Before and After
Children's sermon
In this exchange with Nicodemus, Jesus is trying to explain what it is to be born again. “Born again” is one of those churchy phrases we sometimes forget to explain. Even if you are in a denomination that uses the language a lot the children may not have fully grasped what the adults mean when they say they are born again. In this lesson take the time to explain what your community means by this.
You can say something like:
I want us all to start today by doing a little experiment. I want us all to close our eyes, then when I say “breathe” we are all going to take in a huge breath and hold it for as long as we can. When you can’t hold it any longer I want you to raise your hand, but don’t open your eyes. Okay let’s try. Close your eyes…and breathe.
(Take a loud breath in so the students can hear you doing the experiment with them. Keeping eyes closed will help the students stay honest and focused on what they are feeling. When you are done open your eyes to watch the other hands pop up. Remind them to keep their eyes closed. When most of the kids have their hands raised (you will probably have a few who won’t ever raise their hands) tell them all to open their eyes and take a breath if they still need to.)
You all did so great! Can someone raise their hand to tell me what it felt like to hold your breath for so long? What did it feel like right before you took a breath? What did it feel like right after?
That feeling of relief and being full of good air is kind of what Jesus is trying to tell a guy named Nicodemus that it feels like when you are born again.
You see Nicodemus believed in Jesus but he wanted to be sure Jesus was who he thought he was. Nicodemus sneaks out at night so no one will see him, because he is afraid of people making fun of him for following Jesus, and he goes to Jesus to ask what it is like to believe in God like Jesus wants him to. Jesus tells him that believers need to be born again.
You may have heard Christians use these words before. “Born again” is a pretty common phrase in a church but what does it mean? Well if you think about birth there is a time before you are born and a time after you are born. And the difference between those times is huge! The same with being a born again as a Christian. The time before we give our life to Jesus is one way of life and the time after that is very different.
Now those differences might not be very obvious to the outside world or sometimes even to us. But if we pay attention we notice the difference. Before we welcome Jesus into our lives we can feel panicked or stressed (use words the kids use to describe what it was like before the breath). After we welcome Jesus we feel full of God’s power and grace (use words the kids used to describe after they took a breath). That is not to say our whole lives will feel peaceful, we still might feel stressed, but with Jesus close by we know we have help close, too.
Let’s pray for our lives to be filled with Jesus presence.
God, you are everywhere and are big enough to help any situation. When we feel short of breath and stressed help us breath in your spirit for peace. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
You can say something like:
I want us all to start today by doing a little experiment. I want us all to close our eyes, then when I say “breathe” we are all going to take in a huge breath and hold it for as long as we can. When you can’t hold it any longer I want you to raise your hand, but don’t open your eyes. Okay let’s try. Close your eyes…and breathe.
(Take a loud breath in so the students can hear you doing the experiment with them. Keeping eyes closed will help the students stay honest and focused on what they are feeling. When you are done open your eyes to watch the other hands pop up. Remind them to keep their eyes closed. When most of the kids have their hands raised (you will probably have a few who won’t ever raise their hands) tell them all to open their eyes and take a breath if they still need to.)
You all did so great! Can someone raise their hand to tell me what it felt like to hold your breath for so long? What did it feel like right before you took a breath? What did it feel like right after?
That feeling of relief and being full of good air is kind of what Jesus is trying to tell a guy named Nicodemus that it feels like when you are born again.
You see Nicodemus believed in Jesus but he wanted to be sure Jesus was who he thought he was. Nicodemus sneaks out at night so no one will see him, because he is afraid of people making fun of him for following Jesus, and he goes to Jesus to ask what it is like to believe in God like Jesus wants him to. Jesus tells him that believers need to be born again.
You may have heard Christians use these words before. “Born again” is a pretty common phrase in a church but what does it mean? Well if you think about birth there is a time before you are born and a time after you are born. And the difference between those times is huge! The same with being a born again as a Christian. The time before we give our life to Jesus is one way of life and the time after that is very different.
Now those differences might not be very obvious to the outside world or sometimes even to us. But if we pay attention we notice the difference. Before we welcome Jesus into our lives we can feel panicked or stressed (use words the kids use to describe what it was like before the breath). After we welcome Jesus we feel full of God’s power and grace (use words the kids used to describe after they took a breath). That is not to say our whole lives will feel peaceful, we still might feel stressed, but with Jesus close by we know we have help close, too.
Let’s pray for our lives to be filled with Jesus presence.
God, you are everywhere and are big enough to help any situation. When we feel short of breath and stressed help us breath in your spirit for peace. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
