Bread From Heaven!
Children's sermon
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Object: A loaf of bread and a bag of some popped popcorn.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! But I need to warn you, this story might sound a little bit silly when you hear it. Some people say it just sounds crazy. But let’s hear the story and see what we all think about it.
This is a story about Moses. Has anyone heard about him before? (Let them respond.) We read about Moses in the Bible, a long time before Jesus came to us. When Moses was a little boy, he grew up in Egypt. In fact, he grew up in the home of the Pharoah. Does anyone know what the Pharoah was? (Let them respond.) The Pharoah was like the king of Egypt and was very powerful. So Moses grew up in a big house and had lots of fancy things that a king might have in his house. He had lots of food, nice clothes, and anything else he wanted to have. So, Moses was pretty lucky, wasn’t he? (Let them respond.)
But when Moses got older, he got in trouble and had to leave the Pharaoh’s house. In fact, he had to run away from Egypt and hide in the desert. And instead of having all that food and fancy clothes, he lived in an old tent and had to learn how to hunt around in the desert to find food to eat. Did you know there was a lot of food in the desert? (Let them respond.) There really is if you know where to hunt for it. And lots of water, too. Moses lived in the desert for a long time and learned how to find all of the food and water he needed. He had everything he needed, but it wasn’t as fancy as the Pharoah’s house, was it? (Let them respond.)
Then, one day, God asked Moses to go back to Egypt. But God didn’t want him to go back and live in the Pharoah’s house again. God wanted him to go back and help some other people escape from being slaves in Egypt. God wanted Moses to lead them to a new place to live where they wouldn’t be slaves anymore. So, Moses went back to Egypt and helped all of those people escape from Egypt. But to get to their new home, Moses had to lead all of those people through the desert. And those people had never lived in the desert before, and didn’t know how to find food to eat or water to drink, so they started to get really scared. In fact, some of them got mad a Moses and said they shouldn’t have trusted him and followed him out there. Some said they should just go back and be slaves again. So, Moses asked God for help.
The next morning, when all of the people woke up and looked around, do you know what they saw? (Let them respond as you toss the loaf of bread on the ground in front of them.) They saw bread all over the ground. It looked like God had thrown a bunch of bread down from heaven for them all to eat. Moses told them to pick up all the bread they wanted to eat and told them not to worry because God would give them more bread every morning until they could get out of the desert again. So, every morning when the people woke up there was fresh bread on the ground for them to eat. It was a miracle!
That’s our story. What do you think of it? (Let them respond.) Like I said, some people think it sounds kind of silly having all of that bread just fall out of the sky onto the ground every morning. Some people just don’t believe the story and think somebody just made it up. It is kind of hard to believe, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But let me tell you something that might help us understand the story a little bit better.
Do you remember I said that, while Moses lived in the desert, he learned how to find enough food and water for him to eat? (Let them respond.) Well, one of the things Moses would have learned about were plants like the Hammada bush. The Hammada bush is a special plant that grows in the desert and has a lot of sap inside of it. Can anyone tell us what sap is? (Let them respond.) Sap is the liquid we find inside a plant, isn’t it? You’ve probably seen sap coming out of a tree before. The Hammad bush has a lot of sap inside, and every morning when the wind blows the sand in the air, it scratches the stems of the Hammada bush and lets the sap leak out. And when the sap leaks out, it quickly dries and turns into something that looks like this. (Show the popcorn.) The people in the desert call this stuff “Manna,” which means, “What is that?” When they are hungry they eat it. So when the people in the desert with Moses got up in the morning, they probably didn’t see something that looked like this (pick up the loaf of bread) but they saw something that looked like this (show the popcorn). And that was what they ate every morning while they were in the desert.
Now, before we stop, I have a question for you. Sometimes when things happen to us that we don’t like, we wonder why God is punishing us, don’t we? (Let them respond.) So, when Moses had to leave the Pharoah’s house and go live in the desert, I wonder if he was upset because he had to give up all of the nice things he had there. (Let them respond.) Maybe he was even kind of mad because he had to go. But Moses wasn’t being punished, was he? (Let them respond.) God sent Moses to the desert so he could learn about the Hammad Bush, so he could help all of those people have enough food to eat later on. Sometimes, when things happen to us that we think are bad things, we find out that they helped us learn how to do something really special to help care for someone later on.
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Object: A loaf of bread and a bag of some popped popcorn.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! But I need to warn you, this story might sound a little bit silly when you hear it. Some people say it just sounds crazy. But let’s hear the story and see what we all think about it.
This is a story about Moses. Has anyone heard about him before? (Let them respond.) We read about Moses in the Bible, a long time before Jesus came to us. When Moses was a little boy, he grew up in Egypt. In fact, he grew up in the home of the Pharoah. Does anyone know what the Pharoah was? (Let them respond.) The Pharoah was like the king of Egypt and was very powerful. So Moses grew up in a big house and had lots of fancy things that a king might have in his house. He had lots of food, nice clothes, and anything else he wanted to have. So, Moses was pretty lucky, wasn’t he? (Let them respond.)
But when Moses got older, he got in trouble and had to leave the Pharaoh’s house. In fact, he had to run away from Egypt and hide in the desert. And instead of having all that food and fancy clothes, he lived in an old tent and had to learn how to hunt around in the desert to find food to eat. Did you know there was a lot of food in the desert? (Let them respond.) There really is if you know where to hunt for it. And lots of water, too. Moses lived in the desert for a long time and learned how to find all of the food and water he needed. He had everything he needed, but it wasn’t as fancy as the Pharoah’s house, was it? (Let them respond.)
Then, one day, God asked Moses to go back to Egypt. But God didn’t want him to go back and live in the Pharoah’s house again. God wanted him to go back and help some other people escape from being slaves in Egypt. God wanted Moses to lead them to a new place to live where they wouldn’t be slaves anymore. So, Moses went back to Egypt and helped all of those people escape from Egypt. But to get to their new home, Moses had to lead all of those people through the desert. And those people had never lived in the desert before, and didn’t know how to find food to eat or water to drink, so they started to get really scared. In fact, some of them got mad a Moses and said they shouldn’t have trusted him and followed him out there. Some said they should just go back and be slaves again. So, Moses asked God for help.
The next morning, when all of the people woke up and looked around, do you know what they saw? (Let them respond as you toss the loaf of bread on the ground in front of them.) They saw bread all over the ground. It looked like God had thrown a bunch of bread down from heaven for them all to eat. Moses told them to pick up all the bread they wanted to eat and told them not to worry because God would give them more bread every morning until they could get out of the desert again. So, every morning when the people woke up there was fresh bread on the ground for them to eat. It was a miracle!
That’s our story. What do you think of it? (Let them respond.) Like I said, some people think it sounds kind of silly having all of that bread just fall out of the sky onto the ground every morning. Some people just don’t believe the story and think somebody just made it up. It is kind of hard to believe, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But let me tell you something that might help us understand the story a little bit better.
Do you remember I said that, while Moses lived in the desert, he learned how to find enough food and water for him to eat? (Let them respond.) Well, one of the things Moses would have learned about were plants like the Hammada bush. The Hammada bush is a special plant that grows in the desert and has a lot of sap inside of it. Can anyone tell us what sap is? (Let them respond.) Sap is the liquid we find inside a plant, isn’t it? You’ve probably seen sap coming out of a tree before. The Hammad bush has a lot of sap inside, and every morning when the wind blows the sand in the air, it scratches the stems of the Hammada bush and lets the sap leak out. And when the sap leaks out, it quickly dries and turns into something that looks like this. (Show the popcorn.) The people in the desert call this stuff “Manna,” which means, “What is that?” When they are hungry they eat it. So when the people in the desert with Moses got up in the morning, they probably didn’t see something that looked like this (pick up the loaf of bread) but they saw something that looked like this (show the popcorn). And that was what they ate every morning while they were in the desert.
Now, before we stop, I have a question for you. Sometimes when things happen to us that we don’t like, we wonder why God is punishing us, don’t we? (Let them respond.) So, when Moses had to leave the Pharoah’s house and go live in the desert, I wonder if he was upset because he had to give up all of the nice things he had there. (Let them respond.) Maybe he was even kind of mad because he had to go. But Moses wasn’t being punished, was he? (Let them respond.) God sent Moses to the desert so he could learn about the Hammad Bush, so he could help all of those people have enough food to eat later on. Sometimes, when things happen to us that we think are bad things, we find out that they helped us learn how to do something really special to help care for someone later on.
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
