Childrens Sermon Service

Object: Some birthday candles.

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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Before I tell you the story, can anyone tell us what I have here? (Show the birthday candles and let them respond.) These are candles. And what kind of candles are they? (Let them respond.) They are candles for a birthday cake, aren’t they? (Let them respond.) Why do we usually put candles on a birthday cake? (Let them respond.) We put the candles on to show how old we are, don’t we? (Let them respond.) I brought these because we are about to celebrate Jesus’ birthday, but I don’t think I have enough candles to show how old he will be this year, do I? (Let them respond.) Jesus is older than this, isn’t he? (Let them respond.) He’s a lot older, isn’t he? (Let them respond.)

I wonder, have you ever wished you were older than you are now? (Let them respond.) We do that sometimes when we think about the things we can’t do until we get older, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Have you ever wished you were older so you could go to school? (Let them respond.) Or if you are in school now, have you ever wished you were old enough to get out of school? (Let them respond.) Or have you ever wished you were older so you could drive a car? (Let them respond.) Sometimes it can be frustrating to have to wait to be older before we can do things we want to do, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.)

I wonder if that’s how Mary felt that morning when she was walking to the well to get water. She was about twelve or thirteen years old, and one of the chores she had to do was to go get the water for her family. Do you have chores you have to do around your house? (Let them respond.) Every morning, Mary picked up the big jug and walked all the way to the well, waited for her turn to fill her jug with water, and then carried that heavy jug full of water all the way back home.I wonder if she ever wished she was older so she wouldn’t have to go and get the water. (Let them respond.) Do you think she ever wished she was older so she could do something more important than just carry water? (Let them respond.)

Sometimes do you feel that you are too young to do anything really important? (Let them respond.) Maybe you’ve said something like, “I’m just a kid. What can I do?” I’ll bet Mary said something like that too, don’t you? (Let them respond.)

Then, one morning, Mary was standing in line at the well waiting to fill her jug with water when someone said something to her. She turned around and saw an angel called Gabriel standing there. Gabriel told Mary that God had picked her to do something really important. Who remembers what Gabriel said God wanted Mary to do? (Let them respond.) He said that God had picked Mary to be the mother of a baby boy. She would name him Jesus, and he would grow up to create a kingdom that would never, ever end. I wonder how Mary felt when she heard that. (Let them respond.) I’ll bet it was scary, don’t you? (Let them respond.) How do you think you would feel if an angel suddenly showed up and said that God had picked you to do something really important? (Let them respond.)

Mary was just a kid, but God picked her to do something so important that we still remember her over two thousand years later. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we might feel we are too young to do anything really important, butGod doesn’t care how old we are. We may never have an angel come and talk to us, but God might still show us things we can do that are really important. God said that one of the most important things we can do is to help someone who needs help, so maybe we will see someone who looks lonely or afraid, and God will ask us to talk to them and help them. Can anyone think of other things God might ask us to do to help someone else?  (Let them respond.)

I hope our story will help us remember that God doesn’t count birthday candles. No one can be too young, or too old, to do something really important and help someone who needs our help.

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.