Weeds
Children's sermon
Object:
a weed (a well-known weed is a dandelion)
And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, "Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?" (v. 27)
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) How many of you have had to deal with weeds before? (allow answers) Who can tell me what a weed is? (allow answers) Weeds are plants that we don't want. Sometimes they grow in the grass in our yards. Sometimes they grow in our gardens or our fields. Weeds are not good! Sometimes they have thorns and they prick your feet when you step on them. Sometimes they have vines and they choke the good plants by growing over them. People who grow plants know that it is hard work to get weeds out of a garden or a flower bed.
Today our gospel lesson talks about weeds. The lesson tells the story of a farmer who planted good seeds in his field, but then weeds grew up with the good plants. The farmer's servants are upset. It takes so much work to get rid of weeds! They want to throw up their hands -- what went wrong?
Sometimes in our lives we try to do really good things. We are kind to other people. We help our friends and neighbors. We do our best to love and serve God. But sometimes bad things happen. Weeds pop up in our lives. We might say, "What did I do wrong?! I planted only good seeds, and bad things keep happening to me!"
In our gospel story, the farmer had an enemy who planted weeds in his fields. Sometimes in our lives we might have people who don't like us and who help make bad things happen. But sometimes bad things just happen. We will probably always have some weeds in our yards and in our lives. Sometimes, we might even deserve the weeds: maybe we neglected our yard -- we didn't water it or take care of it and the weeds moved in. And maybe sometimes we neglect our lives -- we don't pay attention to the people who are the most important to us, or we make bad decisions because we have other things to do. So sometimes we can say that we are the reason we have weeds.
But many times, weeds just happen. You can take better care of your yard than anyone else on the street and still have dandelions on the front lawn. You can be the nicest, kindest person anyone has ever met and still have problems with your family or your friends or your job or at school.
We all have weeds in our lives. But do you know what? There is a Master Gardener who can help us with those. The Master Gardner can help us find a way to keep the weeds from killing the good plants -- the good things -- in our lives. That Master Gardener is God. And he will always be there to help us deal with our weeds. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) How many of you have had to deal with weeds before? (allow answers) Who can tell me what a weed is? (allow answers) Weeds are plants that we don't want. Sometimes they grow in the grass in our yards. Sometimes they grow in our gardens or our fields. Weeds are not good! Sometimes they have thorns and they prick your feet when you step on them. Sometimes they have vines and they choke the good plants by growing over them. People who grow plants know that it is hard work to get weeds out of a garden or a flower bed.
Today our gospel lesson talks about weeds. The lesson tells the story of a farmer who planted good seeds in his field, but then weeds grew up with the good plants. The farmer's servants are upset. It takes so much work to get rid of weeds! They want to throw up their hands -- what went wrong?
Sometimes in our lives we try to do really good things. We are kind to other people. We help our friends and neighbors. We do our best to love and serve God. But sometimes bad things happen. Weeds pop up in our lives. We might say, "What did I do wrong?! I planted only good seeds, and bad things keep happening to me!"
In our gospel story, the farmer had an enemy who planted weeds in his fields. Sometimes in our lives we might have people who don't like us and who help make bad things happen. But sometimes bad things just happen. We will probably always have some weeds in our yards and in our lives. Sometimes, we might even deserve the weeds: maybe we neglected our yard -- we didn't water it or take care of it and the weeds moved in. And maybe sometimes we neglect our lives -- we don't pay attention to the people who are the most important to us, or we make bad decisions because we have other things to do. So sometimes we can say that we are the reason we have weeds.
But many times, weeds just happen. You can take better care of your yard than anyone else on the street and still have dandelions on the front lawn. You can be the nicest, kindest person anyone has ever met and still have problems with your family or your friends or your job or at school.
We all have weeds in our lives. But do you know what? There is a Master Gardener who can help us with those. The Master Gardner can help us find a way to keep the weeds from killing the good plants -- the good things -- in our lives. That Master Gardener is God. And he will always be there to help us deal with our weeds. Amen.
