Christ the King | Faith Formation Journeys

Scripture Focus: John 18:33-37

Prepare: Find a fancy crown, a crown of thorns, a wash basin, a towel, and a palm branch or palm cross (if you can find one). Put everything but the fancy crown in a box or bag to keep it out of sight.

Faith+Open: Have the fancy crown out as the children gather. Ask them what the crown makes them think of.

Faith+Share: When I see a crown like this, I think of kings and queens, and knights and princesses, too! And today is Christ the King Sunday, they day that we celebrate Christ as King of everything. Except, do you think about Jesus when you see a crown like this? Yeah, me neither. What about this crown (pull the crown of thorns out)? What story about Jesus does this make you think of? Right! This is a reminder of Good Friday, but that wasn’t really a great day for Jesus, was it? I mean, he was arrested, he was yelled at and hurt, and things just got worse. Not exactly the glorious kind of day that we usually hear about with kings.

What about this (pull out the palm branch or palm cross)? Yeah, I think of Palm Sunday. That was a much more kingly day for Jesus, don’t you think? People where lining the street and cheering for him, and putting palm branches and cloaks on the ground in front of him. He was riding on a donkey, though, not a big powerful horse like I would imagine in a “king” story.

Or what about these things (the basin and the towel)? Remember when Jesus used things like these to wash his disciple’s feet? Well that’s not a kingly thing at all! They should have been washing his feet.

It seems like Jesus is not the kind of king that we typically think of. He rides on a donkey, he washes other people’s feet, and he wears a really painful looking crown. His kingdom isn’t really the same either. In Jesus’ kingdom the special people are the people who serve others. The important things in Jesus’ kingdom are not wealth and power, but love and mercy. In that kingdom Jesus makes the perfect king. Jesus is even the king over death! Yes, he died on Good Friday, but he was raised to life on Easter! So, on this Christ the King Sunday we celebrate the Kingdom of God, and the promise of mercy and love for all.

Faith+Prayer: King Jesus, teach us to serve others as you served your disciples. Teach us to be humble like you were when you rode a donkey. Teach us to show love and mercy to all, in Jesus name we pray. Amen

Faith+Blessing: May God’s grace and mercy be with you all.

~GB

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Scripture: Matthew 25: 31-46

Preparation: pitcher of water, small cups

Faith+Open: Gather the children with you. Have a pitcher of water and enough cups for each child (don’t worry you are not giving them much water!) I have some water here to pass out to all of you. Today we are we are celebrating that Jesus is the one we call Lord and that he has shown us how to follow him and to know God. When you get water, hold on to it and don’t drink it quite yet.

Starting with some older children fill their cups fairly full. Share your water out of the pitcher until it is empty. Then have them share with other children until their cups are empty. (If you have a very large amount of children ask for a few volunteers for this activity.)

Faith+Share: God pours all of God’s love into you and wants you like a fountain, to pour it out to others. When you think that you have run out God keeps pouring (pull an extra pitcher of water out from a hiding spot or have someone from the congregation bring up another full one) What are some ways that we can pour God’s love into other people?(Accept all answers–emphasize that when we give food, water, shelter, clothes or help of any kind we are helping others and we are serving God. This is how we show and act in love)

We are so blessed that God loves us so much and give us all of God’s love every day. Let’s tell everyone we know about this love!

Go ahead and drink your water imagining God filling you up with love.

Faith+Prayer: God, thank you for filling us with your love. Be with us as we share our love with others. Amen

Faith+Blessing: Remember God is with us always. Make sign of cross together saying:

God in my head
God in my heart
God on my left
God on my right

And remember your high fives and hugs on the way back!

Extension Ideas:

1. Talk about what a king looks like–how is that like or unlike what we know about Jesus? What do Christians look like?

2. Sing the Song Grace Flows Down (lyrics below, go to your favorite music source to hear song–comes up on youtube)

Amazing Grace
How sweet the sound
Amazing Love
Now flowing down
From hands and feet
That were nailed to the tree
As Grace flows down and covers me

Chorus
It covers me
It covers me
It covers me
And covers me

~LB/BW

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Tag Archives: Christ the King

Children’s Sermon for November 25, 2012, Christ the King, year B, John 18:33-37

Children Sermon Reign of Christ Sunday November 20, 2011

Let us walk with you on the journey of faith. Whether your feet are big or small, fresh or worn, running or crawling, God's love goes with you and you stand on holy ground.