This children’s sermon was given January 17, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary. I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.
Good morning, girls and boys. I’m so glad you’re here with me today.
Some of you may know that over on Facebook this week I asked your parents to ask you something. My question was, “What have you learned how to do lately that you didn’t know how to do before?” This could be something from school or something just for fun.
I got all kinds of answers, and I have to say, y’all are learning all kinds of things. Here are the answers you gave me:
Can you guess what Peter is learning? (Draw cursive in the air.)
Edie is learning to crochet.
Ben is learning to speak better.
Michael is learning to pay attention to what he eats- and how to take care of a cat.
Brynn is learning how to draw better and ride her bike better.
Ainsley has learned how to do a cartwheel
Danvers has learned to do a back walkover
Miller has learned how to do a round off back handspring,
Lucy has learned to do a front flip on her air track.
Carlos and Lily are learning how to add numbers.
And Laila learned how you can twist around a name and it can mean something else…like Tom Riddle and Voldemort in the Chamber of Secrets.
Addison is learning to area model- and I didn’t even know what that is! I had to look it up so I learned something too!
Brookelyn is learning to multiply fractions- and you know what else she said? She’s learning is to take better care of herself! What a valuable thing to learn!
How do you learn all these things? Sometimes a teacher or a friend shows you and explains every step, gives you a turn and let you try, whether it’s a front flip or writing a cursive or multiplying fractions. We watch them do it , try ourselves. We make lots of mistakes. Sometimes the teacher shows us what mistake we’re making, but then we get back up and practice. Sometimes we see the mistakes others make and that helps us learn too- we learn together. Sometimes we forget what we learned yesterday and we have to learn it again, over and over. And we keep trying. Maybe that’s the key.
It’s the same with learning about what Jesus teaches us. We watch our teacher, Jesus. We study what Jesus did- how he listened to people and gave people second third and fourth chances, how he stood up for people that others said were bad, and he didn’t go around saying things behind people’s backs. And then we try our own hand at it. We make mistakes and have to start again. Sometimes we forget what he taught us and we have to relearn it. We learn from others’ mistakes – we all learn together-but we keep trying.
Luckily we don’t have to do it by ourselves. We can ask God to help us. God will be with us our whole lives long, teaching us. I’m so glad that God made us so we can learn, and change and grow. And I’m thankful for what you teach me!
Let’s pray together. Dear God, thank you that we can learn new things, like how to be close to you. We love you, God. Amen.