Puzzle pieces
Children's sermon
Object:
a children's puzzle -- turn the pieces right side up, but do not put together
Good morning, boys and girls. I brought a puzzle with me today. But the pieces are all mixed up and I don't know what it's supposed to look like when it's finished. Let's put all the pieces out here and you can help me put it together. (put the pieces where the children can help) Does anyone have an idea what this puzzle is? (let them answer) Some of you have an idea, but you're really not sure yet. Let's see if we can put a little of it together. How do you usually start to put a puzzle together? (let them answer) Usually we try first to find the four corners. Can anyone find them? (let them try) There, now we have a start. What do we do next? (let them answer) Then we try to find all the pieces that have a straight edge on them. How do we know on which side they go? (let them answer) We try to see what the piece looks like and where it will fit. It might have some matching edges or it might have some matching colors. Let's see if we can put the edges all around the puzzle. (let them put the edges all around) Now that we have the edges, can we get a better idea of what this picture might be? (let them guess and tell them if they are getting close) Some of you are starting to be able to tell what it is. Let's finish the inside. We have to look for more edges that match and colors that match. (let them finish the puzzle) There, now we can definitely tell what the picture is!
Our verse for today has three special words in it. One of them you know -- it's love. The other two are a little harder. One of them is knowledge. That means what you know. You know that this is a puzzle. You know that puzzle pieces have to fit together in a certain way. That's knowledge. The other word is insight. That's a harder one. It means that you can figure things out. Are all these pieces exactly the same shape or do they fit together the same way? (let them answer) No, sometimes the colors match and the shapes look like they match, but they don't. Or maybe you have to turn it around. But you keep looking at it and thinking about it and pretty soon you know how it fits. Our verse says that our love should overflow with knowledge and insight. That's why we come to church. We learn about God's love. God's love is like a puzzle because we learn more and more about it the more we come to church. Coming to church is like getting a new piece of the puzzle each Sunday. The more we're here, the more we learn and the more we can figure out about God's love.
Our verse for today has three special words in it. One of them you know -- it's love. The other two are a little harder. One of them is knowledge. That means what you know. You know that this is a puzzle. You know that puzzle pieces have to fit together in a certain way. That's knowledge. The other word is insight. That's a harder one. It means that you can figure things out. Are all these pieces exactly the same shape or do they fit together the same way? (let them answer) No, sometimes the colors match and the shapes look like they match, but they don't. Or maybe you have to turn it around. But you keep looking at it and thinking about it and pretty soon you know how it fits. Our verse says that our love should overflow with knowledge and insight. That's why we come to church. We learn about God's love. God's love is like a puzzle because we learn more and more about it the more we come to church. Coming to church is like getting a new piece of the puzzle each Sunday. The more we're here, the more we learn and the more we can figure out about God's love.
