Category Archives: Epiphany, Season

The season of Epiphany extends from January 6 until Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent leading to Easter. Depending on the timing of Easter, the Season of Epiphany may include from four to nine Sundays.

Epiphany 5C

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Day: Epiphany 5C

Lectionary Passage: Luke 5:1-11

Scripture Focus: Luke 5:10

Object: Fishing Gear and a Net

I am ready to go fishing! I’ve got my fishing pole and my fishing hat and most importantly I’ve got my fishing net! I really like to use a fishing net because I can catch a lot of fish at one time.

You know this reminds me of our Bible story today. There were a group of people whose job it was to catch fish. One day, Jesus came up to them on the sea of Galilee. And he asked them to come follow him. Jesus wanted these people to be his friends. So, they pulled their boats out of the water and left everything behind to follow Jesus.

When they did, Jesus told them they would become fishers of people! That means they were going to tell everyone about the love of Jesus and ask them to be Jesus’ friend, too. And, guess what? That’s our job too! We are called to be fishers of people. Jesus was calling everyone of us to tell people about God so that we can catch them in our net. And you know, I can’t think of anything better than catching people for Jesus who loves us more than anything! All we have to do is tell others about Jesus and how much he loves us and I bet our fishing nets will get full fast!

Let’s pray: God, thank you for those first fishers of people and please help us be good fishers so your church grows bigger and bigger with new friends. Amen.

Epiphany 4C

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Day: Epiphany 4

Lectionary Passage: Luke 4:21-30

Scripture Focus: Luke 4:24

Object: None

Have you ever heard this: “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Or what about this one: “I’m rubber, you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you!” We say those kinds of things when other kids are teasing us. Teasing is very mean. It’s hurts other people and it’s something we shouldn’t do. I know that I don’t like it when people tease me.

Did you know some people teased Jesus? It’s hard to believe, but our Bible story today tells us that some people in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth teased him. They made fun of him and didn’t believe that he could be anything special. Well, the joke was on them! It turns out that Jesus was someone special. Jesus was the Son of God! And lots of wonderful things happened because of Jesus. But those mean people in Nazareth missed out because they were too busy teasing Jesus.

I want you to remember that teasing is bad. And when we tease people not only are we being mean, we’re also missing out on getting to know them better. And you never know just how wonderful other people are.

Let’s pray: God, help us to be nice to everyone and to not tease others. And when we’re teased, helps us remember that Jesus knows just how we feel. Amen.

Epiphany 3C

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Day: Epiphany 3C

Lectionary Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 12:12

Object: None

In our Bible story today, Paul tells us about the Body of Christ. He says that the church is like a Body. It has lots of different parts, but all of them are important.

Let’s think about that: We’ve all got eyes so we can see. We’ve got mouths so we can talk. Ears to hear with. Legs to walk around on. Those are all different parts of the body and each one has a special purpose! Can you imagine if you didn’t have eyes? You wouldn’t be able to see. And if you replaced your ears with extra legs you wouldn’t be able to ear… and you would look really weird with legs growing out of your head! Or what if we were all ears! We could hear really good, but we wouldn’t be able to do anything else. Each part of our body is important and without a part we just wouldn’t work right.

The same thing is true in the church. We have different people who do different things. We’ve got teachers, preachers, singers, helpers, cooks… all kinds of people! And that’s a good thing because it takes all different kinds of people working together to make the church work right.

Let’s pray: God, thank you for giving us so many different people in the church. Help us to always work together. Amen.

Epiphany 2C

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Day: Epiphany 2C

Lectionary Passage: John 2:1-11

Scripture Focus: John 2:11

Object: Pictures of “firsts”

I’ve brought some special pictures with me to share with you. (show your pictures and be especially clear to emphasize what “first” event they show, like first birthday, Christmas, etc.) 

… Do you know what all these pictures have in common? They are all pictures of special firsts! You only have one first … , only one first … firsts are really special.

In our Bible story today, Jesus is celebrating a very special first. His first miracle! It happened at wedding in a town called Cana. Everyone was having a great time at the party and then all of a sudden, they ran out of wine of wine to drink. There wasn’t Coke and stuff like that back then. Everybody drank wine. So, when they ran out it was a big problem. Jesus’ mother asked him to help. That’s when the miracle happened! Jesus turned water into wine. And not just any wine, it was the best wine anyone ever tasted!

This was Jesus first miracle and just like our firsts in life, it was extra special.

Let’s pray: God thank you for the many firsts that you give us to celebrate in life and especially for your Son Jesus whose first miracle was at a wedding. Amen.

Epiphany 5B

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Day: Epiphany 5B

Lectionary Passage: Isaiah 40:21-31

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 40:31

Object: Picture of an eagle soaring in the sky

Good morning everybody! Raise your hand if you have seen an eagle soaring high in the sky (let children respond)? Wonderful. Then, you won’t be surprised by this picture. It shows an eagle soaring way up high. It’s beautiful! An eagle can make flying look so easy. They don’t have to flap their wings to soar because the wind is lifting them up. It’s amazing.

Our Bible story mentions soaring eagles. It says that whoever trusts in God is like a soaring eagle. Just like an eagle trusts the wind to lift it up, we can trust God to lift us up when we are feeling low. So, if we are sad or feeling forgotten, we can trust that God cares about us and will give us strength to lift our mood and feel better. God is like the wind beneath our wings.

Let’s pray: God, when we are sad or feeling low, help us to remember that we can always count on you to help us. Amen.

Epiphany 4B

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Day: Epiphany 4B

Lectionary Passage: Psalm 111

Scripture Focus: Psalm 111

Object: None

Note: This sermon uses the Doxology. If your congregation does not use this in worship, then choose another praise song that is familiar to the children.  During the sermon, kids will lead the congregation in singing the song. If possible, coordinate beforehand with your music director to help with this portion of the children’s sermon.

Good morning! I’m so glad each of you are here for worship. You know, one of the most important things we do in worship is praise God. In the Bible, the book of Psalms talks a lot about praising God and that’s where our story comes from today. Well, actually it’s not a story so much as a song. It’s a song about praising God for all the amazing things God does every day for us and for the whole world.

You may not know this Psalm by heart yet but we all know a praise song because we sing it every single Sunday. It’s called the Doxology! We usually sing it after the offering because we want to praise God for all the ways God provides for us as we give a little bit back. Let’s all stand up and sing the Doxology together (this is the cue to the music director; lead the singing)

That was awesome! Thank you for leading the singing. I hope you will remember to praise God in worship and all the time. If you are thankful to God for something, like a beautiful day or a meal or anything, then you can sing the Doxology to praise God just like the book of Psalms teaches us.

Let’s pray: Thank you God for all the many ways you have blessed us. Help us to be thankful always and to give praise to you for your wonder and care. Amen.

Epiphany 3B

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Day: Epiphany 3B

Lectionary Passage: Mark 1:14-20

Scripture Focus: Mark 1:17

Object: Fishing gear, especially a net

Good morning everybody! I’ve brought along some of my fisher gear. I’ve got my fishing pole and my fishing hat and most importantly I’ve got my fishing net! I really like to use a fishing net because I can catch a lot of fish at one time.

All this talk about fishing reminds me of our Bible story. There were a group of people whose job it was to catch fish. One day, Jesus came up to them on the sea of Galilee. And he asked them to come follow him. Jesus wanted these people to be his friends. So, they pulled their boats out of the water and left everything behind to follow Jesus.

When they did, Jesus told them they would become fishers of people! That means they were going to tell everyone about the love of Jesus and ask them to be Jesus’ friend, too. And, guess what? That’s our job too! We are called to be fishers of people. Jesus calls all his friends to tell people about God so that we can catch them in our net. And you know, I can’t think of anything better than catching people for Jesus who loves us more than anything! All we have to do is tell others about Jesus and how much he loves us and I bet our fishing nets will get full fast!

Let’s pray: God, thank you for those first fishers of people and please help us be good fishers so your church grows bigger and bigger with new friends. Amen.

Epiphany 2B

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Day: Epiphany 2B

Lectionary Passage: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

Scripture Focus: Psalm 139:13-14

Object: Something handmade, like a piece of woodwork or a quilt

Note: Whatever object you choose, be sure to explore all the ways that it was wonderfully and creatively made and put together.

Good morning boys and girls! This morning I brought with me a quilt that my grandmother made. Do you see each of these pieces (point to each individual square and triangle of fabric)? She cut each and every piece of fabric out of much larger pieces and then she carefully laid everything out so that each piece was in just the right place. Then she put all the pieces together so that one whole quilt was created. I think it is one of the most beautiful and wonderfully handmade things in the world!

Imagine if a person could make this beautiful quilt, how wonderfully made you are inside and out because you’re made by God! That’s exactly what our Bible story is about. It says we are all wonderfully made by God. God made all the inner parts of our body and then knit them all together before we were born. So each and every part of us, and you just have to look around to see that we’re all different, was wonderfully made by God!

I hope you remember this always because it’s powerful stuff! If you are ever faced with a bully who tries to poke fun at you for some reason, please stand up and say, “I’m wonderfully made by God!” If you ever feel bad about yourself, say to yourself in the mirror, “I’m wonderfully made by God!” Let’s practice together, say after me, “I’m wonderfully made by God!” (let the children repeat, encourage them to say it louder)

Let’s pray: Thank you God for wonderfully making each of us. Help us always remember this each and every day. Amen.

Epiphany 8A

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Day: Epiphany 8

Lectionary Passage: Matthew 6:24-34

Scripture Focus: Matthew 6:30-33

Object: None

Note: This sermon draws attention to how children dress for church. Be sure to compliment every style and be positive and reassuring that any kind of clothing is acceptable to God.

Good morning everyone! My oh my, doesn’t everyone look very nice today! I love to see all the pretty dresses and the sharp looking sweaters, and don’t you look stylin’ in your jeans, and I bet you are nice and comfy in your sneakers — not like me in this silly dress shoes. As much as I love that all of you look so nice, you know what? It wouldn’t bother me one bit if you came to church in clothes that weren’t so nice. You see, we’ve got this idea in our heads that you’ve got to wear certain clothes to church, but that’s not true at all!

Our Bible story for today tells us that we don’t have to worry about clothes at all! God doesn’t care what clothes we wear and neither should we. It doesn’t matter if we have fancy dresses or expensive jeans or the most fashionable stuff. Clothes aren’t important. What’s important is God. Especially when it comes to church! We shouldn’t worry about clothes especially if it gets in the way of coming to church and learning more about God. God and the things Jesus teaches us are way more important than clothes.

Let’s pray: God help us remember that it doesn’t matter how we dress just that we show up to church to learn more about you. Amen.

Epiphany 7A

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Day: Epiphany 7

Lectionary Passage: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Object: Several Hymnals

Good morning! I’ve got an important question for you. Let’s say I wanted to build a tower out of these hymnals (point to the hymnals), do you think it would be better to start on the floor (put a hymnal on the floor) or on top of my head (try to balance a hymnal on your head)? …. the floor?! Really?! You don’t think this one (indicate the very wobbly hymnal on your head) is very sturdy? Oh, I guess you’re right. The floor is a much better place to build a hymnal tower because it’s a better foundation. I guess my head wouldn’t really be a very strong and sturdy place for the tower. It would probably fall down pretty fast. But, if I built it on the floor, then it would have a good strong foundation that could support the tower no matter how high I was able to build it. Good thing I checked with you guys before I started building! Because a good foundation is important.

And that’s exactly what our Bible story is about. It’s about laying a good foundation. Not for a tower, but for your life and the life of the church. And that foundation is none other than Jesus. And let me tell you what, that is good news because Jesus is the strongest foundation ever! When things get tough, like at school or on the playground or at home, we can always count on Jesus to hold us up even when we are really feeling down. He’ll never let us fall because he is stronger than anything that tries to knock us down.

So remember, if you build your foundation on Jesus Christ, then you don’t have to worry when things get hard because he’s always there to hold you up!

Let’s pray: Dear Jesus, thank you for always being there for us but especially when life gets hard. It’s good to know you are always on our side. Amen.