Children's Sermons
CHILDREN’S SERMON I
Leader: You will want to be sure that you allow plenty of time for the children to answer your questions as you share this children’s sermon. It will be a lot more fun if their responses to the "E" — empty — "F" — full questions can be spontaneous from them as you proceed. Use your creativity and your relationship with the children to make this fun! You might:
1) make BIG cards (8 1/2 x 14 or even 11 x 14) that have a capital "E" and a capital "F" on another. You could write "Empty" and "Full" underneath the letter; OR,
2) You could make cards for each child out of 3x5 index cards so they each have their own "E" and "F" card; OR,
3) You could draw a fuel gauge. Attach an indicator arrow to it with a brad. It would turn easily from "E" to ?F.?
Good morning. Have you ever been to the gas station with your Mom or Dad to get gasoline for the car? What happens when you get there? (Mom or Dad gets out of the car and pumps gasoline into the car.)
How do you know when they are finished pumping gas? (Mom or Dad pays the gasoline man, etc.)
What about when your Mom or Dad gets back inside the car, turns the car on again, what happens? (Pause for them to think about this.) There is a gauge on the dashboard that has "E" on one side and "F" on the other. When the car is started, the gauge goes from "E" to ?F.? What does "E" and "F" tell us? ("E" tells us the car is empty — no gas . . . and "F" tells us that the car is full of gas! — "E" is for empty — "F" is for full!)
Now — let’s think about your toy box at home. "E" or "F" — Empty or Full???! (Wait for responses.)
What about your closet where your clothes are? "E" or "F" — Empty or Full? (Wait.)
What about your tummy after a really, really good meal? "E" or "F" — Empty or Full?
What about your refrigerator after Mom or Dad has been to the grocery store? "E" or "F" — Empty or Full?
Isn’t it amazing that most everything we can think of in our lives is "F" — FULL . . .
Now . . . .a really hard question . . . What about your HEART? "E" or "F" — Empty or Full? (Wait for responses.) Full of what? (Wait for responses . . . ) Full of God’s love. . . that’s right!!!
Now, another hard question: What about someone whose toy box is on the "E" side — they don’t have as many toys as you . . . maybe they have only one toy . . . maybe they don’t have any . . . Can their hearts still be full? Or what if they don’t have many clothes to wear — certainly not a closet-full — Yes, their hearts CAN be full, can’t they? Or if they don’t have a full tummy or a full refrigerator . . . Can their hearts be full? YES . . . their hearts can still be full . . . full of God’s love.
The scripture for our Week of Compassion this year reminds us that it is God’s fullness that fills us up with love, and that because of that FULLNESS — because of all that we have received, we can give . . . blessing upon blessing . . . like an overflowing toy box or an extra full meal or a great big hug or a heart FULL of God’s love.
So this week I want you to look around you — in your school and in the news and in your neighborhood . . . there you’ll find people whose lives are more often on the "E" side — the empty side. And then out of our fullness . . . out of all that we have — all that we have received from God — we can share and we can give. Remember, too, even if everything in a person’s life is "E" empty . . . their heart can still be FULL— full of God’s love . . . just like ours.
Let’s pray: Dear God, Thank you for everything that You give us that keeps our lives so FULL . . . especially for Your Love that keeps our hearts FULL. Help us to give and share with others whose lives may sometimes be empty. Remind us that Your Love can fill all our hearts. Amen.
— Dani Cartwright, Des Moines, IA
CHILDREN’S SERMON II
Materials needed: Heart container: Heart box or heart envelop made by cutting out two 8” x 11” hearts and stapling them together around the bottom edges; rock; paper cutout of a green eye; and a piece of paper with “good intentions” written on it.
Good Morning! I was reading in the Bible and found this verse in the Gospel of John: “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” We have all received! Now I am very excited about receiving all this grace but I have a problem. I was looking in my heart (hold up heart envelop) — see? This is my heart — or it looks like it anyway! And my problem is I can’t fill my heart up with God’s grace because it already has some other things in there. I’ve got to get rid of these things if I’m going to have a heart full of God’s grace!
So let’s take a look here . . . oh, dear, here’s a rock, got to get rid of that. You know what that rock is? All those hard places in my heart where God needed me to show love to someone and I wouldn’t. Like maybe God needed me to share my lunch with a friend or be nice to someone at school who was having a bad day — and I wouldn’t do it. Got to get rid of this rock so I will have plenty of room for God’s love — God’s love for me, God’s love for me to share with others.
Oh, here’s a green eye — you know what that is? An eye turned green from looking at stuff other people have and wishing I had it. You know, like a new car or a motorcycle. It’s called green with envy. Got to get that out so I can have a thankful spirit — ready to say, “thank you, Lord” for all the wonderful things I do have!
Uh oh, here’s something else I can’t have in my heart if I am going to have a heart full of God’s grace — good intentions. That means like I meant to help someone who needed my help, but I actually never did it. I meant to give some food to the food pantry when we had our church drive, but I never actually did it. Or maybe I meant to give some money in my special Week of Compassion offering box but I never actually did it. Got to get those good intentions out and replace them with real actions that I did do.
Good! Now that my heart is empty I can fill it up again — with all the good things God wants me to have! A lot of love, a lot of happiness, good words, good actions . . . and you know what? Here’s the wonderful thing John is telling us about God’s love — “we have received grace upon grace” means our hearts are always full and running over with God’s love. Even when we give tons and tons of love away to other people, our hearts are still full! SO we have plenty of God’s love for us, and plenty to give away!
Can you help me think of people who need you to share some of your love with them today?
— Beth Burton-Williams, Smithfield, NC
CHILDREN’S SERMON III
Materials needed: A child’s shirt
Concept: Sharing and recycling our belongings is one way of showing others we care for them just as God cares for each of us.
I decided to clean out one of my closets this week and look what I found. A shirt!
Do you think this would fit me? (Hold up so all the children can see it and try to put it on.)
You’re right. I think it would be a little snug. I wonder if it would fit any of you?
(Choose several children to try it on - some you know it won’t fit and some whom it will fit. Hold the shirt in your lap after you have found at least one child whom it fits.)
Did you know that some children in this world don’t have shirts in their closets? In fact, many children in our world - even children right here in our town - don’t even have a closet! Some children don’t have shoes to wear to protect their feet, and other children don’t have enough food or clean water to keep them healthy.
Can you think of some things I could do with this shirt. (Wait for answers.)
Those are good ideas. I think I will find a new owner for this shirt - someone who needs a shirt to keep them warm or to protect them from getting a sunburn. I think I will get some other things out of my closet like toys I don’t use anymore and maybe even some crayons and paper and pass them along to someone who needs them. I think that might make someone really happy.
One of the things our friend Jesus taught us is that it is good to care for others. To have compassion for them - that means ‘caring and sharing God’s love.’ Today we are receiving a special offering of money which we will share with people who don’t have some of the things we are lucky enough to have - like shirts and shoes and good food. When you get home you might look in your closet and find something you could share that would make another child happy. You can also share some of your money you have in your bank by bringing it for the Week of Compassion Offering. What a super way you can share love with someone else just like God shares God’s love with us.
Let us pray: Dear God, thank you for sharing with us. We have so many blessings. Good food to eat, clothes to wear, cozy beds to sleep in. Help us share our money through the Week of Compassion Offering so that our friends throughout the world can be warm and full and happy, too. Bless us as we practice sharing with others. And thank you for loving us all. Amen.