Crumbs
Children's sermon
Cows In Church
80 Biblically Based Children's Sermons
Object:
A saltine cracker in a plastic bag.
This is a difficult text even for adults. In order to help the children make some sense out of it, I have brought a saltine cracker in a baggie. I begin by asking the kids, "Do you know what a crumb is?" No one is sure enough to describe a crumb to me, so I take the baggie with the cracker out of my pocket, hold it up and ask, "Is this a crumb?"
"No!" I am told, "It's a cracker!"
"That's right. It's a cracker. But what if I do this...?" With those words I crush the cracker (still in the baggie to contain the crumbs). "Now," I continue, holding up the crunched pieces, "do I still have a cracker?"
"No, you have a bag of crumbs."
"Aha!" I respond. "So, now we know what a crumb is. It's a piece of something -- a very small piece. Crumbs are what is left on your plate when you finish eating a piece of cake. Crumbs are what fall off the loaf when the bread is broken during communion. Crumbs are the little parts no one really misses or cares about, except ...
I wonder, do any of you have a pet?"
Many of the children indicate with nods that they do, so I begin asking what these pets might be. As luck would have it, every single one of the children present has a cat. Being particularly fond of cats myself, this would normally not be a problem. But this morning, in view of the lectionary text, we obviously needed to talk about dogs.
"Do any of you have a friend who has a dog?" Several children indicate they do.
"Are these dogs allowed to come in the house?" Again, the response is affirmative.
"Well, if one of these dogs was in the house while the family was eating dinner and if a crumb of food dropped off the table to the floor, what do you suppose would happen to the crumb?"
"The dog would eat it!" comes the instant reply.
"Yes," I agree, "that's what I think would happen too. Now, we've already seen that a crumb is a very small piece of something, so small that usually no one wants it. But we weren't thinking about dogs. Sometimes dogs are very happy to have the crumbs from our tables -- the scraps no one else wants.
"We're talking about this today because of a conversation Jesus had with a woman who asked him for some help. Jesus told her, 'It's not right for me to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.' Then the woman replied, 'Even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.'
"What she meant by saying that to him was that she didn't need very much. All she was asking for was what no one else would want or miss -- just a crumb. So Jesus gave her what she needed.
"You know, sometimes we have things in our lives we don't want -- not crumbs exactly, but toys we don't play with anymore, clothes we've grown out of and don't wear anymore, things we might throw away that someone else might use. Things that seem like trash to us may be a real treasure to someone else. This story about Jesus and the woman tells us we need to be aware of how little it takes sometimes to fill another's need; sometimes just a few crumbs are enough."
"No!" I am told, "It's a cracker!"
"That's right. It's a cracker. But what if I do this...?" With those words I crush the cracker (still in the baggie to contain the crumbs). "Now," I continue, holding up the crunched pieces, "do I still have a cracker?"
"No, you have a bag of crumbs."
"Aha!" I respond. "So, now we know what a crumb is. It's a piece of something -- a very small piece. Crumbs are what is left on your plate when you finish eating a piece of cake. Crumbs are what fall off the loaf when the bread is broken during communion. Crumbs are the little parts no one really misses or cares about, except ...
I wonder, do any of you have a pet?"
Many of the children indicate with nods that they do, so I begin asking what these pets might be. As luck would have it, every single one of the children present has a cat. Being particularly fond of cats myself, this would normally not be a problem. But this morning, in view of the lectionary text, we obviously needed to talk about dogs.
"Do any of you have a friend who has a dog?" Several children indicate they do.
"Are these dogs allowed to come in the house?" Again, the response is affirmative.
"Well, if one of these dogs was in the house while the family was eating dinner and if a crumb of food dropped off the table to the floor, what do you suppose would happen to the crumb?"
"The dog would eat it!" comes the instant reply.
"Yes," I agree, "that's what I think would happen too. Now, we've already seen that a crumb is a very small piece of something, so small that usually no one wants it. But we weren't thinking about dogs. Sometimes dogs are very happy to have the crumbs from our tables -- the scraps no one else wants.
"We're talking about this today because of a conversation Jesus had with a woman who asked him for some help. Jesus told her, 'It's not right for me to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.' Then the woman replied, 'Even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.'
"What she meant by saying that to him was that she didn't need very much. All she was asking for was what no one else would want or miss -- just a crumb. So Jesus gave her what she needed.
"You know, sometimes we have things in our lives we don't want -- not crumbs exactly, but toys we don't play with anymore, clothes we've grown out of and don't wear anymore, things we might throw away that someone else might use. Things that seem like trash to us may be a real treasure to someone else. This story about Jesus and the woman tells us we need to be aware of how little it takes sometimes to fill another's need; sometimes just a few crumbs are enough."
