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Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon, Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 2, 2012, year B, James 1:17-27

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Scripture Focus: James 1:17-27

Prepare: You will need a small mirror and whatever you use to find out what time it is, your watch, your phone, etc.

Faith+Open: After you greet the children, ask them if they have ever thought about their own heads. Specifically, ask them about why they have two ears, but only one mouth. Some of them will probably say something like this, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” (If you want to, at this point, you can tell them that this is a very old saying from a Greek philosopher from about the same time that Jesus was alive! His name was Epictetus.)

Faith+Share: Today we heard a little part of a letter from a person named James, and he is saying something kind of like this, but he is talking about your whole body. He says a bunch of great things in this little section. One of them is to be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to anger. He says that staying angry about things just makes you mean and wicked, and that’s not a great way to act.

James writes that we should instead hear God’s word, and then do something with it! He writes it in kind of a fun way, too. (Get out your mirror) He says that people who just hear the word are like people who look in a mirror, and then 2 minutes later can’t remember what they look like. That’s pretty silly, right? Or, here’s something that I do, I look at my phone (or watch) to see what time it is, then a couple seconds later I have to look again, because I can’t remember what it said. James writes that when we just hear God’s word and don’t do something with it, we are acting just like that. God’s words are going one ear and right out the other.

We should hear God’s word and look for the places where God needs us to work and then do something, and we will be happy that we did. I really like the end of this section of the letter. James says that the real way to practice being what we call a Christian is to care for people. A man named Eugene Peterson said it this way, real religion is this: to reach out to the homeless and the loveless, and to not let the bad stuff in the world make you a bad person (Note, this is a paraphrase of James 6:27 from “The Message”).

Faith+Prayer: Amazing God, teach us to hear and do your word. Teach us to help those who feel helpless and to love those who feel unloved. Teach us to find joy in giving our time and love to the people who need it. Amen.

Faith+Blessing: May your eyes and ears be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

~GB

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Faith + Home Connection

Faith + Home Connection Monthly Devotion-September

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Faith + Open: Gather the household where all can be comfortable. Light a candle and have someone pray either with their own words or this prayer: Loving God, we are so thankful that you include everyone into your community of grace and mercy. We pray that we live lives that proclaim the transformation of our hearts from the love of you and that we offer this love to everyone we meet. Amen.

Faith + Share: Read Mark 9: 38-50 aloud. If you have younger children in the household most of this passage can be found on page 326 of the Spark Story Bible.

For children: Have you ever talked with a friend who does not go to your church about God? If your friend knew about God then they probably learned about God from someone you do not know. Does it matter where someone hears about God? Jesus says no! All that matters is that we believe in God and that we help others to believe in God too, even if they hear about God from people we do not know! How can you tell someone about Jesus today? What story about Jesus would you tell a friend? Just talking about Jesus is important!

For youth/adults: Jesus uses some fairly strong language here about being separated from God. Jesus does not want anyone to stop anyone from being close to God. We have some images that pop into our heads when we think about the place of hell but Jesus wants to drive home the point to the disciples and to us, that hell is not a place but a condition. Anytime we are separated from God we are technically in hell. Believing in Jesus is how we can have a close relationship with God in our lives. Someone can put up a barrier to our relationship with Jesus but often we create our own separation-our own hell-from God. What are some ways that we might separate ourselves from God either intentionally or not? How do we keep others from knowing about the love of God from Jesus Christ? What are some ways to remove barriers that separate us from God? What faith practices help you to feel close to God? Do you share those practices with other people?

Faith + Serve: One faith practice that nurtures our relationship with God is serving God’s children. We also proclaim the love of God to our communities through our actions in serving as well. With school beginning this month, consider volunteering either in your child’s or if you do not have children in the home, the neighborhood school. If this is not available to you, think about how you could be involved with the children and youth in your congregation or neighborhood. Can you offer to lead one activity or bible study? Be a mentor for confirmation youth? Offer to write the prayers for Sunday worship with a youth and pray them together in worship? Be creative!

Faith + Blessing: At the end of the day (maybe at dinner or night time devotions) offer to each other how you recognized your relationship with God that day or maybe helped someone else recognize their own relationship with God. Give a short prayer of thanks for God in our lives and end with “Let us be at peace.”

Faith + Close: Close your time together with a prayer. Offer prayers to all in the world who cannot openly share their faith because of fear of harm or persecution. Give thanks that we are able to talk about Jesus and pray that we do to all that we meet!

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Pentecost 13 Aug. 26th, 2012 Ephesians 6: 10-20

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Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-20

Preparation: Have a bag with a hat labeled “salvation,” a vest labeled “righteousness,” a belt labeled “truth,” and a cardboard shield labeled “faith.” Have a Bible on hand as well.

Faith + Open: Invite the younger members (or the young at heart!) to a gathering space. Say, “I see that you are all wearing shoes and clothes today! Why do we wear shoes and clothing? Especially maybe a coat when it is cold or raining? (Accept all answers) Right we wear these things to protect our feet from the ground or our skin from the sun or from freezing temperatures! Shoes and clothes help us to be not only comfortable but safe and able to move around outside and do things that need to get done.

Faith + Share: Paul in a letter to some people in Ephesus talked about wearing some things that he called the “armor of God.” Does anyone know what armor does? (You may need to offer examples of medieval knights or police officers/firefighters.) Yes, armor protects our bodies. Paul here is talking about armor that protects our hearts so that we can talk about God to everyone we meet. Now I need a volunteer-begin to “dress” the young person-here is a belt. What word is on it? Truth. When we remember that the truth of God is that God loves us and everyone else we act loving to everyone we meet! Here is a vest-Paul uses the word “breastplate”-something that covers your body. It has the word righteousness on it. Righteousness is a long word that means we try to follow Jesus every day of our lives by loving God and our neighbors as best we can. Then we have a shield that has the word “faith” on it. Faith is a gift from God that keeps us close to God and helps us to remember that God is with us always. Let’s see, this hat has the word “salvation” one it. Salvation is another long word that tells us that Jesus died on the cross so that we can live with God forever, and we don’t have to worry about being separated from God ever! These are all pretty good things that help to us to know that God is with us always. But I think to wear them all the time would get cumbersome. You know, Paul also talks about the “word of God” which is what? The Bible that’s right! The Bible talks about all of these things (point to the clothes) and that God’s truth, righteousness, faith, and salvation are with us always and keep us close to God.

Sometimes we may not feel close to God but Paul says to pray all the time and for everything that happens in our life, good and bad. God hears our prayers and protects our hearts with faith, salvation, righteousness, truth and most importantly, love.

Faith + Prayer: Let’s pray: “God you are with us always. Thank you for giving us what we need to love you with our whole heart. We want to share your love with everyone we meet so that they know that you protect their hearts no matter what too! In Jesus name we pray, amen.

Faith+Blessing: May your eyes be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

BW

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Aug 19, 2012 Pentecost 12B John 6:51-58

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Scripture: John 6:51-58 “Bread of Life Theme”

Preparation:  Print up strips of paper with a Bible verse, suggested to use John 6:51a “I am the bread of life come down from heaven.” Or John 6:35 “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in my will never be thirsty.” or you could use a verse that speaks about the word of God or another verse you want the children to know.

Cut these strips a part and put them in baggies with a little candy

Make a plate or basket of healthy foods and a plate or basket of junk food

Faith+Open: Gather the children to you. Show them the two different baskets of food. Say, “What do you notice about these baskets? How are the same? How are they different?” Take answers and lead the discussion in a direction that shows that both baskets offer food, a way to get full or not be hungry. But one basket has food that is good for us, that helps nourish our bodies and give us good, lasting energy. The other basket is food we like as well, but this food is more of a treat food or junk food. It’s not the kind of food that helps us grow and be healthy.

Faith+Share: Say, “Jesus says he is the bread of life. What do you think this means?” Take answers. Say, “Which basket of food do you think Jesus is for us?” (healthy food–but maybe also the sweet food as the word of God be like honey–Ezekiel said that once!) “Jesus says he is the bread of like it’s like saying that Jesus is good food for our minds and our spirits. The words of Jesus are something that we can learn and that will stay with us. The promise of Jesus that he will last, he will be with us all the time and that our basket/plate from God will not run out.”

“Now, Ezekiel was a prophet who once said the word of God tastes like honey on his lips. So a little sweetness is sometimes good as well. I have a baggie here for you with a word from God in and a little sweetness for you as well. (pass out now or pray and pass out). I want you to take this piece of paper home and put it in your Bible or on a mirror or in the car or on the fridge, someplace where you will see it and read it and remember that Jesus promises God’s love and care for you always.”

Faith+Prayer: Jesus, Thank you for food that is good and food that is sweet. Thank you for promising to be like bread for us to help us grow in you. Amen

Faith+Blessing: May your eyes be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

~LB
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Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Aug 12, 2012 Pentecost 11B John 6: 35, 41-51

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Scripture: John 6:35, 41-51

Preparation: canned food or loaves of bread–or whatever items you are collecting for a food bank or other project. Take your items and ‘hide’ them around the sanctuary where they will be visible from where the children sit, but not too obvious. You are going to play a version of “I Spy” with the kids looking for these items.

Faith+Open: Gather the children up front with you. Say, “Good morning! I am wondering if you can help me find some things. I think there are some items like this one (hold up a sample) hidden around this room. Raise your hand if you can spy anything from where you are.” Take a few minutes and let kids find things. You go get the items as they spy them.

Faith+Share: Say, “Wonderful job! You have found all of them-good thing we won’t be finding pork and beans behind the altar at Christmas! Do you know what these items are for?” Take answers. Then go on to explain what you are collecting the items for and how they can help. One idea for food is to have grocery bags with needed items listed on them to hand out for the kids to take home and bring back next week.

Say, “In our gospel story Jesus says that he is the bread of life and in our reading from Ephesians we are hearing about how we live together as a community, as people who care about one another. When Jesus says he is the bread of life he is talking about how he gives life and love for you and for all people. Bread is food and we need food to live. We also need the word of God and Jesus to live as Christians. We then take what we have and share with others. So we will take this food (or other item) and share with those who need it so that they can know they are loved and cared for by us and by God.”

Faith+Prayer: Jesus, we love you. Thank you for giving us the bread of life. Thank you for giving us gifts to share. We pray for everyone who is hungry or thirsting or lonely or sad. Be with them God as we know you are with us. Amen

Faith+Blessing: May your eyes be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

~LB (adapted from original children’s sermon by Pastor Michael Stadtmueller)

Use with permission for non profit. Intellectual property rights apply

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon August 5th, 2012 Pentecost 10

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Scripture Focus: Ephesians 4: 1-16

Preparation: Find a Mr. or Mrs. Potato head with all the pieces.

Faith + Open: gather the children to where they will have room to move around a bit.

Faith + Share: Say “so many of you know what this is! I think we all had one when we were kids (if you did not then share that!). It is fun to put him/her together isn’t it? You can put in the eyes, the hat, arms, legs, nose, mouth. Be putting it together as you speak. What if I put the eyes where the arms go and the arms were the legs go? Would that work? What if your feet were where your ears were!? How silly is that! (make a silly potato person) No our arms and legs are where God wanted them to be so that we could walk and do many things easily.

Paul talks about how all of us together are like one body. Just as legs are very good for walking but not for hearing and arms are great for carrying and hugging but not for seeing, so each of us has something that we are good at that no one else is. What are you good at? Accept all answers. God gave you those special gifts to show God’s love to someone else. While we sometimes wish we could do something that someone else can do like being a fast swimmer or a good drawer, we can be happy about all the things We are good at. That doesn’t mean that we don’t try fun things and draw and swim but we know that we have special gifts from God that no one else does. So when we are bigger that means that some of us may be teachers, or computer people, or writers or doctors or lawyers whatever you want! But does a teacher work in a hospital? No in a school, does a doctor work at a school? No in a hospital. So it matters where we are and how we use our special talents! A doctor in a school would have a harder time teaching math than a teacher and a teacher would have a hard time doing surgery! God makes sure that we are exactly where God wants us to be to show God’s love to the world. God is good!

Faith + Close: Prayer: Wonderful God, we are so glad that none of us are exactly alike! Thank you for our special talents and gifts! We want to use them to love you! Amen

Faith + Blessing: May your eyes be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon July 29th, 2012 Pentecost 9

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Scripture Focus: Ephesians 3: 14-21

Preparation: Pen and paper if desired

Faith + Open: Gather the children to where you have children’s time and open in prayer today. Dear God, we love to talk to you! Sometimes it’s a prayer in a group like today or by ourselves! We talk to you so that we can give you our love! Amen

Faith + Share: Say: We don’t normally open our time together with prayer but pray at the end of our time. When do you pray in your day? (Accept all answers.) That’s right, we pray for our meals, at night, in church, in Sunday school, maybe in the car, on the soccer field. What kinds of things to you talk to God about? (Again accept all answers) Yes, we can talk to God about all kinds of things can’t we? God listens to us no matter what we are saying. Well in the letter that Paul wrote to the Ephesians what we read today in church is not just about praying but is a prayer that Paul prays to God about the Ephesians! What did Paul pray for, a new puppy, or a new toy? No, it’s fine to pray about those things too! God likes to hear everything we have to say, but Paul is praying for the Ephesians to be rooted and grounded in the love of Jesus (v. 17) that they are filled with Jesus Christ, that they are given strength and that they give glory to God always. Those are pretty good things to pray for too don’t you think? So the Ephesians were learning that there are all kinds of things we can pray to God about! What should we pray to God about right now? If you need, write down their prayers and then pray them together!

Faith + Close: Prayer: Dear God, fill our hearts with your love. We also pray:…(Insert prayers here) Amen

Faith + Blessing: May your eyes be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

BW

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon July 22nd, 2012 Pentecost 8

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Scripture Focus: Ephesians 2: 11-22

Preparations: Gather some Legos of all different sizes and colors. You will also want one of the bases to build upon. You will need enough to build a small structure.

Faith + Open: Gather the children to a spot where they can sit around you to watch you build.

Faith + Share: Say, “One of the things I love about building with Legos is that you can use all different sizes and colors to make a cool building! All kinds of sizes are needed as I try to make corners, window spaces, door spaces, the roof, etc. How many of you build with legos or blocks of some kind? Do you have only one size of block in your collection? (The answer will probably be “no.”) Right! It takes all kinds of blocks to make this one structure. And it can take many people to help build a big lego building. Can each of you add a piece to what I am building?

(While the children are building say) Well, today in our letter from Paul, Paul is talking to some people in a place called Ephesus who were wondering what kind of people God could use in the family of Christ. Paul tells them that God loves and needs everyone! Every person no matter what size or shape is needed to build the family of Christ! We all build upon each other and we all need each other! When we work together we build up the family of God so that we can learn, love and teach other people about God! And do you know who is our foundation? Jesus! That’s right! Just as this base we are building our structure on keeps the building solid, building on the love of Jesus in our lives keeps us solid with our friends, family and neighbors! What a wonderful thing!

Faith + Prayer: Dear God, thank you so much for Jesus in our lives! Help us to work together to build a strong family of people who love you. Amen

Faith + Blessing: May your eyes be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

BW

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon July 15, 2012, Ephesians 1:3-14 – 7th Sunday after Pentecost

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Scripture Focus: Ephesians 1:3-14

Preparation: Bring a baptismal certificate from your church, or even better, bring your own Baptismal certificate.

Faith+Open: Gather the children near your baptismal font if possible and ask them if they know what this place in the sanctuary is for. If you cannot gather at the font, talk about baptism as the children come up, maybe remind them of the last time someone was baptized at you church.

Faith+Share: That’s right, this is where we baptize people! (In my setting we always have water in the font and the children are used to being splashed with water as we gather.) I bet you are wondering why we’re here, since the stories today don’t really seem to talk about baptism at all. Well, it’s because one the part of the letter to the Ephesians that we read makes me think about baptism! In that letter it seems like Paul, or whoever wrote the letter, is writing to a group of people who don’t think of themselves as children of God. He says this great thing in the letter, he says, “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:5 NRSV)

Many of the people in this part of the Bible were totally new to the stories about Jesus and God. Many of them probably felt like they did not deserve the grace and love of Jesus. Maybe because of where they were born, or what they used to believe, or because of things that they had done. The author of the letter is telling them that even if they were not born into a community that believes in God and Jesus, they are still part of the family. God adopts them as God’s own children and gives them all the good things that Jesus promised.

We hear the same message today! Even when we might not feel like we deserve God’s love or forgiveness we still get them! God loves us and seals us with the Holy Spirit, which brings me back to baptism. Baptism is one of the ways that we are reminded that we are all one family in God’s love and care. When we baptize people we give them a certificate to remind them of the amazing gift of God’s love and our adoption into God’s family.

Faith+Prayer: Loving God, thank you for this amazing family! Teach us to love and care for each other the way that you care for us. Amen.

Faith+Blessing: May your eyes be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

– GB

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

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon July 8, 2012, Mark 6:1-13 – 6th Sunday after Pentecost

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Scripture Focus: Mark 6:1-13

Preparation: A backpack or suitcase full of travel gear. For example, if available, pack a backpacking backpack with the gear you might need for several days (tent, sleeping bag, clothes, etc). Or put together carry-on size bag for a weekend trip. Bring a walking stick and a Bible with the reading from Mark ready to read.

Faith+Open: Enter from a place that allows you to walk a distance with your gear and call the children to follow you as you walk to your regular meeting place.

Faith+Share: I bet your wondering what all this stuff is for, aren’t you? Well, I heard that Jesus was about to send us on a journey to go heal people, so I thought that I should pack. Have any of you ever packed for a trip? What kind of stuff did you bring? (Let them answer for a minute or two.) Well I have a bunch of stuff, too. Let’s see what I have with me. (Now go through your bag a little. You may just need to give highlights if you have a bunch of gear!)

Pretty good, don’t you think? I should be ready for just about anything! Now, I also heard that Jesus had some instructions and a packing list for me. It should be right here in the reading. (read verses 7-9.) Uh Oh, I think I may have over-packed! All I really need is my shoes, a couple of shirts and good walking stick. It may not seem like much to take on a long journey, but I think that Jesus had a plan. I think that he wanted the disciples to have faith that everything would fine, but even more, I think that Jesus wanted the disciples to get to know the people they were going to help and heal. He wanted to create trust between the disciples and the communities they entered. He was teaching them and us that it is okay, and even good to rely on each other for the things that we need, and to be ready to share we have more than we need.

Faith+Prayer: Gracious God, you give us good gifts. Sometimes more than we need or know how to use. Teach us to share with others when we have too much, and teach us to ask for help for others when we need it. Amen

Faith+Blessing: May your eyes be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

-GB

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