A Surprise Ending
Children's sermon
Object:
none
First Thoughts: This story is so familiar to us we might not recognize the resurrection as a surprise ending. In fact, we'd be surprised if the story didn't end this way. But we need to be aware of the revolutionary message of hope the resurrection illumines for us. We can't reduce it to a theological formula, although theologians have tried for centuries. No, this is an encounter with mystery, the same mystery that interacts with us today, which turns over our expectations and delivers to us something we never could have foreseen. Think of a time in your life when everything seemed to flip over. Your plans were unhinged, a relationship fell apart, a beloved died. Looking back on that time, can you identify a divine reversal? A moment where God asserted God's love and resurrected your old life to bring you something new? This is the real power and lesson of resurrection, because God has the power to see beyond our losses, to envision for us a future when we can't even see beyond our feet. God is always doing the new thing in our lives and in the world. So rejoice and welcome the surprise!
Props You Will Need: none
Teaching As A Team:
Leader 1: I'm going to tell you a little story this morning.
Leader 2: Oh, great. I love stories.
Leader 1: This is the story of three little pigs. They each went out in the world to seek their fortunes, and each one built a house. Once the houses were done, in came the Big Wolf, and he knocked on the first pig's door and said,
Leader 2: "Little pig, little pig, let me come in!"
Leader 1: But the pig said,
Leader 2: "Not by the hair on my chinny chinny chin."
Leader 1: So the wolf said,
Leader 2: "Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in."
Leader 1: Wrong. The wolf said, "Oh, please let me come in. It's cold outside and I'm getting hungry." So the little pig brought him in to sit at the fire and made him some oatmeal. The end.
Leader 2: That's not how the story goes.
Leader 1: That's how this story goes. See, it has a surprise ending. You thought something else was going to happen and you almost missed the story. That's the same thing that happened to Jesus' friends.
Leader 2: What do you mean?
Leader 1: Remember, Jesus' friends saw that Jesus was arrested and killed on the cross and then they saw Jesus buried in the tomb. What do you think they thought after seeing all that?
Leader 2: Sad, because Jesus was gone.
Leader 1: That's right. They thought this was the end of the story. The women even came to the tomb to take care of his body, still crying as they walked. But when they got to the tomb...
Leader 2: A surprise ending!
Leader 1: That's right. The tomb was open and Jesus' body wasn't there. Jesus' friend Mary was confused but she was determined to figure out what was going on. She looked into the tomb and saw two angels all in white. Then she turned around and saw another man...
Leader 2: Jesus!
Leader 1: That's right, but she still didn't recognize him. She was still stuck in that first ending. But when he said her name, that's when she knew Jesus was alive.
Leader 2: She must have been so excited!
Leader 1: I'm sure she was. Easter is a good reminder to us that, just when we think we've figured everything out, God can surprise us!
Leader 2: I guess when things seem really scary and dark, the best thing we can do is just be patient and let God write our stories.
Leader 1: Yep, let God surprise us.
Teaching On Your Own: I'm going to tell you guys a little story this morning. Once upon a time there were three little pigs who set out to make their fortunes in the world. Each pig built himself a house and once the houses were done, in came the Big Wolf. He knocked on the first pig's door and said (encourage the kids to say it with you), "Little pig, little pig, let me come in!" But the little pig said (again encouraging kids to say it together), "Not by the hair on my chinny chinny chin." So the wolf said (see if some kids will spontaneously fill in the blanks without you -- if not ask them "What do you think he said?" Kids' line "Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in.") Wrong. The wolf said, "Oh, please let me come in. It's cold outside and I'm getting hungry." So the little pig brought him in to sit at the fire and made him some oatmeal. The end. Is this a different story than what you expected? It has a surprise ending, doesn't it? You thought you knew what the ending was so you almost didn't hear the new ending. That's the same thing that happened to Jesus' friends in our lesson today. What had happened to Jesus? Jesus was arrested and killed on the cross and then buried in the tomb. His friends saw that. What do you imagine they were thinking? They thought this was the end of the story. The women even came to the tomb to take care of his body, still crying as they walked. But when they got to the tomb they found a surprise ending. The tomb was open and Jesus' body wasn't there. Jesus' friend Mary was confused but she was determined to figure out what was going on. She looked into the tomb and saw two angels all in white. Then she turned around and saw another man. Who do you think the man was? Jesus! But she still didn't recognize him. She was still stuck in that first ending. But when he said her name, that's when she knew Jesus was alive. Easter is a good reminder to us that, just when we think we've figured everything out, God can surprise us! The lesson of Easter is that sometimes, when things seem the darkest, all we can do is be patient and let God write our stories. Let God surprise us.
Closing Prayer: Loving God, thank you for your surprise endings. Give us hearts that are ready and waiting for your surprises and help us share your surprises with the world. Help us to live the lesson of Easter each day. Help us to realize that you are doing a new thing, if we only have eyes and ears to perceive it. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Follow-Up Lesson: A good way to follow-up this lesson in a home or classroom setting is to get the children to do some creative play with surprise endings. You can use familiar stories like nursery tales or come up with new scenarios. Use stories with some kind of conflict or sad ending. Then ask the children to imagine how God would rewrite the stories. Have some suggestions ready in case the kids have difficulty with this at first. For example, you might present a bullying scenario where a child ends up crying alone. A surprise ending might have the child offering friendship to the bully, or other children backing up the child against the bully. Encourage the children to think of the most outrageous happy endings they can, reminding them that Easter is all about God making the impossible possible. To introduce the craft, go back to the biblical story. Remind the kids that the women were coming to Jesus' tomb in order to take care of the body, but when they got there the body was gone and all that was left was the shroud. Have a large piece of white cloth and explain that a shroud was used to wrap dead bodies. Now the body is gone, what should we do with the shroud? Rip the shroud into strips so each child has a piece. Allow the children to decorate their strips with colorful pictures that remind us of God's love. Then give each child poster board to create a party hat. (Templates are available online, if you need one.) Finally glue the colorful strips on the party hats. Sum up the lesson by reminding the children that we started with a shroud but are ending with party hats! Close with a prayer thanking God for surprise endings.
Props You Will Need: none
Teaching As A Team:
Leader 1: I'm going to tell you a little story this morning.
Leader 2: Oh, great. I love stories.
Leader 1: This is the story of three little pigs. They each went out in the world to seek their fortunes, and each one built a house. Once the houses were done, in came the Big Wolf, and he knocked on the first pig's door and said,
Leader 2: "Little pig, little pig, let me come in!"
Leader 1: But the pig said,
Leader 2: "Not by the hair on my chinny chinny chin."
Leader 1: So the wolf said,
Leader 2: "Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in."
Leader 1: Wrong. The wolf said, "Oh, please let me come in. It's cold outside and I'm getting hungry." So the little pig brought him in to sit at the fire and made him some oatmeal. The end.
Leader 2: That's not how the story goes.
Leader 1: That's how this story goes. See, it has a surprise ending. You thought something else was going to happen and you almost missed the story. That's the same thing that happened to Jesus' friends.
Leader 2: What do you mean?
Leader 1: Remember, Jesus' friends saw that Jesus was arrested and killed on the cross and then they saw Jesus buried in the tomb. What do you think they thought after seeing all that?
Leader 2: Sad, because Jesus was gone.
Leader 1: That's right. They thought this was the end of the story. The women even came to the tomb to take care of his body, still crying as they walked. But when they got to the tomb...
Leader 2: A surprise ending!
Leader 1: That's right. The tomb was open and Jesus' body wasn't there. Jesus' friend Mary was confused but she was determined to figure out what was going on. She looked into the tomb and saw two angels all in white. Then she turned around and saw another man...
Leader 2: Jesus!
Leader 1: That's right, but she still didn't recognize him. She was still stuck in that first ending. But when he said her name, that's when she knew Jesus was alive.
Leader 2: She must have been so excited!
Leader 1: I'm sure she was. Easter is a good reminder to us that, just when we think we've figured everything out, God can surprise us!
Leader 2: I guess when things seem really scary and dark, the best thing we can do is just be patient and let God write our stories.
Leader 1: Yep, let God surprise us.
Teaching On Your Own: I'm going to tell you guys a little story this morning. Once upon a time there were three little pigs who set out to make their fortunes in the world. Each pig built himself a house and once the houses were done, in came the Big Wolf. He knocked on the first pig's door and said (encourage the kids to say it with you), "Little pig, little pig, let me come in!" But the little pig said (again encouraging kids to say it together), "Not by the hair on my chinny chinny chin." So the wolf said (see if some kids will spontaneously fill in the blanks without you -- if not ask them "What do you think he said?" Kids' line "Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in.") Wrong. The wolf said, "Oh, please let me come in. It's cold outside and I'm getting hungry." So the little pig brought him in to sit at the fire and made him some oatmeal. The end. Is this a different story than what you expected? It has a surprise ending, doesn't it? You thought you knew what the ending was so you almost didn't hear the new ending. That's the same thing that happened to Jesus' friends in our lesson today. What had happened to Jesus? Jesus was arrested and killed on the cross and then buried in the tomb. His friends saw that. What do you imagine they were thinking? They thought this was the end of the story. The women even came to the tomb to take care of his body, still crying as they walked. But when they got to the tomb they found a surprise ending. The tomb was open and Jesus' body wasn't there. Jesus' friend Mary was confused but she was determined to figure out what was going on. She looked into the tomb and saw two angels all in white. Then she turned around and saw another man. Who do you think the man was? Jesus! But she still didn't recognize him. She was still stuck in that first ending. But when he said her name, that's when she knew Jesus was alive. Easter is a good reminder to us that, just when we think we've figured everything out, God can surprise us! The lesson of Easter is that sometimes, when things seem the darkest, all we can do is be patient and let God write our stories. Let God surprise us.
Closing Prayer: Loving God, thank you for your surprise endings. Give us hearts that are ready and waiting for your surprises and help us share your surprises with the world. Help us to live the lesson of Easter each day. Help us to realize that you are doing a new thing, if we only have eyes and ears to perceive it. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Follow-Up Lesson: A good way to follow-up this lesson in a home or classroom setting is to get the children to do some creative play with surprise endings. You can use familiar stories like nursery tales or come up with new scenarios. Use stories with some kind of conflict or sad ending. Then ask the children to imagine how God would rewrite the stories. Have some suggestions ready in case the kids have difficulty with this at first. For example, you might present a bullying scenario where a child ends up crying alone. A surprise ending might have the child offering friendship to the bully, or other children backing up the child against the bully. Encourage the children to think of the most outrageous happy endings they can, reminding them that Easter is all about God making the impossible possible. To introduce the craft, go back to the biblical story. Remind the kids that the women were coming to Jesus' tomb in order to take care of the body, but when they got there the body was gone and all that was left was the shroud. Have a large piece of white cloth and explain that a shroud was used to wrap dead bodies. Now the body is gone, what should we do with the shroud? Rip the shroud into strips so each child has a piece. Allow the children to decorate their strips with colorful pictures that remind us of God's love. Then give each child poster board to create a party hat. (Templates are available online, if you need one.) Finally glue the colorful strips on the party hats. Sum up the lesson by reminding the children that we started with a shroud but are ending with party hats! Close with a prayer thanking God for surprise endings.
