Children's Sermon 24 December 2016 Christmas Eve Luke 2:8-20 Year A

Do you see who is around the baby Jesus?

You can’t see all of us up here, but being in church tonight means we are around Jesus too.

Did you hear the word “manger” in the song we just sang?

What is a manger? (Explain if no one knows.)

Mary had to put Jesus in a manger because they didn’t have a crib for him.

Did you know when I was a tiny baby my parents couldn’t afford a crib either? So my parents pulled out a dresser drawer and put it on the bed. They filled it with soft cloths, just like Mary did, and then they put me next to the bed in the dresser drawer.

They didn’t put the drawer back in the dresser because a baby wouldn’t be able to breathe if that happened. But the dresser drawer was my crib until I got older and my parents found a used crib to put me in.

So a manger, in a way, is any comfy warm place where we can put a baby. It’s a place where we can keep a baby safe and warm.

We know Jesus was a very special baby. He was the most special baby ever born. And people came to see him at the manger because they knew how special Jesus was and still is. They knew Jesus loved all of us and was born to show us that love.

So it’s okay for anyone to come Jesus’ manger. So maybe tonight, we could do something special. Something special to show everyone that anyone can come to Jesus’ manger.

I have some people and animals and other things we can put around the manger. Who would like to take one and carefully put in near Jesus?

(There were not a lot of children at this service and I walked through the congregation inviting the children to look in the bag I carried and pick out a creature to bring up to the manger. Some of the children wanted their parents to walk up with them and that was fine too. The bag had super heroes and super villains (male and female), My Little Pony, and other easily recognizable cartoon characters and television show and movie people and creatures.)

That’s great. And you know, some of these people and animals and creatures we put near the manger aren’t very well behaved or very good. Some are super heroes and some are super villains or bad guys. But you know what, Jesus invites everyone to be at the manger with him. It doesn’t matter. Yes, we all want to better every day, but we can come to the manger just the way we are and Jesus loves us just the way we are. Amen.

©2017

The Rev Nicolette Papanek