Children’s Sermon

Mark 1:1-8

Good News

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Objects suggested: Letters, stamps, email

Picture of Pony Express

When you want to send someone a message, how do you do it? You can write a letter and send it by mail. Perhaps you are familiar with the computer and send email messages. You can also use the telephone or just use your voice if the person is nearby.

We have lots of ways to send messages now, but earlier it was difficult to get a message to someone. Letters were hand carried or sent by boat and it took months before the letter was delivered.

In America, about one hundred and fifty years ago, mail was carried by the Pony Express. Riders left from Missouri and rode horses, day and night, as fast as they could ride, to California – about two thousand miles away. It was like a relay race where horses were changed every ten miles and riders took turns, each riding a hundred miles or so. The riders were often young, skinny boys, some as young as eleven. It took about ten days for mail carried by Pony Express to arrive. It was a difficult, but exciting journey.

Before Jesus was born, the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was written about by the prophet, Isaiah. This is what was written: “Behold, I send my messenger…
who will prepare your way before you” (1:2).

The messenger was John the Baptist, and he told people about the exciting news that Jesus was coming. Many, many people heard the message that Jesus was coming with the power to change people’s lives with his love.

Today that message is still with us – Jesus is love and loves us.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible
Copyright 2007, Richard Niell Donovan