Finally, farewell
Children's sermon
Object:
a basket of laundry
Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. (v. 11)
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about the second reading. In the second reading, Paul is saying good-bye to the people of Corinth. In Saint Paul's time, Corinth was a big city in Greece. Paul wrote letters to the people of Corinth -- called the Corinthians -- to talk to them about how to live godly lives. Our verse today is about Paul saying his final good-bye to the Corinthians in this letter: "Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace be with you."
That's a very nice good-bye, don't you think? (allow answers) But I wonder if the Corinthians were glad to see the end of Paul's letter. It seems like they are in the middle of lots of work. Paul's letter interrupts them, but then says to "keep going with your work." They might be kind of disappointed. Maybe they wanted Paul to encourage them to do something radical. Maybe they wanted to do something exciting! But instead, Paul just says "live in peace." Keep doing what you're doing. Looking good so far.
Imagine if you were at home helping with laundry. Is there a lot of laundry to do at your house? (allow answers) I feel like I do laundry all the time! It's a never-ending chore. But anyway: pretend you're at home helping with laundry. All of a sudden someone runs in and tells you something wonderful and exciting. They tell you about a way that you can have eternal life, a way that you can live forever -- and all you have to do is believe! You're so excited that you want to throw down your laundry and go join this messenger to spread the good news -- until the messenger gets to the end of the message. It says, stay where you are. Keep doing your work. Live in peace, and God will be with you.
That's not very exciting. After all, our work can get kind of boring. We get frustrated by the same old routine all the time. We want something new and exciting!
But sometimes our faith doesn't call us to do radical things. Sometimes God calls us to stay where we are and share God's love with the people around us in little ways. It's not very exciting. But in the end, it turns out to be a good way to live: to live in peace, being an example to others around us of what it means to be a follower of Christ. We don't have to be flashy. We just have to be faithful. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about the second reading. In the second reading, Paul is saying good-bye to the people of Corinth. In Saint Paul's time, Corinth was a big city in Greece. Paul wrote letters to the people of Corinth -- called the Corinthians -- to talk to them about how to live godly lives. Our verse today is about Paul saying his final good-bye to the Corinthians in this letter: "Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace be with you."
That's a very nice good-bye, don't you think? (allow answers) But I wonder if the Corinthians were glad to see the end of Paul's letter. It seems like they are in the middle of lots of work. Paul's letter interrupts them, but then says to "keep going with your work." They might be kind of disappointed. Maybe they wanted Paul to encourage them to do something radical. Maybe they wanted to do something exciting! But instead, Paul just says "live in peace." Keep doing what you're doing. Looking good so far.
Imagine if you were at home helping with laundry. Is there a lot of laundry to do at your house? (allow answers) I feel like I do laundry all the time! It's a never-ending chore. But anyway: pretend you're at home helping with laundry. All of a sudden someone runs in and tells you something wonderful and exciting. They tell you about a way that you can have eternal life, a way that you can live forever -- and all you have to do is believe! You're so excited that you want to throw down your laundry and go join this messenger to spread the good news -- until the messenger gets to the end of the message. It says, stay where you are. Keep doing your work. Live in peace, and God will be with you.
That's not very exciting. After all, our work can get kind of boring. We get frustrated by the same old routine all the time. We want something new and exciting!
But sometimes our faith doesn't call us to do radical things. Sometimes God calls us to stay where we are and share God's love with the people around us in little ways. It's not very exciting. But in the end, it turns out to be a good way to live: to live in peace, being an example to others around us of what it means to be a follower of Christ. We don't have to be flashy. We just have to be faithful. Amen.
