MANNA FROM HEAVEN
Scripture: Exodus 16:1-16
Season/Sunday: Any
Focus: God provides for our every need, even when we do not expect it, sometimes in the least likely places and most unusual ways.
Experience: To follow Moses into the wilderness and hear the grumbling of the people, to get a chance to grumble ourselves, and then to experience God’s manna from heaven.
Arrangements: You will need wrapped cookies or candy that the choir or some other group can toss out to the children. If your church prohibits eating in the sanctuary, give the children a gentle reminder at the end of the sermon to enjoy their snack later. If your choir is not in a location convenient for this, pick another section of the congregation and give them the treats and instructions beforehand.
Also, you will need to prepare several members of the congregation to be the complainers, with lines such as, “We’re hungry! When are we going to get something to eat?” “Are we there yet?” “I want to go back to Egypt! At least we had something to eat back there!”
Finally, as the children come forward, invite the congregation to help with this sermon. Instruct them to be ready to grumble on cue. Practice the “grumbling” once or twice so they will get into the spirit of things.
Leader: | Hello! It’s great to be together today! Today, we’re going to remember the story of Moses as he led the people of God in the wilderness. Have you ever been on a trip where it took a really long, long, long, long, long, long, long time to get to where you were going? |
Children: | Yeah! We rode in the car for hours and hours! |
Leader: | Did you like riding in the car so long? Did you get grumpy? |
Children: | Yes. No. |
Leader: | Let’s pretend we’re the people of God, and we are going to follow Moses on a long journey. Come on (start a long, slow journey around the sanctuary). The people of God had to go on a long, long, long trip once. When God freed them from being slaves in Egypt, they had to find a new home. So they were traveling to their new home that God had promised. They had to travel through a pretty tough place called the wilderness. Do you know what they felt like sometimes? |
Children: | Were they hungry? Did they get bored? Did they wonder how much farther they had to go? |
Leader: | Yep. They wondered if they were ever going to get there. And they got hungry, and tired, and cranky. They began to grumble (cue the congregation to start grumbling) . . . and grumble . . .and complain about everything (cue the complainers). |
Complainers: | “We’re hungry! When are we going to get something to eat?” “Are we there yet?” “I want to go back to Egypt! At least we had something to eat back there!” |
Leader: | (Stopping in front of the designated spot where manna is to appear. Preferably the children will have their backs to the group that will toss the manna.) Then Moses prayed to the Lord, and God said, “I have heard their complaining.” And God promised to give them something to eat. Do you know what God gave them to eat? |
Children: | McDonald’s? A sandwich? |
Leader: | God gave them manna (cue for the manna to be tossed gently over to the children). |
Children: | Cookies! Candy! |
Leader: | One morning, there on the surface of the wilderness, after the dew had lifted, they saw a white flaky substance that looked like frost. They could eat it. It was called manna, and your cookies (or pieces of candy) this morning are to remind us of how God provided for the people when they were hungry. Let’s have a prayer and thank God for all God’s good things. (Prayer) |
Jeff Hutcheson
(The Abingdon Children’s Sermon Library, vol. 1, ed. Brant D. Baker © 2006 by Abingdon Press. Adapted and used by permission.)