Hare-brained
Children's sermon
Object:
a flower
Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." (v. 26)
Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you have heard the story of the tortoise and the hare? (allow answers) How about the story of little red riding hood? (allow answers)
In the story of the tortoise and the hare, the animals decide to have a race. The tortoise plods along slowly, while the hare takes off like a shot toward the finish line. The hare has such a big head start that he starts to slow down. Racing the tortoise is a joke! He has time to stop and smell the roses! So the hare wanders a bit off the path and admires the beautiful wildflowers. He is lulled into a nap by the buzzing bees and sweet-smelling blooms. Meanwhile, the tortoise keeps plodding along -- it turns out that the hare falls asleep for so long that the tortoise beats him to the finish line!
In the story of little red riding hood, a girl is taking a basket of goodies to her grandma, but gets distracted in the woods by picking a bouquet of wildflowers. While she is picking flowers, she meets a wolf. The wolf charms her, but then runs ahead, eats her grandmother, and eats little red when she arrives. What a sad fate!
In both of these stories, someone gets sidetracked from their goal. The hare gets sidetracked from the race; little red gets sidetracked from taking a basket to her grandmother. Neither the hare nor little red riding hood realizes their mistake until too late!
Our gospel lesson talks about getting distracted. In the lesson, Jesus' disciples find Jesus after they have finished eating their fill of a feast. Jesus is disappointed in them. They put filling their stomachs ahead of spending time with Jesus! The disciples were distracted by a short-term goal: eating a meal, instead of focusing on their long-term goal: following and serving Jesus to the best of their ability.
Sometimes we, too, get distracted by short-term goals. We get caught up in making lists or doing our chores or going to school and forget that we should always be trying to live a godly life. We want to put our faith on hold while we go do other things. We should live so that our faith is always our first priority. It might slow us down a little, like the tortoise in the story, but through hard work and a slow, steady pace, we can live in a way that is pleasing to God -- and a way that will finish the race. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you have heard the story of the tortoise and the hare? (allow answers) How about the story of little red riding hood? (allow answers)
In the story of the tortoise and the hare, the animals decide to have a race. The tortoise plods along slowly, while the hare takes off like a shot toward the finish line. The hare has such a big head start that he starts to slow down. Racing the tortoise is a joke! He has time to stop and smell the roses! So the hare wanders a bit off the path and admires the beautiful wildflowers. He is lulled into a nap by the buzzing bees and sweet-smelling blooms. Meanwhile, the tortoise keeps plodding along -- it turns out that the hare falls asleep for so long that the tortoise beats him to the finish line!
In the story of little red riding hood, a girl is taking a basket of goodies to her grandma, but gets distracted in the woods by picking a bouquet of wildflowers. While she is picking flowers, she meets a wolf. The wolf charms her, but then runs ahead, eats her grandmother, and eats little red when she arrives. What a sad fate!
In both of these stories, someone gets sidetracked from their goal. The hare gets sidetracked from the race; little red gets sidetracked from taking a basket to her grandmother. Neither the hare nor little red riding hood realizes their mistake until too late!
Our gospel lesson talks about getting distracted. In the lesson, Jesus' disciples find Jesus after they have finished eating their fill of a feast. Jesus is disappointed in them. They put filling their stomachs ahead of spending time with Jesus! The disciples were distracted by a short-term goal: eating a meal, instead of focusing on their long-term goal: following and serving Jesus to the best of their ability.
Sometimes we, too, get distracted by short-term goals. We get caught up in making lists or doing our chores or going to school and forget that we should always be trying to live a godly life. We want to put our faith on hold while we go do other things. We should live so that our faith is always our first priority. It might slow us down a little, like the tortoise in the story, but through hard work and a slow, steady pace, we can live in a way that is pleasing to God -- and a way that will finish the race. Amen.
