Trailer To A Gospel
Children's sermon
John’s opening is daunting. There is so much packed into 18 verses I often feel like I need to sit a few minutes with each word before I can move on to the next one. The strength of this opening is that it tells you all you need to know about what the book is about without ruining the story telling process. In these opening verses, John wants to frame his gospel in a theology and prepare the reader for what is to come.
Much like a trailer does for a movie. Before a film is released the production company walks the thin line of piecing together enough enticing images to get a huge audience interested without giving away the whole film. After seeing a trailer you can tell others the general themes of the movie but it takes sitting through the whole thing to get the full message.
For this lesson you could show a trailer of a kid’s movie that is coming out if you have that capability. If you do not have screens, watch a trailer of a popular kid’s movie (like Moana) and recap it for your kids.
In your message say something like:
I have a video to show you (tell you about). (show movie or…) In this short video there was a girl who lived on a really beautiful island. Her family had been there a long time, but there was something bad happening to the land. Her family was worried but they believed a hero would come save them. This hero teamed up with a strong demigod and together they would save the world! They went on lots of scary but fun adventures on a boat, with a pet chicken. They had to fight living coconut people and jump into a really deep hole to see a monster.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? The video I saw (just showed you) is a trailer. Who knows what a trailer does? Yes! A trailer is a short video that gives a sneak peek for a movie that is coming out. In a trailer the makers want you to get excited about what is coming, but they also do not want to give too much away. Sometime the trailers try to confuse us a little so we are curious enough to come see the whole movie.
Today we are reading from the Gospel according to John. He opens with a really confusing trailer. He says things like “there once was this Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word came to earth.” What?! That is very confusing. What John was doing though was giving us a trailer to Jesus’ life. The rest of the book clarifies and makes the opening make more sense.
That makes me wonder — if someone was going to make a trailer for our lives what might be in there? If a trailer was going to be made of my life we would have to get to know the main characters, my family and friends. There would probably been parts of the big problems I have faced (f you feel comfortable include some struggles. It is good to show kids adult life isn’t always perfect), but then would give clues as to how I would solve those problems. There would be a lot of clues that show God is a big part of my life. In the Church we call this kind of story our testimony or a witness.
A testimony or witness gives a small short little peak into our lives. It specifically focuses on how God has been a part of one’s life. I challenge you to start thinking about and noticing moments that might make it into the trailer of your life. Let’s close with a prayer
Prayer: Directing God, you have given us all great stories to tell. Help us find a way to tell our stories this week. Amen.
Much like a trailer does for a movie. Before a film is released the production company walks the thin line of piecing together enough enticing images to get a huge audience interested without giving away the whole film. After seeing a trailer you can tell others the general themes of the movie but it takes sitting through the whole thing to get the full message.
For this lesson you could show a trailer of a kid’s movie that is coming out if you have that capability. If you do not have screens, watch a trailer of a popular kid’s movie (like Moana) and recap it for your kids.
In your message say something like:
I have a video to show you (tell you about). (show movie or…) In this short video there was a girl who lived on a really beautiful island. Her family had been there a long time, but there was something bad happening to the land. Her family was worried but they believed a hero would come save them. This hero teamed up with a strong demigod and together they would save the world! They went on lots of scary but fun adventures on a boat, with a pet chicken. They had to fight living coconut people and jump into a really deep hole to see a monster.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? The video I saw (just showed you) is a trailer. Who knows what a trailer does? Yes! A trailer is a short video that gives a sneak peek for a movie that is coming out. In a trailer the makers want you to get excited about what is coming, but they also do not want to give too much away. Sometime the trailers try to confuse us a little so we are curious enough to come see the whole movie.
Today we are reading from the Gospel according to John. He opens with a really confusing trailer. He says things like “there once was this Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word came to earth.” What?! That is very confusing. What John was doing though was giving us a trailer to Jesus’ life. The rest of the book clarifies and makes the opening make more sense.
That makes me wonder — if someone was going to make a trailer for our lives what might be in there? If a trailer was going to be made of my life we would have to get to know the main characters, my family and friends. There would probably been parts of the big problems I have faced (f you feel comfortable include some struggles. It is good to show kids adult life isn’t always perfect), but then would give clues as to how I would solve those problems. There would be a lot of clues that show God is a big part of my life. In the Church we call this kind of story our testimony or a witness.
A testimony or witness gives a small short little peak into our lives. It specifically focuses on how God has been a part of one’s life. I challenge you to start thinking about and noticing moments that might make it into the trailer of your life. Let’s close with a prayer
Prayer: Directing God, you have given us all great stories to tell. Help us find a way to tell our stories this week. Amen.
