Children’s Sermon

Matthew 1:18-25

We Can’t Wait Anymore!

By Dr. Carol J Miller

PREPARATION:

Prepare star shapes with a hole in one point for a length of yarn to be used to wear the star around the neck. On one side have the word “Emmanuel” printed in large letters on one side and ‘God with Us” on the other (Maybe there is someone at church with very good handwriting, or someone who does calligraphy who would do this for you). Have the children each take one and wear it to remind others why Christmas is so special.

Well, it is three days until Christmas, and we––the Church––just have to tell our story! We just can’t wait any more! This is the last Sunday in Advent, but today it sounds more like Christmas. Advent is when we tell the beginning part of the story of Jesus. We will tell different parts of Jesus’ story all through the year.

Right now in the story, Mary is about to have a baby. That baby is going to be the most special baby in the world. Did you ever see anyone after they’ve just looked at a new little baby? They look up at everyone who is there and they say, “He looks just like his dad?” Maybe he just looks like a squished up baby to you, but others can see his dad’s face in the baby’s face. So we can see God’s loving face in the face of Jesus. Jesus shows us what God is like.

When we look at Jesus grown up––what he does, what he says, the way he treats people––we are really and truly seeing what God is like and what God thinks. Not what color his hair is or something like that. We see what God is like in God’s heart. We see how God loves us, no matter what we do; we see how God wants us to live with each other by watching how Jesus lives with others.

One of God’s prophets had said a long time ago that this baby was going to be called “Emmanuel.” Does anyone know what the name Emmanuel means? [Respect all answers]. Emmanuel means “God with us.” We are not alone to figure out how to do things God’s way. God sent Jesus to be “God with us “always. Emmanuel! Jesus Christ is with us know in God’s Holy Spirit. We always have God with us to help us know the right and good thing to do. That’s another reason to be happy that Christmas is coming in just three days!

[Give each child a paper star on a yarn cord. Ask them to wear them to remind people that at Christmas we celebrate “God with us.”]

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible