You Make Me Feel Like A Grapefruit
Pastoral Resources
Gospel-Telling
The Art and Theology of Children's Sermons
Season: Baptism, birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Summary: The inclusion Jesus practiced did not require all of us to become the same but celebrates our differences.
Props: Several apples, a grapefruit, a banana, a few grapes
I have a short story for us today. One day an apple was coming down the road. Soon she was met by some other apples, and a few more. They all liked each other. They were friends. They formed a circle and talked with each other and played games and sang songs. (Place apples appropriately.)
Along came a grapefruit. (Hold it up.) He didn't really look like an apple. He was rounder and pinkish. But he saw the apples and asked if he could join their circle. They looked at one another and after a pause said, "All right." Even though the grapefruit was part of their circle, the apples continued to talk to each other and play games as if the grapefruit wasn't even there. The grapefruit thought to himself, "Why should I stay where I am not included," and left. (Place apples and grapefruit appropriately.)
Tell me, have you ever felt like a grapefruit? A little different? Left out? Maybe not even invited into a circle of friends? We all have. It's the feeling of being ignored, as if we weren't really there. The grapefruit wasn't included because he wasn't an apple. He wasn't red, but pink. There wasn't anything the grapefruit could do about that. That was how God made him.
Let me change the story by putting a figure of Jesus in the middle of the circle of apples. The grapefruit comes along and the apples invite him to join their circle. This time they talk with him and ask him to play and sing with them. And along comes a banana. She is tall and yellow and certainly doesn't look like an apple. They open their circles and invite her in. Along come a few grapes. (Place fruit appropriately.)
When Jesus said, "Let the children come to me," he meant all the children - those with rounder faces, those who are taller, those who are smaller. Jesus did not try to change who we are and say we must first all become like apples. He stands in the center of the circles we form and invites everyone in.
(A fitting conclusion would be to arrange the fruit as a fruit basket for the altar.)
Summary: The inclusion Jesus practiced did not require all of us to become the same but celebrates our differences.
Props: Several apples, a grapefruit, a banana, a few grapes
I have a short story for us today. One day an apple was coming down the road. Soon she was met by some other apples, and a few more. They all liked each other. They were friends. They formed a circle and talked with each other and played games and sang songs. (Place apples appropriately.)
Along came a grapefruit. (Hold it up.) He didn't really look like an apple. He was rounder and pinkish. But he saw the apples and asked if he could join their circle. They looked at one another and after a pause said, "All right." Even though the grapefruit was part of their circle, the apples continued to talk to each other and play games as if the grapefruit wasn't even there. The grapefruit thought to himself, "Why should I stay where I am not included," and left. (Place apples and grapefruit appropriately.)
Tell me, have you ever felt like a grapefruit? A little different? Left out? Maybe not even invited into a circle of friends? We all have. It's the feeling of being ignored, as if we weren't really there. The grapefruit wasn't included because he wasn't an apple. He wasn't red, but pink. There wasn't anything the grapefruit could do about that. That was how God made him.
Let me change the story by putting a figure of Jesus in the middle of the circle of apples. The grapefruit comes along and the apples invite him to join their circle. This time they talk with him and ask him to play and sing with them. And along comes a banana. She is tall and yellow and certainly doesn't look like an apple. They open their circles and invite her in. Along come a few grapes. (Place fruit appropriately.)
When Jesus said, "Let the children come to me," he meant all the children - those with rounder faces, those who are taller, those who are smaller. Jesus did not try to change who we are and say we must first all become like apples. He stands in the center of the circles we form and invites everyone in.
(A fitting conclusion would be to arrange the fruit as a fruit basket for the altar.)
