Childrens Sermon Service

I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. (v. 49)

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Hello, everyone! Are you ready for today’s story? (Let them respond.) I’ll bet you can all tell me what I have here in my hand. (Show the flashlight and let them respond.) It’s a flashlight, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) Do you know that I once knew someone who took a flashlight with them every night? (Let them respond.) They really did. Does anyone know why they did that? (Let them respond.) They put their flashlight under their pillow, and every once in a while they would pull it out and shine it all around their bedroom. (Shine the light around like you are looking for something.) Shining their flashlight around like that helped them feel a little better because they just didn’t like being all alone.

Have you ever not liked being alone? (Let them respond.) I think sometimes we all feel that way, don’t we? (Let them respond.) I know Jesus’ disciples didn’t like it.

I remember when Jesus was taken away from them and was killed, the disciples were really afraid because now they felt all alone. Some of them were so afraid they ran all the way back home to hide. But then on Easter morning, Jesus came back to them, and they all felt better again.

In our story today, Jesus and his disciples are standing on top of the hill by the town of Bethany, looking across the valley to the city of Jerusalem. They are looking and remembering all of the things that had happened over the past couple of weeks. They could see the road they had followed that day they had gone into the city in that big parade. And they could see the building where they had eaten the big Seder dinner and Jesus had washed their feet. And just down the hill, they could see the garden where they had been sleeping that night when Jesus was taken from them. They could see the place where Jesus had been killed, and the tomb he had been put in. A lot of things had happened in the last couple of weeks, and some of them had been really scary. But everything was going to be okay now because Jesus was with them again. They weren’t alone anymore.

But then, Jesus started talking and sounding really serious. They couldn’t understand what he was saying, but they thought Jesus was saying things that sounded like “goodbye.” How do you think that made the disciples feel? (Let them respond.)

Again!

Oh, no!

Not again!

“Again?” they said. “You can’t leave us again! What are we going to do if you aren’t here to help us?

Jesus told them not to worry because God was taking care of everything. God was about to send them something to make sure they were never, ever alone again. It would be pretty cool to know we would never, ever be alone again, wouldn’t it? (Let them respond.)

Jesus didn’t tell them what God was sending, but he told them to go and stay in the city until God’s new promise comes to help them.

Does anyone have an idea of what God was going to send them? (Let them respond.) I’ll give you some hints.

Once, people believed that God was some kind of far-away God that lived on mountains or in the clouds. People were always a long way away from God and could never ever be close to God.

Then, people believed that they could be closer to God by being with Jesus. God didn’t just live on a mountain anymore but had been right here walking and eating with them. But Jesus had been taken away from them too, so even Jesus couldn’t be with them all the time.

And now, God had promised to do something even more special. Now God was going to send something totally new. Something totally different. Something even closer to us than Jesus could be. Something that would make sure we were never, ever alone again.

The disciples started talking to each other because they were confused and didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about. After a few minutes, they stopped talking and looked around, and Jesus was gone.

They were alone again. But this time, they didn’t panic or become afraid. They didn’t understand what Jesus had said, but they trusted him and did what he told them to do. They went back to the city to wait for what God was going to send them. They trusted God to take care of them.

Let’s all pray together and ask God to help us trust God, remember how much God loves every one of us no matter who we are, what we have, or where we are from 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.