Faith Formation Journeys

Walking Together in Grace

Tag: Holy Week

  • Children’s Sermon Easter Sunday Year B Mark 16:1-8-or-John 20:1-18

    Scriptures: Mark 16:1-8-or-John 20:1-18

    Preparation:  Get a big piece of paper, like off an art roll, and write/paint/color “Alleluia” on it as big as you can.  Have it all rolled up so that no one can see what it says, but so that it will be easy to unroll like a banner.

    Faith+Open:  Enter into the space as excited as you can.  Say things like, “Children, come quickly!  The most amazing thing has happened!  You’re never going to believe this!”

    Faith+Share: : Do you know what has happened?  Have you heard the news?  Jesus isn’t dead!  He’s alive, ALLELUIA! 

    Unroll your banner, you need to be really over the top about this, super excited, far beyond anything that the children are going to give back.

    Wait, why am I so much more excited than you?  Have you heard this story before?  Oh, you have, well, it’s still exciting, don’t you think?  Maybe we need to look at this a different way.  Have you ever lost a special toy, and then found it again?  It’s pretty great when that happens.  Or, maybe more for your parents, putting on a pair of pants and finding $20 in the pocket.  It just makes your day so much better.  Now think about Jesus friends, they didn’t lose a toy, they lost their best friend, their teacher, the person they thought was God in human form.  He was gone.  Then, suddenly he’s not!  He’s alive and with them!  Now that would be an amazing day, don’t you think?

    The story gets better, too.  Jesus came back with an unbelievable gift for everyone.  Jesus forgives us all for everything, and opens the gates of heaven.  So, when you think about it that way, even if you’ve heard the story before, it’s pretty exciting, isn’t it?

    Ok, now that we’re all excited about the story, let’s try this again.  I’m going to shout, “Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!”  Then you say, “Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia!”

    Here we go:

    Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!

    Faith+Prayer:  Amazing God, WOW!  Your live and with us!  Help us to celebrate the good news of Christ risen and share the Easter blessing with everyone we meet.  Amen.

    Faith+Blessing::  You say, “Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!”

    They say, “Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia!”

  • Children’s Sermon Maundy Thursday Year B John 13:1-17

    Scriptures: John 13:1-17

    Preparation:  Find a crown, or some other object that will make the children think of a classic fairy tale king, and a towel.  Put both the crown and towel into a bag with crown on top so you can get it out first, without showing the towel.

    Faith+Open:  Start by reminding the children of the Palm Sunday chant, “Hosanna! Hosanna!”  Remember that great king we welcomed into Jerusalem on Sunday?  Now pull out the crown.

    Faith+Share: :  I was thinking about that king, too, so I brought a crown.  What do you think about when you see a crown, or hear about a king? (wait for a few answers – since you are in “church mode” you might get a few answers of “Jesus!”  Try to get them to talk about the more fairy tale image of a mighty king.)  Yeah, kings are powerful and proud!  Do you think a king like that would come to your house and make your bed? Clean your room?  What about cleaning your bathroom for you?  No, probably not.

    Well, listen to this, I know a story where a king sat down with his friends, then he washed their feet!  No kidding, he got a towel and a bowl of water and washed a bunch of stinky, dirty feet.  How would you feel about that?  A king washing your feet?  Well, by now you’ve probably figured out that I’m talking about Jesus.  That might be even more strange, don’t you think?  Jesus washing your feet!?!  I mean, he’s God’s son, he can do anything, and he chooses to wash a bunch of feet!  One of his friends, Simon Peter, feels the same way, he tried to get Jesus to stop, but Jesus says you must let me wash your feet, the smelliest, dirtiest part of you so that you can be really clean.  I think Jesus is talking about more than feet here.  Jesus cleans out all the bad things that we do, all the stinky parts of our life and forgives and loves us, even when we have stinky feet.  Come back on Sunday to hear the rest of the story!

    Faith+Prayer:  Loving God, we thank you for washing away the stinky things that we do, and for forgiving us when we make mistakes.  Keep us ever in your love and forgiveness. Amen.

    Faith+Blessing: Make the sign of the cross and say:

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