What do you see?
Children's sermon
Object:
a Rorhschach image
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Who can tell me what they think this is a picture of? (show image, allow answers) We all might have different answers for this picture. Have you ever seen a picture like this before? (allow answers)
This picture is a special kind of picture. It is called a "Rorhschach (ROAR-sack) test." Special doctors call psychologists use this test. Psychologists are doctors who work with people who are sick, but they are different from the doctors you might see at the hospital. At the hospital, doctors work with people who have sick bodies -- broken bones, chicken pox, pneumonia. Psychologists are doctors for people whose bodies are okay, but whose minds are not okay. The people they work with might be very sad all of the time, or maybe the people they work with have trouble controlling their anger. One way psychologists learn more about their patients is to give them a Rorhschach test. They show the patients pictures just like the one I showed you and they ask them what the patient thinks it is a picture of. The patients will all give different answers. The psychologist studies the answer that a patient gives to figure out the best way to help their patient.
A Rorhscach test is a good example of how we don't always see things in the same way that other people do. In other words, we each have different perceptions. A perception is something that we see, feel, or understand. We might see a butterfly and our perception is that it is yellow -- but our friend might be wearing sunglasses and their perception is that the butterfly is brown. Or our perception is that it is a butterfly but their perception is that it is a moth. A perception is not necessarily right or wrong -- it is just the way that we see and understand the things around us.
Our gospel reading today talks about how people in Jesus' time had different perceptions about who Jesus was. Some people thought that he was Elijah, an old prophet, come back from the dead. Some people thought he was John the Baptist. Other people said he was a prophet from God. Some people said he was a fake. Jesus asked his disciples: "Who do you think I am?" Jesus still asks us that question today. "Who do you think I am?" What is your perception of Jesus? It doesn't matter what others say -- whether they say he is a prophet, or a fake, or an old hero come back from the dead. "Who do you think I am?" Jesus wants our faith to be based on what we believe and not on what other people tell us. Think about that this week: Who do you think that Jesus is? And what does that mean for you? Amen.
This picture is a special kind of picture. It is called a "Rorhschach (ROAR-sack) test." Special doctors call psychologists use this test. Psychologists are doctors who work with people who are sick, but they are different from the doctors you might see at the hospital. At the hospital, doctors work with people who have sick bodies -- broken bones, chicken pox, pneumonia. Psychologists are doctors for people whose bodies are okay, but whose minds are not okay. The people they work with might be very sad all of the time, or maybe the people they work with have trouble controlling their anger. One way psychologists learn more about their patients is to give them a Rorhschach test. They show the patients pictures just like the one I showed you and they ask them what the patient thinks it is a picture of. The patients will all give different answers. The psychologist studies the answer that a patient gives to figure out the best way to help their patient.
A Rorhscach test is a good example of how we don't always see things in the same way that other people do. In other words, we each have different perceptions. A perception is something that we see, feel, or understand. We might see a butterfly and our perception is that it is yellow -- but our friend might be wearing sunglasses and their perception is that the butterfly is brown. Or our perception is that it is a butterfly but their perception is that it is a moth. A perception is not necessarily right or wrong -- it is just the way that we see and understand the things around us.
Our gospel reading today talks about how people in Jesus' time had different perceptions about who Jesus was. Some people thought that he was Elijah, an old prophet, come back from the dead. Some people thought he was John the Baptist. Other people said he was a prophet from God. Some people said he was a fake. Jesus asked his disciples: "Who do you think I am?" Jesus still asks us that question today. "Who do you think I am?" What is your perception of Jesus? It doesn't matter what others say -- whether they say he is a prophet, or a fake, or an old hero come back from the dead. "Who do you think I am?" Jesus wants our faith to be based on what we believe and not on what other people tell us. Think about that this week: Who do you think that Jesus is? And what does that mean for you? Amen.
