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Incredible Secrets

Children's sermon
Matthew 17:1-9
Transfiguration Sunday - A
Bethany Peerbolte
The disciples see Jesus transfigured with Moses and Elijah, and then Jesus tells them to tell no one. I don’t think I would have been up for the task of keeping that secret. I know this because the first time I played The Green Wall a friend told me the secret and I had the hardest time not telling everyone else the answer.

The Green Wall is played like this. You tell the kids there is a Green Wall next to you. You can see behind the wall but they need to guess items that might be behind the wall. The secret trick that only you know to begin with is that only things that are (or could be) green are behind the wall.

Start the game and have the kids start guessing what is behind the wall. Choose kids one by one and have them guess. If the thing they guess is green say “yes that is behind the green wall” if not say “no that is not behind the green wall.”

Let each kid guess once then stop and ask if anyone is frustrated and wants to know the secret. Pick one kid to whisper the secret into their ear. Then start the game again and let each kid guess again. Continue the rounds, reveling the secret to one kid each time. Others will catch on too as you play. When you are running out of time or the kids are getting too frustrated move on.

Say something like:

That game had a secret that would help you know what was behind the wall. Those of you who figured it out or who I told — it was probably hard to keep that secret to yourself. Especially when you saw your friends struggle to understand.

A couple of Jesus’s disciples found out an incredible truth, but Jesus told them to keep it a secret. One day when Jesus was with Peter, James, and John, Moses and Elijah came down from the clouds to greet and talk to Jesus. Then God’s voice came from a cloud and said, “Jesus is my son, Listen to him.” The disciples were so shocked they fell on the ground.

Jesus helped them up and told them not to tell anyone what had happened. That was probably very hard to do. When we see something amazing, we want to tell all our friends! But the disciples kept the secret until Jesus said it was okay to tell. Now we know about this amazing thing that happened to Jesus by reading about it in the Bible.

Let’s say a prayer thanking God for sharing the secret with us

Amazing God, Thank you for telling us about Jesus in the Bible. We want to share this amazing story now that it is time to tell. Amen.
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