Childrens Sermon Service

First Thoughts: During these spring months, one descriptor of God comes clear -- creativity. God's creative grace is present in the glorious colors of the new flowers, the many shades of green in the newly sprouted trees, the songs of the birds who, returned from their winter homes, now fuss over their hatched offspring. This passage from John tells us that the more we abide in God the more we become like God. That is, we become fruitful as God is fruitful. We create spaces of beauty in the world with light and splashes of color. Can you see those places in your life, the evidence of God's Spirit living in you? Or perhaps you've been around one of these "glowing" people. What's it like? This is the vision we want to give our children this Sunday, a vision of the Christian life as a reflection of God's glory. As you prepare for this session, invite God's glory to move in your own heart, so the children will catch a glimpse of it in your time together.

Teaching As A Team:
Leader 1: (looking at Leader 2) Hey, I know where you've been -- the beach!
Leader 2: How did you figure that out? I didn't tell you.
Leader 1: I know, but I can see it on your face.
Leader 2: My face?
Leader 1: Yeah, you've got some pink in your cheeks, and I thought that you probably got that from the sun.
Leader 2: Oh yeah! Hey, why is it that our cheeks look pink when we've been in the sun?
Leader 1: Well, when we're in the sun, our faces kind of soak it up -- like sponges. And when we're filled up with it, the sun starts coming out of us, and it makes our cheeks pink.
Leader 2: So it's like I'm a little sun here!
Leader 1: Yeah! It reminds me of our scripture lesson today. Jesus told his friends that if they wanted to be like God they needed to spend a lot of time with God. They needed to abide in God.
Leader 2: What does it mean to "abide in God"?
Leader 1: Spending time in God. Like you spent time in the sun -- you abided in the sun. When we pray or come to church, or sing songs of praise, we're spending time in God. The more we do that, the more we begin to look like God.
Leader 2: Does it make our cheeks pink, like the sun?
Leader 1: Not exactly, but it does show up in our lives. We become more patient, more loving, more kind...
Leader 2: ... more like God.
Leader 1: Exactly.
Leader 2: That's gonna be my new goal -- to abide in God so much that when people look at me, they can see God in my life.
Leader 1: Yeah, that's gonna be my goal too!

Teaching On Your Own: (pink color on face) Hey, can anybody tell where I went yesterday? Do you see the pink on my cheeks? What usually makes your cheeks pink? Being in the sun, right? So, if you see my face looks a little pink, then you can probably guess I spent some time in the sun! Can anyone tell me why our cheeks turn pink when we're in the sun? Our faces kind of soak it up -- like sponges. When we're filled with the sun, it starts coming out and makes our cheeks pink. That makes us little suns, doesn't it? It reminds me of our scripture lesson today. Jesus told his friends that if they wanted to be like God, they needed to spend a lot of time with God. They needed to abide in God. Do you know what it means to "abide in God"? Abide means to spend time in something. Like when I spend time in the sun -- I abide in the sun. When we pray or come to church, or sing songs of praise, we're spending time in God, abiding in God. The more we do that, the more we begin to look like God. Now it doesn't make our cheeks pink, like the sun. But it does show up in our lives. We become more patient, more loving, more kind... more like God. You know what? That's gonna be my new goal -- to abide in God so much that when people look at me, they can see God in my life. In fact, why don't we all make that our goal?

Closing Prayer: God, help us to abide in you, to become so full of you that it shows up in our lives. We want to be your light in the world, and to help others know your love and your grace. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this lesson in a classroom or home environment, spend some time introducing the children to the different fruits of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Give them a chance to think about how these gifts manifest in our lives. Give them a chance to identify the places where they already manifest these gifts, and areas where they'd like to grow more. For a craft, create a big tree on some poster board to hang on the wall. On the branches write different things we can do to abide in God: read the Bible, pray, worship at church, sing songs, and spend time being quiet with God. Give each child a few different cut-out shapes of fruits (red apples, purple grapes, yellow lemons, and so forth). Invite the children to pick the fruits of the Spirit they most respond to and write the name of the gift on the fruit. Then beneath the name of the fruit include a live example of it in the world. Decorate the tree with the children's fruits and leave it in the classroom as a reminder of our goal to abide in God and grow in the Spirit.