Category Archives: Children’s Sermons

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon, RCL 10a, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 (June 11, 2023)

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Prepare: Bring some things with you that no one needs for worship. This can be almost anything, but you need to be ready to tie it in! For example – you could bring a small sewing kit, then ask if anyone needs it, describe what it’s for, and then shrug and set it aside. It will be explained later, so no need to talk any more about it right here.

(You can get out a Bible here and mention that this might be something more people would need in worship.) Did you just hear that story from Matthew? I’m not sure what to make of that. First we hear about people being upset with Jesus for eating with the “wrong” people, then Jesus goes out to heal two people, and it’s not really who we expect!

Let’s back up a sec, here. The leaders think that Jesus is eating with the wrong people. They think that Jesus should only spend time with the right people. People who can afford nice clothes to go to the temple. People who the other leaders know by name. People like themselves! Not these sinners!

Jesus says a funny thing when he hears them grumbling. Jesus says, “People who are not sick don’t need a doctor. It’s the sick people who need one.”

I don’t think that Jesus was saying there was something wrong with the people he was eating with. I think Jesus was saying that they had just missed the mark a little. They need a little care and help to get back on track. There was nothing so wrong with them that it couldn’t be fixed. Like a sick person going to see the doctor so they could feel better!

Ok, but what’s with the next part of the story, then? One of the leaders – the people who were upset with Jesus – asks Jesus for help! Jesus, being who he is, of course goes to help, because Jesus is here for the people who need help! On the way a woman touches Jesus robe, on just the hope that it will hear her, too, and it does!

Jesus, and what Jesus can do, are just the right things for these people at this moment. The leader is desperate for someone to heal his dying daughter, and the woman wants to be able to live a more normal life, free from the health problems that have plagued her for years!

But here is the real question in this story – how are these to physically sick people, the little girl and the woman, different from the “sinners” that Jesus has been eating with?

They are no different! The “sinners” are looking for help, healing, a hope for a normal life, and way to be accepted, just like the father and his daughter, and the woman who touches the robe. Jesus is just in the right place at the right time! Jesus is present when these people are in need.

Remember that sewing kit? No one here needed it right now, but wouldn’t it be great to have this little kit if you lost a button off your shirt? Or if you had a little rip in your clothes? Or a hole if your sock? Sometimes our needs are unexpected, but when we are in need it is nice to have help and support. And, like Jesus is there for the “sinners” and the father and daughter, and the woman, Jesus is with us! And we are encouraged to be present and helpful for each other! To love each other as Jesus loves everyone.

Put together first aid kits! Contact a local agency or follow these guides from any number of websites -like this one -https://ofhsoupkitchen.org/diy-homeless-survival-kits. Have the supplies out, or make it a multi-week event where you gather supplies in worship for several weeks, then assemble kits as part of the worship station time.

Healing God, be present with us when we need healing and help. Be present with us when we can help those around us. Be present with us as we learn to love each other. Amen.

May God give you strength to love everyone you meet.

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Advent 3 year B: John 1: 6-8, 19-28

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 Tell the children at the beginning of worship to go and find an object or a picture that gives a clue about who they are and one example of who they are not. Have an example such as, I might bring my running shoes as I’m an avid runner and a plant as I am not a gardner.

Tell the children to hold up their objects and tell why that object tells us who they are and who they are not. If it’s appropriate, remind them of your objects and why.
Then talk about the John the baptizer story: John was asked by some leaders who he was. They wondered if he was the Messiah, Elijah, or another prophet. He answered that he is not the Messiah, he’s not Jesus, or any of those other things, but he is someone who God sent to show others to Jesus. He’s important because he tells others about Jesus. And Jesus tells us about how much God loves us and who we are: God’s great joy. You are God’s great joy! You might be a dancer, a soccer player, a musician, an artist, etc. but most important, who you are is loved by God and God’s great joy! And our job for God is to be that joy to everyone we meet so that they know that they are God’s great joy too!

 

Let’s pray: God you sent Jesus to show us that we are loved and your great joy forever. Help us to never forget this and to always be who we are: yours. We joyfully pray in the name of Jesus, amen.

+You are God’s Great Joy+

Children's Sermons

LIfe Together in Jesus Luke 10: 38-42

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Have hoola hoop (or as many hoola hoops as you might need for the number of children in your congregation. I would say no more than 8 around a hoop. Gather the children forward and have the hoola hoop laying on the ground. “We are going to pick this hoola hoop up with each of us only using one finger. Ok here we go!” Let them work together and see if they can do it. Offer hints and help if necessary. Once they have it lifted to waist level have them stop and hold it. “You did it! Working together and focusing on the same task, made this possible. Now that you have it lifted- I’m going to ask you some questions: If you don’t like to hoola hoop, or don’t know how, let go and step back. Ok come back and hold the hoola hoop again. If you like to read instead of watch tv step back. Ok come back. If you like to play outdoors more than video games step back. If you like video games more than playing outdoors, step back. What happens when we loose someone from our hoola hoop? It drops. We need everyone to keep it up off the ground don’t we. And despite the differences we just talked about-we all liked to do different things-we worked together to get the hoola hoop lifted.



Our bible story reminds me of this working together, how we live together, even though we are different people. Martha and Mary were sisters who liked different things. Mary wanted to sit and learn from Jesus to show her love for him and Martha wanted to make sure that everyone had enough food to show that she loved Jesus. They both loved Jesus and both had good gifts to share. But Martha on this day, wanted Mary to be just like her and help serve and cook. And she was mad about it. Has that ever happened to you? When you wanted someone to like the same things and do the same things as you, but they wouldn’t? Yep. It’s happened to me! Martha was so mad that she told Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Jesus knew that Martha loved him, and had many gifts as did Mary, but at this time was so worried about small details that didn’t matter, that she lost her focus on Jesus. Jesus reminds Martha that Mary is staying focused on what matters, Jesus, and so should she and so should we. Just like when we focused together to lift the hoola hoop, we can stay focused on Jesus but not worrying about who likes what, or is like us or different from us but how we work together to show Jesus’ love in the world. When we focus on Jesus, this is what we do. We focus on Jesus’ message of God’s love, grace and forgiveness for everyone. What helps you focus on Jesus? Prayer? Reading the bible? Helping people in need? Yes we can stay focused on Jesus in so many different ways!
Dear Jesus, thank you for holding us all together in God’s love. Keep us focused on you each day so that all people will know that God loves them too. Amen!
+Jesus holds you in God’s love+
Children's Sermons

CHILDREN’S SERMON, 7TH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY (LUKE 6:27-38)

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Prepare: Ideally this works best as a little skit. You can set up something with another worship leader, or with one of the children. You can also try to just set it up to happen as you go! The idea is that the other person takes something from you and walks away. It can be almost anything, your cup of coffee, a pencil, your Bible, anything! You can work out what the goal of them taking it was – it could be because they don’t have a Bible, or that they needed something to write with, or that they were just trying to have fun and didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. You decide.

Set your skit in motion as the children gather! Have the other person in the skit walk up to you and take whatever they were set up to take from you. Say something like, “Hey! What are you doing? That’s mine!” They should respond with something typically bully-ish, like, “Well it’s mine now!”

OK – wait a minute . . . I read something about this very situation in the Bible! Even though they just took something from me I should treat them with love. I think it’s today’s Gospel reading! Let me look . . . yes, Jesus says that we should love our enemies, we should treat other people as we would want them to treat us. Ok, that’s super not easy in this case. I need that back and they were just really mean to me. I don’t want to be loving! And I would never just walk up and grab something from someone, so why should I have to be nice back?

I have a hard time with this, too. Jesus is asking a lot of us. It’s hard to be loving when we don’t feel loved in return. It’s hard to be caring when we are afraid we will be hurt. It’s hard to give up the things that we like and care about because someone else might need them more.

And it gets even harder! Being loving and caring doesn’t mean you should put yourself in danger of getting hurt, and it doesn’t mean that you should just let people take anything they want from you. Because when you think about how you would want to be treated, you would probably want to know if what you did hurt someone else’s feelings, right?

This is one of those really hard stories from Jesus. It was difficult for the disciples to understand, and it’s still difficult for us!

So (turn to the person who took you stuff), I don’t think that you really wanted to be mean to me. Is there some reason that you took that? Is there something that you need?

(let the story play out the way you decided when you set it up)

Loving God, you give us some many good things, and so often we forget that the people around us are part of those good things! Teach us to be loving, especially to the people who are the hardest to love. Amen.

God Loves you no matter what!

Make a “ways to be loving” list. Even better if this is part of a congregational idea to think about being loving as a church in the community. Ask people for ideas about how to care for the neighborhood, or for a park, or for the people in your town, etc.

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon, 6th Sunday after Epiphany (luke 6:17-26)

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Prepare: Bring a small simple snack that the kids can eat. Like Goldfish crackers, or rice crackers. Nothing big or fancy!

As the children gather ask a few of them what the best part of last week was (know that this will take some time!). Then ask a few of them what was really hard about last week (again, this will take some time!). If you need it to be shorter you can volunteer your own best and worst for the week, or make something up that leads in that direction.

Most weeks, and even most days have good things and bad things, or highs and lows, or, to use the words from the Gospel today, blessings and woes.

I was thinking about what Jesus was saying and I was a little confused about it. (if you have already read the story you can just remind them, if you haven’t already heard it, read at least the blessings and woes now.)

What does that even mean? If I’m hungry I’m blessed? If I’m full then woe to me? That seems really backwards, doesn’t it? Let’s look at this a different way. OK, I’m going to give about half of you a cracker, so let’s divide the group in half. You guys get a cracker! You can eat it right now! The rest of you don’t get one. But you will get one later, ok?

Alright, now about half of you have had a cracker – woe to you! You don’t get another cracker! But you over here haven’t had one yet, but one is coming! You are blessed! Now does it make more sense what Jesus is saying? Sometimes having everything you think you want doesn’t make things better, but know that good things are still coming can make things better!

Giving and gracious God, we thank you for all the things that we have and all the things that you give. Help us learn to be content and happy with the things that we have. Help us to learn how to share the good things we have with those who need it. Amen.

God loves you and know your needs.

For the worship station invite your congregation to pray for each other! Create a “Blessings” station and a “Woes” station that are facing each other. People who are feeling blessed go to the “blessing” station to pray for the people who are at the woe station. No one has to say anything about what their blessings or woes are, just be present where they need to be!

And they can switch! Go to both stations!

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Epiphany 5 C, Feb 10, 2019 (Luke 5:1-11)

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Prepare: For the children’s sermon you will need some type of need some type of fishing gear. It can be as simple as as toy fishing rod, or it you can go crazy with all kinds of fun things!

For the worship station you will need a large glass bowl, pencils or pens, and enough slips of paper for the whole worshiping assembly. The ideal thing would be paper fish, or even paper with fish on them. But just blank paper will do, too.

Set up your fishing gear as the children gather up for the children’s sermon. Make a little show of going through your stuff. Even better if you can get them to ask you some questions about what you are doing, but if they do not ask – prompt them!

What am I doing?  I’m going fishing!  I was reading the story from Luke that we hear today and I got so excited! Jesus is telling people to go fishing! So I thought that I would get my gear ready, because Jesus said to go fishing. And if Jesus says to do it, it must be a good idea!

. . . the only thing is, I’m not sure that I read the whole story. I got to the part where Jesus tells his disciples to throw the nets out in the deep water and when they do it there are so many fish that the boats start to sink! I figured that since I follow Jesus I could probably just ask Jesus to get me a good catch of fish, too!

. . . But the more I think about the more I think that I should read the end of the story. Hmmm, let’s take a look here. (read the story a little), yep, lots of fish, boats sinking, disciples amazed and a little scared . . . wait, fish for people? How do you fish for people! This story isn’t about going fishing at all! It’s about tell the story of Jesus! After this one there are stories about Jesus and the Disciples traveling all over the place spreading good news and healing people. I like fish, but getting to tell people about God’s love is really great! And I don’t need all this stuff with me, I can just go tell the good news.

I’m really glad I read the end of that, now will you pray with me?

Good and wonderful God, we thank you for the abundance on this beautiful planet that you have created. Help us to serve you and help others through all the good things you have made. Send us out with joy to those who are hungry or cold, sad or worried, to bring them comfort and good news.

God loves and cares for you!

Ask the congregation what they fish for! Do they fish for compliments, for help, for love, for food? Offer each person the chance to write down what they fish for in the world and write it on a piece of fish paper. Then put it in the bowl to create a giant fish bowl.

Use the bowl as part of the prayers of the church, holding the wants and needs of the people of God up.

Children's Sermons

God’s great joy! Christmas Eve Children’s Sermon on Luke 2

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Bring the children forward and have a plain amazon box.

I’m sure you recognize this! It’s an Amazon box! We seemed to have many of these come to our door this week! And I’m sure you did too! Every time a box came to our home, it was a reminder that someone who lived far away in our family or from our friends was thinking of us and we are not alone! Now, the plain box itself is one thing, but then when we open it, the gifts inside are decorated with fun paper or bows, like this, on them. When we wrap gifts, we often think of how special that person is to us and we hope that the gift we send makes them happy. But it’s not really about the gifts. Maybe in the past you’ve received a toy that you really wanted, fun new pajamas, a new bike or gaming system and that made you happy. But toys break, we outgrow pajamas or bikes and technology will stop working. Does that mean that the person who gave you those things no longer loves you? NO! Those things made us happy, being loved never stops and that is what joy is all about. Joy is about being connected to love: people who love us: moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, friends, teachers, and that we love all of those people too.

In our Christmas story tonight we heard an angel tell the shepherds good news of great joy for ALL people. What was that good news? Jesus was born!!! God loves us so much that God came to us as baby Jesus, to connect us to God’s love and to each other and this is great joy! Everyone, you, me, everyone here, everyone in the world, is connected to God and God’s love and are filled with Great Joy! God wanted the shepherds, Mary, Joseph and us to know that we are loved, and are God’s Great Joy. We are part of God forever. And God’s Great Joy can’t be put in a box or under our tree, It’s so big that it covers the whole world! And so as people who are God’s Great Joy-our job is to tell everyone we see that they are God’s Great Joy too! Just like we put bows on presents to remind the person that they are special, I have a bow for each of you tonight to remind you that you are special, connected to God and God’s Great Joy forever!

Dear God, thank you for loving us and connecting us to you! May your Great Joy , through Jesus, be for all the world to see! Amen! Merry Christmas!


+Glory to God in the highest, you are God’s Great Joy!+
Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon – August 6, 2017 – Feeding the 5,000

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Prepare: Bring a single Communion wafer or a piece of the communion bread that you use in worship.  Make sure that it’s not enough for the people gathered.  This will work even better if you can move the children’s sermon to right before Communion.

Gather everyone together by announcing that you have food for everyone!  Once the children gather with you start counting them with a look of concern on your face.  If you are in your main worship space start counting the rest of the congregation, too.

Uh Oh . . . I don’t think that I have enough!  All I have is this one communion wafer!  I guess we could divide it up into  little pieces , , , 

But, this does make me think of the Gospel story we hear today.  It’s a story about Jesus feeding thousands of people with almost nothing.  Jesus blesses just a few fish and a little bread and sends his disciples out to feed them.  When they are done feeding them there are more leftovers than when they started!  I don’t think that is going to happen with this one wafer today.  I think that if we break this in half that just two people will get half a wafer.  No one will be full, and there won’t be any leftovers.

The miracle for us today is not that this one little wafer could feed us all, but instead the love, mercy, and grace that we receive through Jesus.  The food in the story gets passed from person to person and with each person who is fed there is more food!  The Good News of Jesus’ love is the same.  The more we pass the Good News, the more people who are fed with God’s word, the more Good News there is to spread around!

That’s our miracle today.

Good and gracious God, your Good News is a miracle to us.  Teach us to tell the stories to the people around us.  Teach us to live out the good news in our lives. Amen

You are filled with God’s love.

 

 

 If you can put the Children’s time right before Communion you are all set!  If not, try a blessing that get’s passed through the congregation.  Here’s how it works.  You bless two children.  They each then bless two more people, who then blesses two more, and two more, etc.  The blessing starts slow, but grows fast, and there are blessings left over at the end, way more than there were at the beginning!

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon for June 26, 2017 – Romans 6:1b-11

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Prepare: Bring a small LEGO set or some other toy that comes apart or needs to be solved.  Have a cross handy, it could be one that is already in your worship space, or you could bring one that might have special meaning for you.  For example, I wear the same cross every day as a reminder of my faith.

 Have the toy out as people arrive.  Ask them what makes LEGO toys so fun.  Steer them toward the idea that they can be made into other things, or that a puzzle can be solved over and over.  You get the idea!

 Yes!  LEGOs are often really fun because you can remake them!  I think that the best part about LEGOs is that you can keep building them.  Sometimes I even take them apart just to put them back together!  I’m the same way with puzzles.  I like to mess up my Rubix Cube just so I can solve it again.

I was thinking of this when I read the story from Romans today.  It’s really that first sentence that made me think of it.

“Should we continue in sin so that grace may abound?”

OK – that’s really just a fancy way of saying, “Should I go do something bad just to give Jesus a chance to forgive me?”

NO!  But it does sound like how I feel about LEGOs and puzzles, doesn’t it?  Paul, the person who wrote this story, thinks about Jesus’ forgiveness a different way.  We believe that Jesus died to give us freedom from our sins.  It’s not that Jesus likes forgiving us, but rather that Jesus loves us.  When someone I love does something to upset me, it’s not that I like to forgive them, but that I love them and want to keep the relationship strong – so I forgive!

It is the same with God.  You are so loved that God would do anything to keep you close – even send Jesus to die.

 Gracious God, we can never thank you enough for your love and forgiveness.  Be always near us as we strive to live in loving and gracious ways.  Amen

 God loves you always.

 Get a bunch of blank puzzle pieces for people to write short prayers on (Or use the back of an old puzzle).  Invite them to take the pieces home as reminders that God always works to put us back together, and to keep us close.

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon for Pentecost Sunday – Acts 2:1-21

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Prepare: Set up for a Birthday party – so that can be lots of different things!  Maybe some streamers and party hats, or maybe cupcakes if you can manage that.  Even noise makers depending on you tolerance for noise!

 As the children gather greet them all with “Happy Birthday!”  Keep it up even if they tell you it’s not their birthday!  Once they have all gathered, ask them to shout “Happy Birthday!” with you.

 Alright, maybe it’s not anyone’s birthday who is sitting here, but it is our birthday today!  Today is the day we celebrate Pentecost, and Pentecost is the Birthday of the Christian church.  Since the church is made up of all the people who worship together, then today is our Birthday!

Pentecost is a festival day kind of like Christmas or Easter.  We celebrate one of the big, important events that happened in the early church.  Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, Easter is the day we celebrate the resurrection, and Pentecost is the day we celebrate the beginning of people spreading the word about Jesus and his good news.

Would you help me celebrate?  (This is where you do your party.  Use whatever you brought to throw a quick party.  Sing Happy Birthday, or a song like “We Are the Church.”  You might even go on a parade around the sanctuary or around your church building! Be creative and have fun!)

 Loving and helping God, we thank you for the chance to be your church in the world.  Lead us to do good works, to live with kindness and mercy, to share in abundance and to love each other the way you love us. Amen.

 The Holy Spirit is with you always.

.

 Easy worship station today!  Just invite the whole congregation to your party!