Childrens Sermon Service

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him — and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? (vv. 15-17)

Hi everyone! I have a question for you. Have you ever forgotten to say “Thank you” to someone? Maybe someone did something nice for you, and you knew you should have said “Thank you,” but you were in a hurry, or you just forgot, and you did not stop and tell them. Has that ever happened? (Let them respond.) Yes, it has happened to me, too.

Jesus told a story about ten men who were very sick and came to see Jesus. When he saw them, he talked to them and healed them. He told them to go to the priest to show him what had happened. The ten men ran to tell the priest, and a little while later one of the men came back to see Jesus and said, “Thank you.” Jesus healed ten men, but only one of them came back to thank him. That really doesn’t sound very nice, does it? (Let them respond.) A lot of people say that those nine men were rude, and they should be ashamed of themselves for not saying “Thank you.” But you know, sometimes I wonder why they didn’t come back?

I wonder… maybe they couldn’t go back and thank him. Maybe a couple of them had families and now that they were healthy again, they needed to hurry back home to take care of them. I know I would want to hurry back home.

Or maybe a couple of them had to go back to work so they didn’t lose their jobs. Can you think of another reason they might not have been able to go back to say “Thank you” to Jesus? (Let them respond.) Maybe they were all very thankful but for some other reason just could not go back to say “Thank you” to Jesus. Maybe they wanted to say, “Thank you,” but couldn’t do it.

On Thanksgiving, we think about all of the people and things we are thankful for. And we do our best to remember to say “Thank you” for each of them. Have you already said “Thank you” to someone today? (Let them respond.) I have. Maybe you said, “Thank you!” because someone fixed breakfast for you this morning? Or maybe someone helped you get dressed, or someone helped you get here or opened the door open for you this morning? Those are things we can say “Thank you” for.

But you know, there are some people I would like to say “Thank you” to today that I just can’t go and say it to them. I want to, but I can’t.

For example, I would like to say, “Thank you!” to the person who is working at the place that is making the electricity for our lights here this morning. I would like to thank them, but I can’t, because I don’t know who they are.

And I would like to say, “Thank you!” to the people who made our candles we are using in church this morning. I would like to say, “Thank you!” to them, but some of them are too far away, and some of them might not even speak the same language I speak.

I wonder, do you have a favorite toy? (Let them respond.) I’ll bet you would like to say, “Thank you!” to them for making that toy for you, wouldn’t you? But we don’t know who they are, or where they are, so we can’t say it to them.

This Thanksgiving, while we try to remember to say, “Thank you!” to the people around us, let’s think about how we can say also say, “Thank you!” to the people we can’t actually go say it too. Do you have any ideas about how we could do that? (Let them respond.)

I have an idea that might work. Since those people did something to help us, maybe we can thank them by doing something to help someone else. We will thank them by doing what they do, help someone else.

The story Jesus told about the ten men gave me an idea, so I brought you something. (Give each child a notebook or piece of paper and pencil.) This Thanksgiving, let’s make two lists in our notebook. We might call one list our “Say Thank You List” and write down the names of everyone we want to make sure to go and see and tell them “Thank you!” for something they have done for us. And we might call the other list our “Do Thank You List!” and write down the people we want to thank, but can’t, and write something we will do for other people to say, “Thank you!” that way.

Let’s say a short prayer to ask God to help us remember how we can remember to find a way to say or do, “Thank you!”

Prayer:
Dear God, thank you again for reminding us how much you love all of us, and how important it is for us to take care of each other. Please help us remember to say or do, “Thank you!”