Tag Archives: Easter

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 12, 2015 – John 20:19-31

3 Comments

Preparation: For the Children’s sermon you will not need anything.

For the worship station you will need a large bowl or jar (even better if you can take all this outside and use a large metal bucket and burn the paper that will be put in it), many small pieces of paper and pens or pencils to write or draw with.

20130822-223454.jpg Ask the children, “Have you ever been really mad at someone? Or has someone ever done something to you that made you feel sad or hurt?” Wait for a few replies. Then ask, “What did you do about it?”

20130822-223633.jpg I want to read you something from a different translation of the Bible – this is from a translation called The Message, by Eugene Peterson.  John 20:23 in this translation says, “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”

That got me thinking about this whole reading today about Jesus and the disciples. We often focus on Thomas when we read this story – maybe because we don’t want to be like Thomas, or maybe because we feel blessed that we have not seen and we still believe. I want to think about this a different way – how do you think that Thomas felt? How did he feel about Jesus dying? How did he feel about his friends claiming to see Jesus when he had not? If they were telling the truth, how did he feel about Jesus appearing the them and not to him? Did he feel hurt? Angry? Sad?

We will never really know, but think about those times when you are hurt or sad or angry.  It can be really difficult to let those feelings go, and then we hold on to whatever it was that made us feel that way. We are slow to forgive, and we hold onto the sins – then what do we do with them?

Jesus appearing to Thomas opened a path for Thomas to forgive and to let go. Something that we all need at some point.

20130822-223749.jpg Loving God, in this season of Easter we celebrate your victory over sin and death, we rejoice in the freedom of your love and mercy. Teach us to forgive and be merciful so that we can be free from the weight of sin and grudges. Amen

20130822-223908.jpg God’s mercy and love set you free!

FaithCross_Worship This is a twist on the idea of writing confessions on paper and burning them  This time invite people to write things that they need to forgive on paper.  People are welcome to keep their paper as a reminder to go and forgive, or to release their paper into the bucket or jar so that they can let the sin go.

Set up a station with a large bowl, bucket or jar (or, as I said earlier – a way to collect and then burn the paper safely!). You can leave paper and pens at the station or distribute them around the worship space.

Children's Sermons

Children Sermon Easter Sunday YearB April 5, 2015, Mark 16:1-8

Leave a comment

Preparation: Resurrection eggs–you can make them or you can purchase them.( I do not necessarily use them all.)To make your own go to pinterest and search ‘resurrection eggs’ This also works well if you have an egg hunt on Sunday morning or use this for the pre-Egg Hunt on Saturday. There is also preparation for the worship station if use this–see bottom of post for those materials and instructions.

20130822-223520.jpgGather the children forward with you. Have the resurrection eggs that you are using available. “This week has been what we call Holy Week, which is a week that we remember the walk of Jesus to the cross and to his rising again on Easter, today.”

FaithCross_BibleALTI brought some things with me to help in remembering the stories of Holy Week. What are these? (easter eggs!) Let’s see what is inside these eggs. Proceed to use the items in each week to highlight a part of Holy Week.
Suggestions:
Palm Sunday: small toy donkey for  or a palm leaf
Maundy Thursday: small chalice or picture of one
Good Friday: Crown of thorns or small nail cross
Easter Saturday: a rock for the stone to the tomb
Easter: Keep the Egg Empty

When you get to the empty egg: “Well, there is nothing in here? Are you surprised by that? Why do you think it’s empty?” Take answers “The egg is empty because it helps us remember that the when the women came to the tomb, they found it empty! Now, it also says they were afraid. How can emptiness be scary? (take answers) Yes, it can be because sometimes when we don’t know or don’t understand it can make us fearful. But emptiness can also be freedom–freedom to see new possibilities and freedom to live in God’s love. Jesus not being in the tomb means that he is everywhere else-alive on that Easter morning and alive with us today. This empty egg is a promise that we have life in and through Jesus even when we die.”

(if you are doing an egg hunt consider not filling the eggs having the kids collect eggs and then turn them in for a goody bag as a part of this empty egg experience–they still like it, trust me)

FaithCross_PrayALTJesus, you are alive and we thank you for this gift! Be with us today as we celebrate and share your love and your gift of life that means we live free in your grace. Amen

FaithCross_BlessALTGod in my head, God in my heart, God on my left, God on my right–God everywhere! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

FaithCross_WorshipLilies on Easter: The Easter Lily is the traditional flower of Easter dating back to around 1945 when the flower was introduced to the United States. These flowers grace millions of homes and churches every year, embodying joy, hope, and life;reminding us of the hope on Easter, the purity of Christ, and the promise of the empty tomb.

Trace your hand (or help one another!) on the white paper and cut out. Curl the paper fingers (petals) around a pencil and then attach the handprint lily to the pipe cleaner. Place these on the cross and watch it fill up with our hands joined as the body of Christ!

 

Supplies:

the black cross

silk vines

white paper

yellow and green pipe cleaners; yellow ones cut in half

scotch tape

instructions for the flowers

 

 

Sharing the Journey

Symmetry

Leave a comment

2014-11-17 08.36.06Did you know that Easter lilies bloom in the fall? The only reason that they bloom at Easter time is because we put them in hot houses and fool them into thinking that it’s summer in the middle of winter.

Last Easter at First Lutheran Church, we had our usual Easter lily garden. In recent years there have been fewer plants, but it is still an impressive sight. Most the lilies are taken home by the people who brought them for the worship services, but every year there are three or four that are left at the church. This past year those three or four plants were replanted in the courtyard as part of the flower beds there.

Within a few weeks all of the lily plants looked like they were going to die, and in fact, they did all die! Turned brown, fell over, looked dead – but then they all came back! They grew new leaves, fresh green stalks and after a few months even started growing blooms again. We figured that nothing would come of it, it was, after all, late in September before the buds started and we usually get at least one really hard freeze in Colorado in the beginning of October.

The freeze never came. The warm fall weather never broke and the buds kept developing. It was into November and the highs were still in the 60s or even 70s and the buds were growing bigger by the day. Then, on November 10 the weather changed. The temperature fell nearly 20 degrees in about 2 hours, and the snow was coming. The weather changed from highs in the 70s to lows below zero in a day, and there was no way that the lilies would survive outside, so we cut the stalks and brought the buds inside. We put them in water and waited.

One opened, then another, then two more! Four Easter lilies were blooming – almost 2 weeks after being cut from the plants, after living through an amazingly warm fall in northern Colorado, after dying the early heat of summer and growing new green, after blooming in time for Easter Sunday – and they were blooming on Christ the King Sunday.

Christ the King Sunday is, in my experience, the least noticed Festival of Christ Sundays. We all know the big two, Christmas and Easter. Many people also know the Baptism of Our Lord (near Epiphany), and many people also talk about their “mountain top” experiences on Transfiguration. Christ the King, though, always seems to make people slightly uncomfortable. Who is this King? Do we want a King? Why are we talking about the End Times? Who are sheep are who are goats? Christ the King Sunday, though, is strongly linked to Easter and Holy Week. It is a moment of Easter for us. We hear how we must die to this world to be born into the next.

So I think about these lilies and what they have been through. Life, death, rebirth, the trials of fall weather, a narrow escape from the deep freeze and here they are celebrating Christ with us on the last Sunday of the church year.

Symmetry.

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon John 14:15-21, Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 25, 2014

2 Comments

Preparation: Have a picture of your mom or dad or another family member that you may resemble. Doesn’t have to be exact.

20130822-223520.jpg  Gather the children. Say, “I have this picture of my mom (or whomever) and it’s interesting because we have some similarities. We have the same color hair, eyes, height. But more than that, she and I both like fish, both play piano, and both like to ski. We are alike in many ways. Some of this is that we are related and so we share genetic traits, some of this is that we spent a lot of time together. Families are very important. They shape us and we tend to be like someone in our family. Who are you like in your family? Do you and your siblings like similar things? Or with your mom and dad, aunt uncle? Has anyone in your family ever told you that you are like someone else in your family? Yes, we can be like our family members and share likes, dislikes, hair color, words we use, etc.

Do you ever wonder what Jesus means when he talks about the fact that God is in Jesus and Jesus is in us and we are a part of each other? That we share life together? It’s really confusing and hard to think about isn’t it? We can’t really explain it well because we can’t see God in us and in others but just like we share traits with our families, Jesus says that we share traits with him and with God. The biggest trait that we share is love. Jesus says this is how everyone will know that you are part of God’s family is by showing love. Just like people may know that you are part of your family you live with by how you look or act, Jesus says by showing love you for every person, then everyone will know that you are part of God’s family. When we all share this love it connects us like family. Jesus says that everyone is in God’s family and promises to be with us always to help us remember that.

What are ways that Jesus showed love? (Accept all answers) What are ways that we can show love? (Accept all answers) These are great ways to show God’s love and to include everyone in the family of God!

20130822-223749.jpg  Dear Jesus, thank you for being with us always. Thank you for showing us how to be like God and love everyone. Thank you for making us one big family in your love! Amen.

FaithCross_BlessALT  Have kids go to their families and people in the congregation turn to one another and make the sign of the cross and say, “Jesus loves you and so do I.”

Worship station idea: Invite people to bring a picture to share of their family and have a big piece of butcher paper shaped like a heart (or more than one) to tape them to. Have families write their last name and one similarity or unique thing about their family. If you can’t do pictures-have them draw their family and do the name piece or just do the name and unique family trait. Have a another station close by for people to write prayers for their families and neighbors.

-BW

 

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Fourth Sunday of Easter, 1 Peter 2:19-25 (and John 10:1-10), May 11, 2014

Leave a comment

Prepare:  Find a picture of someone who fought (or is fighting for) human rights – like Martin Luther King Jr., or Nelson Mandela.  I will use Martin Luther King as my example here, but it really doesn’t matter too much who you choose.

20130822-223520.jpg  Have your picture out as the children gather, and ask if any of them know who is in the picture.  If they know who it is, ask them why this person is important.

FaithCross That’s right, this is Martin Luther King.  He wanted equal rights for African Americans.  He tried very hard to be peaceful and kind, but he was also sure that he was doing the right thing.  There were people who were very angry with him for the things that he was saying and for the changes that he wanted people to make in their lives.  He knew that we should treat all people the as beloved children of God.  No one is less of a person than anyone else because they are a boy or a girl, or because their skin is light or dark, or their hair is straight of curly.  We all belong to God.

The sad part of this story is that Martin Luther King was treated badly.  He was arrested, he was beat up, he was yelled at and eventually he was even killed because he knew what was the right thing to do, and he kept doing it.

I thought of Martin Luther King when I reading from 1 Peter.  In that letter, Peter (or maybe Peter’s followers) write that even if it is scary we should keep doing what we know is right, even if we get in trouble for doing it.

Now wait a minute . . . you really have to think about this!  If you’re hungry, is it right to go take all the cookies out of the cookie jar, or steal someone’s lunch?  Is it pushing someone out the way because you are late?  No, doing the right thing is acting with love!  So, instead of taking someone else’s food when you are hungry, it is sharing or giving your food to someone else who is hungry, too.  Instead of pushing someone out of your way, it is stopping to help someone who needs it even if you are going to be later because you stop.

Sometimes acting with love can be the hardest thing to do, too.  Acting with love might mean getting on the bad side of a bully because you help someone who is being bullied, or tell a teacher or adult about the bully.  Acting with love means giving food or help to someone who is homeless even if other people what to ignore them.

At the end of this little passage from 1 Peter, we hear that even if we mess up, Jesus always welcomes us back.  Even when we don’t always act with Love, there is a place for us with Jesus.

20130822-223749.jpg   Loving God, help us to love one another the way that you love us.  Help us to see the ways to act with love and kindness in everything that we do, and forgive us when we mess up and forget to be loving.  Amen.

20130822-223908.jpg  Send them out with a traditional Easter greeting!  You say, “Christ is risen!”  They respond, “Christ is risen indeed!”

 

~GB

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