Childrens Sermon Service

First Thoughts: Here we have an interesting combination of healing stories. First we see Jesus interacting with a Syrophoenician woman who requests healing on behalf of her daughter, and second we see Jesus healing a deaf man. When we look at the two of these together, we begin to see how the first story might inform the second. The first is a bit disturbing, as Jesus treats the woman with uncharacteristic callousness. He dismisses her as one of the "dogs" for whom his ministry is not a priority. But the woman is insistent; she requires that he hear her and act with mercy. Finally Jesus' ears are opened to her and her daughter is healed. In the next story Jesus (with ears newly opened) literally opens up the ears of another. It is a good lesson for those of us in ministry, particularly when we have certain expectations of what that ministry will involve (who we will serve and how, when it will take place, what "title" will be attached, and so on). Our expectations can create a deafness to our understanding of what else God might want to do with our lives. But God can remove that deafness and give clarity in our understanding. Reflect on a time in your life when you were challenged to look beyond your expectations and discover a new direction in your calling. Did you respond with resistance? How did you get beyond resistance to follow God's will? Allow your reflection to inform your time with the children.

Props You Will Need: cotton balls

Teaching As A Team:
(Leader 2 has cotton in his ears)
Leader 1: Hey, (name), how are things going today? (no response) Hello? Hello! (gets louder -- finally touches Leader 1 on the arm to get attention) Hey!
Leader 2: Hey, (name). What's happening?
Leader 1: That's what I was just asking you.
Leader 2: Hmmm? You're going to need to speak up.
Leader 1: I was just asking you -- how are things today?
Leader 2: I think something's wrong with your voice. Everything you say sounds kind of muffled.
Leader 1: Maybe that's because you have cotton in your ears.
Leader 2: What?
Leader 1: (louder) Maybe it's because you have cotton in your ears! Here, let me help. (takes out cotton)
Leader 2: Oh, wow. I had cotton in my ears!
Leader 1: I noticed.
Leader 2: I forgot about that. I went swimming yesterday and put them in afterward to soak up the extra water. Man, I must have had them in all day. No wonder everybody's been waving and making funny faces at me.
Leader 1: Yeah, they were probably trying to get your attention. Just like the Syrophoenician woman in our story today. Jesus was visiting in her hometown, and she came to him because her daughter needed help. She asked Jesus to help her but at first he didn't hear her.
Leader 2: Did Jesus have cotton in his ears too?
Leader 1: No -- he just wasn't paying very good attention to what she was saying. He thought that her need wasn't that important. But she kept on asking and talking and begging, until finally he heard her and helped her.
Leader 2: I always thought Jesus listened to everyone who needed help.
Leader 1: I'm sure he did most of the time. But all of us need help once in a while to remember to keep our ears open and listen for God's voice. Sometimes we need help getting the cotton out of our ears.
Leader 2: I'm glad we have friends who can help us out.
Leader 1: Me too.

Teaching On Your Own: (obvious cotton balls in ears) Hey everybody, what's happening? What? What? I think something's wrong with all your voices, you sound so muffled. What's the deal? What? Wait a minute -- I have cotton balls in my ears! (takes the cotton out) Why didn't you tell me? I went swimming yesterday and put them in afterward to soak up the extra water. Man, I must have had them in all day. No wonder everybody's been waving and making funny faces at me. They were probably trying to get my attention. Just like the Syrophoenician woman in our story today. Jesus was visiting in her hometown, and she came to him because her daughter needed help. She asked Jesus to help her but at first he didn't hear her. But his problem wasn't having cotton in his ears -- he just wasn't paying very good attention to what she was saying. He thought that her need wasn't that important. But she kept on asking and talking and begging, until finally he heard her and helped her. You know, I always thought that Jesus listened to everyone who needed help. But I guess even he needed help in opening his ears sometimes. All of us need help once in a while to remember to keep our ears open and listen for God's voice. Sometimes we need help getting the cotton out of our ears. I'm glad we have friends who can help us out. Aren't you?

Closing Prayer: Loving God, thank you for keeping our ears open, so we can hear your voice talking to us. Help us to help each other get clear when we're having too much cotton build-up. Amen.

Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this lesson in a home or classroom environment talk to the children about listening. What can we do to be good listeners? When is it important for us to listen carefully? Allow the children some time to reflect on these questions. Then introduce an experiment. Ask the children to make some kind of noise with their bodies: clapping hands, snapping fingers, patting legs, whistling, and so forth. When everyone's joining in and you have a real ruckus going, say something in a normal voice like, "God loves you and thinks you're special." Then ask if any of the children heard you. Not too many? Try the experiment again this time warning them that you're going to have a special message. See how many children are able to hear the message this time. More, hopefully! What was different about this time? You had gotten their attention, and this time they were watching for the message. Sometimes we need help in hearing God's voice in all the ruckus of our regular lives. Who are some people who can help us? Those people are our teachers. As a craft idea, give each child a piece of paper and invite them to draw their own face in the middle with BIG ears. Then give the children Q-tips to glue onto their page to remind us that our ears need to be "cleaned out" on a regular basis. They can even label the Q-tips with the names of different teachers in their lives, or (even sillier) draw faces on the Q-tips. Write at the top of each page, "Thank you, God, for teachers who clean out our ears!" Close your time with prayer.