God's best friends
Children's sermon
Object:
animal crackers (or graham crackers, goldfish, pretzels, or similar
snack)
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? (v. 15a)
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Excellent! This morning, we're going to play a quick game. (pick a child) (Child's name), pretend you are my best friend. We're such good friends that we do everything together. We play baseball, we ride our bikes, we even watch television together. I have this animal cracker. Who do you think I'm going to give this animal cracker to? It's my last one, and my best friend here really wants it. Who am I going to give it to? (allow answers) You think I'm going to give it to my best friend? Nope. I'm going to give it to (him/her). (Give cracker to another child) Did you expect that? (allow answers) How would that make my best friend feel? (allow answers) You're probably mad! If I was my best friend, I would be saying, "Why did you give that cracker to somebody else? You don't even know that person! I've been your best friend forever!"
I brought enough crackers for everyone. (pass them out) Our gospel today tells a story about someone who doesn't get what he thinks he should get. It is about a man who hired people to work for him. He hired some in the morning, some in the afternoon, and some in the evening. At the end of the day, though, he paid them all the same! Uh-oh! If you had been working all day in the hot sun, wouldn't you expect to get more money than the person who's only been working for an hour? How would that make you feel? (allow answers) How would you feel if you were the person who only worked for an hour? (allow answers) Pretty lucky, huh? In Jesus' story, the men who had worked since the morning complained about it. They said, "Look, buddy. We've worked all day long, even in the afternoon when the sun was really hot, but we're getting paid exactly the same as that new guy over there." What do you think the man who hired them said? (allow answers) What he said was, "It's my money, and I'll spend it however I want to."
This is how we think about God's love. We might think, "God loves me more than you because I've been going to church longer," or because you are older, or because you have done more volunteering for church. Actually, God loves everybody equally. All of God's friends are his best friends. Just like how you would love your baby sister as much as your older sister, it doesn't matter how long you've been around. Some of us may feel a little angry about that. We want to say, "Doesn't everything I've done count, God?" God loves us no matter what. We don't have to worry about being the best or the oldest, we just have to worry about loving God the best we can. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Excellent! This morning, we're going to play a quick game. (pick a child) (Child's name), pretend you are my best friend. We're such good friends that we do everything together. We play baseball, we ride our bikes, we even watch television together. I have this animal cracker. Who do you think I'm going to give this animal cracker to? It's my last one, and my best friend here really wants it. Who am I going to give it to? (allow answers) You think I'm going to give it to my best friend? Nope. I'm going to give it to (him/her). (Give cracker to another child) Did you expect that? (allow answers) How would that make my best friend feel? (allow answers) You're probably mad! If I was my best friend, I would be saying, "Why did you give that cracker to somebody else? You don't even know that person! I've been your best friend forever!"
I brought enough crackers for everyone. (pass them out) Our gospel today tells a story about someone who doesn't get what he thinks he should get. It is about a man who hired people to work for him. He hired some in the morning, some in the afternoon, and some in the evening. At the end of the day, though, he paid them all the same! Uh-oh! If you had been working all day in the hot sun, wouldn't you expect to get more money than the person who's only been working for an hour? How would that make you feel? (allow answers) How would you feel if you were the person who only worked for an hour? (allow answers) Pretty lucky, huh? In Jesus' story, the men who had worked since the morning complained about it. They said, "Look, buddy. We've worked all day long, even in the afternoon when the sun was really hot, but we're getting paid exactly the same as that new guy over there." What do you think the man who hired them said? (allow answers) What he said was, "It's my money, and I'll spend it however I want to."
This is how we think about God's love. We might think, "God loves me more than you because I've been going to church longer," or because you are older, or because you have done more volunteering for church. Actually, God loves everybody equally. All of God's friends are his best friends. Just like how you would love your baby sister as much as your older sister, it doesn't matter how long you've been around. Some of us may feel a little angry about that. We want to say, "Doesn't everything I've done count, God?" God loves us no matter what. We don't have to worry about being the best or the oldest, we just have to worry about loving God the best we can. Amen.
