Tag Archives: Transfiguration

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon – Transfiguration Sunday, Feb 7, 2016 (Luke 9:28-43)

2 Comments

Prepare: You will need a sleeping bag, or a blanket and pillow – or just something that makes it look like you are prepared to just camp out in the worship space. Even better if you can coordinate with someone to interrupt you. If you are going to use the worship station, you will need a large piece of banner paper and a variety of colored markers.

20130822-223520.jpg  Invite the children to gather as you start to set up your sleeping bag.  See if they ask about it, but if they do not then find a way to prompt them to ask

20130822-223633.jpg  Well, I started reading today’s Gospel story and I got to the part where the disciples think that it would be a good idea to just stay on the top of the mountain with Jesus because it is such a great place to be, and I was so excited that I stopped reading and decided to just camp out in the sanctuary because this is a place where I feel close to God!

This is where an interruption would be good – have someone tell you that there is more to the story!  They can finish the story, about how Jesus told the disciples that being on the mountain was great, but that they have to go back down into the valley and spread the good news. If you don’t have a partner – have a Bible handy to show the children the story and then read on to hear Jesus’ words and then continue.

Oh, so maybe I shouldn’t just stay here? Maybe I should come here to be recharged, to find the stronger pieces of my faith in God and go out and share them! Being here, where I feel God most strongly is wonderful, but if I don’t go out and share the gift of God’s love then I’m not really doing what Jesus is asking us to do. I should come here to get charged up, to remember God’s great love, and then go out and tell the story!

20130822-224425.jpg Good and loving God, it is truly good to be here with you! We rejoice in the time that we spend here in this safe place, bathed in your love and mercy. Now send us out to be your lights in the world! Send us out to share your great mercy and love. Amen.

20130822-223908.jpg God’s love fills and surrounds you!

FaithCross_Worship Find a place to set out the banner and invite everyone to write the place, or time, or people who recharge their faith. Then hang that banner up through the season of Lent as a reminder that God is with us even when we feel like we are far away from the mountain tops that fill us with hope and joy.

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Transfiguration, Exodus 24:12-18; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9; March 2, 2014

2 Comments

Prepare:  Gather some hiking gear.  If you can go all out with a big backpack, tent and sleeping bag, even better!  You will not need to set anything up.

20130822-223520.jpg  Come in from a different place than usual, and make a big show of carrying so much stuff.  Talk to the children gathered about heading out for a long hike up into the hills or mountains or just out into the “wild.”

FaithCross  I was reading the scriptures for today, and it seems like the place to see God is out in the wild, or up on the hills, so I heading out!  I’ve got some water, and a tent (just go through your gear a little to show how ready you are), with all this stuff I should be able to stay out there for a long time.  I’m sure to see God if I just stay there.

Then, once I find God I can just hang out there and always be in with God.  So, if you want me, I’m going to be out in the middle of nowhere, hanging out with God.

But, you know, there’s a problem.  In the Bible stories we read today the people who went to the mountains to be with God came back down!  When they found God on the mountain they were given something.  Moses got the 10 Commandments, and the disciples with Jesus learned who he really was.  They had to come back so they could share the things that they learned with the rest of us.  What would our world be like without the 10 Commandments?  Or what would it be like if we never learned about who Jesus is?

You know what else? I don’t really even need to leave to find God.  god is here with us right now!  We can learn about God’s love right here with each other, and we can share the good news of God’s love with everyone we meet.  It is great to hang out with God, and with the rest of God’s people, but we can’t stay there, we have to take the good news out to everyone.

So, maybe what I should do with all the gear is go out and help people learn about God!  I’m going to go do that, but let’s pray first.

FaithCross_PrayALT   God of the mountains and valleys and everywhere in between, give us the strength to be your hands and voice in the world, and the courage to not just hide in the places where our faith feels safe.  Amen

FaithCross_BlessALT May God go with you wherever you are.

~GB

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

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Transfiguration of Our Lord, Luke 9:28-36

1 Comment

ffjChildrenSermonPrepare:  Bring some kind of party decoration, preferably something that marks a change in your life, like a graduation, marriage, retirement, etc.  Note that you will need to modify parts of this children’s sermon to fit your party and your experience.

Faith+Open:  Have your party item out and easy to see as you gather the children together.  Ask the children if they have ever been to a party, be ready to hear a few stories and move on.

Faith+Share:  Wow, those sound like some great parties!  I wanted to tell you a little about a party that I was at once.  (Here is where you will need to think about your own situation.  I will write what I would say.)  This says ”Congrats Grad!”  What do you think it’s from?  Right, a graduation!  I was thinking about my college graduation and all the fun I had celebrating that day.  That party was celebrating more than a single event, the graduation itself, but also all that had come before and all that lay ahead.  See, you can only get to a college graduation by staying in school and working really hard, so it’s fun to celebrate all that work that was put in.  Even more, though, a college graduation celebrates all the possibilities that are to come!  Graduating from college was great fun, too.  We had parties, and I got to spend time with my family and some good friends, I even got some gifts, and everybody likes gifts!  I didn’t want all that fun to end.

In our Gospel story today Jesus takes Peter, John and James to an amazing event.  We call the Transfiguration.  Peter, John and James see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah.  They see their friend and teaching in a dazzling new way, and they don’t want to leave that place or that moment.  They want to stay right there, they even offer to build houses to live so they never have to leave.  They even hear the voice of God claim Jesus as God’s Son!  But they can’t stay there.  Just like I had to move on from the fun of graduation, they have to go back to their lives, back to the ministry that they are part of with Jesus.

So, kind of like a graduation, Jesus transfiguration marks a moment of change.  Jesus is claimed by God and is ready to start the next part of his life.  Peter, John and James see Jesus in a new way, and as much as they want to stay in that moment they have to move on, but they move on with a new way of understanding Jesus, and a new excitement about the things to come.  This Sunday, for us, marks the beginning of the journey toward Easter, and we, too, should move forward with excitement!

Faith+Prayer: Ever changing and amazing God, we thank you for the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, and for the turning points in our own lives.  Help us to celebrate these turning points and to move forward with our lives with excitement and joy.  Amen.

Faith+Blessing:  Shine with God’s light so that all may see God’s Glory.

~GB

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

Children's Sermons

Transfiguration Children’s Sermon Year B

Leave a comment

Faith + Open: gather the children to where you hold children’s time.  Ask: “Do you know that we have a special word that we use in the church to praise God for loving us? What word do you think that might be?(accept all answers) Well those are great words too but this is a neat one that I really like: it is Alleluia. Can you say that? Have you heard that in worship or in other places? We sing it most often before the Gospel is read and other place in the worship service. (Sing the Gospel acclamation Alleluia if you are comfortable!) Do you all know “Allelu, Allelu, Allelu, Alleluia, Praise Ye the Lord”? Let’s sing that!

Faith + Share: We sing that song and we are so happy that God loves us and gives us life with God forever! It is a wonderful and joyful song! Well today is the last Sunday before a season that we call Lent. On Ash Wednesday, this Wednesday, you will come to church and we will tell God how sorry we are about the things we shouldn’t do and we get a cross made from ashes put on our foreheads to remind us that we belong to God. It’s important to say we’re sorry and to admit when we have done something wrong, right?

Well, we think about that in Lent and we remember that God loves us so much that God sent Jesus to earth to tell us how much God doesn’t want the wrong things we sometimes do to hurt our relationship with God. God wants us close always! So we have a few weeks to think about how God loves us and how Jesus died on a cross out of love for us. To help us focus on that, we don’t sing or use the joyful word Alleluia for the whole six weeks of Lent. We wait to sing it again on Easter Sunday on the day that Jesus rose from the dead when we can celebrate that God gives us life forever too!

So I have a slip of paper for each of you that has the word Alleluia on it. We are going to put away the Alleluia’s for the next six weeks and to help us remember we will put the Alleluia’s in this box. (Have a large box covered in purple paper with Lenten symbols on it. Have the top open and be prepared to tie the box closed with string or ribbon.) On Easter morning will you help me take the Alleluia’s out so that we can sing it? All right!

Faith + Prayer: Loving God, we don’t want to not sing Alleluia, even for just a little while, but we also don’t want to take for granted your deep and everlasting love for us. Thank you for loving us and for being with us always. In the name of your Son Jesus who loved us enough to die for us, Amen.

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

*Note: if you have more than one service, use a different box for each service. On Easter morning have the slips of paper that the children put in the boxes attached to helium balloons that will rise up at the beginning of service on Easter. The more balloons the more exciting the effect! For more information on the burying of the Alleluias please see http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Worship/Learning-Center/FAQs/Alleluias-During-Lent.aspx

~BW