Childrens Sermon Service

Love your neighbor as yourself. (v. 9)

Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you have one of these? (hold up teddy bear) This isn't my teddy bear; (insert name of congregation member, family member) let me borrow it. How many of you have asked to borrow something before? (allow answers each time) Did the person you asked let you have that thing? It's good to be able to share things with other people, but sometimes we have a hard time with that. How many of you have had a brother or sister or friend ask to borrow something, but you didn't want to give it to them? How did that make them feel? How does it make you feel when others won't let you have what you ask for?

For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. (v. 20)

SHARING THIS WEEK'S GOSPEL THEME AT SUNDAY SCHOOL AND AT HOME

Materials:
Plastic cord
Pony beads
Cross charm (or larger beads with cross printed or drawn on them)
Zipper-pull hook or key chain hook

Directions:

1. Have the children tie one end of their cords to one cross charm or cross bead.

2. Ask the children to string plain beads onto the cords.

3. Help them tie the other end of their cords to a zipper-pull hook.

4. Have the children hook their "God is with me" key chain on their book bags to remind them that God is always with them!

Note: Older children could make "bead buddy" crosses to hold their attention longer.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. (v. 10)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we're going to talk about neighbors. How many of you have neighbors? (allow answers) Tell me about your neighbors. Are there kids your age who live near you? Do your neighbors like to have parties? Do they have pets? (allow answers)

There are lots of different kinds of neighbors, in lots of different kinds of homes. If you live in an apartment building, you have a lot of neighbors who live very close to you. If you live in a suburb or a small town, your neighbors live in houses near yours. If you live in the country, your nearest neighbor might live a few miles away.

If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. (v. 15)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) How many of you have ever been to a soccer game? (allow answers) Do you like soccer? (allow answers) How did you like the game you watched? (allow answers)

In soccer, the referee can give players a red card if they are disrespectful or break too many rules. The referee blows his whistle, stops the game, and shows the player the red card. When a player gets a red card, he or she is no longer allowed to play in that game.

SHARING THIS WEEK'S GOSPEL THEME
AT SUNDAY SCHOOL AND AT HOME


Materials:
A table setting for each child
Fruit or other snack
Water or clear juice
Slips of red paper


Directions:

The Point: As a member of Jesus' family of faith we need to work to keep our unity.

The Lesson: Good morning, girls and boys. Thank you for coming up and sharing with me this morning.

This is a copy of our church directory. (show directory) Here are pictures of our members and their families. (ask the children if they recognize anyone) I bet your picture is in here as well. (turn to the different children's family photos) The directory helps us to get to know one another. It also reminds us that we are a part of a very special family... the family of (use your church name).

Because we are in this family of faith, Jesus wants us to treat each other in a very special way.

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. (v. 15)

Hello everyone. I’ll bet you can tell me what this is that I have in my hand, can’t you? (Let them answer) That’s right, it’s a building block. And it is a great one, too! Take a close look at it. (Hold it out for them to see or pass it around) Isn’t this a great building block? (Let them answer) In fact, I think it is probably a perfect building block! Whoever made it, really did a good job, don’t you think? (Let them answer)

Object: A collection of simple protest signs the children can wave in the air. The signs could say, “VANILLA”, “CHOCOLATE”, “WE ARE RIGHT!”, “STAY AWAY!”, “YOU ARE BLOCKED!”, or similar things.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Then I will start with a question.  

What do you do when you disagree with someone? (Let them respond.) What do you do when you meet someone who doesn’t agree with something you believe in, or doesn’t like something that you like? (Let them respond.) People do different things when they disagree, don’t they? (Let them respond.)

Good morning! This morning I'm going to ask you to fill this glass full. (Let the children put the stones in the glass container. When they appear to have the glass full ask:) Is the glass full? (Let them answer.)

I brought this glass to show you something about how God's kingdom works. God asks us to do good and treat people kindly, with respect, and with politeness. God wants us to be good to people. God wants us to be good people. We call this "the law" because God's law is that we do good to others.

So, like filling this glass, we try to fill our lives with good deeds. We do our very best and yet, sometimes, it seems that's just not enough. And it isn't. God wants us to be perfect and none of us is perfect!

Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you take your lunch to school or to your day care center? (Let them answer.) When you take your lunch do you carry it in a bag or in a pail? (Let them answer.) I brought a lunch pail from my house today to show you. Do any of you have a pail like this one? (Let them answer.) This lunch pail makes me think of this morning's lesson. In the lesson we are told to love our neighbor like we love ourselves. When you love your neighbor you are doing the right thing.

Good morning, boys and girls. Do you ever get into arguments? (Let them answer.) Sometimes arguments are fought over the strangest things, aren't they? In our house (list your own things here) I've heard an argument start over who would get to read the cereal box during breakfast. Has that ever happened to you? (Let them answer.) It happened like this. Someone was eating breakfast. This box of cereal (hold up the box) was in front of that person. Someone else in the family started to eat. That person grabbed the box and started to read it. You can imagine the argument that started from that. Sometimes arguments can be over silly things like this. Other times they can be over very serious things.

Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done....” (v. 19)

Good morning boys and girls,

Have you ever played tug-o-war?  Goes like this: two sides pull on the rope against each other. Each of the two sides tries to pull the other over a designated line. The group that is pulled over the line loses. The other side wins. So let's pretend we are playing tug-o-war.

(divide the children into 2 groups) We won't actually physically test each other but let's argue in our 2 groups about which is the best color crayon in a crayon box.

Materials
Gelatin powder, blue and yellow
Water
Fingers or paintbrushes
Paper

Instructions
1. Remind children that when two or three are gathered together in Jesus' name, Jesus is with them. It helps to remember that God and Jesus are with us all the time, and God particularly blesses us when we gather together for some purpose in Jesus' name.

2. Ahead of time or while the children are watching, add a little water to the blue gelatin powder until it reaches a gritty, spreadable consistency. Do the same with the yellow gelatin powder in a separate container.

3. Give each child a piece of paper, a paintbrush if you choose not to allow them to use their fingers, and a small dab of each of the spreadable gelatins.

Good morning! The Bible tells us that we should love our
neighbors. And it says we should not only love them, but also we
should love them as much as we love ourselves. Do you love
yourself? (Let them answer.) Well, you do take care of yourself.
You feed yourself and do all kinds of things for yourself, so I
think we can say that we all love ourselves.

But, who are these neighbors that we are supposed to love?
Do all of you have neighbors? Tell me about some of your
neighbors. (Let them describe who they think of as their
neighbors.) Yes, those people are your neighbors, but I have some
pictures here of some more of your neighbors. (Show them the

Good morning! Have you ever noticed how many stories are in
the paper about people fighting with each other about things?
Here is an example from the paper where ... (Explain the story to
them.)

Have any of you ever had a problem with another person, a
friend, or a relative? (Let them answer.) How did you go about
solving the problem? (If nobody volunteers an answer, ask.) How
do you think you should solve a problem between yourself and
another person if you have one? (Let them answer.)

The Bible tells us how we should try to resolve our problems
with each other so that we don't have to get involved in public
arguments like these people are doing. The most important thing

Teachers or Parents: There is probably no more important
behavior that we can teach our children than how to resolve
conflict. This week's Gospel gives us a Biblical approach to
solving problems. The most important part of the process
described is confronting, in a loving way, the person with whom
we are in conflict. If this can be learned early, many serious
conflicts will be avoided.

* Play a game with a deck of cards and some kind of tokens.
The object of the game is to get three tokens. Anyone with three
tokens at the end of the game gets a prize. The game can be a
simple one like "War" where each player lays down a card and the
highest card takes the trick. Will the first person to get three

When I was your age, I liked to collect toy soldiers like this and pretend they were my army. I pretended they could defeat any enemy that might come against me or my army. Have any of you ever pretended something like that? (Let them answer.) It's fun to pretend you're in charge.

Teachers or Parents: Children are interested in power, and the election this year is like an exciting game for many. They have their favorite candidates and their hopes for victory in November.

OLDER CHILDREN:

*Ask: How is the President like Jesus? (List responses on the board. Some possible similarities: Jesus is powerful like the President is powerful; Jesus is in charge like the President is in charge, etc.)

*Ask: How is Jesus different from the President? (List responses on the board. Differences likely to emerge: the President is not all-powerful like Jesus; the President can only be in one place, but Jesus has promised to be wherever there are two or three, and so forth.)

YOUNGER CHILDREN:

Teachers: Tennis is the game for Christians. It has "love" and "serving" in it. This week's lesson teaches us to resolve our problems with others. Sometimes to do that we must be loving and we must serve others. Explain that to your students.

Here's how to set up this version of "Christian tennis." You need an empty egg container and some marbles. Open the container lid. Write on the inside "I am with you." These are the words Jesus told his disciples in the lesson. Explain to your students that this is a game where everyone wins. Each student will have a turn in tossing a marble into the container. Tell them that when it is their turn, they are "serving" others. When marbles land in the container the students are spreading "love" to others who need it.

Good morning, boys and girls. Isn't it great to be here in church? You look wonderful today. Does anyone want to sing a favorite song you learned in Sunday school? (have one of the elementary teachers primed to lead them in a song; otherwise lead them in "Jesus Loves Me") That was great. It makes me feel good to hear you sing. I like to sing with you and that also makes me feel great.

Did anyone notice that God is here? (let them answer) It's true. We can't see him like we can see Mr. (name a parishioner), but God is here. The Bible tells us that God is with us all of the time. As a matter of fact, when you go home, God will go with you. When you go to school and you ride on the bus, God is with you.

Good morning, boys and girls! Did you do anything special this week? (let them answer) Did you do anything special all by yourself -- I mean without your mother or father or without your brother or sister or friend? Did you do anything all alone that was really great? (let them answer)

That's funny -- almost everything we did that was really special we did with someone else.