No boxes!
Children's sermon
Object:
boxes
How many of you are the oldest in your family? (Let them answer.) How many are the youngest? (Let them answer.) How
many of you are the only child in your family? (Let them answer.) Who is the tallest? (Let them answer.) Who is the
shortest? (Let them answer.) Sometimes people will treat us as something other than a person. It's like putting people into
boxes.
Here's a box. Into this box we'll put those people we consider "naughty people," and into this box we'll put those we consider "nice people." We could have boxes for all kinds of people: oldest people, youngest, only child, tallest, shortest, and on and on.
That's what happened to Jesus one day when he went back to his hometown of Nazareth. He went to the synagogue, which is a place very much like the church building today, and he began to teach the people. But when the people looked at Jesus, they didn't see the Savior of the world. Instead they saw Jesus as being a brother to James, Joses, Judas, and Simon and his sisters. They could not hear Jesus talk about being the Son of God because they saw him as being the son of Mary and Joseph.
You could say they put Jesus in a box. It was a box called, "We know him -- he's a son and a brother." They could not see him as being more than that.
Sometimes we put people in boxes. We look at the color of their skin and think that everyone of that skin color acts the same. We look at the boys and say, "All boys act alike." Or, we look at the girls and say, "All girls are the same." We look at people from certain families and say, "That's the way those people are." It's like putting people in boxes, isn't it? (Let them answer.)
But we don't have to put people in boxes and we don't have to let people put us in boxes either. We are all individuals and different from one another. God made each person special so that we can see the specialness in each person and treat each one with respect. I'm glad we're not all the same!
Dearest God: Thank you for our differences. Amen.
Here's a box. Into this box we'll put those people we consider "naughty people," and into this box we'll put those we consider "nice people." We could have boxes for all kinds of people: oldest people, youngest, only child, tallest, shortest, and on and on.
That's what happened to Jesus one day when he went back to his hometown of Nazareth. He went to the synagogue, which is a place very much like the church building today, and he began to teach the people. But when the people looked at Jesus, they didn't see the Savior of the world. Instead they saw Jesus as being a brother to James, Joses, Judas, and Simon and his sisters. They could not hear Jesus talk about being the Son of God because they saw him as being the son of Mary and Joseph.
You could say they put Jesus in a box. It was a box called, "We know him -- he's a son and a brother." They could not see him as being more than that.
Sometimes we put people in boxes. We look at the color of their skin and think that everyone of that skin color acts the same. We look at the boys and say, "All boys act alike." Or, we look at the girls and say, "All girls are the same." We look at people from certain families and say, "That's the way those people are." It's like putting people in boxes, isn't it? (Let them answer.)
But we don't have to put people in boxes and we don't have to let people put us in boxes either. We are all individuals and different from one another. God made each person special so that we can see the specialness in each person and treat each one with respect. I'm glad we're not all the same!
Dearest God: Thank you for our differences. Amen.
