The Trinity and the Children's Sermon

I have given one or two children's sermons, but very few, all things considered.  I remember doing one that involved sprouting mustard seeds and maybe one about the Good Samaritan.  I've worked with children in Vacation Bible School, but that's different than the children's sermon.

What better place to start than Holy Trinity Sunday?

I was a child that had no problem understanding the concept of the Trinity, but I know it can be a difficult concept for children and adults alike.  I thought the task of the children's sermon should be to illustrate how it's not as difficult as we might think.

I thought about those pictures like the duck-bunny or the old woman-young woman;  a change in perspective and we're seeing something else in the same drawing.  My spouse suggested a puzzle.  But it was during a morning walk that I came up with my plan.

I knew that I could put ice in my Yeti mug and it would stay frozen.  I have an electric kettle that heats quickly.  I thought about handing each child an ice cube to let it melt, but I decided that would be too messy.

I held the ice over the electric kettle as it started melting, and we talked about how the transformation of ice into water.  I dropped the ice into the kettle and voila!  Steam!  Hurrah for fast heating kettles and for extension cords that stretch to where we need them.

The group for the children's sermon were older--no toddlers, no pre-schoolers.  They seemed engaged.  I was happy with how the sermon went.  I do worry that I talked too much, in part because parishioners told me that these children will never talk, or at least not very loudly.  I think I would rather have that kind of group than the kind that is rambunctious and upstaging of the pastor/sermon.

This week's Gospel is the bleeding woman and the dead daughter of the Temple official.  Hmm.  Not easy material for a children's sermon--the Holy Trinity is much easier.  Happily, I still have a few days for inspiration.