Gary Neal Hansen's Blog, page 11

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 6:27-38

Christ with Martha and Mary, by Henryk Siemiradzki (public domain)

Here’s my children’s sermon on Luke 6:27-38 for the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany. (You can see my regular “Monday Meditation” on this text here.)

It’s a chunk of “the Sermon on the Plain,” more famously known in Matthew’s version as “the Sermon on the Mount.” 

The challenge of this text for me is that my eye goes immediately to the very hardest bits. Jesus says “turn the other cheek” and “give your shirt if someone takes your coat,” and we have a hard time with it. That’s reasonable: these are hard teachings, intended to give grown-up disciples a serious challenge. 

So we usually look for exceptions, or we try to take it metaphorically somehow—anything other than a clear and literal statement of what Jesus wants us to do. 

And then, obsessed with the very hardest bits, we try to write a children’s sermon. Or we resist the idea of passing Jesus’ words on to children.

Children are, after all, more likely to be physically bullied and abused than grown ups. And children lack an adult’s ability to analyze when Jesus’ words apply and when they don’t.

I really don’t want to spend my children’s sermon on Luke 6:27-38 explaining the exceptions and backpedaling from Jesus’ words.

(On the other hand, my cautionary note to preachers of children’s sermons is this: don’t tell children who are being abused that they should be silent, or be passive, or forgive in a way that lets the abuse continue. And it is all too possible that someone in the group that comes up on Sunday is a victim of abuse.)

Better to look around those troubling bits, and find the winsome, age-appropriate core of Jesus’ words.

And when I do that, it turns out I have three or four different potential approaches. There’s a ton of fantastic material in here!

++++++++++++

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com.You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…)

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 6:27-38

Good morning kids! Hey, I’m so glad to see you here this morning. Welcome. We’ve all come to worship God. You are always welcome here, and especially for the children’s sermon. This part of the service is just for you.

The Sermon on the Plane

One day, Jesus was teaching a big crowd of people. Some, like Peter and Mary Magdalene, were his disciples already. Some were sick, and they hoped Jesus would heal them. Others were just curious. They had heard about Jesus, and they wanted to hear what he had to say.

Let’s imagine that Jesus and one of his friends started to talk about what he’d been teaching.

Role Models

After Jesus had talked for a while, Mary Magdalene raised her hand.

“Jesus?” she said. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, Mary,” he said.

“I’m thinking about what to do with my life,” she answered. “Now that I’m following you it’s like I’m a little kid again, wondering what I should be when I grow up. Do you have any ideas?”

“Well, yeah,” Jesus said. “But the secret is this: It’s more important to figure out who you’re going to BE than to figure out what you’re going to DO.”

“What do you mean?” Mary said. “How do I figure out who I’m going to be?”

“One way,” said Jesus, “is to think of people you admire and start learning from them.”

“Oh,” she said. “Like role models? I’ve always admired my mom and dad. And I had this teacher once who was really important to me. Like that?”

“That’s a great start,” said Jesus. “But don’t forget the Most Important Person.”

“Um,” Mary said, “who’s that?” 

“God,” said Jesus. “I think you should make God one of your role models—the most important one.”

“I can’t do that!” said Mary. “I can’t create a world, or make plants grow or anything like God does. How can I make God my role model?”

“Okay, sure,” said Jesus. “But you can do some very important things God does.”

“Like what?” she asked.

Showing Mercy

“Like showing mercy to people,” said Jesus. “God is really kind and generous to people, no matter what.”

“What do you mean by ‘no matter what’?” she asked.

“I mean,” said Jesus, “God is kind and generous to people who love God.  But God is also kind and generous to people who don’t even believe in God. God is even kind and generous to people who hate God! And to people who follow other gods! God is always full of mercy.”

“So I should be merciful to people who follow other gods?” she asked.

Love Them?

“Oh, sure,” said Jesus, “but I was thinking more about you. If God is your role model, you should be merciful and love your enemies.”

“But Jesus!” said Mary, “I can’t love them! they are my enemies! they did really mean things to me! Honestly thug really hate me.”

“Oh, Mary,” Jesus said, “I know it’s hard. But I’m not saying you should feel really good about your enemies. The kind of love I’m talking about is how you treat people.”

Do Good to Them?

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“So imagine someone who really does hate you,” Jesus said. “Do you think you could maybe do something good for that person anyway?”

“I don’t know,” said Mary, thinking. “Like, make them a cake or something?”

“That’s good,” said Jesus. “That would sure surprise them.” 

“I think that would still be too hard!” Mary said, “It would be scary, trying to give them a cake. They said terrible things about me. They used curse words!”

Bless Them?

“Okay,” said Jesus, “what about this? If they said curse words and other mean things to you, do you think you could maybe say some kind things to them?”

“Like what?” asked Mary.

“Like, give them a blessing,” said Jesus. “Tell them you hope things go really well for them.”

“Hm…” said Mary, “that still sounds hard. Could I maybe start with something easier?”

Pray for Them?

“How about this,” said Jesus. “Could you start by saying a prayer for them? You could ask God to be merciful to them—even if it’s too hard for you to feel merciful. Could you do that?”

Wondering

I wonder if Mary was able to pray for the people who were so mean to her?I wonder if praying and blessing her enemies might have helped Mary feel less hurt inside?I wonder what might happen if you prayed for people who don’t treat you well?

++++++++++++

It would totally make my day if I could send you all my new articles and announcements. Scroll down to the black box with the orange button to subscribe, and they’ll arrive by email most Fridays.

The post A Children’s Sermon on Luke 6:27-38 appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 6:17-26 — The Beatitudes

Rosselli, Sermon on the Mount (CC by NC-ND 2.0)

As we come to the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, I bring you a children’s sermon on Luke 6:17-26. (You can find my regular Monday Meditation on this passage here.) 

This passage lives in the shadow of the more famous version in Matthew’s Gospel. Luke’s emphasis is subtly different even with the Beatitudes as a shared core.. 

The Beatitudes are pretty complicated stuff, with or without Luke’s set of parallel sayings about how very “unblessed” people are who have wealth, food, joy and popularity.

A children’s sermon on Luke 6:17-26 really can’t cover the whole thing, or plow the depths of it. Better, I think, to take a small slice, leaving aside equally valuable material for now. They can wrestle with the rest another time.

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com.You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…)

So, here you go, with a children’s sermon on Luke 6:17-26

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 6:17-26

Good morning kids! I’m so glad to see you. I think it’s just great that you are here in worship today.

These last few weeks in worship we’ve been hearing stories about when Jesus first started his work, telling people about the Kingdom of God.

Well, before long, word got around that Jesus was very wise and very loving. People wanted to come to him to learn about the Kingdom of God. And when people heard that Jesus could heal people, more and more people came to him for help.

The Upside-Down Kingdom

One day, when a very big crowd had gathered, Jesus said “You know, life in the Kingdom of God might not be exactly what you expect.”

“Why not?” asked Peter. (Peter was almost always the first one to speak up.)

Jesus said, “I think you’ll find that things in God’s Kingdom are kind of backwards to what you’re used to — kind of upside down.”

“Like what?” Peter asked.

Happiness, Upside-Down

“Well tell me this,” said Jesus. “When you look around in the world, who do you think is really happy?”

“Oh man,” said Peter. “I know the answer to that one. It’s the rich people! Boy, if I was rich I’d buy myself a big new fishing boat! And I’d have lots of good food every day! I’d laugh with all my friends, and never be sad or lonely. And I’d be on the town council so everybody would respect me and say good things about me. And—“

“Okay, Peter,” said Jesus, laughing, “slow down. We get the idea. Well, what if I told you that in the Kingdom of God it was totally the opposite?”

“What do you mean?” asked Peter. 

“In God’s Kingdom,” said Jesus, “it’s the poor people who are happy.”

“Oh come on!” said Peter, “That’s crazy. How can you be happy if you’re poor?”

“I wonder,” said Jesus. “Poor people may not own anything in this world, but the whole Kingdom of God belongs to them. That’s something to be happy about!”

“I guess,” said Peter, but he didn’t sound convinced.

“You know who’s really sad in the Kingdom of God?” said Jesus.

“Who?” asked Peter.

“The rich people,” said Jesus. 

“No way!” said Peter. “That’s impossible.”

 “Really!” said Jesus, “They’ve had all their good things already.” 

“Hmm…” said Peter. 

Happy and Hungry?

“Want to know who else is happy in God’s Kingdom?” asked Jesus. 

“Okay,” Peter said, still sounding doubtful. 

“The hungry people,” said Jesus. 

“What?!?” asked Peter. “How can they be happy if they’re hungry?”

“Oh, they totally can,” said Jesus. “The people who don’t have enough to eat have a very Kingdom-of-God sort of happiness.”

 “What’s that mean?” asked Peter. 

“Think about a time when you were really hungry,” said Jesus. “What happened?” 

“Well, there was this time when I was a kid. My dad got sick and couldn’t go fishing for a while. We didn’t have any food. I was miserable!” said Peter.

“What else happened?” asked Jesus. “Like, maybe later, or the next day?”

“Oh,” said Peter. “Our neighbors brought us some food. That was pretty awesome.”

“See what I mean?” asked Jesus. “You were were hungry. And you were happy.”

“Only afterward,” said Peter. “When I wasn’t hungry any more.”

 “But if you knew you were going to be fed,” said Jesus, “you could look forward to it and be happy while you were hungry. The hungry people in the Kingdom are actually happy—because they trust God will take care of them.”

“Okay, maybe that makes sense,” said Peter.

Another Riddle

“Good,” said Jesus. “Let me tell you another riddle, and you see of you can solve it. In the Kingdom of God, people who are very sad are actually  happy.”

“Jesus,” said Peter, “that makes no sense!” 

“No, seriously,” said Jesus. “It’s a riddle. Think about it. Why might sad people be happy?”

Peter scowled as he thought about that. But then he smiled and said, “Okay, maybe because God is going to send someone to comfort them?”

“Right!” said Jesus. “And the people who are already well fed and happy and laughing? In the Kingdom of God they’re actually the sad ones.”

“Because…they have nothing good to look forward to?” asked Peter.

“That’s right,” said Jesus. “Good things come and go in life. If you’re full now, you’ll probably be hungry later sometime.” Then he paused and said. “You really are getting the hang of this, Peter.”

“That makes me happy!” asked Peter. “I think.”

Wondering

I wonder if poor people, and hungry people, and sad people actually feel happy in the Kingdom of God?I wonder how all the sick people felt as they waited and hoped Jesus would heal them?I wonder, when you feel hungry or sad, if you might think about what Jesus said about the Kingdom?

++++++++++++

It would totally make my day if I could send you all my new articles and announcements. Scroll down to the black box with the orange button to subscribe, and they’ll arrive by email most Fridays.

The post A Children’s Sermon on Luke 6:17-26 — The Beatitudes appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 5:1-11 — Out into the Deep

Miraculous Catch of Fish — James Tissot (public domain)

Here’s a children’s sermon on Luke 5:1-11 for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany. I’ve written on it before. (You can find my regular Monday meditation on it here). But today it takes me by surprise.

I’m so used to the way Matthew, Mark and John show Jesus calling the first disciples directly. You know: Jesus walks up to people and says things like “Follow me!”

This is Luke’s version of the same thing. Jesus does not call Peter to follow. He tells Peter he has a new vocation: he’ll be catching people instead of fish from here on. Luke left any explicit invitation  on the cutting room floor.

If this weren’t a children’s sermon on Luke 5:1-11, I would probably emphasize either the geography of the story or the miraculous catch of fish, or both.

The call comes after Peter takes Jesus’ instruction to move away from shore, out into the depths. The call comes in the context of Peter’s familiar vocation of fishing.

I suspect these observations connect to deep Gospel truths: we too have to move out of the safety of shore and shallows, and live in the depths. And we too are most likely to find the miracle of Christ’s action in the midst of our daily work, whatever it may be.

God doesn’t act to please the crowd. God acts to reach the soul.

Is there any way to bring that stuff to kid level? I don’t know. But here goes my attempt in a children’s sermon on Luke 5:1-11.

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com. You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…) A Children’s Sermon on Luke 5:1-11

Good morning kids! I’m so glad you are here in worship today. Thank you for coming up to hear the children’s sermon.

The last couple of weeks we heard stories of Jesus at the very beginning of his work for God’s kingdom. Today is the story of how some of his first and most famous friends  became his followers.

On the Shore

One day Jesus was standing by the lake shore. It was a very big lake. It was so big, and so deep, that some people with fishing boats made their living catching fish there.

Jesus was there on the shore, enjoying the view. Plus he was enjoying the feeling of the sand between his toes. And he was looking around.

There were some fishing boats pulled up on the shore nearby, and their  owners were fixing their nets. One belonged to someone Jesus knew: a man named Simon, though Jesus liked to call him Peter. Jesus had come to Peter’s house one time, when Peter’s mother in law was sick. Jesus healed her. So Jesus and Peter were friends

Then Jesus heard a woman’s voice from somewhere up the beach. “Hey! Isn’t that Jesus over there?”

And the woman who had called out came closer. “Jesus, are you going to be teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven today?”

“Sure,” said Jesus.

And as the two of them talked about the Kingdom, another voice called out, “Hey look! It’s Jesus! Let’s go get my blind cousin. Maybe Jesus can heal him!”

One by one and two by two, people started to gather around on the beach to talk to Jesus and listen to him teaching. They came to be healed and to be helped, till the entire beach was full.

And still they kept on coming, pushing Jesus closer and closer to the edge of the lake.

“Hey!” said Jesus, “I’m standing in the water! I need some more room.”

Out in the Boat

Then Jesus remembered Peter was nearby, with his fishing boats pulled up onto the beach. Now Peter was surrounded by the crowd too.

“Hey, Peter!” called Jesus. “Simon Peter! Can I borrow your boat?”

“I don’t know,” said Peter. “I kind of need it for my work.”

Jesus said, “I mean can I get in and you could take me out for a bit?”

“Oh, sure,” said Peter, pulling the boat back into the water. “Hop aboard!”

So Jesus stepped into the boat with Simon and his brother, whose name was Andrew.

“Whoa!” said Peter, when the boat started to rock. “Sit down before you tip us over.”

When Jesus was sitting down, Peter asked “Where did you want me to take you?”

“Just offshore a few yards,” said Jesus. “I need to go out just far enough that this crowd won’t trample me and drown me when I try to teach them.”

So they sailed out a bit farther from shore. Jesus talked to the crowd,  across the water, where they were all gathered the beach. Jesus told them all kinds of stories about the Kingdom of heaven.

When Jesus was done teaching, the people in the crowd all went home.

Peter said “That was really interesting, Jesus.” And they talked in the boat for a while about the Kingdom of heaven.

But Peter had a kind of sad look on his face.

Out into the Deep Water

“Why do you look so sad, Peter?” asked Jesus.

Peter didn’t look directly at Jesus. He sort of stared off across the water. “I’m just a fisherman,” he said. “What you say about the Kingdom of God sounds great—but I don’t think I’m good enough to be part of that.”

“Oh, Peter,” said Jesus. “The kingdom of God is for everybody. You know what I think?”

“What?” asked Peter.

“I think you need something to build your confidence,” said Jesus. “Maybe some new experiences. How about adding some adventure in your life? Why don’t you sail your boat out there onto the deep water?”

“Um… I don’t know,” said Peter. “I… um… I think that would make me too nervous. I don’t actually know how to swim. What if I fell onto the water?”

“Don’t you sail this boat all the time?” asked Jesus,

“Sure” said Peter. “But I always stay kind of close to shore. You know—so my feet can reach the bottom.”

“I see,” said Jesus. “Well I think it’s time to take a little bit of a risk. Do something new. How about you sail out where it’s really deep, and do some fishing.”

“No,” said Peter. “I’ve been fishing all night. I didn’t catch a single fish!”

“Trust me,” said Jesus. “Give it a try.”

“Okay,” said Peter—but he sounded pretty grumpy about it.

A Big Catch.

Out they went in the boat. When they got way out from the shore, Peter and Andrew put out the net.

A couple minutes later Andrew said “Hey! Why are we moving? What’s that sound?”

He and Peter looked into the water. Their net was totally full of fish. The fish were pulling the boat, tipping and rocking it. The net was starting to rip!

“What’ll we do?” said Andrew panicking.

“We need some help!” said Peter. He looked to the shore and saw his friends James and John were still there on the beach with their boat.

“Hey you guys!” Peter shouted. “Come and help us! We have too many fish!”

So James and John came out in their boat.

Everybody worked as fast as they could to get the fish into the boats. But soon, both boats were so full of fish that they were getting too low in the water.

“We’re going to sink!” cried Andrew.

“Everybody row!” yelled Peter. “We have to get to shore!”

Well, pretty soon they were all safe on the beach with two huge boatloads of fish.

Peter looked at Jesus in wonder. “How did you do that?” he asked, “How did you know?”

Jesus smiled a sly sort of smile. “That’s the way it is in the Kingdom of God—when you trust me and go out to the deep water some amazing things happen.”

“How can we thank you?” Peter asked.

Jesus smiled that smile again. “What I really want is to give you a new job.”

“But I’ve always fished for a living,” said Peter.

“Oh you’ll still be fishing,” said Jesus. “But from now on you’ll be catching people!”

Wondering I wonder what it felt like when Jesus told Peter to go fish in the deep water? I wonder what it felt like when Jesus told Peter he would have a new job fishing for people? I wonder if Jesus will ever ask you to to something that feels new and risky? ++++++++++++

It would totally make my day if I could send you all my new articles and announcements. Scroll down to the black box with the orange button to subscribe, and they’ll arrive by email most Fridays.

The post A Children’s Sermon on Luke 5:1-11 — Out into the Deep appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 4:21-30

Jesus in the Nazareth Synagogue (public domain)

Here comes my children’s sermon on Luke 4:21-30. We pick up with the last verse from last week’s Gospel reading.  (You can find my regular Monday Meditation on this text here.)

As I noted a week ago, this odd division by the lectioneers (is that what you call people who make a lectionary?) gives us two radically different readings out of what is, in reality, one story. 

Last week, Jesus announced to his hometown synagogue that he was the Messiah. Everything seemed hunky dory. 

This week we see the very strange aftermath. 

Yes they are pleased with Jesus’ announcement. This lasts for about one verse. Then Jesus taunts and goads them to the point that they quite literally try to kill him. 

Happily he pulls a God moment and walks out unscathed.

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com.You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…)

So, here we go with a children’s sermon on Luke 4:21-30. 

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 4:21-30

Good morning kids! I’m so glad you are here in worship this morning. Thanks for coming up to hear the children’s sermon.

Today’s Gospel story is the second half of the one we started last week.

Last week, Jesus had just started to go out into the world, telling people about the Kingdom of God. After teaching in a few towns, he came back home to Nazareth. On the Sabbath, he went to the synagogue. 

During the service, Jesus read a passage from the Prophet Isaiah about the Messiah. Then he told them that he was the one Isaiah was writing about.

The Other Side of the Conversation

That’s where last week’s reading ended, but the story goes on. And it gets kind of surprising. And maybe, in one place, a tiny bit scary. But don’t worry: everything works out okay.

It’s actually kind of an odd story. The Bible tells us a bunch of things Jesus says. To me it sounds like just one side of a conversation. So I tried to imagine what the other people said.

Here’s how I imagine it going.

Hometown Boy

When Jesus finished reading what the Prophet Isaiah had written he rolled up the scroll. Jesus handed the scroll to a man who put it back with all the other holy books.

Then Jesus looked out at all his friends and neighbors. He held onto the pulpit with his hands and he rocked from foot to foot.

Then he said “I have a surprise for you: All that stuff that Isaiah wrote about the Messiah? Well today it’s all fulfilled!”

They looked up, kind ol mystified. 

“Isaiah was describing me!” Jesus said. “I’m the Messiah!”

Then they were silent for a minute, just looking at Jesus.

But then some of the older folks started to smile. “I always knew Jesus was something special,” said one man. “I remember when he was just a baby. He had sort of a look about him, you know?”

Well, one person said this, and another said that, and pretty soon there was a happy rumble of conversation running through the crowd.

“The Messiah!” said someone. “Well, isn’t that something! He made our dining room table, you know? I used to talk to him while he worked. He did always seem wise.”

Others said,

“I’ve been waiting for the Messiah my whole life!”

“This is great!”

“This is amazing!”

The Messiah? Really?

But then one fellow raised his hand. “Excuse me,” he said, in a kind of grumpy voice, “but how do we know that’s true? How do we know you’re really the Messiah?”

“Yeah,” said another, in a doubting voice. “That passage of Isaiah said the Messiah would do all kinds of cool things—making blind people see, and releasing prisoners. We’ve never seen you do any of that stuff.”

“Plus,” said another, “it sounds like you have a stuffy nose. If you can really make blind people see, why can’t you cure your own cold?”

Jesus said “I figured someone would bring up that old saying. You know—‘If you’re really a doctor, heal yourself.’ Well it isn’t quite like that. I’m not here to serve myself.”

Then somebody who really liked Jesus said “You know, Jesus spent the last couple weeks teaching and helping people over around Capernaum.”

Jesus jumped in again, “Yeah but don’t ask me to do here what I did in Capernaum. It doesn’t work like that either.”

“Why not?” somebody called out. 

Jesus said, “Because I’m not here to do tricks. I came to teach people–to show them the Kingdom of God.”

Then someone who really hadn’t been listening said, “I know! I’ve got a cousin who’s blind. I run and get him, and you can give it a try. Heal him and we’ll all know you’re the Messiah.”

Jesus Loves Outsiders

“No,” said Jesus. “I don’t think I’m going to heal anybody today.”

“Why not?” asked the guy with the blind cousin. 

Jesus said, “God is kind of picky about these things. God wants me to go invite other people from other countries into his kingdom.”

“Others?” said someone.

“Foreigners?” said another.

“Strangers?” said a third.

“It’s always been like that,” Jesus said. “Remember the prophet Elijah? In Elijah’s time there was a famine in all the countries around here. There were lots of starving widows in Israel. But God sent Elijah to a foreigner—to a widow in the country of Sidon.”

“Oh, sure,” said the guy with the blind cousin. “That happened once. But we’re Israel. We’re God’s people. You should heal our people—like my poor blind cousin!”

“Its not the only example” said Jesus. “God is always reaching out to people who aren’t like us. Think about the prophet Elisha. There were lots of sick people in Israel in his time. But God didn’t send Elisha to them. God sent Elisha to heal a the general of a foreign army—one of Israel’s enemies. Naaman the Syrian was his name.”

“So you aren’t going to heal my cousin?” asked the man.

“Nope,” said Jesus.

“Aren’t you going to do any of the things Isaiah said the Messiah would do?”

“Not here in Nazareth.” Jesus said. “Not today.”

A Mob Scene

Well, the happy rumble of voices became the angry growl of a mob.

“Let’s get him!” shouted someone.

So some big men grabbed Jesus. 

“What should we do with him?” asked one of them.

“Throw him out of the synagogue!” said someone,

“Throw him off the cliff!” said someone else.

Things got pretty crazy—pretty scary, actually. They really did drag Jesus out of the synagogue. Then they really did drag him to the edge of the cliff. They really were going to throw Jesus off and be rid of him forever.

But just then, a very surprising thing happened. 

Suddenly the big strong men couldn’t hold on to Jesus any more. Jesus dusted him self off, and walked straight through the crowd to freedom.

Wondering.

I wonder what it felt like for the people when they first heard their neighbor Jesus say he was the Messiah?I wonder what it felt like when Jesus told the people that God didn’t want him to heal people in Nazareth?I wonder what they thought afterward, when Jesus just walked away from their trap?

++++++++++++

It would totally make my day if I could send you all my new articles and announcements. Scroll down to the black box with the orange button to subscribe, and they’ll arrive by email most Fridays.

The post A Children’s Sermon on Luke 4:21-30 appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 4:14-21

Exorcism in the Synagogue at Capernaum, 11th century (public domain)

For the third Sunday after Epiphany, I offer you a children’s sermon on Luke 4:14-21. (You can see my regular Monday Meditation on this text here.)

The Revised Common Lectionary seems to be continuing in the theme of the Epiphany, with this gospel reading giving us another take on the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry: Jesus announces his messianic identity.

Not much was ambiguous about it. In the Sabbath service, Jesus read Isaiah’s words about the Messiah’s work. Then he announced that the prophecy was fulfilled, that day, in their midst.

The ambiguities come from the context of the story in Luke’s narrative, and from where the lectionary trims the passage.

Contextually, the announcement seems odd because Luke has not yet shown Jesus doing any of the things Isaiah spoke about.

The lectionary’s editing is odd because the story gets cut off before the end of the scene.  At first the crowd approves of Jesus’ announcement, but then he taunts them into a fury. They actual try to kill him. But we get none of that. Not this week, at least.

This week it’s all happy. And that’s where I’ll go in my children’s sermon on Luke 4:14-21.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 4:14-21

Good morning kids! I’m so glad to see you today. Thanks for coming up to hear the children’s sermon.

We call this season “Epiphany.” In Epiphany, we celebrate that Jesus has come to do his work in the world.

We’re hearing stories each week about the beginning of Jesus’ his work.

Two weeks ago we heard about Jesus getting baptized at the start of his ministry.Last week we heard about Jesus’ very first miracle, when he turned water into wine at a wedding.And this week we hear how Jesus told his friends and neighbors who he really was.

All Alone

In the Gospel of Luke this story happens right at the beginning of Jesus’ gown-up ministry, before he had any disciples following him.

All alone, Jesus got baptized by John. All alone, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert.Then, all alone, Jesus started going from town to town, telling people about the Kingdom of Heaven.

After traveling around for a while, still all alone, Jesus decided to go back to his home town.

Back Home

Everyone knew Jesus back home in Nazareth. Every Sabbath day, they all would pray and worship together at the synagogue.

So, when Jesus came home from his travels, on the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as usual.

Jesus’ neighbors wanted to welcome him home, and honor him. So they asked him to read one of the Bible passages in the service.

Jesus went up to the lectern. Someone brought him the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah. Jesus unrolled it to that morning’s reading. And Jesus read the words of Isaiah chapter 61. 

It went something like this:

God poured his Spirit out on me! 
Now I’m going to the poor people, and tell them good news from God! 
Now I’m going to the prisons and jails, to set the prisoners free! 
Now I’m going to the blind people, and I’m going to make them able to see! 
Now I’m going to find people who are bullied and feel trapped and I’ll bring them God’s freedom! 
I’m here to tell everyone that God really loves them right now!

Paraphrase of Luke 61:1-2

Everyone knew that passage of Isaiah. They all knew it was part of God’s promise to bring a savior, the Messiah. 

That was what all the people were hoping for. 

Someday God would send the Messiah, so they would be freed from their troubles. 

Someday the Messiah would make the world good and fair, the way God intended life to be.

A Surprising Sermon

Well, when Jesus was done reading the words of the prophet, he rolled the scroll back up. He handed it to the person responsible for putting it away on a safe place.

But even after they put scroll away, Jesus still stood at the lectern. They wondered if maybe he would preach a sermon.

Jesus looked out at the people in the synagogue. He knew them all. They all knew him.

He cleared his throat.

He held onto the edges of the lectern with his hands.

He shifted from foot to foot for a couple seconds.

Then he smiled, and said, “I have a big surprise for you: God fulfilled this promise today! Right here in Nazareth!”

Jesus could see they were kind of confused by what he said. So he clarified,

“This promise from the Bible is fulfilled today! It’s about me!”

And that’s where this week’s reading ends. 

There’s more to the story, but this is the part we are thinking about today. 

We’ll hear the rest of it next week.

Wondering

I wonder how Jesus felt, traveling alone from town to town, teaching about God’s kingdom? I wonder how Jesus felt making such a big announcement in his home town? I wonder how Jesus’ neighbors felt when Jesus told them he was the Messiah?

++++++++++++

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com.You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…)

The post A Children’s Sermon on Luke 4:14-21 appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon on John 2:1-11–The Wedding at Cana

Marriage at Cana, Giotto di Bondone (public domain)

For the Second Sunday after Epiphany, so I bring you a children’s sermon on John 2:1-11. It’s “the wedding at Cana.” (You can see my regular Monday Meditation on this text here.)

I really love this text. I often use it when teaching groups St. Ignatius of Loyola’s “Prayer of the Senses.” (You can find out about that in my book, Kneeling with Giants). 

This leaves me with a paradoxical problem. When I sit down to prepare a children’s sermon on John 2:1-11, I sort of know it too well. How will I do anything beyond quoting the NRSV from memory? 

And then there’s the problem of what we might call “adult content.” How do I talk to kids about Jesus making stupendous amounts of first-rate wine for a crowd that is, by all reports, already drunk?

Oh well. The only thing to do is jump in and try to tell the story. So here we go with a children’s sermon on John 2:1-11.

(You can skip getting the kids to chime in about the lack of wine if you want. By the way, before you read it, check out the fresco by Giotto above, especially the look on the Blessed Virgin Mary’s face as she talks to Jesus about making some miracle wine. Giotto totally agrees with me.)

A Children’s Sermon on John 2:1-11

Good morning kids! I’m so glad to see you. It’s so great that you are here for worship. Thanks for coming up to hear the children’s sermon.

I wonder if you’ve ever been to a wedding? Well, this morning’s Gospel story tells about when Jesus and his mom and his friends were all guests at a wedding.

If you’ve been to a wedding you probably know that after the actual wedding there is usually a big party.

In Jesus’ time, at the party after a wedding the people drank wine. Also they probably ate really good food, and they drank a lot of wine. And maybe they talked, and danced, and laughed—and they drank a lot of wine.

No More Wine

Well, at this particular party, after this particular wedding, the guests drank all the wine. Every last bottle. Every last glass. Every last drop.

But it wasn’t anywhere near the time when the party would end.

There was a line forming at the table where the servants poured the wine for the guests. But when guests got there, the servant just shrugged his shoulders.

Then the guests in the line started to sort of chant: “More wine! More wine! More wine!”

You can say it with me if you want to: “More wine! More wine! More Wine!“

The servant at the wine table was getting kind of nervous. He went over to the chief servant, the one in charge of the party.

“We’re all out of wine,” he said.

So the chief servant, the one in charge of the party, started to worry too. He went over to the bridegroom, the host of the party.

“You’re all out of wine,” he said. So the bridegroom, the host of the party, started to really worry a lot. He happened to be talking to Jesus’ mom, Mary, at the time. The bridegroom looked at Mary, all embarrassed and worried.

“I’ve run out of wine!” he said. “Completely!” he said. “Every bottle! Every glass! Every drop!”

“Oh dear!” said Mary. “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to Jesus.”

“Does Jesus have a lot of wine?” said the bridegroom.

“He’ll know what to do,” said Mary. “He’ll think of something.”

Can Jesus Help?

So Jesus’ Mother, Mary, walked over to where Jesus was talking to his disciples.

“They are all out of wine, honey,” said Mary. “Can you help them out?”

And Jesus said, “Oh Mom, you know this isn’t my problem. It isn’t actually your problem either.”

Mary didn’t say another word. She just gave Jesus one of those “mom looks” that meant “Didn’t I teach you better than that? Didn’t I always tell you to try to help people when they have troubles?”

Jesus rolled his eyes, but Mary just said to the servants “Whatever Jesus tells you to do, you be sure and do it.”

So Jesus said to the servants, “See those water jars over there? Fill them all up with water.”

They called them “jars” but each one was the size of a big garbage can—20 or 30 gallons. They held water for special ritual baths.

It took a while to fill six garbage cans with water, but the servants did it.

Then Jesus said “Scoop out a glassful and take it to the chief servant, the one in charge of the party.”

A Big Surprise

Then Jesus turned to his disciples and whispered “Hey watch this! I turned all that water onto wine! The chief servant doesn’t know they’re gonna serve him a glass of ritual-bathwater!”

Well, the servants dipped out some water and poured it into a glass—and it was bright red! Like a ruby! Like blood! They sniffed it, and it smelled just like wine! 

They took the glass to the chief servant, the one in charge of the party.

The chief servant looked at the wine. Then he smelled the wine. Then he tasted the wine. And then his eyes lit up.

The chief servant turned to the bridegroom and said “Why didn’t you bring this out before? Everybody knows you serve the good wine first. When people have had a bit too much and won’t notice, that’s when you bring out the cheap wine. But this is great! you saved the best for last! How much is there?”

“Um,” said the bridegroom, “I don’t really know?” 

So the bridegroom turned to the servants who brought the glass to the chief servant. He asked them “How much of this wine is there?”

“Six jars,” said one of them.

“Little jars?” said the bridegroom. “Or big jars?”

“Oh, big jars!” said the servant. “The ones for the ritual baths.”

“So I guess,” said the bridegroom to the chief servant, “we have about 180 gallons of this.”

“180 gallons!?!” cried the chief servant. “That’s, what, like 900 bottles of wine?”

“That’s about right.” said the bridegroom.

“We’ll never run out now!” said the chief servant. “But what will we do with all the extra wine?”

And Jesus said “I guess you’ll need to invite more people to the party!”

Then all the disciples laughed and laughed. 

And they had some wine.

Plus, they started to really believe in Jesus. 

And that, my friends, was Jesus’ very first miracle.

Wondering

I wonder what those servants thought when they realized Jesus had turned the water into wine?

I wonder if there are other times when Jesus saves the best for last?

I wonder what the people who drank up all that miracle wine thought about Jesus?

++++++++++++

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com.You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…)

This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.

The post A Children’s Sermon on John 2:1-11–The Wedding at Cana appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 3:15-17 21-22 — The Baptism of Jesus

Baptism of the Lord, Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci (public domain)

This Sunday is “The Baptism of the Lord,” so I bring you a children’s sermon on Luke 3:15-17 21-22. As I wrote in my Monday Meditation on this text a while back, this is the story that the Orthodox celebrate at Epiphany. They call it “Theophany.” This is the key moment that reveals the nature of God to the world. 

Yes, sure, Jesus is the living breathing theophany. Jesus is the Word is made flesh. He is the manifestation of God—the Second Person of the Trinity in person. But at Jesus’ Baptism, all three Persons of the Trinity enter the scene. 

We have hints of the Trinity in the story of creation and elsewhere in the Old Testament. And the case is much plainer throughout the New Testament, especially when Jesus names the Persons of the Trinity in the Great Commission. But here, at Jesus’ Baptism, God reveals the mystery before our eyes and ears. The Son is Baptized. The Father speaks. The Spirit descends.

It is, of course, tempting to focus on the first section of the reading, where John talks about the superiority of Jesus. But for my children’s sermon on Luke 3:15-17 21-22 I want to explore the theophany. I want to give kids bite-sized versions of big theological issues. They’ll grow into them later.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 3:15-17 21-22

Good morning kids! I’m so glad to see you, thanks for coming up for the children’s sermon.

Today the church celebrates Jesus baptism. 

For the last two Sundays we were still celebrating Christmas. During Christmas season we thought about Jesus being born in Bethlehem. And we thought about Jesus as a 12 year old boy who ran away to hang out with the teachers in the temple.

Well today we jump forward in time to when Jesus was all grown up. In this story he’s thirty years old. It’s not Christmas any more. This season is “Epiphany,” when Jesus comes into the world to do his work.

John the Baptist

Jesus’ cousin John had been preaching in the wild lands by the River Jordan. John told everyone to get their lives ready because God was sending the Messiah.

John helped them get ready by bringing them down into the Jordan River and dipping them in the water. It was a kind of special bath.

The water reminded them that God’s love had washed away all the bad things they had ever done. When they came out of the water, they could start over, living the way God asked them to live. And they would be ready when God’s Messiah came.

Some people thought maybe John himself was the Messiah.

But John said “No! I’m not the Messiah. The Messiah is much more important than me. He’s going to make everything new.”

The Baptism of Jesus

One day, Jesus himself came out to the wild lands around the River Jordan.

Jesus came to John, just like everybody else.

Jesus went down’ into the river, just like everybody else.

He had John dip him on the waters of the Jordan, even though Jesus had no bad stuff to wash away.

Jesus wanted to show he was doing all the things that please God, along with everybody else. 

When Jesus came out of the water, his heart was all full of big thoughts and big feelings.

He knew he would now start his work of teaching about God’s Kingdom. Soon he would be healing sick people, and feeding hungry people, and making the demons go away so people could be free.

There was so much on his mind, and so much in his heart that he just had to spend some time praying to God, his Father.

So there he was, praying. Lots of other people were around. Some were getting ready to be baptized. Some had already been baptized, just like Jesus. Maybe their hearts and minds were full, too. Maybe they were spending some time praying too, just like Jesus.

The Theophany

Some of the people happened to be looking in Jesus’ direction. They saw something above him, like a fluttering of wings.

“What was that?” someone said. 

“Was that a bird? I thought I saw wings flapping!” said someone else.

“I heard the flapping!” said a third person, “Where was that coming from?”

Soon a whisper was passing all through the crowd. 

“Look!” people said. 

And when everyone turned to look, they really did see something.

It was a beautiful bird. The clouds of heaven had opened up, and out of the opening came a dove. It came gently down from heaven, and it landed right on Jesus. Right while he was praying.

The guy next to Jesus nudged his arm. “Um, Sir?” said the man to Jesus. “There’s a bird on your head. I think a dove just landed on you.”

Jesus opened his eyes and looked at the man who spoke to him. “That’s not just any old bird. This dove is the Holy Spirit. It is God’s own Spirit in physical form.”

“Wow!” said the man. And he started spreading the word.

Well, just about when the news of that got through the crowd a voice came from the sky, from that same opening in the clouds. The voice sounded joyful and proud and kind of excited. The voice said,

This is my own son! I love him so much! I’m so happy about who he’s grown up to be!

Seeing God

That’s what happened when John baptized Jesus.

For centuries and centuries the Church has treasured that story. On that day, the people of God saw something clearly that they’d never been quite sure of before.

They always knew that there is only one God. But when Jesus was baptized they learned that our one God is always three “Persons.” 

The “First Person” is God who is Father of a Son, who spoke from heaven.

The “Second Person” is Jesus, God who is the Son of the Father, who was baptized, who was spoken to from heaven, and who welcomed the dove. 

And the “Third Person” is God the Holy Spirit, who took the form of a dove and rested on Jesus. 

One God. Three loving Persons. That’s what we remember when we celebrate Jesus’ baptism.

Wondering

I wonder whether you were baptized as a baby, or if you’ll get baptized when you are older? I wonder what Jesus felt like when the Holy Spirit landed on him, and his Father’s voice spoke from heaven?I wonder what it was like for people in the crowd to encounter the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all at once?

++++++++++++

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com.You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…)

The post A Children’s Sermon on Luke 3:15-17 21-22 — The Baptism of Jesus appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon on John 1:1-18

Word Cloud of John 1:1-18 NRSV

For the second Sunday after Christmas (in “Year C” of the lectionary) here’s a children’s sermon on John 1:1-18.

One sometimes hears the comment that Scripture is like the ocean—more that deep and wide enough for the most accomplished swimmer, but with shallows along the shore for any child to wade in.

I think generally this measure of depth is a difference between the accessibility of various books and passages.

We may underestimate the depth in a couple of ways:

I suspect most would-be ocean swimmers don’t actually go in beyond their knees. And grown-ups may underestimate the depths that actual children (as opposed to the metaphorical spiritual children) can safely, and competently, splash around in.

If one preaches the lectionary Gospels in a congregation that includes children, one automatically pushes the boundaries of this. One must try to communicate the text’s message to kids, whether the text is easy peasy (like last week’s Gospel), or full of philosophical abstract concepts (like this week’s).

And so we come to this children’s sermon on John 1:1-18. It is a passage that the best Christian minds of the early centuries understood using concepts they had learned from Greek philosophy. This passage, and those philosophical ideas, greatly influenced the Church’s understanding of both

God (a Trinity, one God in three eternal co-equal Persons), and Christ (one Person with two Natures, truly God and truly human).

Well, that’s all pretty highfalutin’ stuff for the crowd that comes up for the children’s sermon in most churches.

Making it Kid Friendly

My strategy is, as usual, to create an imaginative narrative framework to help make the issues plain—or at least to make them fun.

It’s just possible that someone might object to my putting conversation in the mouths of the Persons of the Trinity. But if you come here regularly you’ve gotten used to me putting words in Jesus’ mouth. If it’s okay to imagine things the Second person of the Trinity might have said, then why not the for First and Third?

So here we go with a children’s sermon on John 1:1-18. Let me know what you think.

A Children’s Sermon on John 1:1-18

Good morning kids! I’m so glad you’re here in worship this morning. Thanks for coming up to hear the children’s sermon.

Today is the second Sunday after Christmas. We’re still celebrating Christmas. The birth of Jesus is just so important, so amazing, that the church always keeps celebrating Christmas for twelve whole days.

Starting the Story of Jesus

In the Bible there are four different books that tell the story of Jesus coming to us. They are called the “Gospels.” One is by Matthew, one by Mark, one by Luke, and one by John. Each one tells the story a bit differently.

Matthew and Luke start the story the way we expect: they tell about how Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem.

Mark starts the story much later, when Jesus is already grown up, and goes to be baptized in the Jordan River. We’ll hear that story next week.

This morning we hear the way the Gospel of John starts the story of Jesus coming to us.

John starts much much earlier—before the world was even created. Here’s how I think it happened.

A Divine Conversation

Long, long ago, back before you and me, back before the whole world, there was only God.

If God wanted to talk, there was only God to talk to.

So God said “I think I’ll make a world, all full of life and wonders!”

And God answered “That’s a great idea! How will I do it?”

“Well,” God said, “I’ll just speak the Word, and then it will be so.”

And God answered, “Right! And I’ll be the Word that you speak.”

God said, “Yes, you’ve been with me from before the beginning. And you are God.”

“Yes,” said God, “speak me and I’ll bring everything into being.”

So God spoke the Word that had always been there with God, the Word who really was God.

Then everything in the world came into being because the Word was spoken—

the stars and the galaxies the seas and the mountains the fish and the birds the you and the me.

God spoke the word and all the life and all the wonders came to be.

A Bit of a Problem

God’s world was full of life and full of wonders. But God’s world was also full of problems.

So God said “I think we need to do something to help our world.”

And God asked “Yes. There seem to be so many problems.”

God said, “People aren’t treating each other with love, respect, and kindness.”

And God said, “They forget to care for each other and for our world.”

God said, “Yes, they’ve even forgotten about us—they live as if there is no God.”

Then God said, “That’s right. And so their lives are broken—there is so much suffering.”

And God said, “It’s sad. We made people to reflect our love and wisdom and goodness, but now they don’t look like us at all.”

So God said, “That’s why we need to help them. We need to heal them. We need to make them shine with our love, and wisdom, and goodness again.”

But God said, “How can we do that?”

A Proposed Solution

Then God said, “I know: I’ll go down and show them the way.”

And God said, “That’s a great idea! You are the Word I spoke in the beginning. You can live, and speak, and be among them.”

God said, “Yes. Knowing you they’ll know the way.”

And God said, “Knowing you they’ll know the truth.”

Then God said, “Knowing you they’ll know real life—maybe for the very first time.”

God thought for a moment and then said, “Yes, I’ll go. I’ll be born as one of them. When I grow up they’ll know me–and knowing me they’ll know us.”

“Yes,” God said. “And knowing God they’ll begin to look like us again.”

And so, as John says in his Gospel,

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14, NRSV

Wondering I wonder what it was like when God spoke the Word, and the world came to be? I wonder how God felt when the world he created forgot to live as he planned? I wonder, when you know Jesus better, how your life will look more like his? ++++++++++++

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com. You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…)

The post A Children’s Sermon on John 1:1-18 appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 2:41-52

[image error]Christ Among the Doctors, Paulo Veronese (public domain)

For the first Sunday after Christmas (this year the very day after Christmas) I bring you a children’s sermon on Luke 2:41-52. (You can find my regular Monday Meditation on this passage here.)

As texts for children’s sermons go, I think of this as low-hanging fruit. 

It’s a storyIt’s about a kid—about Jesus, no less, our only story of Jesus as an actual kid. Plus, it’s really funny. 

Don’t get me wrong: the way Luke tells it, the story isn’t funny at all. I don’t think any of the Evangelists could tell a joke to save their lives. 

But the story Luke tells, even in a flat and emotionless way, is in itself hilarious. 

By the way, if you came here looking for a children’s sermon on the texts for Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, I’m sorry. I’d love to do children’s sermons on those texts too, but this is not the year for me to do it.

My goal at the moment is to give you a children’s sermon on the gospel text for each Sunday in the Revised Common Lectionary. 

Maybe when I’m done with that I can expand to festival texts and even non-lectionary texts.

But this week? Too crazy. I’m so sorry. But, here you go with a children’s sermon on Luke 2:41-52.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 2:41-52

Good morning kids! It’s great to see you. I am so glad you are here in worship this morning. And I am so glad you came up for the children’s sermon. 

Plus, I’m so glad we’re in the season of Christmas! Advent got us all prepared for the birth of Jesus, and then, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we celebrated. 

Jesus is born! Hooray! That’s so cool!

Well, the church keeps celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus, for two more Sundays after Christmas Day. This week and next week too. 

Jesus As A Kid

Today, the gospel reading isn’t about Jesus as a baby. Today we hear about Jesus as a kid–a big kid. In fact today’s gospel reading is the only story in the whole Bible about Jesus between when he was a little baby, and when Jesus was about thirty years old, all grown up.

In today’s story, Jesus is 12 years old. I don’t know if you have an older brother or sister who is about 12, but if you do, some of the things in this story may not be too surprising.

A Special Trip

Jesus lived in a town called Nazareth, with Mary, his mother, and Joseph, his adoptive father.

Every year, they all went to Jerusalem to celebrate the biggest holiday in the Jewish year: Passover. They went with friends. They went with relatives.  They went with neighbors. It was lots of fun for the kids. They could see the sights. They could play with friends. Great times!

A Big Mistake

Well, when Jesus was twelve years old, once again they went on their Passover trip. They travelled all the way to Jerusalem. They shared the whole week of Passover celebrations. Then they packed up their stuff, and they headed back toward Nazareth with all their friends, and relatives, and neighbors.

Then a crazy thing happened.

Mary and Joseph were riding along on the seat of their wagon. The donkey pulling the wagon just followed the crowd, so they didn’t even need to steer.

“This is so great!” said Mary. “A little time for just the two of us!”

“Yeah,” Joseph said, quietly taking Mary’s hand. “It’s kind of like being out on a date together.”

Mary smiled, and looked at Joseph with her big brown eyes. “You know what else is great?” she asked.

“What’s that sweetheart?” Joseph said. 

“Knowing that this is such a safe community to raise our boy in,” she said. “It’s like that old saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ Well, our whole village is right here—friends, relatives, neighbors. Every wagon is full of people we trust, and they all love our boy Jesus.”

“Yep,” said Joseph. “It’s pretty great.”

“So Joseph,” said Mary, “Whose wagon did you let him ride in?”

“Who’s that, my love?” answered Joseph. 

“Jesus,” she said. “Where did you send Jesus to ride? Was he playing with Samuel and Isaac again? They are such a nice family.”

“I didn’t send Jesus anywhere,” said Joseph. “I thought you were keeping track of him. Don’t you know where your son is?”

A Course Correction

They’d left Jerusalem early that morning. Now it was early afternoon, and neither one of them had any idea where their son was.

Kids, you try to imagine how your parents would feel if your family all went on vacation and they accidentally left you behind when they headed home.

Mary thought Joseph should have paid more attention.

Joseph thought Mary should know where her own son was.

They were grumpy.

They were angry

Actually, they were scared.

“Surely he’s with someone,” Joseph said. And he signalled all the wagons to stop. 

Mary and Joseph asked all their friends, and all their family, and all their neighbors, but nobody had seen Jesus.

And then, Mary and Joseph were terrified. 

They turned around and head back to Jerusalem as fast as their donkey would pull them.

Looking for Jesus

They got to Jerusalem in the evening, and asked the authorities, but they didn’t know where Jesus was.

All the next day, they looked in the marketplace and the shops, but there was no Jesus.

The day after that, they went door to door through the neighborhoods, but there was still no Jesus.

Finally Mary said, “Joseph, I think we need to pray. Only God can help us find Jesus.”

“You’re right” said Joseph. “Let’s go pray in the Temple. God will surely hear us there.”

So they made their way to the temple and went inside. 

In the courtyard was a group of people talking and laughing. As they got closer they saw it was a group of teachers, old and learned.

As they came closer still, they saw there was a boy in the middle of the group.

And as they came right up to the group their hearts leapt for joy—it was Jesus! 

Found At Last

Mary ran right through the group and pulled Jesus into her arms.

“Oh my son!” she said, the tears running down her cheeks, “You’re all right! We were so frightened! We thought we’d lost you forever!”

“Oh mom!” Jesus said. “How come you worry so much? Hello! This is my father’s house. I’m always at home here. I needed to tend to my father’s business.”

Mary held his shoulders and stared at him in wonder. “Yes, my son, that’s right. And do you know what else?”

“What mom?” asked Jesus.

“You are totally grounded.” 

“Grounded!” said Jesus. “That’s no fair! How long am I grounded for?”

“Oh,” said Joseph, stroking his beard, “about twenty years, give or take. Long enough to grow a bit wiser.”

“And more responsible,” said Mary, taking Jesus by the hand and leading him toward the door.

And as he grew up, he did get wiser, and more responsible, and more loving. Everybody came to admire Jesus—his friends, and his relatives, and his neighbors. And God too.

Wondering

I wonder what was going through Joseph and Mary’s minds while they were looking for Jesus?I wonder what Jesus thought about Mary and Joseph during the days he was away from them.I wonder what Jesus and the teachers talked about all that time in the Temple.

++++++++++++

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com.You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…)

The post A Children’s Sermon on Luke 2:41-52 appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 1:39-55–Mary and Elizabeth

Elizabeth Greeting Mary Theotokos (CC by Ted-SA 2.0)

Here you go: a children’s sermon on Luke 1:39-55 for the 4th Sunday of Advent. (You can find my regular Monday Meditation on this text here. One of my better efforts, actually, so check it out.) 

The lectionary has just the initial encounter of Mary with Elizabeth as the text for Sunday. Mary’s song  is optional. But a children’s sermon on just Luke 1:39-45 seems truncated. Isn’t it kind of great that once they meet, Mary bursts into song? How can I leave that out? 

But including the Song of Mary presents problem too. I’m not going to sing it. What tune would I use? 

It’s a wonderful scene, though. The meeting of these two women with miracle pregnancies is so brief in Luke’s telling that I hardly have time to take it in. That’s part of the joy of writing a children’s sermon on Luke 1:39-55. I get to slow down and relish it—I can ponder these things in my heart, as Luke would say.

The process is akin to St. Ignatius of Loyola’s famous “prayer of the senses.” I have to enter the story as fully as I can, imagining all the missing details that would be evident if I were really there.

As always, you can be the judge of my success on this process!

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 1:39-55

Good morning, kids! I’m so glad to see you. It’s wonderful that you are here for worship. And it’s great that you came up for the children’s sermon.

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. And that means today is the very last Sunday of Advent. It is our last Sunday morning to get ready for Jesus’ birth.

I think Advent has been kind of a backward journey to Bethlehem. We’re trying to get ready to welcome the baby Jesus, right?

But the first Sunday of Advent we heard about the future, waiting for Jesus to come back at the end of the age.

Then the second and third Sundays of Advent we heard about John the Baptist, waiting for Jesus to do his work as a grown up.

Finally, today, we get to think about Jesus coming as a little baby. Our Gospel story is about Jesus’ mother, Mary as she waits for Jesus to be born.

Mary and Elizabeth

An angel had visited Mary to tell her she was going to have God’s own baby—Jesus. 

That same angel told Mary that her older aunt Elisabeth was also going to have a baby. Everyone was surprised because they all thought Elizabeth was way too old to have a baby.

So, Mary decided to go visit Elizabeth. They could probably help each other. Both women were pregnant. One was too young. One was too old. They needed each other’s support.

A Surprising Welcome

Now just picture Mary heading to her old Aunt Elizabeth’s house up in the hill country.

Do you suppose she rode a donkey? Maybe someone gave her a ride in a wagon?Or do you suppose she walked all the way into the hill country by herself?

However she got there, Mary went up to the door. Imagine it was a hot day. Imagine the door was open to let the breeze come on.

Knock knock. 

Mary waited, but no answer came.

“Aunt Elizabeth!” she called. “Aunt Elizabeth!”

“Mary?” came a voice. “Mary? Is that you, child?” 

And then Elizabeth came from around the back of the house where she’d been working in her garden.

Mary remembered seeing Aunt Elizabeth as a little old lady, so thin, almost frail. Now she was surprised to see Elizabeth’s tummy. It was huge! Her baby was really growing inside. When they hugged, Elizabeth had to sort of lean over to put her arms around Mary.

“Oh my goodness!” said Elizabeth. “Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?” asked Mary.

“My baby!” said Elizabeth. “He sort of jumped inside my tummy! You know what I think?”

“What?” asked Mary.

“I think my baby recognized your baby! He knew that your baby is going to be the Messiah! I think he jumped for joy!” 

And they both laughed, they were so happy to be moms together.

A surprising response

In fact Mary was so happy she started singing a song. I don’t know the tune, but Mary sang and sang.

She sang about being thankful for the very special role God had given her as Jesus’ mom.

She sang about how wonderful God was for showing showing kindness to people who loved and honored God.

She sang of how amazing God was for giving us Jesus, whose Kingdom would change everything.

Humble people would be honored.Powerful people would find out how weak thy really are.Poor people would now be filled with good gifts.Rich people would be sent away with no gifts.

“Wow!” said Elizabeth. “That was an amazing song. Did that just come to you all of a sudden? Or were you thinking about that during your trip?”

“Maybe a little bit of both,” said Mary. 

And they both laughed again, and felt grateful.

Wondering

I wonder what Mary was feeling during her long trip to see her cousin?I wonder what it was like for Elizabeth to feel John the Baptist jumping inside her tummy?I wonder what Mary felt, knowing that her baby would bring the Kingdom of God?

++++++++++++

You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above. You can put a little notice in your church bulletin that your children’s sermon is adapted from one published on GaryNealHansen.com.You can support my work over on Patreon. (Just $1 per month brings my children’s sermons straight to your inbox about two minutes after they go live. And every little bit keeps me going…)

The post A Children’s Sermon on Luke 1:39-55–Mary and Elizabeth appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.