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Choose from the
following Children's sermons:
- No Fair, based on Malachi 3:1-4, by F. Schaefer (see below)
- Visions of a Better Future, Isaiah 11:6-9, by F. Schaefer
(please scroll down)
- Four Children's sermon ideas by DPSers (please scroll down)
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No Fair
a children's sermon based on Malachi 3:1-4
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Good morning, my little friends, today is all about the second Sunday of Advent.
Our Old Testament bible lesson talks about God, the Judge. One day, God has promised
to make all things right, to punish those who did bad things and did not want to change
their bad ways. But most importantly, God will make wrongs right.
Did anybody ever get treated wrong my someone else? Perhaps someone pushed you or
hurt you somehow, and you did not even do anything to them? Or someone cheated you
out of something. Or perhaps you got punished for something that you did not do?
Has any of you ever said: "that's not fair?" That's right, some things
that happen to us or that people do to us are just not fair. And those are the
things that God wants to make right.
God is kind of like our mom who, when we got treated wrongly, will take us into
his arms and say: "there, there, it'll be alright." And God is like our dad who,
when we tell him about how we got treated unfairly, will go to the people who have done us
wrong and talk to them.
God is like my parents who, when my brother and I got into a fight, made us hug each
other and say that we were sorry.
God promised that one day he will make all things right. All those things that
happened to us that were unfair, God is going to make right. So in the end all
people will be happy again and they will become friends again.
But in the meantime, we will still have things happen to us that are not fair.
But if we remember in those moments that God will make things right in the end, then we
will be able to do the right thing. What is the right thing? The right thing
is to forgive people. Our bible lesson from the Epistles talks about doing acts of
mercy. Forgiving others for doing something to us that is unfair, is an act of
mercy.
This morning, I think we should thank God for promising to make all things right in the
end and we should also pray for strength to forgive others when they treat us wrongfully.
Visions of a Better
Future
a children's sermon based on Isaiah 11:6-9
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Props: an easel with a flip chart sheet, or an
overhead projector with a blank transparency; colored pens.
Today's Scripture lessons tell us about a great event: when our Lord Jesus
comes back as he has promised to make the world a better place. God promises
us that there will be no more tears, no more wars, things will be a lot different.
Let me read to you from some of my favorite Advent Scripture (read Isaiah 11:6-9). Isn't
that great? Even the animals will change: snakes will not bite anymore, the wild
animals will no longer prey, but will instead become herbavores-- they will eat grass and
veggies.
Now, I know that you guys have a pretty good idea what God's Kingdom on earth will be
like. You tell me what you think this great world will look like. I
brought a big drawing canvas with me this morning, and I intend to draw a picture of what
you imagine God's perfect world to look like. Now, I am not a great artist or
anything, but I am going to try to capture the essence of everything you tell me to
include. Let's call this picture: "God's Peacable Kingdom II":
Encourage the children to share and draw the things they mention. You may want to
start by drawing a line for the earth and put some blue sky in, a throne (chair) as a
symbol of God with us and, of course, draw Jesus, the messiah and king (perhaps with
inviting outstretched arms). Other ideas: a tree (of life), a river, people
dancing, partying, a boom box, animals, puffy cloads (not rain clouds), a mansion
(with a pool?), etc. This kids' talk has worked great for me!
Four Children's sermon ideas by DPSers
1) A couple of children's message ideas for Advent... 1 - We have a "giving
tree" in the sanctuary, on which our mission & outreach
ministry /committee places
paper star ornaments with children's ages/gender and size and gift ideas for families in
need, or envelopes for folks to give to the local food bank or local Council of churches ,
or our minister's discretionary fund - you get the idea. Anyway, for
children's' message we
talked about St. Nicolas (though we're congregational church), who was a priest long ago in
Russia, and the story of how he gave to help people without their knowing his identity.
One time there were 3 daughters who were very poor, and he reached in their window and
dropped coins in their room. Well, the coins landed in their stockings which were hung to
dry (hence the start of our C'mas stocking customs). We can do the same kind of giving by
taking an ornament from the giving tree and bringing it back with the item on it wrapped
to be given to someone we don't know. (Or your family could give to others whom you don't
know) And as a reminder, here is a gold coin (get a bag of chocolate gold wrapped coins to
give to each child) which you can take and share just as St. Nicolas did. It is optional
to get into the identity of Santa Claus as coming from St Nicolas). A 2nd message for
advent - have a bag of all kinds decorations and stuff you might use to get ready for
C'mas - lights- have a ext. cord near, a tree stand, ornaments, maybe a fruit cake,
wrapping paper, etc. As you pull items from the bag ( I even have a tape player with C'mas
music playing as I pull it out) talk with the kids about what you are getting ready for
"Christmas!, of course" and how they get ready for C'mas in their homes. Then
talk about how we get ready in our hearts - not with decorations, lights, wish lists - but
with prayers, reading the story of Jesus' birth, singing the songs, and remembering God's
great love, which Jesus brings to us, is what we are getting ready for. Jim in Ct.
2) "Living into the future kingdom"
I'm thinking of trying to get to the idea of "Living into the future kingdom"
by touching on the anticipation children feel around Christmas time. I'll start with
asking them what they want for Christmas (that may take a while!). Maybe I'll even see if
I can get someone to do the Santa Claus thing. From there I want to move to talking about
what gift John wants to give them, to help them prepare for Jesus' coming. What gifts do
they think God would want them to have for Christmas?
An alternative would be to talk about getting ready for company at Christmas time -
what things they do around the home to get ready, etc. What are a couple of things we
would do if Jesus were coming? Then explain that that is what Advent is about - getting
ready for Jesus to come.
I generally also hand out little sheets of ideas for parents and kids that talk about
things they can do together to prepare for Christmas.
Gary in New Bern
3) "Game" of "Repentance"?
Solicit from the children and congregation times when they have not followed God's
word, turned away from God, not done what Jesus would have wanted them to do.
Explain to the children that they will model, show the older people what the word
repentance means. Explain to them that it means to turn around.
Have them stand facing the cross/altar. As you begin to call out and describe to them
ways that we turn away from God (which they and congo have given you), have them turn away
from the cross and begin taking giant steps down the aisle away from the cross and heading
out of the church.
Call out as many as it takes to get them to the back of the church. Then join them back
there and talk with them about John the Baptist and his message of repentance and what
repent means - to turn back to God.
Explain to them that you are going to go back to the front of the sanctuary and when
you call for them to "repent" they are to turn around and run/walk fast/or just
plain walk back to the cross.
Set them down and explain that what we did was just a demonstration. Kind of like a
game. But in real life, it is not a game.
We are to repent, to turn back to God. Not just once a year, not just on Sundays, not
just when the mood hits. When we find ourselves away from God, doing things that God does
not approve of, then we are to repent...
Haven't tried it out myself yet. But will give it a go on Sunday.
Karen in MO
4) This could be for any Advent Sunday. Sr pastor is preaching on "the problem of
Christmas without Christ" this Sunday though, so this is what I'm doing with the
children:
Props: two strips of poster board, one slightly longer than the other. On the short
strip, write CHRIST. On the long strip, leave the left 2/3 blank, and write MAS on the
end. When you put the two strips together, it should read CHRISTMAS.
Good morning, children! Only two more weeks until Mas! Are you ready for Mas yet? Do
you have your Mas tree? Are your Mas presents wrapped? [keep this up until the kids ask
why you are talking weird, or at least until they give you that "huh?" look]
I'm talking silly for a reason this morning. I want to talk to you about what happens
when we leave Jesus out of Christmas. [Hold up the poster board, with the full word
CHRISTMAS showing]. Where are my readers? What is this word? That's right, this is
Christmas. It's made up of two parts [split the poster board], CHRIST and Mas. CHRIST
because Christmas is Jesus Christ's birthday, and Mas from "mass" which is
another word for worship service. So Christmas means the worship service where we
celebrate Jesus Christ. We don't pronounce it Christ Mass anymore because over the years
folks kinda gonna wanna slur their words together, so we ended up with Christmas. But
that's what it means.
Now there are some people today who celebrate Christmas, but leave Jesus out
completely. They have a tree, and presents, and lights, and Santa, and a nice dinner, and
candy canes and... but they never remember that Christmas is really Jesus's birthday.
[Hold up CHRISTMAS again, then remove the CHRIST board]. That's taking Christ out of
Christmas, which just leaves you with MAS. That makes no sense!! It's like having a
birthday party with no birthday boy or girl.
Now, you probably know people who celebrate Christmas without Christ. There are many
people like that right here in our own town. They might be your neighbors, your friends,
or even your relatives. It does NOT mean they are bad people! And it certainly does NOT
mean that we are better than they are!
But it does mean that we have a very special Christmas present to give them. A present
that always fits, never wears out, never breaks, never gets boring, and can't be bought in
any store. We can tell them about Jesus. About the little baby born in the manger on
Christmas, so that we can be with God forever. Because that's the whole point of Christmas
[hold up the poster board with the full CHRISTMAS showing]
Prayer: Thank you, God, for Christ Mass. Thank you for Jesus' birthday. Help us
remember that Christmas without Christ doesn't make much sense, and that Jesus is the
greatest gift of all. Amen.
Janet in MD
