Tag Archives: John

Children’s Sermon, Second Sunday of Easter Year A, John 20:19-31

Prepare: You really only need someplace to run in from – or some other way to make a BIG entrance.  If you can swing it, be a little late, but have the other worship leaders play up that you are missing the Children’s sermon.

 Come running into the worship space panting like you are our of breath, and wide-eyed with excitement!  Call out the children, “Kids!  Come here, quick!  I just saw a dinosaur!”

 No really!  A great big dinosaur . . . you don’t believe me, do you?  Well, I guess your right, I just wanted to get you attention.  There isn’t really a dinosaur.

But, do you know how you feel right now?  You were thinking, “No way, there was no dinosaur.  He’s/she’s just making that up to make me think there is one, or to make me look silly when I go check.”

Well, I think that’s the feeling that one of the people in the Gospel lesson had.  That person is Thomas.  Have you ever heard someone called a doubting Thomas?  Sometimes people use that name for people who don’t seem to trust what other people are saying.  Doubting Thomases want proof, something they can see and touch – they don’t want to trust other people’s story

You know what I think?  I think that Thomas, the guy in the story, is treated pretty badly.  Did you hear what Thomas didn’t believe?  Ok – here’s the story:  It’s just a few days after Thomas and all the disciples saw Jesus die on the cross. Just a few days after they all saw Jesus buried in the tomb. All the disciples are gathered together, except for Thomas.  He was out getting snacks or something.  Jesus shows up, all the other disciples see Jesus, but Thomas isn’t there!  So when he gets back and they all say they saw Jesus, Thomas wants some proof.  It’s kind of like they said they saw a dinosaur.  You guys didn’t believe that when I said it.  You wouldn’t believe it until you saw it for yourself! Thomas didn’t believe be cause he didn’t get to see while his friends did.

You know what?  I think that most of us are much more like Thomas than the other disciples.  We want to see and touch before we believe.  Jesus has some words for us, too!  We don’t get to see Jesus the way the disciples did, but we still believe, and Jesus blesses us for that! Even though most of the time we might feel a little more like Thomas, and a little less like blessed believers!

 Risen Christ, you show up for us in the most unexpected places.  Sometimes we have to look twice to believe what we hear and see and touch.  Help us to believe even when we don’t see, and be with us when we have a hard time trusting only what we can hear. Amen.

 Say, “Christ is Risen!”
Teach them to respond, “Christ is Risen, indeed!”

 Make some congregational art!  Get some bright paper (preferably something thin) cut into smallish pieces, and some markers.  Have people write or draw something that they believe on the paper.  If you worship space allows, have them tape the paper to a window so that light shines through.  Encourage them to tape the paper in the shape of a cross.  If that doesn’t work in your worship space, collect the paper and make the cross later on a prominent window in you church.

Children’s Sermon – “Many Parts, One Body” – John 17:20-26, May 8, 2016

Prepare: You will need a LEGO mini-figure for this. Have it taken apart and be ready to put it together.

For the worship station you will need a large piece of poster board or banner paper with the outline of a tree on it, and a bunch of permanent markers and a few washable stamp pads. (more information below!)

20130822-223520.jpg Gather up the children and get out you disassembled mini-figure. Ask if they know what it is (this should cause excitement).

20130822-223633.jpg Yep, it’s a LEGO figure! What can you tell me about it? (wait for a few answers) The think that I like about it is that it comes as a bunch of little pieces, and all these little pieces come together to make a person. Let’s see if we can put it together!

You might have one of the children put it together if you think that will work without too much frustration!

This little figure is made up of a bunch of parts, and I thought of it when I read the Gospel today.  Jesus is talking about being one with God. Jesus and God are like two pieces of a whole!

Even more than that, Jesus talks about us being parts of one whole with God! Without God and without each other we are like the pieces of the mini-figure. We certainly have some value, because we are usable pieces, but we are not complete and whole until we join with the others.

That’s kind of what being part of a church is all about. We are a bunch of pieces that have value, but we really become something special and complete when we are a whole church together!

20130822-223908.jpg + You are one with God+

20130822-224425.jpg God of all things, in you we are made whole. Encourage us to live in community with each other, and help us to live in ways that make those around us whole. Amen

FaithCross_Worship  Yes, this idea is stolen from a wedding idea, but it will work for this, too!  You are going to make a fingerprint tree of your congregation. If you have a big congregation you might need a couple of trees or more.

The idea is to have a bare tree on a big piece of paper, and each member of the congregation gets to use their fingerprint to make a leaf on the tree.  The markers or pens are then used to write a blessing or prayer next to their leaf.

Here is a picture of one.fingerprintree

What is Love? – John 13:31-35 April 24, 2016

Prepare: Get a large piece of poster board or a big piece of banner paper and write on it (it can be fancy!) “What is Love?”

20130822-223315.jpg Ask the children to start naming things that they love.  You are kind of looking for one of them to say something like, “my Xbox!” When you get a few of those objects use that as a segue to ask, “What is love?”

20130822-223633.jpg In the story today, Jesus tells his disciples that people will know who they are because they love each other. Every time I read this story it gets a little more difficult for me to understand because “Love” is such a difficult word! We had a whole list of things that people love, from our parents to toys! How can one word describe how we feel about such different things?

Even more than that, Love is more than liking something or someone. For example, I can love someone but be really angry with them at the same time. Stranger still? Sometime I find that I am upset with people BECAUSE I love them! If I didn’t love them I wouldn’t really care what they were doing, and I wouldn’t be upset.

So, today, let’s make a list of what it means to Love someone. Ready? Go!

(make the list on your board or banner)

Wow! What a list! Think about how you show your love this week, and think about some of the things on this list.

20130822-223908.jpg Jesus loves you!

20130822-223749.jpg Loving God, be with us as we work to be loving disciples. Help us to love each other even when we don’t really want to, and grant us your forgiveness when we don’t love the way we should. Amen.

FaithCross_Worship For the worship station – Make the “What is Love?” list an all congregation project.  Either as a prayer station or as a group activity where you write items on the list as people say the,

Unbelievable – John 10:22-30, April 17, 2016

Prepare: You will need a pencil and (if possible!) a diamond, or a picture of a diamond. The diamond can be an engagement ring, or in an earring, etc. It doesn’t need to be loose or even big.  The idea is to show the difference between the two.

20130822-223520.jpgGather the children as you normally do, and as they gather, ask them to tell you the name of someone whom they trust. Could be a parent, a teacher, a coach, sibling, etc.  Just get them thinking about people they trust.

20130822-223633.jpgJesus talks a little bit about trust in today’s Gospel reading. He is being questioned by some people who really want to know who he is. They just want Jesus to tell them who he is! Jesus says, “I already told you, you just don’t trust me.” Well, really the word Jesus uses is “believe.” They don’t believe, even though they have heard the truth.

That got me thinking – Jesus, to them, just looks like a traveler, or at best a carpenter. There is nothing fancy about him. He doesn’t have fancy robes that make him look like a king, he doesn’t boss people around like he is in control of them. He doesn’t ACT like God!  . . . but, sometimes he does.  They were all just really confused.

So, to help think about this in a different way, I brought a couple of things – a pencil and a diamond ring (or a picture of one, whichever you can manage!). Two very different things, right? This one you can write or draw with, and this one is, well, a diamond ring!  But, at their heart they are the same thing. Both the diamond ring and pencil are special because the thing at the very center – and that thing is something called carbon. The black part at the middle of the pencil is made mostly of something called graphite (there are other things in there, too, but it’s mostly graphite). Graphite is made out of carbon.  The center of the ring is a diamond, and diamonds are carbon crystals.

So, both of these things, the pencil and the diamond ring, have carbon at the center. The pencil is a simple tool, something that we use everyday. The diamond is something special that we display because it is beautiful. (If you happen to have an engagement ring you can talk about why that particular diamond is special!) Even though they seem very different on the surface, at their heart they are the same stuff.

Back to Jesus! To the people standing around him he looks ordinary, like the carbon graphite in a pencil. But his disciples know that he is something really special, like a diamond. And just like the carbon, Jesus can be both!

 

FaithCross_BlessALT

Christ is Risen!

Christ is Risen, Indeed!

Alleluia!

FaithCross_PrayALTLoving God, you are the very thing that we need everyday. We rely on your love and mercy day in and day out. We give you thanks that you can be so close to us in our ordinary lives, and we praise the special treasure that is your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

FaithCross_WorshipWhat is something that you take for granted?

Have you congregation think about things that are “everyday” tools, or “everyday” staples in their lives. Create a space where people can write a prayer of thanks for the ordinary parts of their life and praise God for the simple and wonderful things that make life go better. (You can also have them tweet the prayers, or post them to your church’s FB page, etc.)

Collect the prayers and include them in the prayers of the people.