Wearing the Right Glasses
Children's sermon
Object:
3-D glasses that are sticking out of Leader 2's pocket
First Thoughts: This passage from John is a continuation of Jesus' earlier discourse on being the Bread of Life. This time Jesus makes a connection between his coming to earth and the way the children of Israel received manna from heaven. One note that I've always found intriguing is the origin of the word manna, which comes from a Hebrew word meaning, "What is it?" I've always thought it was funny to think of the people of Israel waking up one morning, seeing this weird white stuff all over the ground, scratching their heads in confusion, and saying "What the heck is this stuff?" It's an amusing picture, but also a cautionary tale. If we're not prepared for it, we can easily trample God's miracles underfoot, unseen and unknown. The same danger was true for the people in Jesus' day, because they were looking for a particular kind of Messiah, they are in danger of missing the miracle of Jesus' ministry right in front of them. We do well to take this challenge to heart. How do we prepare our eyes every day to see God's presence in our lives? How do we make our intention to find miracles in the grass beneath our feet? It is a good question for any believer to ponder in our walk with God and for us to use in preparing for our time with the children. (Be prepared for a miracle with them as well!)
Teaching As A Team:
Leader 1: So, (name), what did you do last night?
Leader 2: I went to see a movie.
Leader 1: How was it?
Leader 2: It was okay. My friends thought it was awesome though. They said they could see the action coming right at them, almost like they could reach out and touch the movie. But I really didn't know what they were talking about. It just looked kind of normal to me.
Leader 1: (spots the glasses in his pocket) Hmm, I think I might know your problem. (pulls out the glasses) Did you forget to put these on?
Leader 2: My 3-D glasses. Yes! They were in my pocket the whole time.
Leader 1: If you don't wear the glasses to a 3-D movie, it looks the same as any other movie. That brings us to our scripture lesson today.
Leader 2: How do 3-D glasses teach us about scripture?
Leader 1: 3-D glasses help your eyes see movies a certain way, and as Christians we need a special kind of seeing so we recognize God's miracles. Our story today is about when the people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. They grew hungry on their journey and asked God to help them. God said that God would feed them with bread from heaven. So everyone woke up one morning and they found all this white stuff on the ground. They didn't know what it was, and they said, "Manna" which means "What is this stuff?"
Leader 2: Maybe they were expecting God to feed them with pizza or hamburgers.
Leader 1: Maybe. Then somebody remembered God's promise and tasted the white stuff and discovered it was sweet and that -- if you gathered enough of it together -- you could make a loaf of bread. Since they almost didn't recognize God's miracle, they called the bread "manna," to remind them to pay attention to things and to search for God's miracles. Otherwise they could miss the bread of heaven.
Leader 2: Didn't Jesus say he was the bread of heaven just last week?
Leader 1: That's right! And in today's lesson, Jesus reminds us that he comes to us like manna -- straight from heaven. But, just like the manna, some people had a hard time recognizing Jesus when he came. Maybe they thought Jesus would be bigger or stronger, or that he would be a powerful leader. Whatever the reason, they missed the gift of Jesus' life because they just weren't paying enough attention.
Leader 2: How can we look for Jesus in our lives?
Leader 1: Well, we can start every morning by putting on our Jesus glasses and by praying to God to open our eyes to God's miracles and our hearts to God's love.
Leader 2: I'm gonna do that right now. (puts on 3-D glasses) Now -- I'm ready for a miracle!
Teaching On Your Own: (with glasses hanging out of a pocket or sitting on top of head) Hey everybody, know what I did last night? I went out to see that new 3-D movie. My friends thought it was awesome. They were jumping and grabbing at things from the screen, like they could almost reach them. But to me it just seemed like a regular old movie. Why do you think it didn't work for me? What do you need to wear in a 3-D movie in order to really see all the special effects? You need glasses. But I couldn't find mine. Do you see them anywhere? Here they are! If you don't wear these special glasses to a 3-D movie, you just don't see things the same way, do you? That brings us to our scripture lesson today. Just like 3-D glasses help your eyes see movies a certain way, as Christians we need a special kind of seeing too, so we can see and recognize God's miracles. Our story today is about when the people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. They grew hungry on their journey and asked God to help them. God said that God would feed them with bread from heaven. So everyone woke up one morning and they found all this white stuff on the ground. They didn't know what it was, and they said, "manna" which means "What is this stuff?" Maybe they were expecting God to feed them with pizza or hamburgers. Anyway somebody remembered God's promise and tasted the white stuff and discovered it was sweet and that -- if you gathered enough of it together -- you could make a loaf of bread. They almost didn't recognize God's miracle and so they called the bread "manna," to remind them to pay attention to things, and to search for God's miracles. Remember last week, when Jesus said he was the bread of life? In today's lesson, Jesus reminds us that he comes to us like manna -- straight from heaven. But, just like the manna, some people had a hard time recognizing Jesus when he came. Maybe they thought Jesus would be bigger or stronger or that he would be a powerful leader. Whatever the reason, they missed the gift of Jesus' life because they just weren't paying enough attention. Does anyone have any ideas how we can look for Jesus in our lives? Well, we can start every morning by putting on our Jesus glasses and by praying to God to open our eyes to God's miracles and our hearts to God's love. I'm gonna do that right now. (puts on 3-D glasses) Now -- I'm ready for a miracle! How about you?
Closing Prayer: Loving God, open and renew our eyes, so that we can see your miracles all around us. Help us to celebrate your love and to share it with others in our life. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this lesson in a home or classroom environment, spend some time talking about all the miracles God performs for us each day: keeping our bodies alive, bringing the sun each morning, providing us with food, giving us friends who love us. If we stop to think about it, God really does a lot for us each day. Talk a bit about gratitude. Gratitude is a state of mind in which we are mindful for all the good things in our lives right now. Sometimes it's easy for us to fixate on what's going wrong, even if it's just a couple of things. Gratitude reminds us to stay balanced. In any one moment maybe three things are wrong, but at least a thousand things are right! Encourage the children to think of ways they can practice the very important spiritual discipline of gratitude. Maybe they can start each day thanking God for the sunrise and asking God to guide them in their seeing that day. Maybe they can spend time at night just before going to bed reflecting on all the ways God has cared for them that day. For a craft project provide the children with a variety of different colored pipe cleaners and tell them they're going to make "Jesus glasses." They can use 3-5 different cleaners to shape the eye pieces and ear rests. Remind them that when they look at these glasses or put them on, it's their reminder to let God open their eyes today to see the miracles of God's love. Close with prayer.
Teaching As A Team:
Leader 1: So, (name), what did you do last night?
Leader 2: I went to see a movie.
Leader 1: How was it?
Leader 2: It was okay. My friends thought it was awesome though. They said they could see the action coming right at them, almost like they could reach out and touch the movie. But I really didn't know what they were talking about. It just looked kind of normal to me.
Leader 1: (spots the glasses in his pocket) Hmm, I think I might know your problem. (pulls out the glasses) Did you forget to put these on?
Leader 2: My 3-D glasses. Yes! They were in my pocket the whole time.
Leader 1: If you don't wear the glasses to a 3-D movie, it looks the same as any other movie. That brings us to our scripture lesson today.
Leader 2: How do 3-D glasses teach us about scripture?
Leader 1: 3-D glasses help your eyes see movies a certain way, and as Christians we need a special kind of seeing so we recognize God's miracles. Our story today is about when the people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. They grew hungry on their journey and asked God to help them. God said that God would feed them with bread from heaven. So everyone woke up one morning and they found all this white stuff on the ground. They didn't know what it was, and they said, "Manna" which means "What is this stuff?"
Leader 2: Maybe they were expecting God to feed them with pizza or hamburgers.
Leader 1: Maybe. Then somebody remembered God's promise and tasted the white stuff and discovered it was sweet and that -- if you gathered enough of it together -- you could make a loaf of bread. Since they almost didn't recognize God's miracle, they called the bread "manna," to remind them to pay attention to things and to search for God's miracles. Otherwise they could miss the bread of heaven.
Leader 2: Didn't Jesus say he was the bread of heaven just last week?
Leader 1: That's right! And in today's lesson, Jesus reminds us that he comes to us like manna -- straight from heaven. But, just like the manna, some people had a hard time recognizing Jesus when he came. Maybe they thought Jesus would be bigger or stronger, or that he would be a powerful leader. Whatever the reason, they missed the gift of Jesus' life because they just weren't paying enough attention.
Leader 2: How can we look for Jesus in our lives?
Leader 1: Well, we can start every morning by putting on our Jesus glasses and by praying to God to open our eyes to God's miracles and our hearts to God's love.
Leader 2: I'm gonna do that right now. (puts on 3-D glasses) Now -- I'm ready for a miracle!
Teaching On Your Own: (with glasses hanging out of a pocket or sitting on top of head) Hey everybody, know what I did last night? I went out to see that new 3-D movie. My friends thought it was awesome. They were jumping and grabbing at things from the screen, like they could almost reach them. But to me it just seemed like a regular old movie. Why do you think it didn't work for me? What do you need to wear in a 3-D movie in order to really see all the special effects? You need glasses. But I couldn't find mine. Do you see them anywhere? Here they are! If you don't wear these special glasses to a 3-D movie, you just don't see things the same way, do you? That brings us to our scripture lesson today. Just like 3-D glasses help your eyes see movies a certain way, as Christians we need a special kind of seeing too, so we can see and recognize God's miracles. Our story today is about when the people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. They grew hungry on their journey and asked God to help them. God said that God would feed them with bread from heaven. So everyone woke up one morning and they found all this white stuff on the ground. They didn't know what it was, and they said, "manna" which means "What is this stuff?" Maybe they were expecting God to feed them with pizza or hamburgers. Anyway somebody remembered God's promise and tasted the white stuff and discovered it was sweet and that -- if you gathered enough of it together -- you could make a loaf of bread. They almost didn't recognize God's miracle and so they called the bread "manna," to remind them to pay attention to things, and to search for God's miracles. Remember last week, when Jesus said he was the bread of life? In today's lesson, Jesus reminds us that he comes to us like manna -- straight from heaven. But, just like the manna, some people had a hard time recognizing Jesus when he came. Maybe they thought Jesus would be bigger or stronger or that he would be a powerful leader. Whatever the reason, they missed the gift of Jesus' life because they just weren't paying enough attention. Does anyone have any ideas how we can look for Jesus in our lives? Well, we can start every morning by putting on our Jesus glasses and by praying to God to open our eyes to God's miracles and our hearts to God's love. I'm gonna do that right now. (puts on 3-D glasses) Now -- I'm ready for a miracle! How about you?
Closing Prayer: Loving God, open and renew our eyes, so that we can see your miracles all around us. Help us to celebrate your love and to share it with others in our life. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this lesson in a home or classroom environment, spend some time talking about all the miracles God performs for us each day: keeping our bodies alive, bringing the sun each morning, providing us with food, giving us friends who love us. If we stop to think about it, God really does a lot for us each day. Talk a bit about gratitude. Gratitude is a state of mind in which we are mindful for all the good things in our lives right now. Sometimes it's easy for us to fixate on what's going wrong, even if it's just a couple of things. Gratitude reminds us to stay balanced. In any one moment maybe three things are wrong, but at least a thousand things are right! Encourage the children to think of ways they can practice the very important spiritual discipline of gratitude. Maybe they can start each day thanking God for the sunrise and asking God to guide them in their seeing that day. Maybe they can spend time at night just before going to bed reflecting on all the ways God has cared for them that day. For a craft project provide the children with a variety of different colored pipe cleaners and tell them they're going to make "Jesus glasses." They can use 3-5 different cleaners to shape the eye pieces and ear rests. Remind them that when they look at these glasses or put them on, it's their reminder to let God open their eyes today to see the miracles of God's love. Close with prayer.
