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Choose from the following Children's Sermons:
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Little Worries, Luke 10:38-42
by Rev. Randy Quinn
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Sibling Rivalry, Luke 10:38-42
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
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Jesus--God's Icon, Colossians 1:15-28
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
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Little Worries
a children's sermon based on Luke 10:38-42
by Rev. Randy Quinn
Have you ever heard someone say they “can’t see the forest for the
trees”?
What do you suppose they mean by that? (I will let them try and answer.
It may not be easy for the younger children to answer.) When you’re in
the woods, sometimes you can only see one or two trees at a time. And
you can see those trees really well, but you can’t see how many trees
are in the forest unless you stand away from the trees and look at it
from a distance.
It’s like being in a crowd of people – maybe even here during worship –
and all you can see is the one or two people next to you. Unless you
come up here where I normally sit, it’s hard to see the whole church,
isn’t it?
When people say they “can’t see the forest for the trees,” they are
talking about things like that. When they see little things but forget
the big things. They mean they have forgotten why they are doing things.
Has anyone ever asked you to help them? What does it mean to “help”?
(This is another time when I’ll let them answer. It means to picking up
our clothes and making our beds at home. It means holding someone’s hand
when they are lost. It means holding a ladder when someone is going up
on the roof.) It can mean a lot of things. It depends on who you’re
helping and what they’re doing, doesn’t it? Most of the time when we
help, we do little things that make someone else’s job easier.
If all you did was worry about those little things, we would have a lot
to worry about, wouldn’t we? It would be like missing the forest because
of the trees.
I think Jesus wants us to help other people. But if all we do is worry
about how to help them, we might forget that the reason he asks us to do
little things to help people is so they will understand what God’s love
is like.
And I hope you never forget that.
Let’s pray:
God: help us see people the way you see them. And help us love them the
way you love them. And when we see someone who needs help show us little
things we can do, but don’t let us forget the reason we do them. Amen.
Sibling
Rivalry
Luke 10:38-42
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Share the story of Mary and Martha's little fight in
front of Jesus from the perspective of a child. You may even want to
dramatize the conversation the two had ("Jesus, tell her to get off her
lazy behind and help me in the kitchen." ..."You see what I have to
put up with, Jesus? She's always on my case...").
Ask the children if they ever fight with their brothers and/or
sisters, then move toward the question whether they think that Jesus was pleased
with the fighting or not? Of course the answer will be right. You could leave
the lesson at that for smaller children and pray that God give us love for each
other.
With older children you may want to explore the deeper
theological notion of the balance between nourishment and service (a noble as
was Martha's willingness to serve Jesus, she needed to relax and be nourished
spiritually by Jesus after her service of hospitality).
Jesus--God's
Icon
Colossians 1:15-28
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
If you have a lap top computer, bring it in and show the kids
the icons on your desktop. (If you don't have one, ask someone in your
congregation to bring theirs and help demonstrate). Show them what happens when
you click on an icon (how it opens another window, or how it activates a game).
Draw a parallel to Jesus, that Colossians says Jesus is the icon
of God. Just as something happens when we click on a computer icon, so
something happens in our heart when we focus on God's icon, Jesus.
We focus on Jesus by reading about him in the bible, by learning
about him in church or Sunday school, and by prayer.
