Childrens Sermon Service

First Thoughts: This passage from John has a lot in it, and it is tempting for us to focus on the familiar and imagination-grabbing story at the beginning of it: the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. But on this Sunday I'd like to explore what happens a bit further on, in verse 15. It's an important action Jesus takes and gives us some idea of what it means for us too, in our lives of faith. When it becomes clear to Jesus that the people are overwhelmed by the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and they want to give him authority to rule them, he sneaks away as quickly as he can. This isn't the only time in scripture when Jesus balks at the crowd's attention. He's constantly trying to keep his miracles secret and to keep the crowd in the dark about who he really is. Why would that be? It can't merely be that Jesus is shy. When the crowd focuses too keenly on the work of Jesus, they are missing his real ministry, which isn't to perform amazing tasks or even to enact miraculous acts of healing. His main purpose is to point people toward God, in the prayer that they will commit themselves more profoundly to that relationship and to the life it brings. Jesus attempts to be an icon, an image that points beyond itself to a greater truth. When the crowd wants to make him their king, Jesus is in danger of no longer being an icon and becoming an idol. We can take this lesson to heart in our own religious communities. How often do we think of church ministries as belonging to one or another of the leaders or as a vehicle through demonstrating or exercising our own talents or gifts? The purpose of our lives as Christians in the exercise of our gifts and talents is always to point beyond ourselves to the God who gave us these gifts. We are in public view not to impress others with how great we are, or to gain influence over others, but only that others might look through us to see the power of God behind us and be drawn deeper into THAT relationship. Spend a few moments reflecting on your own ministry life, perhaps committing it afresh to being an icon of God. Carry that commitment and sensitivity with you in your time with the children.

Props You Will Need: none

Teaching As A Team:
Leader 2: Man, I had an amazing soccer game yesterday. I played great! I was all over the field, bringing the ball up the middle, to the side and around, kicking the ball, and heading it toward the goal. I was on fire!
Leader 1: Did you guys win the game?
Leader 2: No. The team didn't do so well. But it was a great game for ME!
Leader 1: Wait a minute. I'm confused. I thought the reason you're on a team was so you can work together to win the game.
Leader 2: Yeah, I guess so.
Leader 1: But it sounds like you were more interested in showing off how well you can play by yourself. You said you were all over the field but isn't everybody assigned a certain position? If you were everywhere, then you must have been taking the game away from some of your teammates.
Leader 2: I guess so -- once or twice.
Leader 1: And if you were always taking the shot for the goal that means you weren't doing much passing so that others could take a shot.
Leader 2: Okay, I didn't pass it much.
Leader 1: Maybe that's one of the reasons you lost the game. You weren't playing to win, just to show off.
Leader 2: (looks ashamed) Maybe you're right.
Leader 1: Our scripture passage today teaches us a lesson about that. It's a story about Jesus performing a great miracle. Jesus and his friends were out gathering in a mountainous place when all these people came to see him. There were about 5,000 people gathered, and they were hungry. Jesus felt sorry for them, and...
Leader 2: I know this part -- he took a few loaves of bread and a few fishes and broke them and broke them, and the more he broke the more food there was. In the end everyone had enough to eat and they had baskets of food left over.
Leader 1: That's right.
Leader 2: Jesus was a superstar that day!
Leader 1: The crowd certainly thought so. In fact, they were so excited with the miracle that they decided they wanted to make Jesus their king.
Leader 2: I bet they did. What better leader could you have than someone who can give you all the food you want?
Leader 1: But Jesus knew this would be the wrong thing to do, so he traveled into the mountains to get away from them.
Leader 2: I don't understand. Wouldn't it be a good thing for Jesus to be their leader?
Leader 1: But that wasn't what Jesus was supposed to do. His purpose on earth wasn't to be a superstar himself or to build his own army or kingdom. His purpose was to teach people about God and to lead them to a deeper relationship with God.
Leader 2: So he wanted people to be on "Team God" not "Team Jesus."
Leader 1: Exactly. Sometimes it's better not to be the star yourself, if your being a star is going to get in the way of the game.
Leader 2: I guess being a star isn't the most important thing when you're on a team, or when you're living the Christian life.
Leader 1: I think you're right.

Teaching On Your Own:
Hey guys! I had an amazing soccer game yesterday. I played great! I was all over the field, bringing the ball up the middle, to the side and around, kicking the ball, and heading it toward the goal. I was on fire! My team didn't do so well, and we didn't actually win the game. But it was a great game for ME! And that's what counts, right? You don't think so? But I did so well. Well, maybe I did a few things wrong. I mean, I was supposed to play one position on the field, but I ended up running into other people's areas too. And I didn't pass the ball very often so that others could shoot for a goal. Hey, maybe that's one of the reasons we lost the game. Because I wasn't really working with my team but was just trying to show off. Do you think that might have been a problem? Our scripture passage today teaches us a lesson about that. It's a story about Jesus performing a great miracle. Jesus and his friends were out gathering in a mountainous place when all these people came to see him. There were about 5,000 people gathered, and they were hungry. Jesus felt sorry for them. He took a few loaves of bread and a few fishes and broke them and broke them, and the more he broke the more food there was. In the end everyone had enough to eat and they had baskets of food left over. You know what the crowd thought when they saw all this? They thought Jesus was a superstar! In fact, they were so excited with the miracle that they decided they wanted to make Jesus their king. But Jesus knew this would be the wrong thing to do, so he traveled into the mountains to get away from them. Jesus knew that his purpose on earth wasn't to be a superstar himself or to build his own army or kingdom. His purpose was to teach people about God and to lead them to a deeper relationship with God. He wanted people to be on "Team God" not "Team Jesus." Sometimes it's better not to be the star yourself, if your being a star is going to get in the way of the game. Being a star isn't the most important thing when you're on a team, or when you're living the Christian life. Don't you agree?

Closing Prayer: Thank you, God, for inviting us to help you in building up your kingdom here on earth. We pray that we always work together on your team, to do the best we can to spread your love and joy in the world. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this lesson in a home or classroom setting, spend some time introducing to the children the idea of an icon. You might even bring some examples of icons for them to see. Explain that people made icons to help in prayer, and the purpose of an icon wasn't to be a great piece of art in itself but to point toward God. The icons were designed to reveal characteristics of God: kindness, love, patience, creativity, generosity, and so on. As we live Christian lives we too are called to be icons, so that people can look through and see what God is like. For a craft project, give the children paper and crayons and invite them to fill their page with lots of colors. Then give each child a black crayon and have them add a thick black layer on top of the colors. Finally give each child a paper clip and invite them to use the clip to draw their face on the page, by scraping away the black layer of crayon. When the children are done with their artwork they will see that, where their faces are visible, they can also see the beautiful colors lying beneath. That's our goal as Christians -- to reveal God's deepest colors in our lives, so that others will also want to be more full of God. Close your time in prayer.