Something Special
Children's sermon
Object:
a bowl
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. (vv. 50-53)
Hi, everyone! (Let them respond.) Can anyone tell us why we are having church today, instead of Sunday? (Let them respond.) We are here to celebrate something that Jesus did, something special he did that might seem kind of strange. Does anyone know what he did that we are celebrating? (Let them respond.) Well, let me tell you the story about what happened.
You probably remember that after he was raised on Easter, Jesus came back to be with his disciples, right? (Let them respond.) Well, one day he was talking with them near the town of Bethany, which was on top of a great big hill. He talked a while, then he did the special thing. The story says that he lifted-up his hands and blessed them, and then he started floating up into the sky and disappeared. The story says he floated up to heaven to be with God. What do you think about that? (Let them respond.).
Back at the time Jesus was in Bethany, people believed that heaven was a place that existed just above the clouds in the sky. They thought it was kind of like there was a big bowl upside down in the sky, like this one (show the bowl) If you went far enough up, you would run into the bowl, and on the other side of the bowl was heaven. In fact, many people believed there was more than one bowl up there. Have you ever heard someone say they were so happy they were in “seventh heaven”? (Let them respond.) Well, some people believed there were actually seven bowls in the sky, and seven heavens. The more special you were, the higher you went. If you were really, really, good, you might get to go to the seventh heaven where God lived.
Some people argue about this story today. Some of them say that since we have sent rockets up past the clouds and haven’t found any heavens at all, the story must not be true. Some other people say the heavens are still up there, but we just haven’t gone far enough to see them yet. Sometimes they really argue about it, too. But you know what? I think there is something more important about this story than arguing about where heaven is, or how many heavens there are.
In Jesus’ day, people believed in a lot of different gods. The Greeks had gods, the Romans had gods, the Hebrews had their God, people believed in a lot of different gods. But most all of those gods lived far away, up in the sky, or on top of tall mountains, or other places far away where they just sat and watched people. They might come down and do something once-in-a-while, but most of the time they just stayed far away and left the people all on their own. So, when the story says Jesus floated away, those people said, “Yep, that’s what gods do!”
But, in two weeks we are going to celebrate another very special day about Jesus. We’re going to celebrate the day that Jesus came back from wherever he floated off to. We call that day Pentecost, and it is the day Jesus showed us that God is right here with us and is not just sitting and watching us from someplace far away. Jesus said that anytime we get together to help take care of each other, God will be right there with us, helping us.
God loves us so much that Jesus came back to be with us and help us take care of each other the way God wants us to take care of each other. That’s pretty special, isn’t it?
I hope you’ll remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to show everyone around us how much we love them, too.
Let’s have our prayer and ask God to help us remember.
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.
Hi, everyone! (Let them respond.) Can anyone tell us why we are having church today, instead of Sunday? (Let them respond.) We are here to celebrate something that Jesus did, something special he did that might seem kind of strange. Does anyone know what he did that we are celebrating? (Let them respond.) Well, let me tell you the story about what happened.
You probably remember that after he was raised on Easter, Jesus came back to be with his disciples, right? (Let them respond.) Well, one day he was talking with them near the town of Bethany, which was on top of a great big hill. He talked a while, then he did the special thing. The story says that he lifted-up his hands and blessed them, and then he started floating up into the sky and disappeared. The story says he floated up to heaven to be with God. What do you think about that? (Let them respond.).
Back at the time Jesus was in Bethany, people believed that heaven was a place that existed just above the clouds in the sky. They thought it was kind of like there was a big bowl upside down in the sky, like this one (show the bowl) If you went far enough up, you would run into the bowl, and on the other side of the bowl was heaven. In fact, many people believed there was more than one bowl up there. Have you ever heard someone say they were so happy they were in “seventh heaven”? (Let them respond.) Well, some people believed there were actually seven bowls in the sky, and seven heavens. The more special you were, the higher you went. If you were really, really, good, you might get to go to the seventh heaven where God lived.
Some people argue about this story today. Some of them say that since we have sent rockets up past the clouds and haven’t found any heavens at all, the story must not be true. Some other people say the heavens are still up there, but we just haven’t gone far enough to see them yet. Sometimes they really argue about it, too. But you know what? I think there is something more important about this story than arguing about where heaven is, or how many heavens there are.
In Jesus’ day, people believed in a lot of different gods. The Greeks had gods, the Romans had gods, the Hebrews had their God, people believed in a lot of different gods. But most all of those gods lived far away, up in the sky, or on top of tall mountains, or other places far away where they just sat and watched people. They might come down and do something once-in-a-while, but most of the time they just stayed far away and left the people all on their own. So, when the story says Jesus floated away, those people said, “Yep, that’s what gods do!”
But, in two weeks we are going to celebrate another very special day about Jesus. We’re going to celebrate the day that Jesus came back from wherever he floated off to. We call that day Pentecost, and it is the day Jesus showed us that God is right here with us and is not just sitting and watching us from someplace far away. Jesus said that anytime we get together to help take care of each other, God will be right there with us, helping us.
God loves us so much that Jesus came back to be with us and help us take care of each other the way God wants us to take care of each other. That’s pretty special, isn’t it?
I hope you’ll remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to show everyone around us how much we love them, too.
Let’s have our prayer and ask God to help us remember.
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.
