Building
Children's sermon
Object:
Legos®
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. (v. 10)
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about building. But first, we're going to talk about something that many of you probably recognize -- Legos®! How many of you have played with Legos®? (allow answers) Do you have Legos® at home? (allow answers) What do you like to build with your Legos®? (allow answers)
Legos® are fun toys because you can make almost anything out of them! They come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors -- and you can reuse them as many times as you want. Many times when we build with Legos®, we start with a large flat piece -- our foundation piece. How many of you have built Legos® starting with a flat foundation piece? (allow answers) Although you may always build on the same foundation piece, each Lego creation you make can be completely different. If we all decided to build Legos® right now, we could all start with the same foundation piece -- but we would all come up with very different buildings!
When people build real houses, they have to start with a foundation, too. If you see just a foundation, it's not very impressive. It's like the flat Lego® piece. A foundation alone looks like a big concrete slab. There may be a lot of work beneath it -- pipes, a basement, other things that are important to hold up a finished house -- but the foundation itself is a blank slate. The house that goes on top of the foundation could look like anything!
Even though the foundation doesn't determine what the house will look like, the foundation is still very important. Without it, a house could sink into the ground. The bricks of the walls could shift as the dirt beneath them shifts and settles over the years. A foundation keeps a house from sinking or shifting -- it makes the house more sturdy and stable. It's like the foundation Lego® piece -- it gives the house something solid to rest on.
Our second reading today talks about building. Saint Paul compares each of us to a builder. Paul says that the foundation is laid -- it is now up to each of us to put our own building on that foundation. He doesn't mean a real building -- instead, Paul is talking about a spiritual building. He is comparing faith to a building. When we build on this foundation, what we are really doing is building our faith. We are deciding what it is we believe about God, the world, and other people. Each of us may believe slightly different things -- we may think that different parts of the Bible, different commandments are more important in our lives than others -- but in the end, we are all building on the same foundation. Each of our individual faiths is different, like the many different houses you can build on a concrete foundation -- but taken as a whole, every person's faith is a beautiful addition to the whole of Christianity. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about building. But first, we're going to talk about something that many of you probably recognize -- Legos®! How many of you have played with Legos®? (allow answers) Do you have Legos® at home? (allow answers) What do you like to build with your Legos®? (allow answers)
Legos® are fun toys because you can make almost anything out of them! They come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors -- and you can reuse them as many times as you want. Many times when we build with Legos®, we start with a large flat piece -- our foundation piece. How many of you have built Legos® starting with a flat foundation piece? (allow answers) Although you may always build on the same foundation piece, each Lego creation you make can be completely different. If we all decided to build Legos® right now, we could all start with the same foundation piece -- but we would all come up with very different buildings!
When people build real houses, they have to start with a foundation, too. If you see just a foundation, it's not very impressive. It's like the flat Lego® piece. A foundation alone looks like a big concrete slab. There may be a lot of work beneath it -- pipes, a basement, other things that are important to hold up a finished house -- but the foundation itself is a blank slate. The house that goes on top of the foundation could look like anything!
Even though the foundation doesn't determine what the house will look like, the foundation is still very important. Without it, a house could sink into the ground. The bricks of the walls could shift as the dirt beneath them shifts and settles over the years. A foundation keeps a house from sinking or shifting -- it makes the house more sturdy and stable. It's like the foundation Lego® piece -- it gives the house something solid to rest on.
Our second reading today talks about building. Saint Paul compares each of us to a builder. Paul says that the foundation is laid -- it is now up to each of us to put our own building on that foundation. He doesn't mean a real building -- instead, Paul is talking about a spiritual building. He is comparing faith to a building. When we build on this foundation, what we are really doing is building our faith. We are deciding what it is we believe about God, the world, and other people. Each of us may believe slightly different things -- we may think that different parts of the Bible, different commandments are more important in our lives than others -- but in the end, we are all building on the same foundation. Each of our individual faiths is different, like the many different houses you can build on a concrete foundation -- but taken as a whole, every person's faith is a beautiful addition to the whole of Christianity. Amen.
