Children's Sermon - Books are the Best!

I really enjoy children's sermons.  I should probably be more specific.  I really enjoy children's sermons when they are NOT simply a way to show off how cute the kids are and when they are NOT simply a watered down version of the sermon.

I always try to connect my time with the kids to one of the lessons, preferably one of the ones I'm not preaching directly on.  My favorite way to share a message with the children is through children's literature.  There is a wealth of amazing books out there - and I'm not talking just "Christian" books.  Here are some of my favorites:

Road to Emmaus Sermon

The following sermon is from the Third Sunday of Easter, Year A
The gospel reading is the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, from Luke 24.13-35

From the NRSV translation:
Luke 24:13   Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,  14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.  15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them,

Good Friday Sermon

This sermon was delivered at the beginning of the tenebrae service held at my internship congregation.  John 18.1-19.42 was read, with responses taken from Isaiah 52.13-53.12 and Psalm 22 interspersed. 

Why is this day so important?  Why remember the story of Good Friday?  Yes, it is part of the larger story of passion week.  But we know how passion week ends.  We know of the coming resurrection.  Why tell this bloody, violent, incredibly sad and heart wrenching story? 

And the Crowd Goes Wild

This is a video of a sermon delivered on Palm Sunday at my internship congregation.  The sermon is based on the processional text, Matthew 21.1-11 and the occasion of the day (Palm/Passion Sunday).

Sermon - Epiphany 6

This sermon is based on Matthew 5.21-37 and was preached during my internship.  I used visual aids, showing slides from Power Point throughout the sermon.  Reading it through isn't quite the same, and a few of the visual elements are missing because the pictures below are not in presentation form - but you'll get the general idea!

Here it is…the crime scene.  

Micah 6.8 - A Sermon on Stewardship

One of my favorite tv shows is The Big Bang Theory.  It is a comedy with the basic premise of four incredibly intelligent, scientist guys (nerds if you will), and their interactions with Penny, a beautiful young lady who moves in across the hall.  Sheldon is one of the characters in the show, and although he is a genius when it comes to theoretical physics, when it comes to basic social interactions he is basically lost.  He approaches everything very scientifically, so with the help of the people around him, he has formed a basic set of understandings for social expectations and social norms, which he follows to the letter – all very scientific.

One day, a bit before Christmas,

Sermon on Psalm 113

The following is a sermon I wrote during my internship. We walked together through the psalm, with each verse chanted in Hebrew throughout. The entire psalm was chanted at the end of the sermon. I had someone else do the chanting, and I think the variety of voices throughout the sermon was helpful.

The Psalms. 150 poems. And these are not just any poems. They are the prayer book of the Israelites – meant to be sung, not spoken. These are deep words, expressive and incredibly true to the human experience. There are desperate pleas for help, joyous hymns of praise, songs of thanksgiving, expressions of profound trust, cries of pain from deep grief