This children’s sermon was given December 23, 2018, to accompany a sermon based on Luke 2: 1-6. The minister preaching the main sermon had asked that I help kids think about the behind the scenes work that makes Christmas happen at their homes and how we all prepare.
Good morning, girls and boys. Christmas is almost here! Are you ready?
Getting ready for Christmas is exactly what I’ve been thinking about lately- how we get ready, how we prepare- and what getting ready does for us. So I brought a bag of things I use for getting ready, and I wonder if you can guess what each thing is used for- how they help me get ready for Christmas.
Now I take one thing out of the bag at a time and have the children tell me how each item can be useful in preparing for Christmas. The bag includes: tape, gift tags, and advent guide, a Family advent guide, a calendar, an egg beater, a wallet or checkbook or credit card, a Bible, a nativity piece, a running shoe, a Christmas children’s book.
Getting ready for Christmas is itself a gift to us, because it’s a way to spend time thinking about God and Jesus and the people we love as we prepare. We can walk through the mystery of Christmas and really notice what Christmas is about- falling more deeply in love with God. I hope as you get ready, you spend time not in crazy busy-ness, but in enjoying the people around you and the God who loves you so much that God sent Jesus to you too.
Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for the gift of getting ready. As we spend time preparing for Christmas, help us fall even more deeply in love with you. We love you, God. Amen