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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.

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Second Sunday of Lent, Romans 4:13-25, March 1, 2015

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Prepare:  For the children’s sermon you can either read the story of Abraham and Sarah from a picture Bible, or you can just re-tell the story in your own words. If you are going to read it, I recommend “The Jesus Storybook Bible” by Sally Lloyd-Jones.

For the worship station you will need a large piece of black or dark blue paper (or cloth would work, too!) and many, many gold star stickers.

20130822-223520.jpg  As the children gather, ask them if they have ever seen Cars 2 (or some other sequel). This may inspire more comments than you want, sorry. Ask them if Cars 2 would make any sense if they hadn’t seen Cars?

20130822-223633.jpg  OK, well today we have a sequel in a way.  The reading from Romans retells the story of Abraham and Sarah and their son Isaac.

(If you used the Genesis reading in worship already you can just refer back to it, but I think that it is always good for hear the story again a different way. I would encourage you to read to re-tell the story of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac here.)

When the Apostle Paul talks about this story he says that it is about more than God keeping a promise. Paul talks about Abraham and Sarah keeping their faith in God, even though the promise seemed impossible. I don’t know for sure, but I also think that how God kept the promise might not have been exactly what Abraham and Sarah expected. Maybe they thought that God would give them many, many children right then, not countless descendants from one son.

Sometimes we hear God’s promise to us and we might have ideas about how that promise should be fulfilled, but that might not always be the same as God’s idea. We, like Abraham and Sarah, need faith and trust in God, and we, like Abraham and Sarah, need to keep doing the good things that God asks us to do, even when we can’t see how the promise will be fulfilled in the end.

20130822-223749.jpg   Faithful God, we thank you for the amazing stories of faith in the Bible, especially when we have a difficult time being faithful. Help us to be faithful to our promises to you and to each other, and to work for good in all that we do. Amen

20130822-223908.jpg  May God’s promises be fulfilled in you.

FaithCross_Worship  Invite the congregation to make a wall of stars!  Each star is a silent promise to do something good for someone else or for the world. Create a prayer station for people to come and say a prayer and add a star to the paper or cloth.

~GB

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