Davison's Doodle

Sacred Steps

Each Wednesday during the winter and spring I’ll post some ideas to help you think about crafting the 5-7 minutes of worship called the children’s moment or children’s sermon. Even in pandemic time congregations are including this aspect of worship, usually prerecorded, but sometimes safely masked and distanced in the live stream on Sunday.

A few years back my companion and I published a weekly subscription called, “Sacred Steps: Children’s Sermon Journal.” It was exegesis and commentary on each lectionary text for the week along with some starter ideas for crafting the children’s sermon. I condensed the three years to just the ideas for each week. You can find those ebooks on this site if you want to purchase a copy.

Who knows, some of these suggestions might apply to the sermon or homily for Sunday.

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

• One way to approach the story with the children is to think about it, and talk about it, like a family reunion or gathering for a holiday.  There are stories that are always told, foods shared, and the entire family (that can make the journey) is together.
• One could also use a family bible, or an old bible from your congregation’s archives, to talk with the children about the gathering of people in Nehemiah.  They heard words from the Torah for this special gathering and celebration.  We do the same kind of thing for important moments and each week during worship.  You could bring your family bible or the congregation’s first or older bible and talk about the memories that it represents as well as the stories that are in it.

Psalm 19

• This psalm is another opportunity to talk with the children about how all creation helps us know or understand God.  Animals, air, water, and the sun don’t speak, but they help us know something about God in their beauty, constant existence, and our trust that the sun will rise tomorrow.
• You could focus on adding to the “images of God” list (a poster to create and refer to during the year). The image of God as a rock.  What does that mean, and how is it a helpful way to think about God?

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

• A fellowship pot-luck could be a good teaching metaphor for this text.  We all bring different foods to share:  some our favorite, some our family recipes, some just what we do best; but we bring all the food to share.  It doesn’t matter if you brought chips, the ice for the drinks, or the fried chicken, all are important for the meal.
• If you have several persons willing to help, one could talk with the children about all the different skills in the church. “Children it takes many different people for our congregation to offer ministry here in our community.” (I suggest you identify the people, by name, who have skills your congregation relies on to do the work.  Someone from property, an elder that visits the shut-ins or sick, computer skills, the prayer group, etc). 
• Three weeks of children’s sermons could be crafted from this “spiritual gifts” text.  Week 1:  Understanding how the church defines gifts.  Week 2: What are spiritual gifts, and how do they help the common good of your congregation?  Week 3: What spiritual gifts do you think the children embody, and who in the congregation could help them develop their gifts?

Luke 4:14-21

• You could talk with the children about doing what is right even when it is not popular.
• This is an opportunity to talk with the children about doing the kinds of things that Jesus did.  How do the children help the poor?  What does it mean to be “oppressed”, and how does your congregation work in this area of ministry?  Another way to help the children understand how they participate in your congregation would be to explain how your congregation fulfills the scripture as followers of Jesus, bringing:  good news to the poor, release for the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed.

Paragraphs from SSCSJ

A few paragraphs from Sacred Steps: Children’s Sermon Journal for Jan 20, 2013.

Psalm 36:5-10
How would you describe the “steadfast love” of God to a stranger or someone in your Sunday school class?  Imagine this as your assignment before you come to the sacred steps this week to talk with the children about this text.  The writer of Psalm 36 provided several descriptions of God’s steadfast love (e.g., “precious”, “extends to the heavens”), but the psalmist never actually defines what is meant by God’s steadfast love.  Is it beyond expression or understanding, perhaps?  The “Kairos CoMotion Lectionary Dialogue” suggests that, in Ps 36, “love is a given background”1 for understanding God.  I can affirm that image for God and God’s love for creation.  But, “steadfast love” is something very different.  In Hebrew, the word translated here as “steadfast love” (hesed) is primarily used only to describe God’s relationship to God’s people.  It is a passionate and fierce love; it is a protective love like that of a mother bear robbed of her cubs (Hosea 13:8).  God’s “steadfast love” endures forever and refuses to give up on God’s creation (or us).

Isaiah 62:1-5
Out of the laments of mourning and despair, a prophet stepped out from among the people and proclaimed words of encouragement. Without denying their pain and disillusionment, this messenger of God was called to preach hope. These promises of God, spoken by the prophet, were indeed good news.  This week’s reading from Isaiah (62:1-5) specifically describes the future restoration of Zion/Jerusalem.  In the midst of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the prophet spoke of the day when Jerusalem would once again be a city that shone with Divine presence.  Its builders would be well-pleased with the result of their hard work.  Until that day when Zion received its vindication and was given back its dignity (v 2), the voice behind Isaiah 62:1-5 encouraged the people not to give-up, holding before them a vision of what could be (v 3).

1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Many Christians, primarily evangelical and pentecostal, focus on the last five gifts listed: healing, working miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and various kinds of tongues.  Why do some Christians assign more value to these, rather than the first two, which explicitly mention speaking “wisdom and knowledge”?  Is it easier to discern gifts of the Spirit that include a “leap of faith,” rather than wisdom or knowledge, because the latter can be assessed or measured?

John 2:1-11
I read the Gospel of John as if it is a theological handbook for believers, specifically new believers, rather than an account about the life, times, and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.  The author of John is writing from an overt “Christ of faith” perspective.10  As such, the author is making a case for the divinity of the pre-existent Jesus (metaphor of the “Word with God” in chapter 1).  This first act of Jesus’ public ministry, performing a miracle, begins the case for “incarnate God” in Jesus.  Chapters 1 and 2 set-up a foreshadowing of “days” that culminates in 2:1 with, “On the third day.”  At this wedding party, on the third day, which if you look closely is either the fourth day in John’s story or a continuance of the previous day [or the third day of the wedding feast], a metamorphosis happens that involves Jesus.  This scene is John’s hint that, when you hang around with Jesus, things change.  What has changed in your life, since you became a follower of Jesus?