A Children’s Sermon that’s FUN to Give and FUN to Hear!
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
Difficult Daphne is a spirited girl who makes mistakes, a lot, but has a wonderful surrounding cast to set her straight. Her stories relate biblical lessons in language that children can understand because Daphne lives in the same world that they live in and struggles with the same issues that they struggle with. It is important to tell these stories with energy and a sense of humor, not as if you are reading off of a sheet of paper.
Week 1 – Patience
“Once upon a time a long time ago and not very far away there was a girl and her name was Difficult Daphne. Now Difficult Daphne was a kid, who, like many kids I know, loved her birthday. I mean she loved it when it was her birthday. She started counting down months in advance, “Only 67 more days until my birthday!” she would say. She had the day circled in so many colors on her Mama’s calendar that you almost couldn’t even make out which day her birthday actually was. I’m sure none of you look forward to your birthdays do you? (Let them answer)
You do? You like having a birthday too? What is your favorite part of your birthday? (Let them answer)
Well Daphne’s favorite part of her birthday was the presents! Oh boy, did she ever look forward to getting presents. She would bring catalogs to her Daddy months in advance, “Look Daddy, I want this…and this…and this…and this…ooh, Daddy please?!!?”
One year Daphne’s birthday was getting close and she could hardly stand the excitement! She started looking around the house; surely there were presents in there somewhere! “I WANT MY PRESENTS AND I WANT MY PRESENTS NOW!” She looked in her parent’s closet, the hall closet, the bathroom cabinet (though the gift would have to be awfully small to fit in there), the basement…she looked everywhere! Finally, she walked into the garage and there they were. It was a beautiful sight! They were stacked so nicely and wrapped in such lovely paper…she couldn’t wait to open them.
She ran over to the gifts and just as she was about to rip open the first one she heard someone come up behind her. It was her friend Pleasant Penelope who had come over to see if Daphne wanted to play. “Daphne,” Penelope said, “STOP! Don’t you know that the Bible says that Love is Patient?” “Oh,” Daphne stopped. Now she felt bad. She knew that Penelope was right and that it was only a few more days until her birthday. “Ok, I will wait…but these presents better be good!”
Let’s all grab someone’s hand so we can say a prayer. Dear God, thank you for loving us! Help us to remember that you want us to be patient! Amen.”
