God's Surprises! Part 4
Children's sermon
Object:
A video game controller of some type.
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” (vv. 39-42)
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Who can tell me what I have here? (Show the controller and let them respond.) Its for a video game, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) And what does this do? What do we do with it? (Let them respond.) We use it to control the things that happen in the game, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
There are some games that don’t use controllers like this aren’t there? (Let them respond.) For some games, we might use our hands, or our voice, to control what happens. Have you ever played games like that? (Let them respond.) Those games don’t use a controller like this, but we still need to do something to control the game, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
What would a game be like if we didn’t have a way to control it? (Let them respond.) It wouldn’t be a very good game, would it? (Let them respond.) Sometimes having control is really important, but our story today reminds us that sometimes it can be better if we do not have control of what happens. Are you ready to hear the story? (Let them respond.) Great!
This is the story about the time that people had been praying that God would do something to help them. The people had all kinds of problems and had tried everything they could think of to control what was happening to make things better, but nothing had worked. So, they prayed and asked God to take control of things and do something to help them.
The problems the people had were really big problems, and after the people prayed for God to take control, they wondered what God was going do to help them. Maybe God would send an army of angels to help them. Maybe God would send a big storm and floods to get rid of the people who were being mean. Maybe God would just yell a really loud words and scare the mean people to make them behave. They knew that God could do some pretty big things, so they waited to see what big thing God was going to do.
And who can tell me what great big, noisy, powerful thing God did to help them? (Let them respond.) Did God send a powerful army of angels? (Let them respond.) Nope. Did God send a big storm and flood? (Let them respond.) Nope. Did God yell and make a lot of noise to make everyone behave? (Let them respond.) Nope. When God was in control…everyone got a BIG surprise!
Our story says that one day, a girl named Mary went to visit her cousin Liz who lived in another city. Mary was going to have a baby, and Liz was going to help take care of her. When Mary got to Liz’s house, God told them the big surprise. Instead of sending an army, or a storm, or a lot of noise, God was sending Mary’s baby to change the world. And what was the baby’s name going to be? (Let them respond.) Yes, Jesus. The people had prayed for God to take control of everything and help them, and that is just what God did! With a baby!
Sometimes it is fun to be in control, isn’t it? (Show the controller again and let them respond.) But sometimes it can be scary to be in charge and have to try and control everything. Sometimes, no matter what we try to do to control things, we just can’t do it. And that gets scary sometimes doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) Sometimes, it is better if we just put down the controls (put down the controller) and let God take over and run things.
Today is the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the time we remember how God surprised everyone and used a little baby named Jesus to take control of the world and show everyone how much God loves us all! I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to love other people and do as much as we can to help take care of those other people.
Let’s have our prayer and ask God to help us remember to do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. 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.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Who can tell me what I have here? (Show the controller and let them respond.) Its for a video game, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) And what does this do? What do we do with it? (Let them respond.) We use it to control the things that happen in the game, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
There are some games that don’t use controllers like this aren’t there? (Let them respond.) For some games, we might use our hands, or our voice, to control what happens. Have you ever played games like that? (Let them respond.) Those games don’t use a controller like this, but we still need to do something to control the game, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
What would a game be like if we didn’t have a way to control it? (Let them respond.) It wouldn’t be a very good game, would it? (Let them respond.) Sometimes having control is really important, but our story today reminds us that sometimes it can be better if we do not have control of what happens. Are you ready to hear the story? (Let them respond.) Great!
This is the story about the time that people had been praying that God would do something to help them. The people had all kinds of problems and had tried everything they could think of to control what was happening to make things better, but nothing had worked. So, they prayed and asked God to take control of things and do something to help them.
The problems the people had were really big problems, and after the people prayed for God to take control, they wondered what God was going do to help them. Maybe God would send an army of angels to help them. Maybe God would send a big storm and floods to get rid of the people who were being mean. Maybe God would just yell a really loud words and scare the mean people to make them behave. They knew that God could do some pretty big things, so they waited to see what big thing God was going to do.
And who can tell me what great big, noisy, powerful thing God did to help them? (Let them respond.) Did God send a powerful army of angels? (Let them respond.) Nope. Did God send a big storm and flood? (Let them respond.) Nope. Did God yell and make a lot of noise to make everyone behave? (Let them respond.) Nope. When God was in control…everyone got a BIG surprise!
Our story says that one day, a girl named Mary went to visit her cousin Liz who lived in another city. Mary was going to have a baby, and Liz was going to help take care of her. When Mary got to Liz’s house, God told them the big surprise. Instead of sending an army, or a storm, or a lot of noise, God was sending Mary’s baby to change the world. And what was the baby’s name going to be? (Let them respond.) Yes, Jesus. The people had prayed for God to take control of everything and help them, and that is just what God did! With a baby!
Sometimes it is fun to be in control, isn’t it? (Show the controller again and let them respond.) But sometimes it can be scary to be in charge and have to try and control everything. Sometimes, no matter what we try to do to control things, we just can’t do it. And that gets scary sometimes doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) Sometimes, it is better if we just put down the controls (put down the controller) and let God take over and run things.
Today is the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the time we remember how God surprised everyone and used a little baby named Jesus to take control of the world and show everyone how much God loves us all! I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to love other people and do as much as we can to help take care of those other people.
Let’s have our prayer and ask God to help us remember to do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. 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.
