| Linda Carroll |
| October 2007 - Children's Sermon |
| Luke 18:1-8 |
Preparation: Large picture of the letter "A" with happy face and arms lifted in praise; large picture of "C" with sad face; large picture of T with happy face and pilgram hat; large picture of "S" with "You" written inside top curve and "Me" written inside bottom curve; large picture with the smaller verions of the letters spelling ACTS; small 3-ring binders filled with children's prayers (start with ACTS) and children's chapel liturgy; Book of Common Prayer. I used Prayers and Graces compiled by Gail Harvey, JellyBean Press, 1993 for the children's prayers.
Think about someone you love very much. Now imagine that that person is with you all the time. He or she is with you when you play, eat, sleep and go to school but rarely speaks to you. That person may ask you for help when he has a really big problem or may chat on special occasions. But mostly he or she ignores you. How would you feel? [sad, broken hearted]
Now think about the person who loves you more than anyone else in the world. God loves you more! And God has promised to be with you always. He's with you when you play, eat, sleep and go to school. God wants you to talk to him. What do we call talking to God? [Prayer]
In the gospel that Miss Cathy just read, Jesus said it is very important to pray. Praying brings us closer to God. It’s like how spending time talking to someone changes that person from just someone you know into a friend. Churches are wonderful at encouraging us and giving us opportunites to help others which makes God very happy. Jesus said, “Love one another.” But Jesus told us something else just before “love one another”—something that is even more important. He said, “Love God.” How can you show God you love him? [praying, coming to church, following his rules] I think praying is the most important.
Sometimes it can be hard to know what to say. I’d like to teach you how I learned to pray. Most prayers are one of four types. I’ll explain using the prayers you know from Chapel. And I thought the grown-ups might like to hear some of what we do in Chapel.
If you adore something, how do you feel about it? [Like it a lot] The first type of prayer is the “We adore God” prayer or a prayer of adoration. [Show A] We start our chapel worship with one of these prayers. Doesn’t it make sense to say wonderful things about God, our creator, before we get to other things? The chapel “We Adore God” prayer was written several years ago by the children of this church. I asked them to describe God then I took their answers and wrote this prayer. Let’s say it together. Grown-ups can remain seated. “Let us stand and praise the Lord.”
God, you're wonderful, you are, an awesome God, a superstar. Praise the Lord!
God, you are so great, you're cool, you're best, you're first rate. Praise the Lord!
God, you're giving and you're fun, you're magnificant, you're second to none. Praise the Lord!
We praise you, God, we love you so. May we honor you as we grow. Amen
The second prayer we say is the “I’m sorry” prayer or a prayer of confession. [Show C] I made “C” look sad because in a confession prayer, we tell God that we are sorry for doing wrong and for not doing right. In chapel we say, “Let us pray to God to say I’m sorry.”
Loving Father, please forgive
All the wrong that I did.
Make me sorry, true and good.
Make me love you as I should.
Make me feel by day and night
I am ever in your sight. Amen
The third prayer is the “Thank you” prayer. We even have an entire holiday devoted to giving prayers of thanks. That's why I gave "T" a pilgrim hat. [Show T] “Let us pray to God to say Thank you.”
Father, we thank you for the night
And for the pleasant morning light
For rest and food and loving care
And all that makes the world so fair. Amen.
The fourth prayer is what we call the “Please help” prayer. This is when we ask God to help others and ourselves. Grown-ups would call these prayers of Supplication. [Show S] I put "You" and "Me" inside the "S" so you'd remember who to pray for. “Let us pray to God because someone needs help.”
For our families and our friends
For the sick who need to mend
For the scared, the poor, the sad
For those who help when times are bad
For Miss Cathy and this place
Bless all, we pray, with your grace. Amen.
If we put all the letters together, we have the “ACTS of prayer”. [Show ACTS] When you get ready to pray, you can remember these letters and remember to say prayers for each one.
Let’s try something. I’ll say a piece of a prayer and you tell me what kind it is: “God is great; God is good”?
“Let us thank him for our food”?
“Give us Lord our daily bread”?
“Forgive us our trespasses”?
“Help us to do the things we should to be to others kind and good”?
“Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name”? [If children look confused, say, "Would like that in plain English? “Heavenly Father your name is holy”?]
“Let us give thanks to the Lord our God”?
“We confess that we have sinned against you”?
“We pray to you, God…For all who are in danger”?
You know you can pray at church and at home. Where else can you pray? [Virginia public school children have a moment of silence just after the pledge. Tell the children that that moment was created so that they can have a time to pray in school]
To help us with our prayers, the church created the prayer book. [Hold up the Book of Common Prayer] It contains lots prayers and the words of our worship services. I made for you your own prayer book. It contains prayers children can understand and the words of our Children’s Chapel service. You can use this anytime you want to pray. Also, I wanted you to have the chapel service in case you can’t get to church some Sunday. You and your family could say the words of the service at home and pray some of these prayers so that you can show God how much you love Him.