All posts by gb

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon and Worship Station – Mark 1:21-28, February 1, 2015

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Preparation: print your favorite Bible verse, or a congregational memory verse on pieces of paper to hand out to the children.

20130822-223454.jpg Gather the children with you. Ask them, “what is the
word of God?” Take answers. The Bible is the word of God and one of
the messages it teaches us is the about God’s love and how we live out
God’s love. We also believe that Jesus is the word of God and that the
Holy Spirit keeps showing us God and God’s word as well.

FaithCross In the Bible we can read about the many ways God has
shared love with us. Today we heard that God sends prophets or talks
through others to us and that Jesus is teaching in the synagogue.
Words from the Bible can help us to listen for God and hear God in our
every day lives as well. I have for each of you a verse written down
here on sheets of paper. Take the verse and read it or have your
parents read it to you many times this week. You can also write it
down in your own writing or a draw a picture of what it means to you.

Or if you have a favorite verse or ask your parents about a favorite
verse, write that down too or teach it to a friend. (if you use the
worship station you can tie this in at this time, see below)

20130822-224425.jpgJesus, word of God speak to me through your word in the
Bible and through your love. Amen

20130822-223908.jpg You are given the word of God in love +

FaithCross_Worship Have a large sheet of paper and Bibles on a table.
Ask people to write down a verse they know, remember, or that is
important to them. They can write the whole verse or just the
scripture reference. For the children, give them verses to write down
or have them ask their parents to share a verse. If you use memory
verses in your setting you can have the list of memory verses out for
reference as well. During this next week take the verses and put them
into wordle.net and create a wordle of the verses people wrote down.
Post this on your website, facebook, etc and/or have it printed out
for the next few Sundays.

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Second Sunday After Epiphany, 1 Samuel 3:1-10 and/or John 1:43-51, January 18, 2015

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Prepare:  You will need someone to help with this one. The idea is to have someone calling to you from an unseen place. For example, if you have access to a wireless microphone that can be used just outside your worship space, or maybe from behind a screen.

For the worship station you will need a large piece of white paper – like a large piece off an art roll – to make a banner.

20130822-223315.jpg  Invite the children to gather and ask them if anyone has ever called to them – no, not on the phone – but called to them in a loud voice? Like a friend on the playground, or parent calling for them to come inside, etc. As the children are offering ideas, have you partner call to you.  They should keep calling every 10 seconds or so until you find them (so they should be in an agreed upon place to save a little time!), but there needs to be time in between calls for you to talk to the children.

FaithCross  Wait! Did you hear that? I think someone is calling to me right now! Let’s listen. Oh well, what were you saying about being called?

There it is again!  Is it one of you calling me? No? Really? Huh. Well, since we are talking about being called we should talk about the Bible stories for today.  They are both stories about being called – Hey, there is again! Is it one of you out in the congregation? No? hmmmm. . .

Well, in the stories God calls to people. God calls to Samuel as he is sleeping in the temple, and Jesus calls to Philip and Nathanael to follow him. In both stories the calls are unexpected, and in both stories the people being called have to trust and believe in the call, even though they either cannot see the person calling, or don’t know where the call will take them . . . Listen, there’s that call again!  Alright, let’s go find them!

(now go searching for the person, take as longs as you need to find them, make a fun game out if it.)

When you find the person calling, have them ask for help with something simple, like carrying in the communion elements, or with lighting some candles, or collecting offering, etc.

I’m really glad I heard that call, and I’m glad that I could help. Samuel, Philip and Nathanael also answered when they were called and they became some of God’s most important helpers.

20130822-223749.jpg   Loving God, praise and thank you for all the work you do in the world. Teach us to hear your call, and to work every day to be your hands and feet in the world. Amen.

20130822-223908.jpg  God calls you by name.

FaithCross_Worship  Either hand the blank banner on the wall or lay it out on a table. Have various colors available (crayons, pencils, etc). Invite people to write where they hear God’s call in their lives on the banner.

~GB

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

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon First Sunday of Christmas, Luke 2:22-40, December 28, 2014

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Prepare: For the children’s sermon you will need a nativity set plus two more figures to be Simeon and Anna. Set up a table with blank paper doll cut outs and crayons and/or colored pencils for the worship station. You can also just have plain paper and pencils for people to write on in you don’t have time for the paper dolls.

20130822-222604.jpg  Gather the children around the nativity set and ask them to tell you about the figures that they see. Once they have gotten to everyone there, ask them if anyone is missing.

FaithCross Yep, there are the kings, and the shepherds, the angel (or angels!), some animals, Mary and Joseph and the baby. It does seem like everyone is there, doesn’t it? I think, though, that we could add some people to the story.

Today in the Gospel lesson we heard about Simeon and Anna. These two people had been waiting for Jesus for a long time! God had told them that they would see Jesus before they died and they were very old when he was born, but like the shepherds and the kings, they were some of the first people to see Jesus and to know who he was!

Simeon and Anna were waiting and preparing, just like we all did during Advent. They know that Jesus was coming, just like we all knew that Christmas would be here soon. There was a difference, though, because we all knew that Christmas would be December 25th, just like it always it. Simeon and Anna didn’t know when Jesus would be born, they just had to wait and trust that God would fulfill the promise. They heard the good news, and felt the same joy as the shepherds and the kings, so I think we should add them scene, so I brought two more figures to add to this nativity. Let’s put them in place.

20130822-223749.jpg  Faithful God, we thank you for the witness of Simeon and Anna, and their long wait to see Jesus. Be with us when whenever we wait for news, good or bad, in our lives. Give us patience, faith and courage to be faithful followers of Christ. Amen.

FaithCross_Worship Just as we added Simeon and Anna to the nativity set, invite the congregation to add someone of their own to the set. Simeon and Anna were witnesses to God’s promise, and are for us today a witness to faith in God’s good works.  Who in your life has been a faithful witness? Who has been a steady and patient believer in God and in you?

Make a paper doll of that person (or write a little about them) and add them to your nativity set at home!

FaithCross_BlessALT  God’s promises are fulfilled in you!

 

~GB

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