No beginning or end
Children's sermon
Object:
a faded piece of wallpaper
Good morning, boys and girls. I'd like you to sit in a circle today. (help them arrange themselves into a circle) I'm going to pass around this piece of paper and I'd like you to tell me something about it as it goes by you. (pass around the faded wallpaper and elicit responses as each child sees it) It's wallpaper. It's faded. It's brittle. It looks like it peeled off a wall. It probably used to have clear colors. You can't really tell what the colors were. You can hardly see the original pattern. Do you think this wallpaper was very pretty once? (let them answer) Yes, I think it was pretty when it was new. Then the sun shone on it and it faded and now it looks like it's falling apart. It was probably on someone's wall once a long time ago. Oh well, nothing lasts forever. Everything gets old and dies or falls apart.
Our lesson says that most things will not last, but it tells us that one thing will last forever. Do you know what it is? (let them answer) Our verse says that love never ends. Everything else does, but not love. Does anyone have any idea why we are sitting in a circle? (let them answer) A circle is a shape that has no beginning and no end. Some people call it a perfect shape. A circle is the shape of a ring. A gold band, the kind that men and women sometimes give each other at their weddings, is in the shape of a circle. In the wedding the bride and groom promise that they will each love the other one forever and always. The wedding ring is supposed to remind them of their promise that their love will never end. But do all couples love each other always? (let them answer) No, sometimes they stop loving each other and they don't always stay married.
So if our lesson says that love never ends, whose love is it talking about? (let them answer) God's love for us never ends. It's always there forever and ever, just like a ring with no beginning and no ending. Sometimes when someone very special dies we keep on loving that person the rest of our life. That's another kind of love that never ends. Have you ever known anyone who has been married for 75 years? (let them answer) That's a very long time! I think love like that never ends either. When we love someone, we should try to make it last forever. But even if our love fades like this wallpaper, it's nice to know that God's love never ends. It has no beginning and no end -- just like a ring or our circle. Love never ends!
Our lesson says that most things will not last, but it tells us that one thing will last forever. Do you know what it is? (let them answer) Our verse says that love never ends. Everything else does, but not love. Does anyone have any idea why we are sitting in a circle? (let them answer) A circle is a shape that has no beginning and no end. Some people call it a perfect shape. A circle is the shape of a ring. A gold band, the kind that men and women sometimes give each other at their weddings, is in the shape of a circle. In the wedding the bride and groom promise that they will each love the other one forever and always. The wedding ring is supposed to remind them of their promise that their love will never end. But do all couples love each other always? (let them answer) No, sometimes they stop loving each other and they don't always stay married.
So if our lesson says that love never ends, whose love is it talking about? (let them answer) God's love for us never ends. It's always there forever and ever, just like a ring with no beginning and no ending. Sometimes when someone very special dies we keep on loving that person the rest of our life. That's another kind of love that never ends. Have you ever known anyone who has been married for 75 years? (let them answer) That's a very long time! I think love like that never ends either. When we love someone, we should try to make it last forever. But even if our love fades like this wallpaper, it's nice to know that God's love never ends. It has no beginning and no end -- just like a ring or our circle. Love never ends!
