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Children are at a stage in life where they are told to do all kinds of things. These directions come from adults, teachers, parents, family. There was a time children were expected to do everything an adult told them. Today, we know to help children distinguish between trusted directions from a trusted adult and directions from a stranger. It’s not always straightforward though. A police officer is technically a stranger, but children should recognize they are trusted strangers.

This story can help kids clarify to whom they should be listening. The wisemen knew that Herod did not actually want to meet Jesus, he had meanness intended for that meeting. They did not listen because they did not trust Herod. Joseph gets another visit from an angel and knows to trust the message. This teaches that not all directions come from a loving place and that we can be wise to think about who to follow.

To begin you are going to play a game of “Simon says” but change it to be “Pastor (your name) says.”

In your message say something like:

Are there a few of you here who trust me? It’s okay if you do not, I won’t be mad. I will work on earning your trust in the future, but if there are a couple of you who do trust me would you please stand up. For those of you standing, I want you to close your eyes; now stand on one foot; now open your eyes, and have a seat.

You must trust me a lot to follow my directions. Who are some other people we trust and follow their directions? (teachers, parents, friends, coaches, and more) I am so glad you have trusted people in your life. These are the people we can talk to if things go wrong or if we are feeling bad. We also know that what they say is worth listening to.

Do you remember a few weeks ago Joseph, who was like Jesus’ foster Dad, got a message from an angel? Remember the angel told Joseph not to worry and to name Jesus…Jesus, which means God with us, and that’s who Jesus is: God with us. In this week’s story and angel showed up again. We don’t know if it is the same angel. It could have been and Joseph trusted his angel friend. It also could have been a new angel, but because the angel had on the angel uniform Joseph knew they could be trusted.

I have never seen an angel uniform I’m only guessing they must all look similar. Maybe they have a bright light around them, wings, and a halo. We don’t really know. But Joseph had had good experiences with angels and knew they brought important messages. So when this one showed up and saidit was  time to move, Joseph followseddirections.

The wise men, on the other hand, got directions from someone they did not trust. Herod told them to come back and tell him where Jesus was. The wisemen did not trust Herod and felt like he wanted to hurt Jesus so they decided not to follow Herod’s directions. It was a good thing too because they were right, Herod was not someone to trust.

You will get lots of directions this week. Some of them will come from trusted people like parents and teachers, and some will come from people we do not trust. The Bible lesson this week teaches us to be careful which directions we follow and that if a trusted person gives us a direction we should listen. Let’s pray for help with that this week.

Pray: Trusted God, thank you for the great people all around us. Help us listen and follow the right directions and keep us away from people who mean to hurt us. Amen.