For yesterday's children's sermon, I thought about a variety of approaches, but went with one of the more obvious options offered by Mark 3: 20-35. I decided to go with verse 25: "And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand."
I thought about Lincoln Logs, creating a house that way. But I don't have Lincoln Logs. I know that there are probably people in the neighborhood who could hook me up, but I didn't want to spend time searching. My spouse suggested that we do something with a chainsaw.
We experimented with the chainsaw, which led me to decide that we wouldn't actually use the chainsaw. But it provides a great visual:
I had the children use their imaginations. I stood the log up on the flat end, and I had us imagine it as a house. We talked about how solid the log is. I brought the unplugged chain saw over and said, "Now, what would happen if I cut right through this log? Would it stay together?" We agreed that it would not.
We talked about what the house represents when Jesus talked about it, about what happens when we work together as a group and when we don't. We talked about how to know if someone is trying to get you to act in good faith or not. I reminded them, as I try to do every week, that God loves them and wants them to flourish.
I think that it went well. As with most Sundays, I think that the children's sermon went better than the adult's sermon, where I preached about Mary in the middle of her spiritual journey. But overall, I was pleased with both sermons. I like that between the two, everyone might hear the message that God needs them to hear. Often my children's sermon has a visual or a hands-on element. It's a different approach which I know can appeal to adults as well as children.
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