ASK (a.k.a The On-Ramp)
- Good morning!
- Have you ever played tag with just ONE other person?
- It might look a little like this:
- [ "Play" tag with volunteer. Both of you should sit there and alternate tapping each
other on the shoulder and saying, "You're it." Feel free to vary the tempo between
tagging each other as well as increasing and decreasing one's enthusiasm of the tag.
Do this for 10 or 15 seconds. ]
- So what do you think -- is that a fun game of tag?
- Why do you think that? [ wait for and listen to answers ]
- Those are good answers!
- I think we’d all agree that tag is more fun when more than two people play it because
having more people changes the back-and-forth cycle that we just saw happen.
TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway)
- Remember this idea of tag being more fun when there's more people playing it as we
talk about today's scripture story.
- In today's story, we hear Jesus teach his disciples how to respond to their enemies.
- The lessons he gives them are very difficult things to do and even think about.
- He tells them to love their enemies.
- He tells them to not judge their enemies.
- He tells them to give away their things to the people who are stealing from them.
- Finally, he tells them to not tag the other player when playing a two-person game
of tag.
- OK, he didn't say that last thing. But he did say all the other things.
- But, I do think the idea of tag is helpful in understanding what Jesus is saying.
- In a game of tag with two people, what does the IT person want to do to the other
person? (Tap/tag them)
- And then what does the new IT person want to do to the other person (tap/tag them
back)
- Right! It just goes back and forth, back and forth.
SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination)
- When people do things to us that we think are unfair or mean, we often want to “get
back” at them.
- But Jesus offers a different option. Jesus invites us to follow him.
- And when we choose to follow him, we learn from him how to receive God's love, healing,
and mercy.
- The more love, healing, and mercy we receive, the more of it we have to share with
others – even those who are being unfair or mean to us.
- Which then stops the back-n-forth tagging
- And that's the good news for today.
CLOSING Prayer
- This is a repeat-after-me prayer.
Dear God,
Dear God,
Thank you for Jesus…
Thank you for Jesus…
…who shows us…
…who shows us…
… how to pay attention to you…
… how to pay attention to you…
…instead of to our enemies.
…instead of to our enemies.
Thank you and Amen
Originally posted February 10, 2019
Updated on January 25, 2025
Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia
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Supplies: Before worship, ask a child to volunteer to “play tag” with you during
the children’s sermon. Explain what it will look like (see below in the “Ask” section).
Briefly demonstrate and practice.
Related message(s): N/A