Connected by a web
Children's sermon
Object:
a ball of yarn
Today is the day we celebrate All Saints' Day. That's the day when we remember all of the saints of God who have lived and died. We celebrate their lives and all of the things they have done because of their love for God. It's a wonderful way for us to recognize that all of us are connected in this big family of families called the church.
I need five volunteers to help me today. (select your volunteers) Let's all get in a circle. See this ball of yarn? (hold up the yarn) We're going to use this yarn to make a kind of spider web. I will take hold of the end and toss the ball to someone. When that person catches it, he will hold the loose yarn and then toss the ball to someone else. Then that person will do the same thing, and so on, and so on. In this way we will be crisscrossing across the circle with the yarn, and we'll be building a web. Do you understand? Let's do it! (now make your web)
Can everyone see our web? We are all connected, even though we aren't actually touching one another. Now watch what happens when I tug on my end. (give your yarn a slight pull) Do you see how the yarn in other places moves as well? Watch me do it again. (again) See? The yarn I'm holding is connected to the yarn they are holding. If I were to fall down, their yarn would be pulled too. If I were to let go like this (let go of your yarn), the web would begin to fall apart. We're all in this together, and each person in the web affects every other person.
The family of God is just like this web. We are connected to each other in ways we can't possibly imagine. Even the people who have died still have an effect on us. They did things that prepared the way for us, just as we are preparing the way for the people that come after us. Your children -- and your children's children -- will be touched by the life that you live today. That's why we celebrate All Saints' Day. It's important to recognize the web of connections that all people have with one another.
Prayer: Thank you for all the people who have gone before us. Their lives and ministries are gifts to us. Amen.
I need five volunteers to help me today. (select your volunteers) Let's all get in a circle. See this ball of yarn? (hold up the yarn) We're going to use this yarn to make a kind of spider web. I will take hold of the end and toss the ball to someone. When that person catches it, he will hold the loose yarn and then toss the ball to someone else. Then that person will do the same thing, and so on, and so on. In this way we will be crisscrossing across the circle with the yarn, and we'll be building a web. Do you understand? Let's do it! (now make your web)
Can everyone see our web? We are all connected, even though we aren't actually touching one another. Now watch what happens when I tug on my end. (give your yarn a slight pull) Do you see how the yarn in other places moves as well? Watch me do it again. (again) See? The yarn I'm holding is connected to the yarn they are holding. If I were to fall down, their yarn would be pulled too. If I were to let go like this (let go of your yarn), the web would begin to fall apart. We're all in this together, and each person in the web affects every other person.
The family of God is just like this web. We are connected to each other in ways we can't possibly imagine. Even the people who have died still have an effect on us. They did things that prepared the way for us, just as we are preparing the way for the people that come after us. Your children -- and your children's children -- will be touched by the life that you live today. That's why we celebrate All Saints' Day. It's important to recognize the web of connections that all people have with one another.
Prayer: Thank you for all the people who have gone before us. Their lives and ministries are gifts to us. Amen.
