Kids' Talk on the Ascension

 Today the kids and I talked about the Ascension. I had two questions.

1. Where is Jesus?
2. Where is God?

I started with the kids. They were unsure. So we wandered around the congregation a bit and asked some people to find some answers. We had a variety of answers, ranging from 'everywhere'; 'in heaven, although heaven isn't really a place like we usually think of a place to go'; 'seated on the right hand of the Father'; and thinking of God as a sparkle to be discerned in the darkness. All good answers.

I said to the kids that I don't think of 'where' is God or Jesus, but who is with God or Jesus. So, where is Jesus? Jesus is where God is. So where is God? Where Jesus is. And where are we? With God and Jesus in the Holy Spirit. 

A Children's Talk on the Holy Trinity

It can be difficult to know what to say to kids about the Trinity. Try this next time:

Can anyone tell me why they think the love we give (and receive from others) is imperfect?
I reckon it is because human love is always given with a good splash of our own needs mixed in. And our needs - most often legitimate - shape our love so that it is not actually for the other person. It is for me as well. No parent can love their child perfectly, just as no child can love their parent perfectly. So too with our friends and anyone else for that matter.

But not so with God. God is love already. God doesn't need us to have someone to love, or need us to have someone to love God back. God is love. A communion/community of love. That is what the language of Father and Son, and their mutual love of the Holy Spirit, is meant to signify. God doesn't need us. But this is exactly why God loves us. It is for us, not mixed in with God's own neediness. (God is needless in this sense, not in a frigid sort of cold and distant sense.)

This is why it is so important to let God be God, and ourselves and everyone to be less than perfect. So many people bear a grudge against a parent or child or friend or someone they hardly know because that person was human, that is, couldn't love them perfectly. But that is to ask them to be who they cannot be. Why ask people to be who they are not? What they are not?

See also:
God Alone is Good
You can Trust God
Further Thoughts on Transcendence

Christ's Coats of Many Colours

We had fun at Almost Like Church yesterday talking about Joseph's coat of many colours. The essential point behind the kids' talk was that Joseph relished his father's favouritism at the expense of his brothers. And they resented him for it. If it weren't for the great ending of reconciliation Joseph would not be remembered positively. But the essential point was that Jesus, the favoured Son, doesn't hoard God's love but spreads it. In fact, this is the heart of the gospel: God's love for us in Christ through the Spirit brings us to the intimacy shared by (to use traditional language) Father and Son to the extent that there is nothing more to give. Jesus does not evoke envy (nor feel envious towards us) because he is not our rival (nor are we his rivals) for the Father's love. In this sense, we are all given a coat of many colours through Christ and the Spirit.

Come to think of it, there's probably a decent adult sermon in that.

But God Intended It For Good

It always seemed to me that Joseph was having a little revengeful fun at the expense of his brothers before he finally revealed himself to them. (Gen 42-45.) But reflecting on the reaction of Judah to the suggestion that Benjamin be left behind has changed my mind. (Gen 44:18-34) Judah has learned something of the evil that he and his brothers perpetrated on Joseph, and at the suggestion of sacrificing the next favoured brother, instead offers himself. So not only has he learned that betraying a brother is wrong, he has even been able to give up his resentment toward the (latest) favoured brother and rise above his father's continued poor parenting. He will give himself up for a favoured brother and out of pity for a father who favours one brother over the rest. The 'journey' Joseph took his brothers on has borne fruit in Judah. That little part of the world was a better place for Judah's new insight and repentance. Add to this Joseph's forgiveness even of his recalcitrant brothers, and the food relief provided by Joseph for his family, and we can affirm that, in this instance, good did come out of evil.  "You intended evil, but God intended it for good." (Gen 45:5;  50:20) Joseph too, presumably, has learnt something along the terrible journey of being sold into slavery in a foreign land. Just at that point when he could have sought revenge upon his brothers, or at the very minimum, pointed out their evil while forgiving them, he places their actions on a broader canvas of God's purposes.

Does anybody learn much at all except through suffering? Gratitude seems to grow depth in people, although often the transformation is not through the kind of gratitude that fears the worst, but the kind of gratitude that grows in a person who has suffered. (Even Jesus learned through suffering. See Heb 5:8.) I wish it were otherwise, and this is not an explanation or justification for evil and suffering, but an observation of real people, myself included. The theological addition is as Joseph says, God intends the evil for good. God's response to evil is not a moralistic separation from evil or a gnostic ignoring of it. God journeys into the story of human suffering, failure and evil. Hence the call of Abraham and Sarah, God's blessing of Jacob, Joseph's travails, Moses and his exile ... and  Jesus and his cross and resurrection. God can use sin to bring salvation.

And if you are looking for a kids' talk on the Joseph cycle, try something along these lines.

When God uses us to bring about good, do you think God uses the good things we do or the bad things we do? (If the answer is 'The good things" that will help the surprise in the sermon.)

So things like ... being kind to someone, sticking up for some kid being left out at school?
Not lying ... not being mean ... ("I find it hard to bring good out of bad stuff like this ... I usually have to start off fresh.") ... Definitely not selling your brother or sister into slavery and watching them dragged off to a foreign country... definitely not being part of a group that nails someone to a cross.
Definitely not. But God isn't restricted like that. God gets involved in our failures and can even bring good out of bad. Like Joseph ... like Jesus ...

The Door You Carry With You

I followed up the door sermon with the kids. This time I took them beyond the idea of Jesus as the door into God's house/room by carrying the door with me. So when I went through the door (just a couple of louvre doors I had lying around) I took one of them with me. I made two points:

1. Doors normally stay in place, you leave them behind until you want to exit. With Jesus, I said, you never leave him behind and he isn't the way out.

2. This means that wherever you are, you can enter God's room through Jesus the door.

Trinity Sermon About Doors

Tony Kelly, in his book, Touching on the Infinite, quotes from a poem by Tomas Transtromer:

"Each man (sic) is a half-open door leading to a room for everyone."

So for a kid's talk I used a couple of old louvre doors from a cupboard. I had a couple of  kids be the hinges so  could open and shut the doors. I had the kids knock, I opened and hey, look, there is the congregation. And the other way around so I opened to the altar. The point was to say people are like doors. Whenever we meet someoneit is sort of like opening a door because there are a lot of people behind them in a big room, including parents, friends, church, school, and others. And Jesus is like that; open him up and hey, look, (using traditional language) there is the Father! (A future kid's talk could push this a bit further with the doors. Jesus is the door to the Father, but unlike doors leading into a room, we take Jesus the door with us. We can't ever discard the door. It will be so strange they will get the point, as will the adults listening. )

The door imagery was a good one to use to talk about the Trinity with the congregation. People seemed to get it. I contrasted the understanding of our humanity as a door with the individualistic 'self-made man'. The human being of the latter is self-contained, leads nowhere, and relationships are either occasionally needed, recreational but never constitutive. (cf. the Arian view that God was not eternally Father with an individualism of sorts at the root of God.)  The door image leads nicely into what it might mean to be a church of a communion rather than a single congregation, and as disciples we are doors to ... well, Jesus, God, church.

Mark 6:1-13 Travelling Lightly (Kids' Talk)

For this kids' talk have a suitcase and try to fit in too much stuff. Overdo it with too many pants, shirts, books, exercise stuff, shoes, etc. Just way too much.

What should we do? Decide on what we need, and what is the most important.

A couple of ways to go from here:

• how do we decide what is important? Jesus tells us.
• Get them to say what are the most important things we need in our whole life (not just a holiday)
  

Built on a Rock (Kids' Talk)

Previous kids' talks have used the idea of layers of bricks, likening the apostles to the first layer, and each generation of Christians built on top of them. I have also used the idea of Cephas' renaming to Peter, solid on which you can stand. We also have a boulder out the front of the church with a plaque commemorating the opening of the new Holy Innocents back in the 90s. The plaque is on rock because it is so solid and will last. Like God.

Listening to God (Kids' Talk)

A kids' talk on prayer as listening to God.

Get someone up to talk about something. Prearrange with them that you will interrupt them continually by telling what they should be saying, or "What about ..." They take the interruptions gracefully, but eventually challenge you to let them speak as this is what you asked them to do. The point to the kids: we think of prayer as talking to God, but it is also listening to God.

Can't Hide From God (Kids' Talk)

The Prophet Jonah


Have a game of hide and seek in the church, one child hiding and someone else finding. This is the lead into the idea of hiding from God. Where could we hide from God? Where could we end and God forget us?

Tell story of Jonah, and at each major point project a picture:

God had a task for him, but he didn't want to do it. God wanted him to go to a city and tellthe people to change their bad ways. So

he fled on a boat

but God had other ideas and made a big storm

so the sailors through Jonah overboard! And

just when he thought he was lost, he was swallowed by a dirty great fish, and

just when he thought God had forgotten him,

the fish vomited him out on the shore, right next to the city where Jonah had to go.

So he went up there and told them what God said. Lucky he did because they listened tohim and changed their ways!

From Cephas to Peter (Kids' Talk)

A kids' talk on Jesus changing the name of Cephas to Peter. Applicable for John 1 or Matthew 16.

[Outside Holy Innocents we have a huge rock on which the plaque commemorating the opening of the church is placed.]


Lots of different names in the world; What does your name mean? ...

Jesus changed Cephas' name to Peter; I wonder why?

It means rock.[Go outside to the rock.]

Hey, look at this rock. Tell me about it ... [big, hard, solid, stand on it]

Peter, one of the first disciples, Jesus said would be like a rock for the rest of us; solid, trustworthy ...

Born Amongst the Dung (Kids' Talk)

The point of this Christmas Kids' Talk is to contrast the God of Jesus with the idol we carry around with us.

• Start by asking the kids who was at the first Christmas for the birth of Jesus the king.
• Collect answers, and then ask what was also there. Answers like cows etc are easy. But keep on saying, 'But you have forgotten something.' The kids will start coming up with funny answers like, "The inn keeper's lantern.' That's when to introduce the forgotten ingredient.
• Have a bag of animal dung up the back. Get someone to bring it down. Say things like, "Don't drop it," and "Hey, did anyone drop one?". But don't directly let on to what is in the bag.
• Then show them, and make the contrast: where do kings usually get born? And Jesus, born amongst the dung?
• the God of Jesus doesn't do what we expect; or something about God on the side of ordinary people, or the poor, or something of that nature fits.
  

Saying 'Yes' to God (Kids' Talk)

The gist of the kids' talk for Mary's acceptance of God's invitation to bear Jesus:

• Start with an invitation they have to say 'yes' to. E.g. another child asking them to be their friend.
  
  
• The prop is something you have said 'yes' to. I talked about saying 'yes' to ordination, and had my orders to show.
  
  
• The most important things in life we have to say 'yes' to. Asked for examples, included in this the congregation.
  
  
• Being a disciple of jesus
  
  
• Mary's 'yes' as the paradigm.
  

Preparing For Christmas (Kids' Talk)

[We have a Christmas Tree in the worship space.]
Have a look at this ... (the tree)
And why are we doing this? Preparation for Christmas.
How else do we prepare ...

John the Baptist said that the way we can get ready for the coming of Jesus is to say sorry and believe in Jesus (to repent and believe):

• things we have done wrong
• but this is so we know that we need God in our lives

Advent Wreath (Kids' Talk)

[Advent 1]

Focusing on one of the symbolic elements of the Advent Wreath, this week the candles. Start off noticing the elements of the wreath: circular, greenery, 4/5 candles.

Light a candle: what could it mean?
How many weeks until Christmas? We light an extra one each week
Why? As we get closer to Christmas.
Why? Jesus as the light of the world. Or, lighting our way to the Christ child is an alternative explanation.

You Meet Jesus When You Meet ...?

This is the kids' talk I used for Matt 25:31-46.

I had 7 slides: a bishop, a baby, prisoner, church congregation, refugee camp, big, happy family, Mother Teresa.

The gist of the sermon: scrolled through the slides asking if you met these people, would you be meeting Jesus? i.e. Jesus present in them. The kids got it easily, the answer to all of them, yes.

Then we went through each one, and they had to decide which one especially was Jesus present in. The kids here went for baby/family. I reiterated the point that Jesus is with all of them, but that Jesus thought he was especially present to the prisoner, the refugee, etc.

Jesus Came To Save (Kids' Talk)

[I'm using some model dinosaurs my brother and I made when we were kids.]

The point of the sermon is to make the connection between how I have looked after the models all these years because I made them, and how God intends to keep everything that God has made as well. Not lose any of it. That's the point of Jesus.

Points to emphasise: I made the models, a lot of time and effort, painted them etc., and I have carefully kept them in this box all these years. As I have moved from house to house, carefully they have been moved as well.

Parallel: God made everything, carefully, loves everything, and does not intend to lose any of it. In fact, God wants to bring it all home, back to God. That is why God sent Jesus.

Being Ready (Kids' Talk)

[Matthew 25:1-13.]

What are some things you have to be ready for?

Possible answers if they don't come up with many:

• catching the bus: be at the bus stop waiting for it
• the thief who might steal the car (have a steering lock)
• birthday party (balloons, hats, games, food and drink)

How do we get ready for these things?

There is something else we have to be ready for. Jesus bringing in the kingdom. How are we meant to be ready?

Finish with the Prayer Book, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again" if you like.

All Souls (Kids' Talk)

Where do people go when they die? To heaven? Where is that? ....

Better way to think of it: when people die, who are they going to be with? (Possible answers: God, Jesus, a loved one)

Jesus. And where Jesus is, that's where God is. Those who die are with Jesus and with God. Joining Jesus with God. Like they are brothers and sisters with Jesus.

The Two Best Ways To Live (Kids' Talk)

Following on from the ten commandments as great ways to live, we have now the 2 greatest ways to live.

Remember when we talked about the 10 great ways to live? Can anyone remember any of them?

Hard isn't it? There are so many. But Jesus taught us a way to remember the ten. He noticed that the first four are about God, and the last 6 are about other people. So he made the 10 great ways to live into 2 greatest ways to live: Love God with everything you are, and love yur neighbour as yourself.

[If you want to impress everyone you can use this distinction between the first 4 and the last 6 as a mnemonic device to remember the 10 pretty easily.]