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Children’s Sermon

John 20:19-31

God’s Holy Spirit Replaces Fear

April 27, 2025

Second Sunday of Easter

Lectionary Year C

Supplies: For the demonstration, you'll need a clear water bottle filled all the way up with water (with the lid/cap off), a straw, and a bucket or pan to catch the water that spills.

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

Good morning!
When you have a straw with your drink, do you sometimes blow bubbles into your drink?
Do you know what causes the bubbles? (Your breath!)
That’s right!
So let’s pretend you have some water.
Like this [show water bottle with water in it]
And let’s pretend you have a straw – like this [show straw]
What do you think will happen when I put this straw into the water and blow bubbles into it? [Water will be pushed out of the bottle]
OK – let’s see what happens
[blow into the straw and push the water out of the bottle; catch the water with the bucket you brought along]
What happened?
That’s right! The air made bubbles and pushed out at least some of the water that was in the bottle!

TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway)

Last week Sunday was Easter, and we remembered and celebrated the resurrection of Jesus.
And in this week’s story, we hear about Jesus’ first real interaction with his disciples since his resurrection.
One of the first things we hear in the story is that the disciples are afraid.
Let’s pretend, then, that the disciples’ fear is like the water in this water bottle
Later in the story, we hear that Jesus breathes God’s spirit into the disciples…
…just like I breathed air into this water bottle.
And, just like my breath pushed the water out of the water bottle, so too did God’s Holy Spirit push out the fear that was in the disciples.

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

The disciples had been filled with fear because of the bad and scary things that had happened to their teacher and leader, Jesus.
And, then, they were even more scared because they didn’t understand what was happening with Jesus and his resurrection.
But, because they let Jesus breathe the Holy Spirit into them, their fear was replaced with something much, much better.
The same thing is true for us today. Even when awful, scary, bad things happen to us, we don’t need to be filled with fear of these events.
Instead, we can remember today’s story.
We can remember that the breath we breathe is filled with God’s Holy Spirit and with every breath we take, we are inviting God into our lives and bodies.
And, with every breath where we are inviting God into our lives, we are also pushing out the fear and worry that can sometimes fill us up.
That’s the good news for today. Let’s pray.

CLOSING Prayer

Let’s pray. This is a repeat-after-me prayer.

Dear God,
Dear God,

Thank you for the gift of Jesus.

…who reminds and teaches us how...

…to breathe in your Holy Spirit…

…that then replaces our worry and fear.

Thank you and Amen

Originally posted March 24, 2013
Updated on March 29, 2025
Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia

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