God Bless You!
Children's sermon
Object: A handkerchief. For the best experience, have a handkerchief for each child to keep. If you just use one, just skip the step of handing them out to the children.
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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent!
Have you ever heard someone say the words, “God bless you!”? (Let them respond.) When do we usually hear people say that? (Let them respond.) Maybe when someone sneezes? And sometimes we hear people say that someone is blessed, don’t we? When do they say that? (Let them respond.) Maybe they say it when someone has a new baby or gets a new job, or maybe they have been sick and get better again, or something like that, right? (Let them respond.) And sometimes when we pray, we thank God for the blessings we have been given, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
We usually say God has blessed us when something nice happens to us don’t we? (Let them respond.) And if something not nice happens to us, we wonder if God might be punishing us instead of blessing us. When we see someone who is poor and hungry, or doesn’t have clothes to wear, or is weak or sick, or is having other problems, we usually don’t say they are blessed, do we? (Let them respond.) So, when we see someone having a great time and having nice things and is healthy and strong, we usually think they must be really good and God is blessing them. And when we see someone who is having a really bad time and doesn’t have nice things and isn’t very strong, we think they must not be doing something wrong and God is not blessing them, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
Well, do you know what? That’s not what Jesus said blessings are all about. Jesus was talking with people one day and said that being blessed doesn’t mean we are rich or have lots of things, or are really strong and healthy, or anything like that at all. And if we don’t have any of those things, it doesn’t mean that we have done something wrong and God is not blessing us. Let’s see if we can figure out what it means when God blesses us.
Today is a special day in the church we call All Saints Day. Who can tell us what a Saint is? (Let them respond.) A saint is someone we believe God has blessed so they could do some very special things. Let me tell you about a couple of Saints and see if they can help us understand what it means for God to bless us.
Who has heard about a man called Saint Francis? (Let them respond.) Francis grew up in a wealthy family and had all of the things he ever wanted to have. But one day, he was walking down the street and saw a poor beggar who didn’t own anything except the little bowl he carried to put scraps of food in that he found to eat. He went back home, but he never forgot that beggar, and as he got older, he gave up all of the things he had and said that the only thing he wanted to do was "to follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps." Instead of living in the big house, he lived in caves for a while and spent his time helping other people who needed his help. He also did a lot to take care of animals, because he believed that if you want to see God, you just need to look at other people and nature around you because that was where God lived. Francis was not rich, powerful, or famous, but he was a great example of what it’s like to be blessed by God.
There is another Saint called George. Like Francis, instead of getting things for himself, he spent his time taking care of other people who needed his help. We don’t know a lot of other things about George, but someone told a story about how a dragon kidnapped the king’s daughter one day, and George killed the dragon and rescued the king’s daughter. The king was so thankful that he gave George a huge reward, but George just gave the reward to the poor people and went away to help others. There might not have been a real dragon, but we know that George believed God wanted us to take care of people, so that’s what he did. He was never rich, or powerful, but we remember him as someone who was blessed by God.
Let’s see if these handkerchiefs can help us understand what Francis and George did to be blessed. (Give a handkerchief to each child.) There are two ways we can use our handkerchiefs. We can (Pretend to use your handkerchief to wipe away your tears.) use them to take care of ourselves, or we can (Use your handkerchief to wipe away a child’s tears.) use them to take care of others who might need some help.
Being blessed means knowing we have done our very best to help take care of people and God’s creation the way God wants us to take care of them. Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent!
Have you ever heard someone say the words, “God bless you!”? (Let them respond.) When do we usually hear people say that? (Let them respond.) Maybe when someone sneezes? And sometimes we hear people say that someone is blessed, don’t we? When do they say that? (Let them respond.) Maybe they say it when someone has a new baby or gets a new job, or maybe they have been sick and get better again, or something like that, right? (Let them respond.) And sometimes when we pray, we thank God for the blessings we have been given, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
We usually say God has blessed us when something nice happens to us don’t we? (Let them respond.) And if something not nice happens to us, we wonder if God might be punishing us instead of blessing us. When we see someone who is poor and hungry, or doesn’t have clothes to wear, or is weak or sick, or is having other problems, we usually don’t say they are blessed, do we? (Let them respond.) So, when we see someone having a great time and having nice things and is healthy and strong, we usually think they must be really good and God is blessing them. And when we see someone who is having a really bad time and doesn’t have nice things and isn’t very strong, we think they must not be doing something wrong and God is not blessing them, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
Well, do you know what? That’s not what Jesus said blessings are all about. Jesus was talking with people one day and said that being blessed doesn’t mean we are rich or have lots of things, or are really strong and healthy, or anything like that at all. And if we don’t have any of those things, it doesn’t mean that we have done something wrong and God is not blessing us. Let’s see if we can figure out what it means when God blesses us.
Today is a special day in the church we call All Saints Day. Who can tell us what a Saint is? (Let them respond.) A saint is someone we believe God has blessed so they could do some very special things. Let me tell you about a couple of Saints and see if they can help us understand what it means for God to bless us.
Who has heard about a man called Saint Francis? (Let them respond.) Francis grew up in a wealthy family and had all of the things he ever wanted to have. But one day, he was walking down the street and saw a poor beggar who didn’t own anything except the little bowl he carried to put scraps of food in that he found to eat. He went back home, but he never forgot that beggar, and as he got older, he gave up all of the things he had and said that the only thing he wanted to do was "to follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps." Instead of living in the big house, he lived in caves for a while and spent his time helping other people who needed his help. He also did a lot to take care of animals, because he believed that if you want to see God, you just need to look at other people and nature around you because that was where God lived. Francis was not rich, powerful, or famous, but he was a great example of what it’s like to be blessed by God.
There is another Saint called George. Like Francis, instead of getting things for himself, he spent his time taking care of other people who needed his help. We don’t know a lot of other things about George, but someone told a story about how a dragon kidnapped the king’s daughter one day, and George killed the dragon and rescued the king’s daughter. The king was so thankful that he gave George a huge reward, but George just gave the reward to the poor people and went away to help others. There might not have been a real dragon, but we know that George believed God wanted us to take care of people, so that’s what he did. He was never rich, or powerful, but we remember him as someone who was blessed by God.
Let’s see if these handkerchiefs can help us understand what Francis and George did to be blessed. (Give a handkerchief to each child.) There are two ways we can use our handkerchiefs. We can (Pretend to use your handkerchief to wipe away your tears.) use them to take care of ourselves, or we can (Use your handkerchief to wipe away a child’s tears.) use them to take care of others who might need some help.
Being blessed means knowing we have done our very best to help take care of people and God’s creation the way God wants us to take care of them. Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
