Tag Archives: holy communion

On the Road Again Luke 10:13-35 Easter 3A, April 30, 2017

April 24, 2017 bw Leave a comment

Gather the children in the back of your worship space. Ask them what they know about what was celebrated on Easter and what they know about the morning that the women found the tomb empty. As you are talking, begin to walk to wherever your font is in your space. Be sure that the children are following you. Keep talking until you get to the font. At the font, say, “We come together every Sunday to tell each other about Jesus in our lives. When we baptize people (children, babies and adults), we tell them how much God loves them and is with them forever. We also talk about how we are going to keep learning about God’s love through the Bible, The Ten Commandments, The Apostles’ Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, worship, and Holy Communion.” Then ask them what they know about Jesus from the Bible and begin walking toward the table. When you get to the table, say, “We know a lot about Jesus from the Bible, but in bread and wine, Jesus is known to us in real and concrete way! Give them all bread to eat (if this is a concern as it might look like communion for children who do not yet receive just hold up the bread). Jesus is truly with us just like this bread is truly with us!”

In our Bible story today, some disciples were walking and talking about Jesus’ death and resurrection. A man joined them and began to tell them about what the Bible said about Jesus’ and God’s love. But they didn’t know it was Jesus until they were sitting at dinner with him and he blessed bread and gave it to them to eat! They had been talking to Jesus that whole day! Even though they didn’t know it and they were sad about Jesus dying, Jesus was with them, even as they walked to a different town! Jesus is with us no matter where we walk, drive, ride our bikes or run. Jesus promises to be with us. We can talk to each other about Jesus no matter where we are too!

Everywhere our feet go, Jesus is there! Have different colors of construction paper, pencils, markers and scissors available. Invite people to trace their feet, cut out the tracings, write or draw how they know Jesus is with them in their daily lives, or how they experience the presence of Jesus in their daily lives. Hang them on a wall, or a bulletin board for a week and then invite them to take them home as a reminder.

Dear Jesus, you walk with us no matter where we go. Open our eyes to see you in our midst. Open our ears to hear your words of promise and love. Open our hearts to share the story of the good news of your death and resurrection that is for all people in all times and in all places. Give us your Holy Spirit to renew us for the journey. Amen.

+Jesus is risen indeed!+

Children's Sermons

Are we there yet? Mark 13: 1-8 Pentecost 25B Nov. 15th, 2015

November 12, 2015 bw Leave a comment

Gather the children together: When I was your age, when we went to see grandmas and grandpas or aunts and uncles, we always drove our car. Sometimes the trip was a day, sometimes two days and sometimes even when we planned for a trip to take a day or two it might take three or four because of things happening that we didn’t predict, such as a flat tire, someone not feeling well or bad weather. I’m not the most patient person, so if it seemed that the trip was taking a long time I would ask my parents, “Are we there yet?” I discovered that if I asked that a lot, they would stop answering me.

How many of you have ever been on a car trip? As you drive down the highway there are signs along the road. What do some of those signs say? (Accept all answers.) Yes, some will tell you where the next gas station is, where a restaurant or a hotel might be, or how far to the next town or rest stop. Does every sign you see mean that your trip is over? No. Sometimes we see a sign for the town that we are going to and get really excited only to find out we have a long way to go. Or we go for hours or days without seeing the name of the place we’re going and so we ask: “Are we there yet?” It’s really hard to not know how much time until we get to grandma and grandpas, or a friends house, or whatever fun place we’re going. It can be hard to wait for fun things like our birthdays and what’s coming soon? Christmas! We don’t like to wait but to know when things will happen.

Jesus had been telling his disciples, his friends, all about when he would come to see them again. Jesus wanted them, and us, to know that there will be a time when we are all with God forever… but not yet. We don’t know when Jesus will come back and the disciples were wondering if there would be a “sign,” like a road sign that would let them know exactly how long until Jesus comes back to us. But Jesus says that the signs may not help us to know. Jesus also says that we don’t need to worry about if we’re there yet, we don’t need to be scared about anything because God promises to be with us forever. The important thing for us to remember are the signs of Jesus’ love such as water at baptism and the bread and the wine at communion. What are other signs of Jesus’ love in our lives? (Accept all answers: homes, moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, friends, sharing, hugs, praying, etc.) Jesus wants us to share these signs of love with the whole world! We are a sign, almost like a billboard of Jesus’ love for the whole world to see!

Have someone with a digital camera take pictures of people. Print them out and place them on a big piece of butcher paper or poster board. Have the title: Signs of God’s Love. You can also have pictures of the different ministries from your community to add to the sign. Or have people write stories or draw pictures on the butcher paper (poster board)of who shows them signs of God’s love. Place the banner where it is seen as people enter your building or better yet, can be seen by those on the street!

Thank you for all of the signs in our lives of your love, especially your son Jesus. Make us signs of your love and hope for the whole world to see. Remind us to not be afraid but to trust your promise to be with us always. Amen.

+You are a sign of Jesus’ love+

Children's Sermons

God’s Words of Eternal Life and Love For Us All John 6: 56-69, Pentecost 13B, August 23, 2015

August 22, 2015 bw Leave a comment

Have the children gather around the communion table. Ask them to tell you what happens at this table and in the worship service in regards to communion. Encourage them to tell you and the whole congregation, the story of the Last Supper and what Jesus is doing/offering in Holy Communion. Let them (if you’re comfortable) touch some of the things on the altar.

(In my ELCA tradition, some congregations do not commune children until a “first communion” class has been taken and some offer communion as soon as they have teeth. I personally, defer to offering communion to all ages and offer classes once a year for whole families to engage in the conversation of “What is Holy Communion?” Please tweak this Children’s Sermon to meet your congregation’s theology and tradition! Know that Faith Formation Journeys is here to support and honor your ministry! Thank you for your partnership!)

In our Bible lesson today, we heard Jesus talk about eating his body as if it were bread. Kinda weird huh? But, Jesus also reminds the people around him, his disciples, of the story of the Israelites who wandered around the desert for 40 years and God gave them manna or bread that came from heaven every single night. Jesus was reminding them that God over and over tells us a story of love, life, and being with God forever. And Jesus is telling people that the story of God’s love-IS FOR EVERYONE! That was so hard for people to hear! God’s story of love was even for people that we don’t like, are different from us, dress differently, act differently, live differently, like different foods, books or are even not nice to us! Are there sometimes people that you sorta hope you don’t have to be nice to? Yes, we all do! But Jesus tells us the story over and over that God LOVES everyone-even people we might not like-and will take care of them just like God takes care of you! Is that hard to believe sometimes? It is for me and even for a lot of adults. God wants all people to know about love and life forever.

So each time we gather at church, we always have communion, which means “together.” God gathers us all together and we all eat the same bread, and drink the same grape juice or wine. Even with people we may not like. Jesus says that when we eat this bread and drink from the cup, we are reminded that God is already so close to us that God is IN us, working in us and through us. If God loves us and is always with us and all people, how can we tell people the story God’s love? (Accept all answers-offer some congregational specific examples that the children could participate in.)

Dear Jesus, thank you for being the living story of God’s love for us. We are part of God’s story of love for the whole world and may we tell it every single day in every word we say and with every action we do. Your story of love goes on forever and forever through your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have a good sized booklet or two on a table with markers, crayons, stickers and other materials as needed. On the cover have the logo and name of you congregation. Have blank pages on the inside for people to write/draw part of God’s story in their lives. (You could also have blank sheets unattached and then bind them when finished.) Have this booklet available for a worship station for a few weeks. Find a way to share some of the stories in a corporate, gathered setting. Encourage all ages to participate!

+Jesus story of eternal life and love is written in you+

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.