Preface for Pastors and Parents A children’s sermon on Matthew 25:31-46? Tough challenge. It’s an amazing text, of course. But it’s potentially really scary. That threat of eternal torment by fire is over-the-top. It brings to mind a lit class long ago where we read James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young […]
A Children’s Sermon on Matthew 25:14-30 — The Talents
Preface for Pastors and Parents This children’s sermon on Matthew 25:14-30 is the second in a sort of a series. The lectionary spends three weeks on Matthew 25, with three successive portraits of the Last Judgment. That’s what these sections are about, after all. Jesus gives two parables and then a sort of parabolic description […]
A Children’s Sermon on Matthew 25:1-13
Preface for Pastors & Parents There are two challenges in writing a children’s sermon on Matthew 25:1-13. First, the parable is inherently metaphorical. Little kids don’t think in metaphors the way grown-ups do. So while the story format of a parable is appealing, there’s a big leap to make: Kids have to go from a […]
A Children’s Sermon on Matthew 22:15-22 — Whose Image?
Preface for Pastors and Parents I took a slightly different approach to this week’s children’s sermon on Matthew 22:15-22. It‘s standard for me to start with a friendly welcome. (I think of it as the “Mr Rogers Moment.”) Actually, I think that welcome is really important — a Gospel lesson in itself, that too many […]
A Children’s Sermon on Matthew 22:1-14 — The Wedding Banquet
Preface for Pastors and Parents The writer of a children’s sermon on Matthew 22:1-14 must tread with care. The challenge? In a straightforward reading of this story, God does not come off too well. It is Matthew’s version, not Luke’s, that has all the troubling bits. Frankly it’s a bit over the top. Sometimes I […]
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