Childrens Sermon Service

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. (v. 12)

Good morning, boys and girls. What do people do when they meet each other? (let them answer) When you leave the church on Sunday morning and the pastor is standing at the door to greet you, what does he do? (let them answer) That's right, he shakes hands with almost all of the members.

During our worship service we move around a little bit during the service and greet each other with these words, "The peace of the Lord be with you." What do we do when we say these words? (let them answer) That's right, we shake each other's hands or we hold each other's hands or we hug.

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

Materials:
Clear Christmas balls -- glass or plastic (available year round at craft stores or get on clearance after Christmas)
Blue glitter paint
Green and brown opaque paint
Paintbrushes
Map or globe

Directions:
1. Show the children a map or globe.

2. Give each of the children a clear ball.

3. Let the children paint the balls with a thin coat of blue glitter paint so that it will dry quickly.

4. Once the "water" is dry, have the children paint the seven continents on the ball using brown and/or green paint.

5. Let the globes dry.

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (v. 20b)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about promises. How many of you have made a promise before? (allow answers) Probably all of us have made promises! Now… how many of you have broken a promise before? (allow answers) It's not fun to remember promises we have broken. Broken promises are like this broken necklace: It was once something beautiful, but now it is useless. It can't be worn as a necklace. It's not very good for anything now.

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


Materials:
Dollar bills
Small jars with lids
Paints
Paint brushes Paint shirts


Directions:
1. Beforehand, cut a slit in each jar lid. These jars will be coin jars, so make the lid big enough for coins or bills to fit through.
2. Give each child a paint shirt and a jar, but don't let them paint yet. Pass around dollar bills to each child.
3. Talk about the phrase "In God We Trust." See if they can find it on the dollar bill.
4. Have them paint the coin jars. Encourage them to include "In God We Trust" on the design.

The Point: Listen to what Jesus asks of us and do it.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations....and lo I am with you always...” (v. 19b, 20b)

Good morning, boys and girls,

It's so much fun to make something out of nothing. I love to create and invent something “out of the blue.” Watch me (draws picture, makes a figure, or colors in an adult coloring book etc.) See how much fun it is to create something.

Do you like to make things?  (children answer)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (v. 19)

Good morning, boys and girls. Did you know the earth had a little tummy? (let them answer) It does because I looked up how far it was to go around the earth at the middle and it is 24,901.55 miles. (show the globe or map) But if you go from the North Pole to the South Pole it is 24,859.8 miles. This means that the earth is 41.75 miles further around than it is tall.

Object: We want something to represent a club to give to each child. I roll up and tape pieces of paper into tubes and have them in a pile on the floor as we begin.

* * *

Good morning! This morning I brought with me a person some of you know very well. Who is she? (Let them answer.) To some of you, she is your "mother." To others of you, she is a friend. And others know her as a neighbor. Perhaps you know her as a nursery helper. You might also know her as a member of the choir. She is also a wife, a citizen of the land, and a businesswoman.

The sun is always with us. We can't see it here this morning because we are inside the church building, but we know the sun is outside. Sometimes clouds hide it from our view. At nighttime it seems like the sun is gone, but it isn't. Where is the sun when it's nighttime? (Let them answer.) We always have the sun -- whether we see it or not.

Jesus promised to always be with us, too. We cannot see Jesus, but we know he is always with us. Just like the sun that is there, whether we see it or not, Jesus is there for us, as well. Jesus is with us even now even though we cannot see him.

Today's gospel reading contains one of the most famous messages in all of scripture. It's called "The Great Commission." The Great Commission is our call to engage in the work of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That's why this particular lesson is read on Trinity Sunday. God is revealed in several aspects in the persons of the Trinity, and as we grow to understand God better, we are called to invite others to know him as well.

Good morning! I'd like to talk with you this morning about
something we do at the end of our worship service each Sunday.
What is the last thing the pastor does each Sunday at the end of
the service? (Let them answer.) The pastor gives what we call a
"benediction." Sometimes it's called a "blessing." The pastor
doesn't always use the same words, but almost always the
benediction is in three parts. The pastor asks that the
congregation be blessed by the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. For instance, one of the benedictions that we use is from
our Epistle reading today. At the end of his letter to the
believers who lived at Corinth, Paul says, "The grace of the Lord

Good morning! How many of you know what Sunday this is? (Let
them answer.) This is "Trinity Sunday," a special Sunday in which
we honor the "Holy Trinity." Now does anybody know what that is?
What is the Holy Trinity? (Let them try to answer. It's doubtful
they will have a good answer.)

Let me see if I can explain it to you. It's not easy because
there is a lot we can't understand about it, but let me see if I
can give you an idea of what it means. You know about God, the
Father. When we say the Lord's Prayer, we start it by saying,
"Our Father." You also know about Jesus who came down to earth
and lived here. Jesus is also God, but he is called "The Son." So

Teachers or Parents: The Trinity is one of the mysteries of
the church and will remain so until we are fully informed in
Heaven. In the meantime, it is important for children to know as
early as possible that God is three persons in one God, the Holy
Trinity. This is the name of our God in whom we were baptized and
in whose name we will live out our lives.

*Explain the concept of the Trinity by showing the three
states of water: solid, liquid, and vapor. This can be done with
an ice cube and some water in a saucepan that you can heat and
turn into steam. While this is an imperfect analogy, it usually
serves to help children comprehend the idea.

Teachers or Parents: How do we understand the presence of Jesus in our lives? Like the sun, Jesus is there -- whether we see him or not. Whether light or dark, the sun is there; whether good times or not such good times, Jesus is there with us.

*Talk about Christmas and the meaning of Emmanuel -- "God with us."

*Sing the Advent hymn, "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel."

Good morning, boys and girls. I want to tell you today about something that Paul, an apostle of Jesus, wrote in a letter to the people in a city called Corinth. At the end of the letter he wrote that he hoped they had improved. Do you know what improve means? (let them answer) That's right, it means to get better. He knew that Jesus had died for them and that they would be among God's people in heaven, but he wanted them to work on being good to each other.

Good morning, boys and girls. I brought with me today some brochures. Here is a good one: it tells me about taking my family to Disney World. Look at all of the wonderful things you can do there. There are all kinds of rides and wonderful places to stay with swimming pools and a chance to meet Mickey and his friends. The brochure urges me to come and have a good time. Anyone want to go? (let them answer)

I have some other brochures that are also trying to recruit me. This one would like me to send some money to help their organization find a cure for heart disease. They are very thankful for anything we send. That seems like a good cause.

Materials:
Paper (one per child)
Crayons, colored pencils
Magazines (to be cut up)
Glue
Picture or drawing of the front of your church (one per child)
Scissors

Directions:

Give each child a piece of paper and ask him/her to fold it in half once and then in half again, so it looks like a card.

Once the papers are folded, give each child a copy of the church picture.

Have the children glue these pictures to the fronts of their folded papers and then let them either find pictures that remind them of their church or draw pictures that remind them of their church to decorate the inside of the cards.

Good morning! This is a map of the world. (have two adults volunteer hold up the map) Can anyone show me where we are on it? (select a child volunteer to point out where your town is; draw a big "X" to mark your location) Great. We're where the "X" is. Now I am going to draw another "X" by Galilee. That's the place mentioned in today's lesson. (mark the area of Galilee) Can everyone see the two marks? Galilee is a long way from where we are!

Well, boys and girls, our lesson today is a short one. It's only three verses. In case it was over before you got a chance to hear it, let me read it again for you. Listen carefully, because we're going to talk about it in a minute. (read vv. 11-13) These words tell us how to treat one another. What are some of the things we should do? (share for a moment)