Ash Wednesday
Preaching
THE WESLEYAN PREACHING RESOURCE
VOLUME II
Object: A blindfold and a member of the choir with a loud speaking voice.
Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to play a little game. I need a volunteer who is brave. (Let them volunteer and then select a child.) Very good! Are you brave? (Let him/her answer.) I'm going to blindfold you and then ask you to listen for a voice. See if you can find the person speaking without any other help. Do you think you understand? (Let the child answer. Apply the blindfold.) Is it dark in there? I will spin you around, and remember, no peeking. I want you to listen very carefully. We will try to warn you if you are going to walk into traffic, stumble into the ocean, or fall down the mountain.
(Let the voice begin to speak and move around while the child begins to wander about the church.) Remember, you only have a couple of minutes to find the voice. (After a few minutes of the voice moving and the child hunting, remove the blindfold.) That was a great try. Do you think you could find the voice if you didn't have the blindfold on? (Let the child answer.) Well, let's see if you can do it. (Again the person should begin speaking while the child finds the speaker.) You did a great job. It is hard to find someone when you are wearing a blindfold and the person who is speaking is moving. We call those things obstacles. They are obstacles when someone is trying to find someone else.
Saint Paul knew all about obstacles, and he wanted to make sure that Christians did not make obstacles for people wanting to learn about and worship Jesus. Saint Paul would do anything. He would stay up all night and not sleep if someone wanted him to teach him about Jesus. He would go to jail, suffer a beating, be especially kind to bad people, always tell the truth, and many other things so that there were no obstacles to keep people from believing.
We must be the same way today. We tell people how kind and loving Jesus was to everybody. But your friends want to know if you are kind to everybody. It is all right to tell people how Jesus shared His food and clothing with people who needed food and clothing. But your friends want to know if you will share your food and clothing. Your friends know that Jesus would forgive them for being unkind, but your friends want to know if you are willing to forgive them when they do something wrong to you. If you do not share, love, forgive, and be kind to your friends, then you are like a blindfold. You are an obstacle, and Jesus and Paul and all of God's friends do not like obstacles.
So the next time you see someone with a blindfold and you are going to play a game, you should say something like, "I like blindfold games. They are fun, but I remember when a blindfold was an obstacle, and an obstacle can be something that keeps my friends from loving and trusting Jesus. Blindfolds are obstacles, but I will not be an obstacle to my friends and their love for God." Amen.
Wesley T. Runk
John 13:1--17, 31b--35
Maundy Thursday/Holy Thursday
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (vv. 34--35)
Object: A dog leash, a baseball bat, and a doll's dress.
Good evening, boys and girls. We don't get together very often in the evening. Usually I see you on Sunday morning, but tonight is a special night. It was on this night that Jesus met with His disciples in an upper room just outside of the walls of the great city of Jerusalem. A lot of things happened that night. Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, and He celebrated the Passover, a great religious holiday. It was the same night that Jesus began something that we call the Lord's Supper. But most of all, Jesus prepared the disciples to know that He was going to be arrested and crucified. He told the disciples how much He loved them and how they should not only love Him but also each other. As a matter of fact, He said that the way people would know that they were followers of His way was by the love they showed each other.
Let's see what Jesus meant. I brought along some things that I want you to talk about. (Hold up the dog's leash.) What is this that I have in my hand? (Let them answer.) That's right, a dog leash. If I have a dog leash, what else do you think that I have? (Let them answer.) Very good! I have a dog leash so that means that I probably have a dog. (Hold up the baseball bat.) What do you call this? (Let them answer.) Right again, a baseball bat. What do think this means? (Let them answer.) It means I play baseball. It means I have a baseball, a baseball glove, and I belong to a baseball team. I might even have a baseball uniform and a hat. (Hold up the doll's dress.) What do you call this? (Let them answer.) That's right, it is a doll's dress. What does that mean? (Let them answer.) Okay, it means I have a doll, a doll house, a doll buggy, a baby's bottle, and lots more.
Certain things go together. If you have one, then you have the other. Jesus said that His disciples had love. Disciples have love for Jesus and they have love for each other. Jesus said that people who are not Christians know who Christians are because of the way they love each other. What does that mean? It means that we know each other, work for each other, share what we have with each other, forgive each other, and care for each other. If you are hurt, I will take care of you. If you are lonely, I will visit with you. If you are hungry, I will feed you, and if you need a place to stay, I will share my house with you. I am a disciple of Jesus so I not only love Jesus for forgiving my sins and loving me, but I also love you and all other Christians. We are commanded by Jesus to love each other every day of every year for as long as we live.
When people see us together, they will say, "Look, they are Christians. I can tell by the way they love each other."
The next time you see a bat, you will know it goes with a ball. The next time you see a doll's dress, you will know it goes with a doll, and the next time you see a leash, you will know there is a dog around. But most of all, the next time you see one another, you will say, "My friend is a Christian and I love him because he is a disciple of Jesus." Amen.
Wesley T. Runk
John 18:1-19:42
Good Friday
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. (vv. 17--18)
Object: A cross. (If possible, have many small crosses to hand out to the children.)
Good morning, boys and girls. This is Good Friday. A lot of people want to know why we call it "good." Do you know why we call it good? (Let them answer.) That's right, we call it good because this is the day Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We would not call it good if this was just the day Jesus died, would we? (Let them answer.) We call it good because when He died, all of our sins were forgiven forever. That makes this a Good Friday.
However, I want to talk a little about the cross. How many of you know what a cross looks like? Can you pick out a cross in the church? (Let them look around and pick out any crosses. Help them find others than the one on the altar or hanging up on the wall.) Those are pretty crosses, aren't they? (Let them answer.)
What do you think the one looked like that Jesus carried on His shoulder? (Let them answer.) I don't think it was real pretty. It may have looked like a couple of bad branches from a tree. We know it was heavy and big - big enough to have a man hang on it. It wasn't clean or polished. It was ugly. Jesus was forced to carry it up a hill. Jesus had been beaten by soldiers and wore a crown of thorns. It was said He fell a couple of times and finally needed to be helped by a man from Cyrene. When they finally climbed the hill, some soldiers took the cross and jammed it into the hole in the ground that was made for a cross. Then they probably had to throw in rocks and dirt to make sure the cross would stand up. Finally they put Jesus on the cross and kept Him there by driving nails into His hands and feet. It was horrible.
I could tell you a lot of things about that cross, but I think the most important part of the story is the way that Jesus accepted the cross. He knew that God had a plan, and this was part of it. He knew it would be painful, but He also knew that God would give Him strength. He knew that the people who were crucifying Him would be ugly, but He also knew that God would give him the power to forgive them and love them. He knew that He was doing something for the whole world so that we could know God better than we had ever known Him before.
You can think about the cross and how ugly it looked before Jesus died, but after He had been given His life, it looked like the most beautiful piece of wood that had ever been made. Jesus died for our ugliness, our sins. He died on a cross and did so with great love.
This is why the cross is so important to us. It is important and beautiful because this is where God met us and made us beautiful people. And this is why we call this day Good Friday. Amen.
Wesley T. Runk
Matthew 6:25--33
Thanksgiving Day
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (v. 24)
Object: A bird in a cage and food and clothing items that have been brought to the altar to be shared with the community. (Announcements requesting the donation of such items must be made at least a week or more before Thanksgiving.)
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you can tell me what day today is? (Let them answer.) That's right, this is Thanksgiving and I have brought with me today a friend that I call Pilgrim. Does anyone know what I have brought with me? (Let them answer.) Do you know what kind of bird it is? It isn't a turkey, is it? (Let them answer.) No, it isn't a turkey. Pilgrim is a friend of mine who reminds me of something Jesus taught me a long time ago.
By the way, did you notice the coat and hat that Pilgrim is wearing? (Let the children look carefully.) Do you see like his shoes and the necktie he picked out to wear to church? You don't see them? Good, because Pilgrim doesn't wear clothes, does he? God gave Pilgrim feathers so that he doesn't have to worry about a hat or coat or shoes. And when the weather gets really cold, God gave Pilgrim some wings so that he could fly south to the warm weather. God has a great plan for Pilgrim, and Pilgrim is very thankful for God thinking about him. Pilgrim doesn't have a worry in the world.
Jesus taught us that we should not worry either. I am very happy that you have brought all of this food and clothing with you this morning. Your mom and dad went to the store and bought food for your home and clothes for you, but they also bought some extra things and brought it here to the church. Do you know what we are going to do with all of this food? (Let them answer.) That's right, we are going to give it to the people who don't have a lot. They are like birds without enough feathers to stay warm and dry or like birds whose wings are broken and cannot fly south. Some people need to depend on God's disciples to share what they have with them. There is nothing wrong with needing food or clothes. It just happens. But we don't want these people to worry and fret about what they are going to eat or when they are going to eat. We don't want them to worry about heat in their homes or having warm coats and hats, so we share what we have with them.
That's the way the first Pilgrims did it. They wanted to make friends with the Indians who lived here, so they shared the harvest of corn and other food so that everyone had as much as they needed. We call that day of sharing Thanksgiving.
I want to thank you for bringing all of this food for the people who need it. Pilgrim thanks you, too, for remembering all of God's people on Thanksgiving. We are pleased that we can share and keep people from worrying.
The next time you see Pilgrim or any bird, I want you to remember how good it was to share our gifts and to thank God for having such a wonderful Thanksgiving. Amen.
Wesley T. Runk
Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to play a little game. I need a volunteer who is brave. (Let them volunteer and then select a child.) Very good! Are you brave? (Let him/her answer.) I'm going to blindfold you and then ask you to listen for a voice. See if you can find the person speaking without any other help. Do you think you understand? (Let the child answer. Apply the blindfold.) Is it dark in there? I will spin you around, and remember, no peeking. I want you to listen very carefully. We will try to warn you if you are going to walk into traffic, stumble into the ocean, or fall down the mountain.
(Let the voice begin to speak and move around while the child begins to wander about the church.) Remember, you only have a couple of minutes to find the voice. (After a few minutes of the voice moving and the child hunting, remove the blindfold.) That was a great try. Do you think you could find the voice if you didn't have the blindfold on? (Let the child answer.) Well, let's see if you can do it. (Again the person should begin speaking while the child finds the speaker.) You did a great job. It is hard to find someone when you are wearing a blindfold and the person who is speaking is moving. We call those things obstacles. They are obstacles when someone is trying to find someone else.
Saint Paul knew all about obstacles, and he wanted to make sure that Christians did not make obstacles for people wanting to learn about and worship Jesus. Saint Paul would do anything. He would stay up all night and not sleep if someone wanted him to teach him about Jesus. He would go to jail, suffer a beating, be especially kind to bad people, always tell the truth, and many other things so that there were no obstacles to keep people from believing.
We must be the same way today. We tell people how kind and loving Jesus was to everybody. But your friends want to know if you are kind to everybody. It is all right to tell people how Jesus shared His food and clothing with people who needed food and clothing. But your friends want to know if you will share your food and clothing. Your friends know that Jesus would forgive them for being unkind, but your friends want to know if you are willing to forgive them when they do something wrong to you. If you do not share, love, forgive, and be kind to your friends, then you are like a blindfold. You are an obstacle, and Jesus and Paul and all of God's friends do not like obstacles.
So the next time you see someone with a blindfold and you are going to play a game, you should say something like, "I like blindfold games. They are fun, but I remember when a blindfold was an obstacle, and an obstacle can be something that keeps my friends from loving and trusting Jesus. Blindfolds are obstacles, but I will not be an obstacle to my friends and their love for God." Amen.
Wesley T. Runk
John 13:1--17, 31b--35
Maundy Thursday/Holy Thursday
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (vv. 34--35)
Object: A dog leash, a baseball bat, and a doll's dress.
Good evening, boys and girls. We don't get together very often in the evening. Usually I see you on Sunday morning, but tonight is a special night. It was on this night that Jesus met with His disciples in an upper room just outside of the walls of the great city of Jerusalem. A lot of things happened that night. Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, and He celebrated the Passover, a great religious holiday. It was the same night that Jesus began something that we call the Lord's Supper. But most of all, Jesus prepared the disciples to know that He was going to be arrested and crucified. He told the disciples how much He loved them and how they should not only love Him but also each other. As a matter of fact, He said that the way people would know that they were followers of His way was by the love they showed each other.
Let's see what Jesus meant. I brought along some things that I want you to talk about. (Hold up the dog's leash.) What is this that I have in my hand? (Let them answer.) That's right, a dog leash. If I have a dog leash, what else do you think that I have? (Let them answer.) Very good! I have a dog leash so that means that I probably have a dog. (Hold up the baseball bat.) What do you call this? (Let them answer.) Right again, a baseball bat. What do think this means? (Let them answer.) It means I play baseball. It means I have a baseball, a baseball glove, and I belong to a baseball team. I might even have a baseball uniform and a hat. (Hold up the doll's dress.) What do you call this? (Let them answer.) That's right, it is a doll's dress. What does that mean? (Let them answer.) Okay, it means I have a doll, a doll house, a doll buggy, a baby's bottle, and lots more.
Certain things go together. If you have one, then you have the other. Jesus said that His disciples had love. Disciples have love for Jesus and they have love for each other. Jesus said that people who are not Christians know who Christians are because of the way they love each other. What does that mean? It means that we know each other, work for each other, share what we have with each other, forgive each other, and care for each other. If you are hurt, I will take care of you. If you are lonely, I will visit with you. If you are hungry, I will feed you, and if you need a place to stay, I will share my house with you. I am a disciple of Jesus so I not only love Jesus for forgiving my sins and loving me, but I also love you and all other Christians. We are commanded by Jesus to love each other every day of every year for as long as we live.
When people see us together, they will say, "Look, they are Christians. I can tell by the way they love each other."
The next time you see a bat, you will know it goes with a ball. The next time you see a doll's dress, you will know it goes with a doll, and the next time you see a leash, you will know there is a dog around. But most of all, the next time you see one another, you will say, "My friend is a Christian and I love him because he is a disciple of Jesus." Amen.
Wesley T. Runk
John 18:1-19:42
Good Friday
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. (vv. 17--18)
Object: A cross. (If possible, have many small crosses to hand out to the children.)
Good morning, boys and girls. This is Good Friday. A lot of people want to know why we call it "good." Do you know why we call it good? (Let them answer.) That's right, we call it good because this is the day Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We would not call it good if this was just the day Jesus died, would we? (Let them answer.) We call it good because when He died, all of our sins were forgiven forever. That makes this a Good Friday.
However, I want to talk a little about the cross. How many of you know what a cross looks like? Can you pick out a cross in the church? (Let them look around and pick out any crosses. Help them find others than the one on the altar or hanging up on the wall.) Those are pretty crosses, aren't they? (Let them answer.)
What do you think the one looked like that Jesus carried on His shoulder? (Let them answer.) I don't think it was real pretty. It may have looked like a couple of bad branches from a tree. We know it was heavy and big - big enough to have a man hang on it. It wasn't clean or polished. It was ugly. Jesus was forced to carry it up a hill. Jesus had been beaten by soldiers and wore a crown of thorns. It was said He fell a couple of times and finally needed to be helped by a man from Cyrene. When they finally climbed the hill, some soldiers took the cross and jammed it into the hole in the ground that was made for a cross. Then they probably had to throw in rocks and dirt to make sure the cross would stand up. Finally they put Jesus on the cross and kept Him there by driving nails into His hands and feet. It was horrible.
I could tell you a lot of things about that cross, but I think the most important part of the story is the way that Jesus accepted the cross. He knew that God had a plan, and this was part of it. He knew it would be painful, but He also knew that God would give Him strength. He knew that the people who were crucifying Him would be ugly, but He also knew that God would give him the power to forgive them and love them. He knew that He was doing something for the whole world so that we could know God better than we had ever known Him before.
You can think about the cross and how ugly it looked before Jesus died, but after He had been given His life, it looked like the most beautiful piece of wood that had ever been made. Jesus died for our ugliness, our sins. He died on a cross and did so with great love.
This is why the cross is so important to us. It is important and beautiful because this is where God met us and made us beautiful people. And this is why we call this day Good Friday. Amen.
Wesley T. Runk
Matthew 6:25--33
Thanksgiving Day
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (v. 24)
Object: A bird in a cage and food and clothing items that have been brought to the altar to be shared with the community. (Announcements requesting the donation of such items must be made at least a week or more before Thanksgiving.)
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you can tell me what day today is? (Let them answer.) That's right, this is Thanksgiving and I have brought with me today a friend that I call Pilgrim. Does anyone know what I have brought with me? (Let them answer.) Do you know what kind of bird it is? It isn't a turkey, is it? (Let them answer.) No, it isn't a turkey. Pilgrim is a friend of mine who reminds me of something Jesus taught me a long time ago.
By the way, did you notice the coat and hat that Pilgrim is wearing? (Let the children look carefully.) Do you see like his shoes and the necktie he picked out to wear to church? You don't see them? Good, because Pilgrim doesn't wear clothes, does he? God gave Pilgrim feathers so that he doesn't have to worry about a hat or coat or shoes. And when the weather gets really cold, God gave Pilgrim some wings so that he could fly south to the warm weather. God has a great plan for Pilgrim, and Pilgrim is very thankful for God thinking about him. Pilgrim doesn't have a worry in the world.
Jesus taught us that we should not worry either. I am very happy that you have brought all of this food and clothing with you this morning. Your mom and dad went to the store and bought food for your home and clothes for you, but they also bought some extra things and brought it here to the church. Do you know what we are going to do with all of this food? (Let them answer.) That's right, we are going to give it to the people who don't have a lot. They are like birds without enough feathers to stay warm and dry or like birds whose wings are broken and cannot fly south. Some people need to depend on God's disciples to share what they have with them. There is nothing wrong with needing food or clothes. It just happens. But we don't want these people to worry and fret about what they are going to eat or when they are going to eat. We don't want them to worry about heat in their homes or having warm coats and hats, so we share what we have with them.
That's the way the first Pilgrims did it. They wanted to make friends with the Indians who lived here, so they shared the harvest of corn and other food so that everyone had as much as they needed. We call that day of sharing Thanksgiving.
I want to thank you for bringing all of this food for the people who need it. Pilgrim thanks you, too, for remembering all of God's people on Thanksgiving. We are pleased that we can share and keep people from worrying.
The next time you see Pilgrim or any bird, I want you to remember how good it was to share our gifts and to thank God for having such a wonderful Thanksgiving. Amen.
Wesley T. Runk
