|
He came riding on a young donkey. Have you ever seen a parade that consisted solely of one man riding on a donkey? It may not sound that exciting, but this was King Jesus, the man who could do miracles and heal people. The crowd knew who he was, and they went wild! They yelled, waved palm branches, and threw their coats on the road! Did they make a lot of noise? They sure did! The whole city heard them! Everyone came running.
Continue reading A Noisy Parade
Can someone tell me, in the eyes of God, who of all these people is the greatest? Is the king the greatest? Is one of the dukes the greatest? (Wait for answers.) In the eyes of the Lord, the servant is greatest of all. I’d like for our servant to come up here to the top step to stand above everyone. (Have the servant come to the top step at the front of the church or provide a stool draped with a rich-looking cloth for the servant to step onto.) In God’s kingdom, the lowliest servant is the greatest.
Continue reading The Greatest
You will notice that you can no longer feed yourself. In a community, if people are only concerned with feeding or helping themselves, the community will not be healthy. Some will be hungry or lonely or left out. But if you concentrate on feeding or helping the other first, then it works. (Encourage the volunteers to feed a cracker to each other.) When we help each other, everyone in the community will be fed.
Continue reading World Community Communion
Sympathizing is better than swatting. Jesus sympathized. He did not swat. Jesus listened and loved and shared the Good News of God’s love.
Continue reading Swatting vs. Sympathy
Now I know that you are never supposed to bring dangerous weapons to church, but in my bag, I have a model of an extremely powerful and dangerous weapon. What do you think it could be? (Let children guess.) This weapon has already been used here on earth. It was used to save all of us. And it broke down the gates of hell and destroyed the devil’s power. (Retrieve baby Jesus doll and show everyone.)
Continue reading Nothing Is Impossible
For the 20th Sunday after Pentecost or Proper 26 (Lectionary 31) From “Saving the Ants”
Matt. 23:1-12 ” …The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Preparation: Bring a phylactery and a prayer shawl, or pictures of each to help illustrate.
We know that God is love and that God sent Jesus into the world to save us because of his great love for us. But is God always
Continue reading Showoffs
The world says just the opposite. Here are some things you might hear on television or at school. You may even hear this kind of talk from other kids or even from some grownups: “It’s better to be rich and proud, so that you can take whatever you want. It’s better to be bold and pushy; that way you can conquer the earth. If you want to win, you can’t worry about hurting other people.” Those aren’t the sorts of things that Jesus taught, are they?
Continue reading Blessed Are…
(Show balloons.) This balloon will play the part of the proud Pharisee, and this balloon will be the humble tax collector. I need two volunteers, one to hold each balloon. (Hand “Pharisee†balloon to a child old enough to blow it up.) Now as I read the story, whenever I look at the person holding the Pharisee balloon, I want you to blow some air into the balloon and then hold it shut. The person holding the tax collector balloon can just let it rest on your hand.
Continue reading All Puffed Up
Let’s pretend we’re all standing on the platform at a train station. We’re getting ready to take a trip and there are two trains waiting at the station. One train is brand new and very fancy. It is painted with gold and silver paint and the seats are red velvet. The dining car is full of delicious food from the fanciest restaurants. The sleeping car has feather beds with satin sheets. This train has a big sign on it that reads, “MONEY.†In order to ride this train, you don’t have to have lots of money; you just have to agree that money is more important than anything in the world.
Continue reading Choose Your Train
The woman who washed Jesus’ feet was carrying a heavy weight of sin. She knew she had sinned a lot; she knew what other people thought about her. But she also knew that Jesus loved her and forgave her and took that weight of sin away. And the woman wanted to show Jesus how happy she was. The important man didn’t think he had many sins. He thought he was much better than the woman. But he was wrong. All of us have sinned, and none of us is better than anybody else. Jesus forgives us all. And we should all be as thankful as that woman who washed Jesus’ feet.
Continue reading The Weight of Sin
|
Subscribe to Kidsermons!
Join 991 other subscribers
|