Not really there
Children's sermon
Object:
a picture of a cemetery
Good morning! I want to tell you something that may sound strange: I love cemeteries.
How many of you have ever been to a cemetery? (show of hands) What do they look like? What are they for? (spend a few moments with this) Cemeteries are places where we bury people who have died. Their bodies are placed in boxes called caskets and buried in the ground. Markers called headstones or tombstones are placed on the ground above them. The headstones usually have the name of the person buried there along with the person's birth and death dates. Cemeteries are good places for us to go when we want to remember and thank God for the people we love who are no longer with us.
Christians believe that God has given people bodies, minds and spirits. Bodies are kind of like the houses our minds and spirits use. When our bodies die, we don't need them anymore. The real part of us, our mind and our spirit, go to God. So, even though a body may be buried in a cemetery, the true essence of a person isn't really there. After the body dies, the spirit is someplace else.
The Apostle Paul is the writer of today's lesson. He reminds us that if we have Christ in our hearts, God's Spirit dwells in us too. The same Spirit that was with Jesus is with us. After Jesus died, it was this Spirit that raised him from the dead. If we follow Jesus and love him with all our hearts we will be raised from the dead, just like he was. We won't have the same bodies we have now, of course. We'll have better ones: ones that won't get hurt, break or wear out. The best thing, though, is this: the real part of us -- the part that makes us who we are -- will live forever with Jesus.
Prayer: Father, thank you for your love. Thank you for sending your Spirit to dwell with us and give us true life. Amen.
How many of you have ever been to a cemetery? (show of hands) What do they look like? What are they for? (spend a few moments with this) Cemeteries are places where we bury people who have died. Their bodies are placed in boxes called caskets and buried in the ground. Markers called headstones or tombstones are placed on the ground above them. The headstones usually have the name of the person buried there along with the person's birth and death dates. Cemeteries are good places for us to go when we want to remember and thank God for the people we love who are no longer with us.
Christians believe that God has given people bodies, minds and spirits. Bodies are kind of like the houses our minds and spirits use. When our bodies die, we don't need them anymore. The real part of us, our mind and our spirit, go to God. So, even though a body may be buried in a cemetery, the true essence of a person isn't really there. After the body dies, the spirit is someplace else.
The Apostle Paul is the writer of today's lesson. He reminds us that if we have Christ in our hearts, God's Spirit dwells in us too. The same Spirit that was with Jesus is with us. After Jesus died, it was this Spirit that raised him from the dead. If we follow Jesus and love him with all our hearts we will be raised from the dead, just like he was. We won't have the same bodies we have now, of course. We'll have better ones: ones that won't get hurt, break or wear out. The best thing, though, is this: the real part of us -- the part that makes us who we are -- will live forever with Jesus.
Prayer: Father, thank you for your love. Thank you for sending your Spirit to dwell with us and give us true life. Amen.
