Scripture Focus: James 3:1-12

Prepare: If you can find a bridle or a bit for a horse it would be a great illustration piece. You could also bring a leash or a dog harness, but a bit would be the most impressive.

Faith+Open: As the children gather ask them if they have ever heard anyone say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” Ask them if they know what that means. Then ask if they think it’s true. Do words really not hurt?

Faith+Share: We’ve been reading this long letter from the Bible from a man named James. He says that is wrong, words do hurt! And more than that, he says that it is really hard to never say anything mean. James says that this is really important, and he gives a bunch of great examples. One I really liked was about a horse. Do you guys like horses? Have any of you ever had the chance to ride a horse? It’s pretty fun, isn’t it! Well, horses are big animals, and I don’t know a whole lot about how to work with horses, but I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t control a horse with just my hands. Fortunately we have some tools to help us control them (and people who know how to train them, that helps a bunch, too!) I brought this with me, does anyone know what this is? Yeah, it’s a bit. This goes into a horse’s mouth and then a rider can control the horse. This little piece of metal let’s you control the whole big horse!

James says that our tongues are kind of like a horse’s bit. What every our tongues say usually becomes how we feel. So, when we use mean words against people, we often start to believe it ourselves. And when other people use mean words against us we start to believe what they say, too. He says that we should think before we speak, because the same tongue that praises God should not be used make other people feel bad. We should try our best to praise God with our tongues, and to share God’s love with each other.

Maybe we should update that saying from the beginning of children’s time. How about, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, and mean words hurt, too.”

Faith+Prayer: Loving God, we praise you for all the love, mercy and grace that you pour out on us. Help us to speak loving words that show your love to other people. Amen.

Faith+Blessing: May your eyes and ears be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

~GB

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Scripture Focus: James 2:1-17

Prepare: Find a partner to help you. You will need someone who knows what you doing so that they can play the part! Have them gather with all the children at the beginning of the children’s sermon

Faith+Open: As you gather the children, pick your helper out of the crowd and say, “Oh, I didn’t know you were here. Hmmm . . . could you go sit way over there? I want to make sure that the children get all the good seats.” Then ask the children if they can all see and hear you. Indicate your helper and say, “It doesn’t really matter if they can see, you are the important people here.” Ham this part up, make it fun so that children understand that it’s a game.

Faith+Share: What do you think? Was I being a good neighbor to our friend?

One of the readings today is part of a letter from a man named James. In the part we heard he is talking about how we treat each other. He says a bunch of things that are hard for us to do! He says that we shouldn’t treat people differently because they are rich or poor, or powerful or weak. We shouldn’t give someone special treatment because they have a bunch of neat stuff, or because they are super cool. We should treat everyone with love and respect. He even repeats what Jesus said, that we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Then he says that we have more neighbors than we think we do! Some are rich, or cool, or have neat things, and some are not rich, or not cool, but we need to love them all the same. Just like God loves us!

Now, what about our friend over there? Should we let them come sit with us? Yes! Come over here and we’ll all pray together.

Faith+Prayer: Loving God, teach us to be loving to all our neighbors, the ones who are cool, and the ones who are not so cool. Help us to love each other just like you love us. Amen.

Faith+Blessing: May your eyes and ears be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

~GB

Adapted from a children’s sermon by Pastor Paul Judson.

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Scripture Focus: James 1:17-27

Prepare: You will need a small mirror and whatever you use to find out what time it is, your watch, your phone, etc.

Faith+Open: After you greet the children, ask them if they have ever thought about their own heads. Specifically, ask them about why they have two ears, but only one mouth. Some of them will probably say something like this, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” (If you want to, at this point, you can tell them that this is a very old saying from a Greek philosopher from about the same time that Jesus was alive! His name was Epictetus.)

Faith+Share: Today we heard a little part of a letter from a person named James, and he is saying something kind of like this, but he is talking about your whole body. He says a bunch of great things in this little section. One of them is to be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to anger. He says that staying angry about things just makes you mean and wicked, and that’s not a great way to act.

James writes that we should instead hear God’s word, and then do something with it! He writes it in kind of a fun way, too. (Get out your mirror) He says that people who just hear the word are like people who look in a mirror, and then 2 minutes later can’t remember what they look like. That’s pretty silly, right? Or, here’s something that I do, I look at my phone (or watch) to see what time it is, then a couple seconds later I have to look again, because I can’t remember what it said. James writes that when we just hear God’s word and don’t do something with it, we are acting just like that. God’s words are going one ear and right out the other.

We should hear God’s word and look for the places where God needs us to work and then do something, and we will be happy that we did. I really like the end of this section of the letter. James says that the real way to practice being what we call a Christian is to care for people. A man named Eugene Peterson said it this way, real religion is this: to reach out to the homeless and the loveless, and to not let the bad stuff in the world make you a bad person (Note, this is a paraphrase of James 6:27 from “The Message”).

Faith+Prayer: Amazing God, teach us to hear and do your word. Teach us to help those who feel helpless and to love those who feel unloved. Teach us to find joy in giving our time and love to the people who need it. Amen.

Faith+Blessing: May your eyes and ears be opened to see all the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

~GB

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