KEEP (SH)OUT(ING)!

This is how it played out at EPC. It was awesome. ~Fran

for Sunday, October 4, 2015
World Communion Sunday
19th Sunday After Pentecost
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Proper 22
Year B
lectionary focus: Mark 10:2-16

note and PROP: As Edgewood Presbyterian Church celebrates World Communion Sunday, our children’s sermon will prepare the congregation and the table for Communion. Our prop is a fence section that will be placed on top of the Communion Table. By turning the fence into a table, we are saying: there is plenty to share; the table is big; we are one world. A great book to extend this lesson is The Greatest Table by Michael Rosen.

Good morning!

I have a BIG prop today! This is a section of fence. We put fences around things for safety. We fence our yards so our dogs can play and not get lost. We put fences beside roads so that drivers will know where to drive their cars. We put fences around dangerous things like power stations and water towers so that people don’t get hurt. Fences can be very helpful. But some people want to build fences to be selfish. Some people want to use fences to say that other people need to go away; to say that other people are not welcome there; to say that other people need to KEEP OUT (helper puts sign on the fence). Some people want to use fences because they feel there is not enough to share.

In our Bible story today, Jesus fusses at the disciples when they are being selfish. The disciples use themselves to make a fence to keep children away from Jesus. Jesus moves the disciples, opens His arms, hugs all the children, and reminds the disciples that there is plenty of Jesus to share.

Today we celebrate World Communion Sunday. Today we celebrate that there is STILL plenty of Jesus to share all over the world. Today we celebrate that we don’t have to be selfish with Jesus and His love.

But I wonder about the fences. I wonder about the people who forget that there is enough to share. I wonder what we can do. I wonder how we can move the fences like Jesus. I wonder how we can show that there is plenty to share. Here are 3 ideas.

First. I think we need to change the sign on the fence. That sign says KEEP OUT. But if we add God’s love and put a few more letters on the sign, it now reads KEEP SHOUTING GOD LOVES YOU! I think that makes Jesus’s message loud and clear.

Second. Today at EPC, we are changing this fence into a table. Watch as our helpers take the fence and place it here on top of Jesus’s table. And now our other friends will  add the elements. That fence which was designed to keep people out is now making the table bigger, is now welcoming us all to eat with Jesus.

And third. We can remember that there is enough to share. Whether we are sharing Jesus or love or kindness or food or shoes or a place to live, there is enough. And Jesus calls us all to share, calls us to make sure that others are welcome, calls us to show how big His table is.

Will you pray with me? (This is an echo prayer: the leader says a line and the children repeat it.)

Dear Lord,
Thank You
for keeping us safe.
Thank You
for sharing with us.
Thank You
for reminding us
to share with others
and to move selfish fences.
KEEP SHOUTING!
GOD LOVES YOU!
Amen
Amen

We are not Christians alone.
My mission is to share, inspire, and encourage.

Two for One

16th Sunday after Pentecost
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Proper 22
for Sunday, Oct 2, 2011

Note: This week I offer two sermons: one for those celebrating World Communion Sunday and one for those focussing on the lectionary.

Sermon I–World Communion Sunday 2011
lectionary focus (loosely): Philippians 3:12-14
The inspiration for this sermon came from the essay “Living from the Heart” by Pam Pitcher in “Under the Chinaberry Tree: a publication of the Chinaberry Book Service,” 1995.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been hungry. And what do we do when we are hungry? We get something to eat. The sooner, the better. We might get to go out to a restaurant. We might just go to the kitchen. We need to go to the grocery store regularly to have food ready. Did you know that one of the reasons we come to church is because we are hungry? But here we are not hungry for food; we are hungry for something else.

On the church calendar, today is known as World Communion Sunday. Today churches across the world celebrate that we are all really one church. Yes, we have different buildings, different names, different ways of worship. But we all are God’s church. We are a family of churches that loves God and God loves each of us. And how do families usually celebrate? By eating together. So today churches across the world are serving communion. The name communion is used for the meal in church where we eat bread and drink juice. But is this piece of bread and this sip of juice really a meal? Does this feed our hunger? No. And yes. We don’t eat this meal to keep our bellies from rumbling. We eat communion because we hunger for a world full of love and kindness and safety.

Everybody in the world needs food to live. Food gives our bodies the energy to do what needs to be done. But our hearts need God to live. God gives our hearts the love to do what needs to be done. When we share the communion meal, we are remembering that God loves us and that we should love each other. Through this celebration meal, we are filled with God’s love so we may go out and do good things in the world. I hope your bodies are never hungry for food. But I hope that you always hunger to go forward and to do good things in the world for God.

Will you pray with me? (This is an echo prayer: the leader says a line and the children repeat it back.)

Dear Lord,
Thank You for loving me.
Thank You for feeding me.
Help me to be hungry
for love
and kindness
and safety
that I may make the world
a better place.
Amen

Sermon II–Let the Words of My Mouth
lectionary focus: Psalm 19:14
The inspiration for this story came from a sermon by my friend Rick Allred.

Where is your mouth? Show me what teeth you have. Can you give me a big smile? Stick out your tongue. Do you know how to hum? Now listen to this.
Our mouths are wonderful things. They can do so much. We use them when we eat, when we sing, when we talk, when we say (smile while saying this) I-like-you without making a sound, and when we pray.

Because we use them so much, it is important to keep our mouths healthy. My dad is a dentist and he taught me to brush my teeth after every meal. It’s a good thing to do. But one time, my friend Zachary was getting ready to brush his teeth. He squirted some of the toothpaste onto his toothbrush. He made a nice, long squirt the whole length of his toothbrush. It was perfect and looked real pretty. Then he thought he could make it taller, so he squirted another long squirt on top of the first squirt. He had a double-decker! Then he thought he could make it even taller, so he squirted another long squirt on top of the first and second squirts. Now it was a triple-decker!!! Then Zach’s mom came into the bathroom. Uh, oh. He had too much toothpaste. There was no way he could use all of that. So Zach thought he would put it back into the toothpaste tube. But can you do that? No! Once you squirt out the toothpaste, it is not going back in.

In our Bible story today, the psalmist sings a line that many people use as a daily prayer: Let the words I say with my mouth make You happy, O Lord. God wants us to use our mouths to say good and helpful words.

But what about when we forget and say something not nice, something mean or ugly. Can we put the words back into our mouths like we never said them? No. Once we say something, the words cannot go back in. And if we say something mean or ugly, the hurt is done. Therefore let us be like the psalmist and ask God’s help that the words from our mouths be words of love and kindness and help. Those are the words that will make the Lord happy. And those words are never too much and never need to be put back.

Will you pray with me? (This is an echo prayer: the leader says a line and the children repeat it back.)

Dear Lord,
Thank You for our mouths.
Thank You for toothpaste.
Let the words I say with my mouth
make You happy
and be good and helpful
to all.
Amen

We are not Christians alone. My mission is to share, inspire, and encourage.