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Signs--God's Attention-Getters
a children's sermon based on Exodus 3:1-15
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
props: a picture of a traffic light (or a street sign if you have one lying around)

Greetings, my little friends.  Today, I would like to talk to you about signs.  There are many different kinds of signs.  I brought a picture of one that most of us have seen many times; that's right it's a traffic light.

Now, when the traffic light is showing the red light, what does that mean?  What do I have to do?  Right again, that means that I have to stop and wait...wait for what?  The the red light to disappear and the green light to come on.

Traffic signs are attention-getters.  They get our attention, especially the ones that light up.  We need a lot of attention-getter signs in this day and age.  There is so much noise and business around us that we can easily overlook something.

Did you notice already that it is sometimes hard to get people's attention?  How do you get the attention of your friends or parents?  That's right, you could shout.  Or waive your arms, or jump up and down, call the person's name; or you could use a noisy object.  My kids seem to think that works best to get my attention; especially when I'm on the phone.

What do your parents do to get your attention?  My mother, as so many mother's seem to enjoy, called me by my first, middle and last name when she really wanted to get my attention.  Sometimes, she counted, too; and sometimes my dad gave me the time-out sign.

All of these things are attention getters.  In our bible story from the Old Testament this morning, God is trying to get the attention of a man called Moses.  You won't believe what God did to get Moses' attention.  He actually started a bush on fire.  But here is the thing; the bush wasn't burned up by the fire.

Burning bushes were probably not that uncommon in the area where Moses tended his sheep.  It was a hot and dry area.  But when Moses saw that burning bush he must have sensed that there was something different about this bush; maybe he could quite see what it was at first, but then he saw that the bush didn't change.  I can imagine Moses looking at the bush going: "what on earth..."

I think God is trying to get your attention, and my attention sometimes.  And he sends us sings too.  But it's probably easy to miss them.  We need to look out for God's attention getters: perhaps God sends us a rainfall while the sun is shining; or maybe God tries to get our attention by sending us a heart-shaped cloud, or a flower that blooms out of season, or something strange and unexpected that happens to us.

The important thing is that we keep looking out for God's signs; and when we see one, we should ask God, why he wants our attention.  Most likely it is because he has an important message for us.  Amen.