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Pentecost Children's Sermons
from (Rev) Neil
MacQueen,
www.sundaysoftware.com
I've done both of these
twice and liked them a lot.
The first one is very animated and works well if you have a good
sense of humor and playful personality.
The second one requires advance preparation but if very effective
and can be used annually.
Pentecost Children's Sermon
#1
"Like a Mighty Wind!"
...a.k.a."Neil's Leaf Blower Children's Sermon"
 Approach
with a large bag by your side and lay it on the floor. Then sit down
with the kids and ask them if they know what Pentecost is. Coax the
story out of them for a bit. Then admit to them that when we hear
Bible stories, they can sometimes seem r-e-a-l-l-y slow and
borrrring (say it just like that and fall asleep at the end of
the sentence and starting to snore. Talk in your sleep saying things
like "O the bible is so boring, snore snore.")
Then startle them by
popping up and saying loudly, "But Not Really! The
Bible is often an exciting book because it tells of exciting events.
And the story of Pentecost is one of the most exciting stories in
the entire New Testament."
Jump up and grab the big
bag. Invite some kids to help you open it. Inside is a LEAF
BLOWER attached to an extension cord. Have an older kid go plug
it in for you.
 Say, "It has been 50
days since Jesus was resurrected. The Disciples were sitting there
all bored and wondering what to do next. then suddenly something
like a Mighty Wind blew into their upperroom. (Turn on the leaf
blower. You might have it pointed at yourself first so it blows up
your hair. If you're wearing a pastor's robe, send it flying!).
And it started swirling
around the Disciples (swirl the kids). It blew the windows open
(hold out a big piece of paper and blow it away). It was God's
Spirit! And it was blowing around as if to say, "Go outside,
Go outside! ...and if you don't, I'll blow you out the door anyway.
God's Spirit is the thing we feel inside us and around us telling us
to do the right thing. Telling us to tell his message. Telling us to
forgive. Sometimes God's presence FEELS like a small whisper of wind
(turn off your blower as you say this and whisper some things, like
"God says forgive that person.") But sometimes God's presence feels
like a Mighty Wind moving not only you, but other people around you,
giving us all the same idea to go out and do good, forgive and tell
others about Jesus.
You're saying all of
this over the sound of a very loud leaf blower. This will add to
the fun. Blow the kids with the leaf blower, being careful not to
blow in their faces. Stick the blower down the back of someone's
shirt. Blow a lot of hair. Swoosh the kids to get up.
And keep telling the
story over the sound of the leaf blower. "On the day of
Pentecost, OUTSIDE the room the disciples were safely gathered in,
--there were a lot of people who had never heard of Jesus Christ.
And God's Spirit wanted them to hear about Jesus. So his Spirit
moved the disciples to GET UP and GO into the crowd.
That's why we celebrate
Pentecost, to remember our job as Christians, to remember what God
wants us to do... all of you kids (turn on your blower and
blow them a bit), and all of you adults! (turn on the blower
and blow the adults in the first couple of pews, if a bulletin goes
flying, so be it!). ---That our job as Disciples of Jesus, is
to GO from here and be among friends and strangers, and tell them
about our faith, about God's love, and about the wonderful miracle
that happened just 50 days ago. (Now turn OFF the blower
and say) "AMEN."
If your kids now leave
for Sunday School, you can say "The kids may now LEAF for Sunday
School." (then turn on
the blower and blow them off the
steps).
The key to this
children's sermon is to yell over the blower and have fun blowing
things around.
Pentecost
Children's Sermon #2
What does the Church want for
its Birthday?
Have members/children purchase
birthday gifts for the church building itself: light bulbs,
paper towels, toilet paper, trash bags, cleaning supplies, toys for
the nursery, coffee for the adults, donut holes for the kids in the
children's sermon! etc. Wrap
in birthday paper and bring to worship.
During children's sermon, tell the
story of Acts 2 as "the birthday of the church." Have the children unwrap the gifts. Ask: What else does the
church need to make it more welcoming to others? What gift could we
give that church that would help your friends come here too?
Alt Finish: Bring in a big
wrapped box. In it is a child, "the greatest gift you can give to
your church is you."
Some lesson ideas for Pentecost at
rotation.org
Have children write birthday cards to the church
thanking the building for being there for them, and send to the
trustees.
A creative
Pentecost worship idea from "Emerging Kiwi" in New Zealand that
includes a flaming rock (yes, a flaming rock).
Pentecost is a great time for baptisms, or
confirmation classes. It can also be used to "renew" our baptismal
vows. Pastor sprinkles water from font onto the children, or uses a
pine bough to sprinkle it over the congregation.
Distribute yeast and
flour to members so that they can bake Pentecost loaf at home after
worship. Include a slip of paper with instructions and a liturgy
for home use. There is perhaps no tastier symbol of Pentecost.
Bread is basic, bread nurtures, bread is something you share
with neighbors, bread is theological (think communion).
Leviticus 23 describes the bringing of bread to the Temple as an
act of Pentecost worship. Alternately: Distribute a starter
dough from one common batch. Bless the batch and divide it up. Send
home with instructions how to 'feed' new flour to the starter dough
to achieve great results.
Theological note: In Rabbinic
literature yeast was a symbol of sin (for more details, just
look it up). But Christians, starting with Jesus' "leaven in the
loaf parable," emphasized the 'enlarging' properties of yeast.
That 'air' has often been symbolically linked to the 'wind' of
the Spirit.
Pentecost
Children's Sermon #3
What Kind of Church Fruit are
you?
 There are a couple of
fun ways to bring fruit into this children's sermon. I've separately
bagged various fruit and handed them out to children. Paper bags
increase their sense of anticipation and they can try to guess
what's in there. I've palmed some grapes and did the ol' "make them
come out of a kid's ear" trick (for you amateur magicians out
there). I've even had an elder toss me lemons from the pew
(kids loved that), after which we talked about "being given lemons
vs making lemonade." The point is, get their attention and make it
memorable so the Word sticks.
Pentecost celebrates the
Spirit coming into the disciples to build the church. God's Spirit
can live INSIDE YOU. How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit
inside you? Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians,
chapter 5! He says you can see its fruits, the fruits
of the Spirit, he calls them.
The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, forbearance (which is like patience), kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
At this point you're
going to have kids reach into their bags one at a time and pull out various
fruits, describing each as you give it to a child to hold. It really
doesn't matter WHICH fruit you pull out for which of the "fruits of
the spirit". You can mix and match. Mango for
goodness/sweetness, apples for faithfulness because they are always
there when you need them. You can pull out oranges for peace and say
something like "oranges have sections you can share." Make up any
associations you want. When you give the fruit to a child, have them
remember which of the "fruits of the spirit" goes with their fruit.
If you have time, you can ask them to "remind you" when you collect
the fruit from them.
When you have all the fruits
distributed, point again to each fruit as you repeat to the kids
this:
The Apostle Paul tells us that when people see these fruits in us,
they will know that the Spirit of God is with us.
Love, joy, peace, forbearance (or patience), kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
And the cool thing about God's
Spirit is that you don't have to carry around a bag of fruit. God
gives the gifts of the Spirit straight into your heart.
Addendum #1: I originally
did this years ago pulling fruit from inside my robe. The kids
thought it was great, but some of the adults snickered :-(
Addendum #2: I always
wanted to pull a nut out of the bag and say, "this nut represents
the ministers"...or something like that.
Read my article:
7 Tips to Better Children's Sermons
at
http://www.sundaysoftware.com/articles/chsermons.htm
I've seen a lot of bad children's
sermons, and even done a few myself. But I've found that there's a
basic underlying FALSE PREMISE that a lot of pastors are following
in delivering their children's sermons. Read the article. Better
yet, print it and pass it around. |
Speaking the Gospel
in a new language
You
can see another version of this lesson at
In one class, we had the kids make their own
illustrations and maps of Paul's journey using
