we help people? Yes! Should we tell people about how much God loves them? Yes! Jesus also says that if we get confused that we should stop and ask someone for help! We need each other to help us to remember the way to love and follow Jesus. Do you think that all of these people here will help you? Yes!

To help us remember that Jesus is our map in life, here is a cross made out of a map for you to take home.

20130822-224425.jpg Let’s pray: Dear Jesus, thank you for showing us the way to love each other. Thank you for reminding us that even if we get confused there are people who will help us. Help us to show your love to everyone. Amen.

20130822-223908.jpg Make the sign of the cross on each other and say: Remember that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

                                                                                                                                            

Children’s Sermon Fourth Sunday of Easter, 1 Peter 2:19-25 (and John 10:1-10), May 11, 2014

Prepare:  Find a picture of someone who fought (or is fighting for) human rights – like Martin Luther King Jr., or Nelson Mandela.  I will use Martin Luther King as my example here, but it really doesn’t matter too much who you choose.

20130822-223520.jpg  Have your picture out as the children gather, and ask if any of them know who is in the picture.  If they know who it is, ask them why this person is important.

FaithCross That’s right, this is Martin Luther King.  He wanted equal rights for African Americans.  He tried very hard to be peaceful and kind, but he was also sure that he was doing the right thing.  There were people who were very angry with him for the things that he was saying and for the changes that he wanted people to make in their lives.  He knew that we should treat all people the as beloved children of God.  No one is less of a person than anyone else because they are a boy or a girl, or because their skin is light or dark, or their hair is straight of curly.  We all belong to God.

The sad part of this story is that Martin Luther King was treated badly.  He was arrested, he was beat up, he was yelled at and eventually he was even killed because he knew what was the right thing to do, and he kept doing it.

I thought of Martin Luther King when I reading from 1 Peter.  In that letter, Peter (or maybe Peter’s followers) write that even if it is scary we should keep doing what we know is right, even if we get in trouble for doing it.

Now wait a minute . . . you really have to think about this!  If you’re hungry, is it right to go take all the cookies out of the cookie jar, or steal someone’s lunch?  Is it pushing someone out the way because you are late?  No, doing the right thing is acting with love!  So, instead of taking someone else’s food when you are hungry, it is sharing or giving your food to someone else who is hungry, too.  Instead of pushing someone out of your way, it is stopping to help someone who needs it even if you are going to be later because you stop.

Sometimes acting with love can be the hardest thing to do, too.  Acting with love might mean getting on the bad side of a bully because you help someone who is being bullied, or tell a teacher or adult about the bully.  Acting with love means giving food or help to someone who is homeless even if other people what to ignore them.

At the end of this little passage from 1 Peter, we hear that even if we mess up, Jesus always welcomes us back.  Even when we don’t always act with Love, there is a place for us with Jesus.

20130822-223749.jpg   Loving God, help us to love one another the way that you love us.  Help us to see the ways to act with love and kindness in everything that we do, and forgive us when we mess up and forget to be loving.  Amen.

20130822-223908.jpg  Send them out with a traditional Easter greeting!  You say, “Christ is risen!”  They respond, “Christ is risen indeed!”

 

~GB

Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.

Children’s Sermon Third Sunday of Easter, Luke 24:13-35, May 4, 2014

Prepare:  Find a very simple puzzle, like a preschool puzzle, you really only want about 6 or 7 pieces for this.  Bonus points if it is an Easter puzzle!  Also bring along some cardboard scraps that are a similar size to the puzzle pieces, but just squares or rectangles so that the puzzle piece is still pretty obvious.

20130822-223520.jpg  As the children gather, get all the puzzle pieces facing up except for one.  Let one piece sit surrounded by the cardboard so that it is obviously a puzzle piece, but so that the picture cannot be seen on it.  Start getting the puzzle put together, let the children help if you want, but keep them away from the upside down piece.  Once the puzzle is together be really sad and confused about the missing piece.

FaithCross Oh no!  I’m missing a piece!  I thought they were all here!  I even asked the person who gave me the puzzle and they said all the pieces were here. (At this point it is good if you let them see the missing piece.)  Well, I guess I’ll just throw it away, if I can’t find the piece.  What?  You say it’s over here?  No, this is all just cardboard, no puzzle piece there.  Oh, wait!  You’re right, there is the missing piece!  I don’t know why I didn’t see it, but there it is!  Now the puzzle is complete. Thanks.

This reminds me of the Gospel story that we hear today.  The story happens on the day we call Easter.  Jesus’ friends are walking away from Jerusalem when they meet a stranger on the road.  They start talking and they find out that the stranger has no idea about what just happened in Jerusalem.  He doesn’t know about Jesus, he doesn’t know about Jesus being killed, or buried, he doesn’t know any of it, so they tell the stranger all about it.

Here’s the fun part of the story, the stranger was Jesus!  He was walking with his friends and they didn’t even know that it was him.  They were so sad and worried that they couldn’t see Jesus walking with them.  Just like me with that puzzle piece, I was so upset that it was missing that I didn’t even want to look for it.  They didn’t know that they were with Jesus until they sat down to eat and Jesus broke bread and poured wine, then they suddenly recognized him.  Just like I didn’t see the piece until someone turned it over.

A missing puzzle piece is not really a big deal, is it?  No, not really.  But forgetting to look for Jesus?  We do know something that those disciples didn’t know, we know that Jesus is alive and among us, so we know that we should always be looking for Jesus, we should always be finding people who need our love and care.

20130822-223749.jpg   Risen Christ, we sometimes forget that you are here with us, we forget to look for you in the people around us, and we forget to be loving to everyone we meet.  Help us to see the good in the world and to live with your forgiveness and grace in our hearts and on our lips.  Amen.

20130822-223908.jpg  Send them out with a traditional Easter greeting!  You say, “Christ is risen!”  They respond, “Christ is risen indeed!”

~GB

Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.

Children’s Sermon Second Sunday of Easter, John 20:19-31, April 27, 2014

Prepare:  Bring a digital camera or your phone – something that will let you take a picture of the children and show them the picture (a tablet with camera would be ideal).  Also bring a stuffed animal, you will need someone to hold the animal secretly in the background of the picture, so make sure you have that set up in advance, don’t let the children see the animal!

20130822-223520.jpg  Gather the children together and take a group picture, make sure they are looking at you and that you can get the stuffed elephant in the frame of the picture behind them.  Odds are good that at least one of them will want to see the picture, but if no one asks to see it, then start saying how great it is.  As soon as one of them asks to see it, gently tell them no, tell them that it is a great shot, they will just have to trust you.  Then take it over to another adult in the room and show them, and get them to say that it’s a great picture, but still refuse to show the children.  Then put the camera/phone away.

FaithCross  So, do you believe me that it was a good picture?  I even have a second opinion!  It must be good, right?  But you still want to see, don’t you?

That is kind of what happens in the Gospel story today.  Jesus shows up and talks to his friends, but one of them, Thomas, isn’t there.  We don’t really know where Thomas was, but he was not with the others when Jesus appeared to them.  When the other disciples tell Thomas that they saw Jesus he say, “I don’t believe it.  And I won’t believe it unless I can see him with my own eyes, unless I can touch the places where he was injured.”  This is a little different than you trusting that the picture was a good one, it would be like me saying that there was an elephant in the background of the picture I just took.  Would you believe that?  No, you would have known if there was an elephant in the room, right?  And if there had been an elephant in the room, and you told your friends at school they wouldn’t believe you either, right?  They would want to come and see the elephant, just like Thomas wanted to see Jesus!

The good news for Thomas is that Jesus does come back, and Thomas does get to see and touch and experience Jesus.  Then Jesus says, “blessed are those who have NOT seen and still believe.”  Jesus isn’t really saying that Thomas was wrong for what he wanted.  Jesus is saying that Thomas got an amazing gift that almost no one else will ever get – the chance to touch Jesus!  We believe without Jesus appearing to us, we believe without touching Jesus hands and feet.  Thomas was blessed with the experience of Jesus alive in front of him, we are blessed because we believe in the risen Christ without proof we can see or touch.

So, what about that elephant in the picture?  Do you believe that there was an elephant in the picture?

Let’s take a look . . .

FaithCross_PrayALT    Living God, we are blessed with your love for us, we are blessed in our believe and, like Thomas, in our unbelief.  Teach us to trust in your love and grace in all things.  Amen.

FaithCross_BlessALT  Send them out with a traditional Easter greeting!  You say, “Christ is risen!”  They respond, “Christ is risen indeed!”

 

~GB

Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.

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