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Children’s Sermon

Mark 1:29-39

Jesus Receives And Shares God’s Healing Love

February 4, 2024

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Lectionary Year B

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ASK (a.k.a The On-Ramp)

Good morning!
I'm going to retell the Gospel story that was just read to us in worship.
I'm going to use some of my own words AND while I tell it to you, I want you to pretend that these strips of stickers [show the strips of stickers] are God's healing love.
OK? Remember -- we're pretending these stickers [show the strips of stickers again] are God's healing love.
What are we pretending these stickers are going to be? (God's healing love!)
Good -- you've got it! So here we go!

TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway)

“Our story begins with Jesus going to a worship service at the nearby synagogue - and while he was there, he was able to receive God's healing love.”
[act this out a little bit; dangle a strip of stickers before you, and maybe look up (somewhat beatifically) as you slowly reveal a strip of stickers from a closed hand – do this just after or as you say “God’s healing love.”]
“Jesus then went to the home of Simon, one of the people who had been at the same worship service as Jesus. They were going to have some Sabbath brunch.”
“But it turns out that Simon's mother-in-law was sick.” [Point at one of the children -- ask them if they would pretend to be sick for a moment]
“But because Jesus had been at worship, he had some of God's healing love to share with her. And so he gave her God's healing love” [hand the strip of stickers to the pretending-to-be-sick mother-in-law]
“And guess what? Simon's mother-in-law was healed. So she stood up and went and helped make brunch. This was her way of sharing God's healing love that she had received from Jesus with the people who were near her.”
“Jesus, who ate some of this brunch, received back some of God's healing love that he had shared” [ask the used-to-be-sick mother-in-law if you could have the stickers back]
“After Jesus ate, lots of sick people came to him and he shared God's healing love with them. Lots of people were healed that day.”
[tell the kids that they are going to pretend to be the sick people receiving God's healing love. Then rip the stickers off of the strip of stickers and pass them out to the kids so that each child gets a sticker until all the stickers are gone -- don't worry about getting stickers to every child because you'll pass out more at the end of the story -- you might need to tell the kids to be patient, though, because otherwise they might stop listening to the story and start worrying about getting a sticker]
“Eventually, Jesus was all out of God's healing love” [show your empty hands to the kids].
“So what was Jesus going to do? What COULD he do? Any thoughts?”
“That's right! Jesus went and prayed. And while he was praying, guess what he received?
Yes! He received even MORE of God's healing love!” [enact the same scene of receiving stickers that you did at the start of the story].
“So then, he went to another town to share God's healing love with others” [pass out stickers to the kids who haven't yet received a sticker].

SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination)

I think that’s a pretty good story.
I especially like the part where Jesus gets more of God’s healing love when he prays – which then means he has more of God’s healing love to share with others.
And guess what!? We can do these same things that Jesus did!
We can worship God, pray to God, and receive God's healing love in prayer and from the people around us.
When we do those things and are receiving God’s healing love – that then means we have God’s healing love [dangle a strip of stickers] to share with those around us.
Just like I’m going to do now (share the rest of your stickers with the students)
[Optional: Invite the children to share their stickers with someone in the congregation after the closing prayer].
That’s the Good News for today. Let’s pray.

CLOSING Prayer

This is a repeat-after-me prayer.

Dear God,

Thank you for Jesus…

…who received your healing love…

…and then shared it with others…

Help us to do the same…

Thank you and amen.

Originally posted January 25, 2015

Updated on January 6, 2024
Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia

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Supplies: You will need a roll of stickers (something like this – link goes off-site to amazon.com) and then rip off two longish strips that would provide enough stickers for the amount of kids that you are expecting. Worse case scenario: Get some masking tape and draw stars or hearts along the length of two strips. Also, you might want to talk ahead of time to the child who you would like to be the sick- and-then-healed mother-in-law.

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