Faith Formation Journeys

Walking Together in Grace

Author: gb

  • Children’s Sermon Sept. 30th, 2012 18th Sunday after Pentecost Mark 9:38-50

    Scripture: Mark 9:38-50

    Faith + Open: As children come forward, randomly put them into two distinct groups preferably (depending on your space) with some separation between them. Make sure that no one migrates and make it clear that this is where they need to be. Don’t have them sit down.

    Faith + Share: Take one group (this will be group 1 for reference) of the children and say “Ok you are with me. Let’s go over here for a little bit and talk.” Lead them away (maybe down one of the side aisles towards the back of the worship space) and don’t even acknowledge the other group( group 2 for reference). Begin talking to your group in hushed tones occasionally looking at and pointing to the other group still up front. Do this for only a minute to two. Then bring the groups back together.

    Say to group 2: “How did it feel to be left up here alone not knowing what was going on? (Accept all answers) Did you wonder why you didn’t get to go with the other group? Did you wonder if you were different or had done something not quite right?” (Accept all answers) Turn to group 1: “How did you feel to go with me? Like the “in” crowd or like you were special for some reason?

    Well in our story this morning there were two groups of people- the disciples who were with Jesus and another group who weren’t directly with Jesus but were helping people in Jesus’ name. The disciples thought that the other people were too different and shouldn’t be allowed to talk about Jesus. But Jesus tells the disciples that anyone who tells people about him ARE part of his group! Anyone who loves Jesus, tells people about Jesus, and helps people in Jesus’ name are important to Jesus and Jesus includes or welcomes anyone who believes! Pretty neat! Jesus tells the disciples “to have piece with each other” and this means to not worry about someone who is a bit different from themselves but welcome into God’s family!

    We have a part of our worship service where we do this: it is called the “passing of the peace.” We do this because Jesus wants us to welcome everyone and so we shake hands or give a hug to let everyone here know that they are wanted and welcome here! So when we say “peace be with you” we are really saying “God’s peace and we are so glad you are here!”

    How else can we let people know that we are glad that they are with us not just in worship on a Sunday morning but in our lives as well?

    Faith + Blessing: Today when we pass the peace I want all of us to say that to each other, “God’s peace and I am so glad that you are here!”

    Faith + Close: Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank you for loving everyone. We want everyone to feel you love for them, help us to welcome everyone we meet for you. We all belong to you and we are so thankful! Amen

    ~BW
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  • Children’s sermon Sept. 23rd, 2012 Pentecost 17 Mark 9: 30-37

    Children’s sermon Sept. 23rd, 2012 Pentecost 17 Mark 9: 30-37

    Scripture: Mark 9:30-37

    Prepare: Copy of verse 37 for each child present.

    Faith + Open: Gather the children to your children’s sermon space. Begin by asking them a series of questions about themselves. Such as what is their favorite color, food, brothers and sisters, favorite games, etc. Then say, “Wow! By asking all of these questions I have learned a lot about all of you this morning! Have I learned everything about you though? (NO!) I will need to ask you a lot more questions and talk to you for a really long time to learn everything about you! It would take me my whole life to learn everything about even one of you!! Now I am going to tell you something about myself. (Say something in a foreign language if you can or say something with ridiculously big/difficult words.) So what do you now know about me? What did I just say? (Looks of confusion should abound!) You didn’t understand what I just said about me? What questions could you ask to find out? (Accept all answers.)

    Faith + Share: Well, in the first part of today’s gospel lesson from the book of Mark, Jesus is telling the disciples something about himself that they did not understand. Jesus told them that he was going to be hurt by people, so hurt in fact that Jesus was going to die. BUT Jesus also told them that he would rise again. The disciples didn’t understand this at all but they were afraid to ask Jesus questions about it! Jesus wants us to ask questions. Jesus welcomed children and their questions and says that welcoming children and questions is welcoming God into our lives. Just as I learned things about you by asking questions, questions are also how we learn about Jesus. Do we always know all of the answers? (No) but we can talk together, read the Bible together and learn about Jesus together! I want you to write, or have mom/dad/adult you came to church with, one question that you have about God or Jesus and talk about it in your family this week. If you want you can ask another adult in the congregation too!

    Faith + Close: Prayer: Dear Jesus, we want to know more about you. Thank you for hearing our questions and thank you for the people in our lives who learn about you with us. Thank you for loving us so much! Amen

    Faith + Blessing: Give each child a copy of verse 37 to go in to their Bibles to remind them to ask questions about Jesus!

    ~BW