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Choose from
the following children's sermons/resources:
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The Greatest Gift
by Rev. F. Schaefer
Scripture: John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave...
Props:
a) take a baby Jesus figure in a manger and box it up, wrap it with Christmas gift paper;
b) a piece of paper with John 3:16 printed on it in large letters.
Today, I brought with me the greatest gift ever made. And I got it right
here (hold up the little box with baby Jesus inside). Do you know what it is?
Who wants to take a guess what's inside? What's the greatest gift
ever given? (Have some fun with the answers they give).
(Unwrap the gift box slowly while you continue to talk) Let me give you a
little hint: it's what we celebrate on Christmas Eve. (Hold up the Jesus
figure in the manger)-- it's the birth/arrival of the Lord Jesus. And who sent the
Lord Jesus to us? God.
Let's hear what the bible says about that. Can I have a volunteer to
read this (hold up the piece of paper with the Scripture verse). Let a child read the
verse.
God gave us god's only son, because God loves us so much.
That's the greatest gift ever given. God sent his son into the
world to save us and to help us find our way back to God.
And that's the reason why we give presents to others on Christmas Day,
because God has shown us great love and now that we have received God's gift we want to
share our love and joy with others.
Prayer:
"Dear God, thank you for Christmas. Thank you for giving us the greatest gift
ever given; thank you for Jesus. Jesus shows us the way to you, he teaches us and he
helps us. Thank you God and have a merry Christmas. Amen."
Putting the Pieces Together
by Rev. F. Schaefer
Props: place a decent-sized empty manger scene in a
visible spot in your sanctuary, have the figures ready for several kids to set them up.
(Note: this "low-key" children's sermon is ideal for Christmas
Eve when you have a number of new children, or perhaps too many children to call to the
front. The children in attendance can remain seated with their parents for this
children's time in worship.)
The objective is to get children to place figures into the manger scene
while reading a contemporary version of the Christmas story (from a children's bible or
The Message). You may ask children ahead of time or you may ask for spontaneous
volunteers. Read the appropriate passage, then ask for volunteer to place
figures into the manger scene. You may also consider writing your own
"eulogy" for each character or set of characters ("We are
grateful to Mary for her joyful willingness to bear the child of God . . .").
Figures of oxen, donkey: though they are not specifically mentioned in
Luke's narrative, you may want to make reference to the likely origin of this tradition in
Isaiah 30:24: "...and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat
silage, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork."
Figure of Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus: Luke 2:1-7
Figures of a herald angel (if you have one), shepherds, and sheep: Luke
2:8-16
Figure of Star (if you have one) and wisemen: Matthew 1-2; 9-11
For a prayer refer to the "Blessing of a Manger Scene" in
section "Prayers & Invocations" above.
Angels We Have Heard On High
by Rev. F. Schaefer
Props: angel figure from a manger scene (be aware that many
crèches don't even feature an angel anymore)
Today, I brought a(nother) piece of my nativity scene (introduce your angel figure by
having it fly in from over your head). No guesses needed here. That's
right, I got Mr. Harald Angel here. Who of you has a manger scene at home?
Is yours under the Christmas tree? You know, some manger scenes
don't come with an angel any longer; do you remember if your manger scene--if you have
one--has an angel?
Well, I'm glad that mine does, because I think that the angels are very important in
the Christmas story. Maybe you can help me remember some of the angels in the
Christmas story? OK, let's see, we have three shepherds, a sheep, Mary, Joseph, baby
Jesus, three wisemen, a cow and a donkey. Who of them talked to an angel in the story?
(Encourage their answers, if no answer, start prompting)...the sheep? Did the sheep
talk to an angel? (shake your head slightly to encourage the no answer) What about the
shepherds? Yes, that's how they knew about Jesus.
The angel told them (hold up your angel). What about Joseph? Yes, an angel
told Joseph that Mary was supposed to have baby Jesus. He told him to take care of
Mary and baby Jesus (and, of course, an angel told him in a dream to flee to Egypt later).
What about Mary? Yes, you're right, Mary had a vision of an angel too.
The angel told her that she would have a baby. He told her that she should
name him Jesus, and that Jesus was a very special child--that he was going to be the
Savior of the whole world, that he was going to show people a new way to God.
You see already, why I think that angels are important in the Christmas story.
They were very involved in it. In fact, it looks like the angels
were working overtime on that first Christmas. Who of you would like to meet a real
angel some day? I wonder what that would be like. Do you suppose that you'd be
a little frightened when all of a sudden an angel pops up right in front of you--out of
nowhere? Well, Mary was a little frightened at first, but then the angel said:
"Don't be afraid, Mary, I bring good news." Angels are nice. They
are God's helpers. What do you think, should we say thank you to God for
angels? OK. let's bow our heads for prayer:
Prayer: On this Christmas we thank you, God, for sending your helpers, the
angels, to Mary and Joseph and the shepherds. Without their help there may not be a
Christmas to celebrate. Thank you God for sending angels to watch over us,
too. Help us not to forget your angels this Christmas. Amen.
