This children’s sermon was written to accompany a sermon based on Haggai 2:10-19 and Acts 10:9-11:18.
Good morning girls and boys! I brought a book to share with you today, a book that I love! Do you know it? It’s called, Harry the Dirty Dog, by Gene Zion, and someone may have read it to you when you were small. I love it because it feels like a parable to me- a story that someone made up, but has a BIG TRUTH in it that helps us understand God. The story doesn’t mention God at all, but I wonder if it says about what God is like and what humans are like. I’ll read it quickly and then I want to see what you think.
Read the book, or skim quickly, depending on time you have.
I have some questions for you:
I wonder how we’re like Harry.
If the story was true, I wonder if God would still know it was Harry.
Even though his own family didn’t know who he was inside, God knew who he was, who he could be.
God always knows who we are inside and loves us so much, no matter if we’re clean or get dirty, no matter if we keep doing things that make us seem different than the real us inside. God calls us to be our best selves in the world, just as God created us to be- but sometimes it takes God’s help-and a mighty big scrub brush!
Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for loving us no matter what situations we get ourselves in. Help us as we try to be the kind of people you made us to be. We love you, God. Amen.
