Category: Children’s Sermon

Bring the Dr. Seuss book “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!” and a Cat in the Hat hat if you can

Hi everyone!

I’m very glad to see you today.

So today I want to talk about an ancient Hebrew word we’ll hear today in our story about Jesus and to do that, I brought this: show Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

We’re not going to be able to read the entire book today so if you’ve never read it, I invite you to bug your parents to take you to the library so you can get your own copy and read it. It’s a book by Dr. Seuss who wrote all sorts of books, including The Cat in the Hat. Dr. Seuss was an artist and a writer and he loved making up words. Let’s look at a few made up words in this book.

Go through and find some of the made up words for creatures, etc. Share them and invite the kids to imagine what those words are.

When we read books, especially Dr. Seuss, we get to use our imagination. We get to paint pictures in our heads of amazing things that we’ve never seen before or maybe that don’t exist. We get to dream up…anything. And we get to look at this brand new thing we dreamed up, maybe draw it, and share it with our family and friends – and get them to look at it and ask “what is it?”

Today, in our story about Jesus and in our very first scripture reading, we’re going to hear about God feeding God’s people through something called manna. Manna is an ancient Hebrew word – so why don’t we learn it? Can you say manna with me? Manna! Very good. The story goes that God’s people, the Israelites, after they escaped slavery in Egypt were wandering around a desert for 40 years. And there’s not a lot of food that grows in the desert. They start to get hungry and they do what we all do when we’re hungry – they start to complain. God listens to their complaining and says “okay. I’m going to give you bread – bread of my own making. All you have to do is, in the morning, go away from your camp into the fields, and you’ll see bread…everywhere.”

So that’s what the Israelites do. They wake up, go out into the fields, and they see something they’ve never seen before. It doesn’t look like bread…but it’s everywhere. And they don’t have a name for it. So they think, and think, and think and decide to call what they see – Manna – which literally means “what is it?” And that’s what God feeds them – with this amazing substance that we call bread but is so strange and different and wonderful, we have no real word to describe it. Rather, it’s something that God gives us, that feeds us, and all we can say call it is “what is it” – because we have no words to really describe it.

In all our lives, there will be moments when God will show up to us in a way that we didn’t expect. It might be in a vision – where we see something amazing – or it might be in the way someone takes care of us. God might show up to us when a friend is kind to us or when a stranger just seems to say and do the exact thing we need to be safe and loved. God shows up in amazing ways – in ways we can’t alway understand – and in ways we can’t always explain. But when God does show up, we are fed – we feel full, feel love, feel like we matter. And God does that for us through Jesus Christ every single day.

So when that love shows up – when you feel God in your life – you might not know what to call it – but there’s an ancient word we can use when we encounter the indescribable love of God – and that’s manna.

Thank you for being here! And I hope you have a blessed week.

Each week, I share a reflection for all children of God. The written manuscript serves as a springboard for what I do. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship on the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/5/2018.

It’s Christmas in July! Bring the book: what Santa can’t do

I’m very glad to see you today.

So today is July 29 but all the songs we’re singing today are Christmas songs. Now that might feel a little weird to be singing Christmas songs when it’s hot, we’re wearing shorts, and we want to be at the beach instead of staying at home. For us, Christmas is usually a thing we do in December. It’s not something for July. But maybe it should be. And that god me thinking about a Christmas book my kids like and i thought I’d read it with you. It’s What Santa Can’t Do.

Read through the book.

We sometimes act as if Christmas only comes once a year and that there’s a specific way that Christmas is handled. But Christmas is more than trees and ornaments and Santa and presents. Christmas is the story of how God came into our world to live our life, to be like us, and to do everything he could to help us know just how much God loves us and the world. And that matters to us everyday. Which means, in the church and in our faith, everyday is Christmas. Everyday is Easter. Everyday is Good Friday. And everyday is also when Jesus was just hanging out with his friends, eating and drinking, and showing them a little bit about what living with God is all about. We might only celebrate parts of Jesus’ story one day or season a year. But his entire story makes a difference for us everyday because Jesus loves you, is with you, and will always be there for you.

Thank you for being here! And I hope you have a blessed week.

Each week, I share a reflection for all children of God. The written manuscript serves as a springboard for what I do. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship on the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/29/2018.

Bring the stones you got from the NJ Synod day – the left over ones with names on them.

Hi everyone!

I’m very glad to see you today.

So I brought with me today a cup full of these. What do you see? Rocks. Jesus is written on one side. Someone’s name is written on the other. Right these rocks have two names on them. Now, if you look at the Jesus side for all the rocks – all the handwriting looks the same. But when you flip them over, and you see the names, does the handwriting look the same? Nope. Right! All these rocks have Jesus on one side – but the names on the other side are all different. And that’s because these rocks come from different people.

When I was in Houston at the ELCA Youth Gathering, we had a day where all of New Jersey spent time in a long (and interactive) worship service. Part of that worship involved these rocks. Even though we were all from different parts of New Jersey, going to different schools, and having different families and backgrounds, we are all connected to each other in Jesus. Jesus unites us. Jesus makes us one. Jesus makes us all family. So we wrote our names on these rocks, put them in a big pile, and saw how connected to each other we are. All of us are different, we are all unique, and Jesus loves that we are different. But we are also connected to Jesus – and that makes us similar to each other. And that also means we’re called to care for each other.

Now there are different ways we can care for each other. But one of the important ways we can is through a gift – a talent – an ability – God gives us. And that’s prayer. We can pray for each other. We can give thanks to God when something goes well for the people around us and also tell God to take care of people when they are hurt. Pray is a powerful gift. It’s real. It makes a difference. And that’s why we do it.

So these rocks, with all these names, were supposed to be picked up by people. Each person was supposed to take a rock with someone else’s name on it and pray for that person. But not everyone picked up a rock. These were the ones left over. So I’m going to give each of you – and anyone else here – a job. Take one of these rocks. Read the name on it. Give the rock to your parents. And then, when you say your prayers today, make sure to pray for this person. Just say “God, keep loving this person.” And know that God will love them – and God loves you too.

Thank you for being here! And I hope you have a blessed week.

Each week, I share a reflection for all children of God. The written manuscript serves as a springboard for what I do. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship on the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/22/2018.

Bring stuff you got from the ELCA Youth Gathering. Bring the Spiritual gifts scorecard and questions.

Hi everyone!

So two weeks ago, I went to this really cool event down in Houston, TX called the ELCA Youth Gathering. It’s this amazing thing that happens every 3 years. High school students from all over our denomination, the group of churches that we are also a part of, get together for more than 3 days of service, activities, worship, and fun. I went with Coleen and Brendan – and 31,000 people from all 50 states, 8 countries, and other territories that make up the ELCA. Now 31,000 is a lot of people. It’s really hard to get to know that many people. But one way we try to is by giving little…gifts. And these gifts look like these. Show all the buttons, etc. We trade them, learn where each other is from, and celebrate that there are Lutherans all over the place. There are lots of youth and families and people who go to a church just like this one. And we all worship and celebrate a God who loves us each and every day. Attending the ELCA youth Gathering is a real gift – just like all these little things are gifts too.

So to continue that theme about gifts – the gifts we can give each other and the gifts God gives us – we’re going to spend the next few weeks talking about our spiritual gifts. Now spiritual gifts are special talents and abilities that God gives us to help us serve, care, and take care of the church and each other. Spiritual gifts are things we can do well that we use within the church to serve Jesus and help tell others about his story. So each week, your parents will get a sheet like this. And it has questions to answer. And based on your answers, you’ll get a number – your score. The score doesn’t help you win anything – it just tells you what gift you might be better at. If you want, you should try to answer them too. They’ll cover all kinds of topics – some that you are good at and some that you aren’t. You might answer some questions and get a low score – and that’s okay. God doesn’t give us every talent and ability. We only are given a select few because God knows that the gifts were given are gifts this church and this world needs. So we’ll spend time looking at our spiritual gifts, discovering them, talking about them, and hopefully sharing them with each other. Because this church is bigger than just one person. This church needs you.and me…and you,land you…and everyone so that we can love, and serve, and follow Jesus in everything that we say and do.

Thank you for being here! And I hope you have a blessed week.

Each week, I share a reflection for all children of God. The written manuscript serves as a springboard for what I do. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/15/2018.

Bring several different kinds of stuffed animals (hopefully 1 for each kid). Make sure they’re the kind of animals not typically brought to a blessing of the animals event.
Hi everyone!

I’m very glad to see you today.

So today is a fun day because we’re worshipping in a new space (the fellowship hall) and we’re surrounded by….animals! Describe all the different animals that you see. They’re here for a very special reason. They’re here because we’re going to bless them.

It’s a bit of an odd thing to bless something. We don’t do that all the time. We usually only do it when someone sneezes. They’ll sneeze Ah-choo! And we’ll sometimes tell them God Bless You. And that’s a blessing. It’s a strange blessing but it’s one of the few times in our daily life when we’ll say the word “bless.” But we don’t have to only use the word bless when we sneeze. In fact, God invites us to bless everything.

Because a blessing is three things. A blessing, first, is a celebration. We see something or someone in our life who is about to do something difficult or new or maybe just needs us to point it out to other people that this is important – so every blessing is a celebration – of noticing what’s important and asking God to see it too. An blessing is, second, a prayer. We talk to God and ask that this person or animal or object is given all the good and loving and wonderful things that God can give. A blessing is, third, an act of faith. It’s when we say, in a very public way, that God is important to us – and we trust in God – and so we ask God to bring goodness to whatever it is that we bless. God knows what this person or thing or animal needs. And God will be with them always. But we can, as followers of Jesus, take a moment to celebrate something special, to pray about it with God, and to trust that God will be loving and kind and awesome.

So that’s why we bless all sorts of things. We bless weddings and people. We bless babies when they’re born and gardens when we plant them. We bless animals because of all the love the bring in our lives and we also bless each other – each and every week at the end of the service – because all of us need to remember just how loved we are and just how important we are to God.

Now who do you think can do blessings? Pastors. Pastors can! And that’s part of what I get to do. But we can also bless each other. So I brought these animals up here so that you can practice blessings. So let’s try it.

Pass out the animals. Practice Cookie the Goldfish, creature of God, may the Father Son and Holy Spirit bless you now and forever. Amen

That’s it! You just blessed something. So later today, you can bless your friends, your siblings, and definitely your parents because we all need blessing sometimes. And God invites us to bless all things and all people every day – because when we bless, we share God’s love.

Thank you for being here! And I hope you have a blessed week.

Each week, I share a reflection for all children of God. The written manuscript serves as a springboard for what I do. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship on 5th Sunday after Pentecost, 6/24/2018.

Bring a coloring sheet for kids to color. Sheet is the life-cycle of the seed. Bring crayons so they can color too.

Hi everyone!

I’m very glad to see you today.

So today, like all Sundays, I want to talk a little bit about Jesus. Jesus, when he was talking to people, liked to talk in about stories. He liked to tell these stories – that we call parables – to help us try to imagine a little bit about who God is, what God is doing in the world, and how much God loves us. Today, in our reading about Jesus from the gospel according to Mark, we’re going to hear Jesus use two different stories. And I’d like to, right now, talk about the first story he tells.

And that story involves this: show the coloring sheet of the plant’s life cycle.

Now, I’m going to talk about this piece of paper but as I do – I want you to color. Pass out crayons.

So this picture tells a story…of what’s this little round thing? A seed. And where is the seed? In the soil. And what’s it doing through the other pictures? It grows. That’s right. This picture shows how a plant grows. It starts as a seed. And then little sprouts grow. And then little roots. And then the sprout comes out of the ground. Leaves grow and the plant gets bigger and bigger. For most plants, this is how they grow. They start as a seed…and then the grow big.

Now, we know what a plant needs to grow. It’s needs soil; it needs sun; it needs enough water. And sometimes Jesus and his friends talk about the ways we can help Jeff a plant grow. But Jesus, in the first story today, doesn’t talk about how we can help a plant grow. Rather, Jesus points us to something amazing: that this plant, in the first place, grows at all.

Because is there any way you can tell a seed to grow? Can you point to it and say…GROW! And make it grow right then and there? Nope. We can help them grow – but we can’t make them grow. Instead, the seed is planted and it grows when it grows.

Jesus uses this image of a seed to tell us something about God. It’s hard to always see God at work. There are times when we are sad; or we are hurting; or we’re super happy – and we just don’t really see God around us. It’s difficult to see God’s love showing up in the people around us and in our world. But Jesus reminds us that even though we don’t see God, God is here. Even though we don’t always know how God’s love shows up around us, God’s love is here – and it’s growing – and it’s showing up – and it’s making a difference. God loves you. Jesus is with you. Jesus is helping you. And we are, like the seed, becoming more like the loving, kind, and Christian person God knows we can be.

Thank you for being here! And I hope you have a blessed week.

Each week, I share a reflection for all children of God. The written manuscript serves as a springboard for what I do. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship on 3rd Sunday after Pentecost, 6/17/2018.

Bring a Night Light. Maybe bring something dark to cover the light. It’s based on this: https://dskidsermons.com/2018/05/29/june-3rd-2018-2nd-sunday-after-pentecost/.

Hi everyone!

I’m very glad to see you today.

So I want to talk about a sentence we’ll hear later, in our 2nd reading, and it’s something God says “let light shine out of darkness.”

Let…light…shine. That got me thinking – what are the different ways we can make light or help light shine? We can light a candle. Turn on a light switch. Light a fire. We can’t, on our own, make light – but we can use or create tools that can make light for us. And so I brought one of those tools today and that’s this: show the nightlight. And so when God says “let light shine!” I can turn this button on and….light shines!

Well, sort of. It’s a bit hard to see. This isn’t designed, like a flashlight, to give out light. It’s instead a light that is used at night. Use the cover to cover the light so that the kids can see how, a little light makes a big difference in a dark place. When we’re in a dark room, maybe in bed sleeping, and we wake up and can’t see anything – we can turn on this light – and we’ll be able to see. It’s not a lot of light so it won’t fill the room or hurt our eyes or what not. It’ll just be a little light to help us see – and to help us feel and believe that we’re okay and we’re not alone.

Now, there are times when we might feel like we’re a bit overwhelmed…or sad…or scared. We might feel like we’re in a room, in the middle of the night, and wondering if anyone can see us – or if there’s any light that can help us. We might even wonder where God is – thinking that, since we can’t see God, God isn’t really with us.

But what we hear in the 2nd reading is a promise that God has made to each of us. And that promise is that, no matter what, we’ve already been given God’s love – God’s joy – and God’s hope – through Jesus. So even in those moments when we feel really sad; even in those moments when we feel all alone; even in those moments when we feel alone – Jesus is right there with us. We might not see Jesus like we see each other. We might not feel Jesus like if we can feel our own hands. But Jesus has been given to us already. So we carry with us always, our own Jesus nightlight – who is always sending light to us when we’re sad; or afraid; or scared. He’s always telling us that we aren’t alone. And he’s making a promise that because we have him, in the end, we will be okay.

So always remember – no matter what – you’ve got Jesus. And there’s nothing in the night that can take that away from you.

Thank you for being here and I hope you have a blessed week.

Each week, I share a reflection for all children of God. The written manuscript serves as a springboard for what I do. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship on 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, 6/3/2018.

It’s Pentecost – so we’re going to light a fire in the baptismal font.

Hi everyone!

I’m very glad to see you today.

So it’s about look at clock and I don’t know about you, but it’s at this time of the day when I could use a little snack. What about you? They’ll say yes. So let’s see. What do I have? Pretzels! Mmm. Let’s have some of these pretzels.

Pass out pretzels. Start eating.

So did you ever look at these kinds of pretzels before? They’re kind of cool. They are like 3 different sections but they make one pretzel. There’s this part and this part and this part. And they’re all connected together. This kind of pretzel needs all these different parts to make it a full pretzel. If the pretzel was broken and it didn’t have this part Bite it so it’s missing a piece or this one bite it again or this one bite it – it’s still sort of a pretzel but it’s not exact. For this kind of pretzel to be whole – to be complete – it needs all 3 pieces together to make 1 whole pretzel.

Today is a special day in the church calendar and it’s called Trinity Sunday. Now Trinity is a word that doesn’t appear in the bible. In fact, the word itself didn’t show up until several hundred years after the bible was finally compiled and put together. The word Trinity is a word that describes God. And like this pretzel, the word Trinity talks about God’s 3 parts. And these parts are the ways we experience God in our lives. There’s the part that creates – that we sometimes calls Father. There’s the part that saves us – that we sometimes call Son. And there’s the part that helps us every day in our lives – and that we sometimes calls the Holy Spirit. Now these 3 parts aren’t distinct – they’re not 100% unique. Like this pretzel, they move and flow and are attached to each other so all parts of God are involved in making us who we are; all parts of God are involved in saving us; all parts of God are involved in helping us through our lives. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is 3 and one and One in Three. God is the Trinity.

Now the Trinity is confusing – so don’t worry if you don’t understand it. I don’t understand it fully either – and I don’t think I ever will. But the trinity does show us something. It shows us how God chooses to be – and that’s connected. Like this pretzel, with each part being connected to each other, so God chooses to be connected; to be in relationship; to reach out and form these bonds of love, friendship, and family that make God who God is. And since God chooses to be connected, we are invited to be connected to each other – to our friends, family, church members, and even strangers – just like God is.

Thank you for being here and I hope you have a blessed week.

Each week, I share a reflection for all children of God. The written manuscript serves as a springboard for what I do. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship on Trinity Sunday, 5/27/2018.