Too much to carry
Children's sermon
Object:
a big sack and a stack of books
Good evening! How come we're in church tonight? Does anyone
know what day this is? (Let them answer.) Today is Ash Wednesday,
the first day of Lent. As we begin this season of Lent, we are
supposed to think about our sins and ask God for forgiveness. I
thought I would give you a demonstration of how you might think
about that.
I will pick one of you to illustrate this problem of sin.
(Pick the smallest, weakest child.) __________, you see this
stack of books I have here? Let's pretend that each one of these
books is a book of your sins. Every time you have sinned, the sin
is written in a book, and here we have a whole stack of your
sins. Do you think your sins would fill that many books? (Let the
child answer.) Well, maybe not, but let's just pretend that they
do. You start putting those books of your sin in this sack. (Let
the child load as many books as possible in the sack.)
Okay, now these are your sins and, of course, you have to
carry them around with you. Can you pick up the sack and carry
it? (Let the child try and fail to lift the sack.) My gosh, those
sins are really heavy, aren't they? Well, that's the way it is
with everyone's sins. They are just too heavy to carry around. Do
you suppose there is anybody who would be able to carry these
sins for us? (Let them answer.) Yes, Jesus has already carried
all our sins for us. He carried them to the cross and paid for
them there. Because he did that, we don't have to carry them
ourselves. That's what we will be thinking about during Lent. We
will ask God to forgive our sins for the sake of Jesus, who has
already died to pay for them. Let's do it now.
Dear Father in Heaven: Please forgive all our sins for the sake
of Jesus, who died on the cross to pay for them. Amen.
know what day this is? (Let them answer.) Today is Ash Wednesday,
the first day of Lent. As we begin this season of Lent, we are
supposed to think about our sins and ask God for forgiveness. I
thought I would give you a demonstration of how you might think
about that.
I will pick one of you to illustrate this problem of sin.
(Pick the smallest, weakest child.) __________, you see this
stack of books I have here? Let's pretend that each one of these
books is a book of your sins. Every time you have sinned, the sin
is written in a book, and here we have a whole stack of your
sins. Do you think your sins would fill that many books? (Let the
child answer.) Well, maybe not, but let's just pretend that they
do. You start putting those books of your sin in this sack. (Let
the child load as many books as possible in the sack.)
Okay, now these are your sins and, of course, you have to
carry them around with you. Can you pick up the sack and carry
it? (Let the child try and fail to lift the sack.) My gosh, those
sins are really heavy, aren't they? Well, that's the way it is
with everyone's sins. They are just too heavy to carry around. Do
you suppose there is anybody who would be able to carry these
sins for us? (Let them answer.) Yes, Jesus has already carried
all our sins for us. He carried them to the cross and paid for
them there. Because he did that, we don't have to carry them
ourselves. That's what we will be thinking about during Lent. We
will ask God to forgive our sins for the sake of Jesus, who has
already died to pay for them. Let's do it now.
Dear Father in Heaven: Please forgive all our sins for the sake
of Jesus, who died on the cross to pay for them. Amen.
