Children'sMessages:
Children's sermon: The Gratitude Attitude
by Frank Schaefer
Hi boys and girls, today we will talk about a very important word.
And that word is . . . "thanks." If I didn't know better I'd say this word
has magical powers. You know why? Because it makes people smile. Have
you ever noticed that? It doesn't always work, but most of the time when we say
"thank you" to someone, they smile. It makes them feel good to be thanked.
When do you use that word "thanks?" When do you say
"thanks" to someone? (let the children name examples and encourage their
answers).
I have another question: do you think that we can say "thanks"
to God too? (Nod slightly to encourage the yes answer) What do you think, does God smile
when you say "thank you" to him? (Nod slightly). Yes, you are
absolutely right: the bible tells us that God likes our offerings of thanksgiving and
praise. It makes God feel good.
And actually, that's what we're doing today (tonight): we have a
Thanksgiving Service. What do we thank God for? (let the children give answers, help
only if they are stuck; if you have fruits/ears of grain, etc. on the altar you may want
to point to them).
How about if we give God thanks right now and pray a little prayer
together?
Thanksgiving Cards for God
Props: Have available simple thank you cards on colorful paper.
Ask: have you ever sent a thank you card to someone? Has anyone in your
family? What were you given? Have you ever made a card for God?
Next, you may talk about the weekly offering and its use for the church,
missions, and help for the community. (Be prepared: some children think the minister gets
to keep the money).
What other ways can we show thanks? What can kids do? Invite them to make
thank-you cards for God, and suggest to hang them up in the Sunday School room, church
lobby, etc.
A Child's Thanksgiving Prayer
(may be prayed by the entire congregation)
On Thanksgiving Day,
I thank God for my family and my sister.
I thank God for the rain and the sun.
I thank God for my Teddy Bear.
I thank God for my teachers and for my friends.
I thank you, God, for life and love.
On Thanksgiving Day,
I pray to God for all the poor people
who are hungry today because
they have no food, no home, no family
and no friends. They are all alone.
Only God remembers the poor.
On Thanksgiving Day,
I pray for the children who are hungry,
who have no parents, and no loving church.
I pray that God will spend Thanksgiving with them.
Please God visit me and love me;
I am not poor, but I love you too.
Sermons
Sermon (Subscription Content):
“A Cure for Spoiled-ness”
a dialog sermon for Thanksgiving
based on Deuteronomy 8:7-18
By Jim from B.C.
A: You look terrible. What's the problem?
B: My mother died in June, and left me $10,000.
A: Gee, that's tough.
B: Then in July, my father died. He left me $50,000.
A: Wow. Two parents gone in two months. No wonder you're depressed.
B: And last month my aunt died, and left me $15,000.
A: Three close family members lost in three months?? How sad!
B: Then this past month, nothing! Not a dime!
A: (Pause) Well, you sure have your priorities right.
B: Hey, don’t be sarcastic. I’ll have you know that I saved all
that money I inherited.
A: You did?
B: Yeah, until yesterday, when I went out and bought a new Mercedes.
A: What?
B: Yeah, it cost more than I had, so I traded in my Cadillac. I was going
to use the inheritance money to buy a small car for each of my three kids, but I decided
against that.
A: Why was that?
B: My kids are spoiled! I’ve given them everything they’ve ever
asked for! They have so many toys and games and other goods that they’re
starting to complain even at Christmas.
A: You mean, if the present isn’t big enough or costly enough, they
don’t appreciate it?
B: Not only don’t appreciate it, but they want to take it back to the store
and get the bigger and better model.
A: But don’t they even say “thank you” when you give them a present?
B: Yeah, sure! They get down on their hands and knees like Muslims, and bow
before me three times a day, saying: “O giver of all good things, a thousand thanks!
How can we ever repay you?!”
A: You’re getting sarcastic again.
B: Sorry. I was thinking: How is it that we human beings so easily
get spoiled?
A: It’s pretty easy these days. God gives us more food and clothing
than we need. God gives us more TV and movies and entertainment than we need.
God give us freedom to walk the streets without being shot and comfortable beds to sleep
in when we come home. We have so much, that it’s easy to take it all for
granted, as if it were normal.
B: Now that I think of it, there are in many countries in the world where people
don’t have all those things that are normal and ordinary to us.
A: Even doctors and hospitals and schools and churches.
B: God wouldn’t take those things away from us, would he?
A: It’s possible. It happened to the ancient Israelites, way back in
Old Testament times. You can read about it in the Bible. When God brought the
Israelites into the Promised Land, the land was so rich with food and water and trees and
wild-life, that they became spoiled. They called it a land of milk and honey.
But they soon forgot who gave it all to them.
B: You mean, forgot about God.
A: Right. In the book of Deuteronomy, God spoke through Moses to the people,
saying, “When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them,
and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied,
and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery . . . He made
water flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your
ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. Do
not say to yourself, "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this
wealth." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get
wealth.”
B: That’s what God said?
A: That’s right.
B: So being spoiled and thankless is nothing new.
A: Perhaps we would be more thankful if we remembered who owns the earth and owns our
natural resources and owns us.
B: Our Creator, you mean.
A: Yes, and every time we forget, God is so kind that he allows us to come back to him
and say we’re sorry. God forgives us as many times as we sincerely ask him.
B: So we need to remember that the God who created us, also loves us.
A: Right, and God showed that love most clearly by coming to earth at Christmas, being
our Messiah/Christ, and dying for us, atoning for all our sins, so that we could always be
on good terms with God.
B: So God owns us twice. Once because he created us and once and for all because
he redeemed us.
A: Yes, the word “redeemed” means that Christ bought us back from our
ignorance and delusions of self-ownership. For this, above all, we should be
thankful.
B: How can we help people appreciate the goodness of God and the dangers of being
spoiled?
A: Well, for one thing: by telling the Bible stories of how God showed his love
in the past. For another thing, telling our OWN stories of God’s goodness to
us, how God has given to us, or taken away from us, and what we’ve learned from it.
B: I heard a story the other day that might help to get the point across. It
seems there was a group of scientists got together and decided that humanity had come a
long way and no longer needed God. So they picked one scientist to go and break the
news to God. "We can clone humans now, so we don't need you," they said.
God listened very kindly, then suggested, "Why don't we have a contest to see
who can make the best human? "Great!" said the scientist.
"And we're going to do this just
like I did back in the old days with Eve and Adam." "Sure, no problem,"
said the scientist, and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt. "No, no,
no," said God. "You go get your own dirt!"
Thanksgiving
Matthew 6: 26-33
by Iowa Starr
I finally got to walk the nature trail over at the Amana’s a few weeks ago.
Andrea, Ben and Zach took me out there. It’s a nice walk and it only takes a few
steps out of the parking lot before you feel like you’re really out there in the
woods. That’s nice too. You all know I like to hike, and hiking any time of year is
good. But in the fall it’s very nice. I like the sound of leaves crunching under
foot. I like the autumn colors, and when you take a deep breath it smells so nice - like
Heaven’s spice rack, one of my friends says.
It’s beautiful here, but I suppose it’s beautiful in Wisconsin, and Ohio and
California too. It’s probably even beautiful in Greenland, Quebec, and Finland this
time of year.
We’ve been lucky here - the harvest has gone well, and many of our farmers have
had a good crop to bring in from the fields. That isn’t necessarily so everywhere,
even in northwest Iowa there just wasn’t enough rain.
Our church and community has been blessed too. It’s fun to be a part of a church
were people are doing stuff and where there are kids in Sunday School, and where we have a
few things going for us. A lot of people here have had a great year for one reason or
another, maybe because they have a new house to live in, or a new job, or there’s a
new baby. But even when we can count our blessings, in the back of our mind, we remember
there are some people who only have the hope of a better year next year to sustain them
through the winter.
But no matter what, no matter how the year has gone, no matter what challenges or
victories you have faced. The call to thanksgiving goes out to everyone. And, I think
it’s more than a call to rejoice in the good stuff, It’s a call to consider the
lilies and to remember just how much we are under the watchful eye and tender loving care
of God.
There’s a lot of power in the concept of being thankful. A friend of mine told me
about a prison chaplain telling him about a prisoner who found God by learning to be
thankful. He had told the chaplan that he just couldn’t pray. So the Chaplain said,
“don’t make it so hard. Just, every day, say “Thank you God,
for.........” Over time, the chaplain encouraged him to be thankful for a few more
things each day, and to try and not repeat the things he was thankful for - (like his
Mother) - unless he had a new reason to be thankful for it that day, (perhaps his mother
had came for a visit).
But, as the weeks progressed, and the prisoner kept doing this, he realized that this
attitude of thankfulness had turned into a bit of a conversation. .... He was learning to
pray.... and a relationship with God was emerging.
So, being thankful, even when there isn’t a whole lot on the surface to be
thankful about is a very powerful tool. And if you have trouble with the practice of
prayer. Maybe this is a place where you can start too.
But, our scripture takes things a step further, I think. Because it is not just that we
will be happier if we take on an attitude of thankfulness and think happy thoughts.
Do you remember the story of the Widow’s Mite? That little lady was so thankful
for the presence of God in her life that she gave all she had, not because she had
received so many blessings. Certainly not the kind of blessings we might be mindful of
today, like family and money enough to pay the bills, or a good place to live. All that
had been taken away from her. But, she was thankful still, for God’s faithful
presence. It was always there with her, even when the going was tough. What would you give
for a friend who was faithful like that - who would stand by you even when times were
tough?
And that’s the whole message here - that there is no need for you to worry or to
be anxious about your life, because the out-come is not up for grabs. God is enough. You
are far more important to him than the Sparrows, and even they don’t fall to the
ground without God’s knowledge. You don’t have to qualify for God’s love,
God’s blessings don’t go just to the rich or the happy or the winners. Blessed
are the poor, the peacemakers, the meek and those who seek justice in this land. You are
the children of God and you will be blessed.
That’s because we know God can be counted upon. He’s the same one who is lord
of the flowers, the sparrows and all of us. God is enough!
As I said, it isn’t that we will be happier if we think positive thoughts. It just
has to ease our mind to embrace the facts - that God is in charge, God is good, God is all
powerful. What more is necessary, except to give our lives back to his love and service?
|
