Tag Archives: Year C

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon Galatians 5: 1, 13-25 Fruit of the Spirit, 6th Sunday after Pentecost – June 30, 2013

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20130520-224945.jpgGather the children together. You will need some fruit (any kind is fine) and an already made fruit salad. Depending on how many children you have, have small cups of the fruit salad scooped out for the children. Or you can just show them the made fruit salad and have it available after worship.

FaithCross_BibleALT Say: In one of the Bible readings this morning who heard something about fruit? (Accept all answers) I know, I did too and it’s making me hungry! Luckily, I brought this fruit with me today. I love fruit, it’s healthy for us and gives good things to our bodies so that we can have energy and not be sick. What is your favorite kind of fruit? (Again, accept all answers) Mine is________. I eat this fruit whenever I get the chance. I like to eat all kinds of fruit too! When I make a fruit salad I put all kinds of fruit in so that everyone eating the fruit salad will have a fruit that they will really like. It takes all kinds of fruit to make a great fruit salad!

There was a man named Paul who wrote one of our Bible stories this morning. He talked about having the “fruit of the Spirit” which is not actual fruit but good things like this salad we can share with one another. Paul wants us to share love, joy, peace, patience kindness, generosity (sharing), faithfulness, gentleness,  and self-control. (You can teach the song if you know it!) These are all things that help us to get along together and to share God’s love! Just as some of us like different fruits, each of us may be really good at one of these things. If you are a good hugger, you are showing love, or if you are good at sharing your toys then you are good at generosity. Are we all going to be really good at all 8 of these things? No, but we can try and we can notice when our friends are good at not fighting or smiling, and try and learn from them. Just as it takes lots of fruit to make a yummy salad it takes all of us to share God’s love to everyone we meet!

FaithCross_PrayALTGod of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, thank you for giving us our friends and our families. Just as you show us all of these good things let us share them with the world. In Jesus name, Amen.

FaithCross_BlessALT(make the sign of the cross on each other) May you be guided by God’s loving Spirit. 

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost (Lec 12) Luke 8:26-39 – June 23, 2013

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ffjChildrenSermonPreparation note: This lesson is a difficult one. We will not focus on the lesson per se but how we hear things that might frighten us every day and that God is present in our fear.
FaithCross_ConversationALTGather the children. You will need to tweak the wording of this to fit your context regarding if you children’s time is before or after the gospel reading in worship.
Say: We just heard a story that has some scary things in it didn’t we. Do sometimes hear scary things on tv or at school? Yes, sometimes we hear things that we don’t understand, make us worry or are scary to us. What do you do when you hear something scary? Do you talk to mom, dad, brother, sister or other trusted adult? That can be a good idea. When I am scared ad worried I talk to my family and friends too and I talk to God. I tell God what is bothering me or what I am scared or worried about. about. What are some things that you worry about? (Accept all answers. If you don’t have too many children you can write them down to pray about them at the end of this children’s time.)
Well, God understands that there are real things in our lives that scare us and that we worry about. God wants us to talk to God about those things because then we will remember that God is with us always, God hears our worries and will not leave us when we are scared. We belong to God and God will never let us go. When a friend is scared or worried we can tell them about God, how they too belong to God and how God is with us in our fear.

FaithCross_PrayALTGod we are so glad that you are with us always. We pray today for: (pray for what the children named). We know that you love us and care for us. Thank you for all the people in our lives, our moms, dads, friends and teachers that we can talk to about all of our worries. In Jesus’ name, amen.

FaithCross_BlessALTDo not fear, God is with you! (Make the sign of the cross on one another.)

Faith + Home Connection

July 2013 Faith + Home Connection Luke 11:1-13

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FaithCross_BibleALT For this household devotion you will need your Bible, one set of colored ribbons four inches long (white, purple, green, brown, red, orange, yellow or gold) for each member of the household. Read Luke 11: 1-13. Many children’s Bibles have the Lord’s Prayer in them.

FaithCross_ConversationALTFor children: When have you heard these words from the Bible before? We say this prayer often in Sunday morning worship, typically before Holy Communion but not always. Did you know that much of what we say and do in worship comes from the Bible? This prayer is one that Jesus told his disciples to pray. Jesus wants us to talk to God and tell God everything that we are happy about, sad about, worried about, wondering about, angry about or anything at all! What do you talk to God about during the day?

For youth/adults: The Lord’s Prayer is one that encompasses nearly every aspect of our lives. Jesus wants us to take everything to God who loves us deeply in prayer. Does God answer every prayer? When was a time that you felt that God did not answer your prayer? What do you think about these times? When was a time that God did answer your prayer? It’s very difficult when we pray for things that we think are prayers that God should answer not for ourselves but for others. If we don’t get the answer we want does it mean that God didn’t hear us or that the answer is “no”? For me, I think God’s answer to us is always “yes,” we just don’t always understand the “yes.” In our perspective, God’s “yes” might look like a “no.” We may have to be open to how it is a “yes.” It’s easy to forget that prayer is not just asking God to do something but is also about how we might participate with what God IS doing. What is our role in prayers being answered if we are to be the love of God in the world? How can we keep prayer a dialog with God (us talking and listening)?

FaithCross_PrayALT Before you pray as a household, make a simple Lord’s Prayer ribbon bookmark. Take each of the four inch strands of ribbon and tie them together in this order: White Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, Purple Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Brown Give us this day our daily bread; Red and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us Orange And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Yellow (Gold) For thine is the kingdom, and the power , and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Pray the Lord’s Prayer together before meals this month.

FaithCross_ConnectALT Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5: 17 “pray without ceasing.” Our whole lives should be continuous prayer. This month if you have young children, walk your neighborhood stopping to pray for people or places. When you return home, make a list of people or situations in your neighborhood that you will pray for this month. That list may grow! In households with older children or no children, have sticky notes handy when you are watching the news or reading the news. Write down people, places and situation that you will pray for this month. Change the list as often as you would like.

FaithCross_BlessALT (make the sign of the cross on one another and say) Remember you are loved by a God who listens. 

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon 4th Sunday After Pentecost (Lec. 11), Luke 7:36-8:3 – June 16, 2013

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Prepare:  You will need an empty cookie jar, with crumbs in it would be even better.  If you want to have a cookie or small treat ready at the end that is fine, but not necessary.  Just make sure you think about allergies!

20130520-224945.jpg  As you invite the children to gather, make a big show of the empty cookie jar.  Things like, ”Oh man, where did all my cookies go?”

FaithCross_ConversationALT  I know what you’re thinking.  It’s pretty disappointing to see me come in with an empty cookie jar, isn’t it?  Well, I think that I ate them all.  I didn’t mean to, but I just couldn’t help myself!  Do you forgive me?  Oh, good.

You know, today’s Gospel story is about forgiveness, too, but it’s kind of funny how Jesus talks about it.  In the story there is a woman who has had a bad life, and she has done some bad things so that she could survive and have food to eat.  When the other people see her with Jesus, they tell Jesus that he should leave her alone, that she is not a good person to be seen with.  Instead, Jesus turns to the woman and tells her that all of her sins are forgiven!

Well, that makes the other people a little angry.  They know that she has done bad stuff, most of them think that she has done far worse things than any of them, and they tell Jesus what they think.  Now here’s the funny, or strange part.  Jesus says, “She has done lots of bad things.  When I forgive her she loves me more.  You have done very few bad things, so for you my forgiveness is not such a deal.  But for her, forgiveness is life and love.”

Hmmmm.  So, do you think that means that we should do bad things so that God forgives us, so that we can love God more?  Should I be happy about eating all the cookies because that means I can love you more?  That seems a little backwards, doesn’t it?

I think what Jesus is saying is God love all of us enough to forgive whatever we do wrong, whether it is something big or something small.  We should not be angry about God forgiving other people, because they deserve forgiveness, too.  It also means that we should live like people who are loved and forgiven.  Always doing our best to love each other as God loves us.

FaithCross_PrayALT  Merciful God, thank you for the amazing gift of forgiveness in our lives.  Thank you for the forgiveness that you show to us, and thank you for the ways that we can forgive others.  Teach us to live in your love and to share your love with everyone we meet.  Amen

FaithCross_BlessALT  In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit you are loved by God. (have children repeat this)

~GB

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

Children's Sermons

Children’s Sermon 3rd Sunday After Pentecost (Lec. 10), Luke 7:11-17 – June 9, 2013

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Prepare:  The best possible set up for this is to find some “Pied Pipers,” Maybe a group of youth who are willing to follow you first and help call some of the children along.  The idea is to generate excitement about something that has yet to be seen.  You will also need something fun at the other end, like a Martin Luther bobble-head, or a cool poster of Jesus, or a beautiful cross, or . . .  It almost doesn’t matter, as long as it’s something unexpected.  Hide it somewhere so that you can lead the children around for a little while.

20130520-224945.jpg  Start in a different spot than you usually would, and call for the children to follow you.  Make sure that you “Pied Pipers” are ready to get up and encourage the children to come along, too.  When you find the object, be excited about it and show the children what you found as you head the usual spot.

FaithCross_ConversationALT  Well, that wasn’t what I expected to find!  What did you think we were looking for? (take a few answers)  I think that we were a little like the crowd in the Gospel story today.  See, they were following Jesus even though they didn’t know where he was going or what he was planning to do.  They were just following to see what would happen – kind of like you following me!  Now I have to admit that what we found was fun, but it was nothing compared to what Jesus showed them.

The story goes like this, Jesus had just healed a slave that belonged to a Centurion (a Roman soldier) and the people were amazed that Jesus could heal him, and that Jesus would help a Roman soldier!  So they all started to follow him.  Then, as people saw the crowd, more people started to follow, even though they didn’t know what they would see.  When they got to the next town they saw something amazing and unbelievable!  Jesus talked to a widow!  Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, why is that amazing?  Well, a widow is a woman whose husband has died, and when Jesus was teaching widows were worse to talk to than Roman soldiers!  People couldn’t believe that Jesus would talk to her.  To make things worse, Jesus was interrupting a funeral – the widow’s son had also just died.  Jesus, seeing how hard this was for the woman raised her son from the dead!  Now the crowd was blown away by the things they had seen.  So much better than the (whatever your object was) that we found.

I think that this is still true for us today.  We often try to follow Jesus, even though we don’t know where Jesus is leading us.  But, it we do our best to follow, and keep our eyes and ears open, we might hear and see some amazing things!

FaithCross_PrayALT  Amazing God, we do our best to follow you and see the things that you do in the world.  Teach us to rejoice in the work that you do.  Teach us to not just follow you, but to help you do the work that needs to be done.  Amen

FaithCross_BlessALT  In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit you are loved by God. (have children repeat this)

~GB

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