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A Place At God's Table based on World Communion Sunday
by Rev. Frank Schaefer

God's Rules Are Good For Us, Exodus 20:1-17
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
 

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A Place At God's Table
based on World Communion Sunday
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Props: piece of paper, marker

Good to see you all, my little friends.  Please find a seat on the altar steps and make yourself feel comfortable.  Today, we celebrate World Communion Sunday, and that simply means that all Christians around the world will eat a piece of bread and drink a little wine or grape juice, all in the name of Jesus who taught us to remember him as we do this.

It is like all of us are gathering at a huge table, and we all celebrate our God.

Speaking of tables,  there are so many different forms of tables.   (Take out paper and marker and draw the shapes of table as you talk about them) Some dinner tables are round, some are square, some are oblong, some are oval...   What does your dinner table look like at home? (Let the children share)

Do you all have a special place at your dinner table at home?  Do you always sit in the same place?   (Let some of the children show on the paper where they sit.

Now, imagine mom or dad call you to the dinner table and you run into the dining room (because you're hungry) and there is someone else who sits in your chair, in your space at the table.  How would you feel about that  (let the children share)?  I know I would feel bad about that, too.  It would be like I didn't belong at the table or like I didn't belong to the family any longer.

Whenever anybody of my family wasn't present, their place at our family table was empty, and we would know that they were missing.  That place belonged just to them, and they could always come and be welcome at that table--no matter what!    And I bet you it's just like that in your home as well.  Isn't it good to know that you always have a place at that table--no matter what you did or didn't do?

So it is with God's table too.  No matter what we have done, or what we neglected to do, God always reserves a place for us at his table.  God loves us and he forgives us all our sins if we are truly sorry for them and confess them to God.   Then we can take our place at God's table.

Now God's table, of course, is the communion table, and every believer is always invited to come and partake of the bread and the juice.

No matter what, God has a place for all of us at his table and this morning we celebrate that together with the entire world.  Christians from around the world will celebrate communion today.  And there is enough room at God's table for every single one of us.  Now that's one large table!!

So this morning as we come either to partake from the bread and the juice or to come for a blessing (in many traditions, children before initiation / confirmation receive a blessing instead of the elements) we celebrate the great faithfulness of our God who loves us so much that he forgives us all our sins.  Amen.

 

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God's Rules Are Good For Us
Exodus 20:1-17
by Frank Schaefer

Greetings, my little friends.

Today, we want to talk about the 10 commandments. I'm sure you've heard of them. Most of them start with the words" You shall NOT... I don't expect you to know all of them, but can you tell me which of these following are part of the 10 commandments?

 

You shall not steal.  Hands up if this is one of them.  Yes, very good

You shall not lie    Yes, very good

You shall not swim for half hour after eating   (no, that's a good rule to follow, but that's not one of the ten commandments

You shall honor your parents  yes, believe it or not, this is actually one of the 10

 

You know some people are afraid of the 10 commandments  because they think they are hard to follow, and I think it is hard to keep all of them all the time.

But I really think that God wants us to think of the commandments in a positive light. They are good guidelines that keep us out of trouble when we follow them. God wants us to live good lives and be happy.

Let's say I got caught stealing something. That'd be bad for me, right? I would be in a heap of trouble and feel really badly. That's why God said: don't steal.

Let us pray: Dear God, thank you for giving us your 10 commandments; thank you for caring for us and for trying to keep us out of trouble. And please help us to keep your rules and be a good person. In Jesus name...Amen.