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Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon, May 3, 2015, Fifth Sunday of Easter – John 15:1-8

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Preparation: For the children’s sermon you will need a cut flower of some kind.  Doesn’t matter what it is.

For the Worship Station you will need a large piece of banner paper or art roll paper (white would be best), markers and/or crayons and a place to tape it to the wall. Prepare the banner paper by drawing a long vine down the middle of it and writing “Jesus, the true vine” on it.

20130822-223454.jpg As the children gather, ask them what they need everyday to live and grow. You are looking for things like water and food. Ask them also how they get that water and food, who provides it for them? Do they get it themselves or does someone get it for them?

20130822-223633.jpg Most of us depend on other people to help us get food and water, even adults!  If we live in a city we might depend on plumbers and engineers to design systems to bring water to our homes. If we are not farmers we rely on people to grow and harvest food for us. We rely on people to pack that food and ship it to stores, and other people to work in the stores! 

I thought about this because the story we hear from the Gospel of John today talks about Jesus as the true vine, and us as the branches. I was trying to figure out a way to understand how important the central vine of a plant really is, and then I through about food and water. We all need the plant needs food and water to live, and all of that passes through the central part of the plant. The water comes up through the roots to the leaves, and the leaves make food for the plant to grow (OK, that pretty simplified, but you get the idea). The central vine, or main stalk or trunk of a plant is essential to connect all the parts of a plant that need food and water. If any part of a plant gets cut off it cannot live for very long.

Like this flower here. Sure, it still looks nice now, but since it has been cut off of its plant it will only look this way for a few days, even if I put it in water. In needs the rest of the plant so that it can get food to live and grow.

Jesus is like that for our spirit and our community. Jesus is the center of our faith life and connects us to people that feed and nourish our lives so that we can grow in love for one another and be fruitful in the world.

20130822-223749.jpg Creative God, you are the true vine that brings us food for our souls and water for faith. Keep us refreshed and strong in our love for you so that we can help to share your love and mercy throughout our communities and our world.

20130822-223908.jpg You are precious to God.

FaithCross_Worship Put your vine banner up somewhere, or lay it out on a table, and invite people to add their own little branch to the vine.  Encourage them to share branches with family and friends and to write something like, “I am feed by the true vine!”

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 12, 2015 – John 20:19-31

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Preparation: For the Children’s sermon you will not need anything.

For the worship station you will need a large bowl or jar (even better if you can take all this outside and use a large metal bucket and burn the paper that will be put in it), many small pieces of paper and pens or pencils to write or draw with.

20130822-223454.jpg Ask the children, “Have you ever been really mad at someone? Or has someone ever done something to you that made you feel sad or hurt?” Wait for a few replies. Then ask, “What did you do about it?”

20130822-223633.jpg I want to read you something from a different translation of the Bible – this is from a translation called The Message, by Eugene Peterson.  John 20:23 in this translation says, “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”

That got me thinking about this whole reading today about Jesus and the disciples. We often focus on Thomas when we read this story – maybe because we don’t want to be like Thomas, or maybe because we feel blessed that we have not seen and we still believe. I want to think about this a different way – how do you think that Thomas felt? How did he feel about Jesus dying? How did he feel about his friends claiming to see Jesus when he had not? If they were telling the truth, how did he feel about Jesus appearing the them and not to him? Did he feel hurt? Angry? Sad?

We will never really know, but think about those times when you are hurt or sad or angry.  It can be really difficult to let those feelings go, and then we hold on to whatever it was that made us feel that way. We are slow to forgive, and we hold onto the sins – then what do we do with them?

Jesus appearing to Thomas opened a path for Thomas to forgive and to let go. Something that we all need at some point.

20130822-223749.jpg Loving God, in this season of Easter we celebrate your victory over sin and death, we rejoice in the freedom of your love and mercy. Teach us to forgive and be merciful so that we can be free from the weight of sin and grudges. Amen

20130822-223908.jpg God’s mercy and love set you free!

FaithCross_Worship This is a twist on the idea of writing confessions on paper and burning them  This time invite people to write things that they need to forgive on paper.  People are welcome to keep their paper as a reminder to go and forgive, or to release their paper into the bucket or jar so that they can let the sin go.

Set up a station with a large bowl, bucket or jar (or, as I said earlier – a way to collect and then burn the paper safely!). You can leave paper and pens at the station or distribute them around the worship space.

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon, Palm Sunday – March 29, 2015 – Matthew 21:1-13

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Prepare: If your church uses palm branches or crosses make sure that the people have them before Children’s Time or the Worship Station Time.  If you do not use either palms or crosses don’t worry, they are not necessary.

20130822-223520.jpg Have any of you ever been to a big sporting event, or seen one on TV? Have you ever seen when they have the players run our through a tunnel or balloons or flowers? Why do you think they do that?

20130822-223633.jpg Today is Palm Sunday! Today we remember a different entrance. This is the day that we remember Jesus going into Jerusalem and the people shouting “Hosanna!” See, kind of like that big sporting event, Jesus was coming in like a hero. The people lining the streets and shouting were hoping the Jesus would be their champion, so they cheered and shouted.

As they got to know Jesus, and see what he was doing in the city, they changed their minds. They wanted Jesus to be a new king over the city, but that is not what Jesus was there to do. They lost hope in their champion, kind of like we might lose hope if our team is losing that big game.

The difference is that Jesus was winning, and it wasn’t a game. Jesus was in Jerusalem to reconnect to the people in way that they could never imagine, and didn’t understand. Jesus was there to help us return to God.

So, to help us celebrate, we are going to have a fancy entrance right here, and we need the help of all the people here!

FaithCross_Worship Ask all the people to line up on the aisles and hold their palms (or crosses or hands) up to make a tunnel.  Then invite children and adults to go through the tunnel while people cheer and shout “Hosanna!” Once everything calms down a little invite everyone to pray.

20130822-224425.jpg Hosanna! Lord, we praise you for saving us through Jesus. Today we remember your entrance into Jerusalem, and we proclaim you as our Lord and savior. Be with us this week as we remember the events of Holy Week and prepare to celebrate your resurrection and our promise of new life. Amen

20130822-223908.jpg Jesus remembers you.