HOLY COMMUNION: SENSING THE WORD OF GOD
Scripture: Matthew 26:26-28 (KJV)
Season/Sunday: Holy Communion (The Lord’s Supper)
Focus: The word of God comes to us in many forms. Holy Communion, also called the Lord’s Supper, is one of those forms, but it is unique in its communication to us through our physical selves.
Experience: To become aware that we receive God’s word in various ways and to experience that word with the full variety of our senses.
Arrangements: You will need: a Bible and a picture or other visual representation of the bread (wheat) and wine (grapes) (e.g., a stained-glass window or wood carving on the front of a table). Presumably this sermon will be used on a day when Communion is being celebrated, so the Communion table will be spread.
Leader: | Hello, everybody, good to see you today. I’d like to read to you, “Jesus . . . said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body. . . . Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament’ ” (Matthew 26:26-28 KJV). What did we do just now? |
Children: | (A certain guilty silence!) Read the Bible? |
Leader: | Well, I read the Bible. What did you do (point to ear if the children need an added prompt)? |
Children: | Listened? |
Leader: | Listened, that’s right! You heard the word of God. Okay, let’s go over there (move to visual representation of elements). Look up there. What’s that a picture of? |
Children: | A cup. Some grapes. Wheat. |
Leader: | Right, and what are we doing right now (point at your eyes)? |
Children: | Looking? |
Leader: | Right! We’re seeing the symbols for Communion. Great! Okay, everybody come with me up to the front. So far we’ve heard and we’ve seen. What’s this (point to Lord’s Supper)? |
Children: | Food? |
Leader: | Food, and we call this food the Lord’s Supper. Later on in the service what are we going to do? |
Children: | Eat? |
Leader: | We’re going to eat! God has given us so many ways to learn about God’s word! We can hear the word of God, we can see the word of God, and we can eat—or taste—the word of God. And all these things are ways God has to remind us that God’s word to us is that we are loved by God. Let’s have a prayer and thank God for giving us all these ways to know of God’s word and of God’s love. (Prayer) |
Brant D. Baker
(The Abingdon Children’s Sermon Library, vol. 3, ed. Brant D. Baker © 2008 by Abingdon Press. Adapted and used by permission.)