This children’s sermon was written for March 10, 2019, the first Sunday of Lent. It was also a day when we had both a baby dedication and a baptism in worship. The scripture was Mark 1: 9-15, the baptism and testing of Jesus.
Good morning, girls and boys. We have started the season of Lent, the time we spend getting ready for the mystery of Easter. Lent began with Ash Wednesday, where we lined up and a minister drew a cross on your forehead or hand, to remind you that God made us from dust and we don’t live forever. One day we will be dust again, but God holds and loves us the whole time, as we live our life, and when we return to God.
We think about God’s love again when we watch the dedication of Baby Lela to God. When Pastor Jim blessed her, did you see the sign he made on her forehead? Yes, he made the sign of the cross as he blessed her, not with ashes, but just his finger. It’s a way to remind all of us that she is marked with God’s love.
Baptism is a another beautiful way to show our church family and God that we know we are marked with God’s love. But instead of letting a minister mark us with water on our foreheads, I love that the way we do it here at our church is we go all the way in. We wet every part of our bodies, as if to say, mark the whole me, God. I’m swimming in your love and I want to drip with your holiness all my life long.
For today, I want to share some of the water with you. I hope that one day, maybe even soon, you’ll make the choice to be baptized, if you haven’t already. But today, I want to invite you, after our prayer, to remind yourself and someone in your family that you are marked with God’s love. I invite you to gently dip your two pointer fingers in the water. One finger is to make a cross on your own forehead, and the other is to do the same for someone in your family when you go back to your pew.
Dear God, help us remember that we spend our lives swimming in your love. We love you, God. Amen.
