Pastor: Good morning boys and girls! Let’s say good morning to our friend Sammy and see if she is there. Ready? One, two, three…Good morning, Sammy!

Sammy: Good morning everyone! 

Pastor: Happy Epiphany, Sammy!

Sammy: Epiphany? What’s that, Pastor?

Pastor: That’s the time in the church year when we celebrate the Wise Men going to see Jesus. They recognized that Jesus is God.

Sammy: What was so wise about these men?

Pastor: Well, they were astronomers, which means that they studied the stars. The wise men understood that even though they were wealthy, smart men, there was one who was greater than them–that’s Jesus. They also knew not to return to King Herod to tell him about Jesus.

Sammy: I heard that the Wise Men also brought gifts to Jesus. 

Pastor: Boys and girls, what gifts do you think the Wise Men brought to baby Jesus?

Sammy: I know! A wool blanket!

Pastor: That’s a great gift from a sheep to baby Jesus, but that’s not the right answer. What did the Wise Men bring to Jesus?

[Allow time for responses]

Pastor: The Wise Men brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

Sammy: Those are expensive gifts, and strange gifts for a baby. What were they thinking? Are you sure they really were Wise Men?

Pastor: I’m sure of it, Sammy. These gifts show everyone that Jesus is a prophet, priest, king, and God. 

Sammy: I still think a wool blanket is a good idea, Pastor. 

Pastor: You know what’s neat, Sammy? Jesus was wrapped in a blanket made for lambs that were supposed to be for sacrifice. Jesus died on the cross, and he is the Lamb of God sacrificed for us all.

Sammy: That’s the best gift ever!

Pastor: Yes it is. Boys and girls, would you please pray with me? Let’s fold our hands and bow our heads. Dear Jesus, thank you for special gifts. We thank you for being the best gift. Help us to love you more and more each day. Amen.

Sammy: Bye, everyone!

Pastor: Bye, Sammy!

Matthew 11:2-11

Sammy: Good morning everyone! It’s the second third Sunday in Advent, Pastor.

Pastor: Yes it is, Sammy. 

Sammy: I noticed today that there are a lot of greens around the church. This place looks great!

Pastor: Yes our church looks beautiful. We are preparing for Christmas.

Sammy: Is decorating the church part of preparing for Christmas?

Pastor: Yes it is. When we decorate our church, we are including symbols of the season and icons to help us remember the reason for Christmas.

Sammy: What is the reason for Christmas again?

Pastor: Boys and girls, would you please help me answer Sammy’s question? What is the reason for Christmas?

[Allow time for responses]

Pastor: That’s right! The reason for Christmas is Jesus. We are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus and we are waiting for his return. That’s what Advent and this time of year are all about.

Sammy: That’s what John the Baptist did, right? He prepared the way for Jesus. He was helping people get their hearts ready for Jesus. But wait, we don’t have John the Baptist anymore. Who is supposed to help us get our hearts ready for Jesus’s return?

Pastor: Well, Sammy, that’s partly my job. 

Sammy: Oh no.  

Pastor: I know–it’s a big job for just one person. Our church has me as the pastor and the power of the Holy Spirit. God is working in our hearts because of the gift of the Holy Spirit to each believer in Jesus. We can prepare our hearts for Jesus every day.

Sammy: I am glad that we have you and the Holy Spirit, Pastor.

Pastor: Well, thank you, Sammy. 

Sammy: Pastor, how can I prepare my heart? What can I do by myself to prepare for Jesus like John the Baptist wanted us to prepare?

Pastor: We can do a couple of things. We can read our Bibles, say prayers, sing to God, and love Jesus and each other.

Sammy: I like that. I think I can do all of those things with the help of the Holy Spirit. And maybe with a little encouragement from you, too, Pastor.

Pastor: That’s great, Sammy. Boys and girls, will you pray with me? Let’s fold our hands and bow our heads. Dear Jesus, thank you for helping us to be ready for you. Help us to pray, listen, watch, and stay ready for your return. Thank you for loving us. Amen.

Sammy: Bye, everyone!

Pastor: Bye, Sammy!

Matthew 3:1-12

Pastor: Good morning boys and girls! Let’s say good morning to our friend Sammy and see if she is there. Ready? One, two, three…Good morning, Sammy!

Sammy: Good morning everyone! It’s the second Sunday in Advent, Pastor.

Pastor: Yes it is, Sammy. Today we lit a candle for peace.

Sammy: There’s two candles lit, Pastor.

Pastor: Yes, and we have two more weeks to go in Advent.

Sammy: Christmas is coming soon, Pastor. I still have so much to do. I have to clean up the barn with my maaa-maaa. Then I have to get a gift for each of my friends. I have a lot of friends, so that’s a lot of gifts. After that, I am baking cookies with Farmer Matthew.

Pastor: Hold on a second, Sammy. You bake cookies?

Sammy: Of course! And baaa-nana bread.

Pastor: Sammy, you have a lot of things on your list here.

Sammy: I do. It’s overwhelming. I am a busy lamb.

Pastor: I think you are missing something, Sammy.

Sammy: Oh no! What am I missing?

Pastor: Boys and girls, what do you think Sammy is missing? What should Sammy be focused on as we get ready for Christmas?

[Allow time for responses]

Pastor: Sammy, we need to be focused on Jesus this Christmas. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus to come to earth and begin his ministry. Each Christmas, we are preparing our hearts for the return of the King, the return of Jesus.

Sammy: Wow! When you put it like that, Pastor, all the other stuff on my list doesn’t seem to matter.

Pastor: We have to stay focused, Sammy. I know that it’s easy in this season to get distracted by celebrations, parties, cleaning, shopping, and baking, but we have to remember the point of Christmas is to worship God.

Sammy: I am going to try to do better, Pastor. I think I will try to read some books about Jesus every day. That way I can remember how he came to earth as a baby.

Pastor: That sounds great, Sammy. Boys and girls, will you pray with me? Dear Jesus, Thank you for helping us prepare our hearts for your return. Thank you for being our King. Help us to focus on you. Amen.

Sammy: Bye, everyone!

Pastor: Bye, Sammy!

Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44

Script:

Pastor: Good morning boys and girls! Let’s say good morning to our friend Sammy and see if she is there. Ready? One, two, three…Good morning, Sammy!

Sammy: Good morning everyone! Pastor, I really liked the Gospel message today.

Pastor: Me too, Sammy. Tell me what you liked about the Gospel reading from Matthew 24.

Sammy: Well, I liked that Jesus is teaching about how he is going to come back one day. And I like the story of Noah. And he talked about Noah here.

Pastor: Yes he did. Jesus teaches about how He will return and his return will be like the flood. People were working, eating, drinking, and marrying each other.

Sammy: And then the flood came!

Pastor: And then the flood came and Noah and his family were saved by God because they were living righteous lives.

Sammy: And all the animals were saved, too!

Pastor: That’s right!

Sammy: Except the dinosaurs. They literally missed the boat! Baaahhh!

Pastor: Boys and girls, can we try to name some of the animals that would be on Noah’s ark?

[Allow time for responses]

Sammy: Great answers! Don’t forget the sheep. And remember, Noah had to have room for two of each kind of animal. That’s a lot of animals!

Pastor: Yes it is. Sammy, I like how you and I are talking about Noah. You see, a lot of people read this passage, and they are afraid of Jesus coming back. We as Christians do not have to be afraid. We are chosen by God, truly loved by him, and given the gift of eternal life by his son Jesus. Because we believe in Jesus, we get to spend an eternity with him in heaven. We do not need to fear his return.

Sammy: Just like Noah didn’t fear the flood. God gave him everything he needed to prepare his heart. God even sent the animals to Noah. We have a good God.

Pastor: Yes we do. Boys and girls, will you please pray with me? Please fold your hands and bow your heads. Dear Jesus, Thank you for returning to us. Please guide our hearts to you. Help us to have faith like Noah. Amen.

Sammy: Bye, everyone!

Pastor: Bye, Sammy!

Pastor: Good morning boys and girls! Welcome! Let’s say good morning to our friend Sammy. Ready? One, two, three: Good morning, Sammy!

Sammy: Sadly. Hey Pastor…

Pastor: Sammy, why do you seem so sad?

Sammy: Well, the other lambs were really mean to me today. They made fun of me because my fleece is too curly.

Pastor: I’m really sorry to hear that Sammy.

Sammy: Yes. It made me feel really bad.

Pastor: Boys and Girls, has anyone ever been mean to you or hurt you?

Wait for Answers

Sammy: I am really sad to hear that everyone. I don’t understand why people or lambs can be so mean.

Pastor: It’s a part of living Sammy. We can never escape the mean actions of others. People are mean to family, friends, and complete strangers all the time. And if we are honest, we are mean to people too.

Sammy: I guess I have been mean before too.

Pastor: Jesus never promises us an easy life. But he does promise to be with us through tough times and trials. He says, “not a hair of your head will perish.”

Sammy: That really gives me hope Pastor. Thank you.

Pastor: Boys and girls. Can you please fold your hands and bow your head? Dear Jesus, that you for keeping us, thank you for forming us. Thank you for staying with us in times of trial. In Jesus name we pray, amen!

Sammy: Bye everyone!

Script:

Luke 17:11-19

Pastor: Good morning boys and girls! Welcome! Let’s say good morning to our friend Sammy. Ready? One, two, three: Good morning, Sammy!

Sammy: Good morning, everyone! Pastor, I just wanted to thank you for doing a great job.

Pastor: Thank you, Sammy.

Sammy: You always listen to me, tell me stories, teach me about the Word of God, and you are a great friend to me.

Pastor: That’s very kind of you, Sammy.

Sammy: I just wanted you to know.

Pastor: You know, Sammy, your thankfulness reminds me of the Gospel reading for today. Jesus healed ten men with a skin disease.

Sammy: A skin disease?

Pastor: Yes—they called out to Jesus and asked him to heal them. He healed them by telling them to go show themselves to the priests. On the way to the priests, they were healed.

Sammy: But why did he tell them to go to the priests? Why not just heal them right away?

Pastor: What do you think, boys and girls? Why did Jesus send the men to go to the priests instead of healing them right away?

[Allow time for responses]

Pastor: These are great answers and ideas. Jesus wanted the men to act in faith. Walking toward the priests meant a commitment of faith for them. And men with a skin disease were considered unclean. They were unable to worship God at the temple if they had a skin disease.

Sammy: So that would be like if we couldn’t go to church?

Pastor: Yes.

Sammy: But they couldn’t help it!

Pastor: That was the rule. In Jesus’s time, there was no cure for this skin disease.

Sammy: That’s horrible. They were forever banned from church. I love church. I want to be here every day.

Pastor: I know, Sammy. But you know, what? Jesus healed all ten of these men, and then they could go to worship God in the temple.

Sammy: And one of them went back to thank him. That man is my favorite. Jesus gave him his life back.

Pastor: Jesus gives each of us a new life in him, and it’s important to thank our God for the many gifts he gives us. In fact, let’s pray and thank him right now. Boys and girls, will you please fold your hands and bow your head? Dear Jesus, we thank you for your healing power. We praise you for directing us to you. Help us to be thankful for everything you give us. Amen.

Sammy: Bye, everyone!

Pastor: Bye, Sammy!

Luke 17:5-10

Script:

Pastor: Good morning boys and girls! Welcome! Let’s say good morning to our friend Sammy. Ready? One, two, three: Good morning, Sammy!

Sammy: Good morning, everyone! Pastor, I made it to church on time this morning.

Pastor: That’s great, Sammy.

Sammy: I do a good job of showing up almost every week. Sometimes I get sick and I have to stay home. Or sometimes I go to the beach on vacation.

Pastor: I am proud of you for coming to church, Sammy.

Sammy: I also pray, and I sing, and I talk to the kids here about God.

Pastor: Yes, you do.

Sammy: And I take the time to help you out, Pastor. That’s a lot of work. I found your keys, invited myself to your house for dinner…

Pastor: Where are you going with this, Sammy?

Sammy: Well, none of it is good enough, is it, Pastor?

Pastor: What do you mean?

Sammy: I was reflecting on the Gospel reading for today, and I was just thinking that all the things I do and all the effort I put into church and my family isn’t good enough.

Pastor: That’s right, Sammy. We will never be good enough. Jesus talks in the reading today about how if we live a holy and righteous life, that is what we are supposed to do. If we show up to church every week, if we sing in the choir, feed the hungry, help each other, serve each other, and love each other, we have done the minimum and we haven’t added anything to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Sammy: So I have to be a good Christian and it’s still not good enough.

Pastor: That’s correct. We sin every day, and doing our best to live a holy life is all we can do. We have to rely on Jesus to do the rest.

Sammy: What do you mean?

Pastor: Boys and girls, what did Jesus do for us?

[Allow time for responses]

Pastor: Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He took all of the sin and shame that we have and he covered us with his grace. He forgives us when we ask him to forgive us because of his great love for us.

Sammy: That’s beautiful.

Pastor: Yes it is. One thing you should know, Sammy, is that when we come to the Kingdom of Heaven, we go empty handed. We don’t bring anything with us, just our sin and our shame. Even as a pastor, I will approach Jesus with my hands bearing my shame. There is nothing I can do or say that will make me good enough in his eyes.

Sammy: That’s why we cling to the cross of Jesus.

Pastor: Yes, that is why we cling to the cross.

Sammy: Whew. That’s a relief.

Pastor: What do you mean?

Sammy: I have a lot of peace now. I was going to make a spreadsheet of all the things I do for Jesus around here. But like we talked about, I am supposed to do all the things I do. And I’ll cling to the cross of Jesus forever.

Pastor: Me too. Let’s pray. Can you all please fold your hands and bow your heads? Dear Jesus, help us to realize we aren’t good enough. Help us to know you are the only one who adds to the Kingdom of Heaven. Thank you for letting us join you in Heaven. We love you. Amen.

Sammy: Bye, everyone!

Pastor: Bye, Sammy!

Scripture: John 3:13-17

Script:

Pastor: Good morning boys and girls! Welcome! Let’s say good morning to our friend Sammy. Ready? One, two, three: Good morning, Sammy!

Sammy: Hey Pastor. I was paying attention to the gospel reading today. Jesus said the Son of Man must be lifted up. I’m not really sure what he means by that. Did they have to lift him up really high in the sky?

Pastor: Kind of Sammy. Before I answer that question. Have you seen any crosses around the church.

Sammy: Yes, I have seen them all over the place. Boys and girls, do you see any crosses around the church?

Wait for answers

Pastor: Thank you for answering everyone. I am really glad that you can find all those crosses. They seem to be everywhere. Even in places you wouldn’t expect them.

Sammy: Okay Pastor, but what does the cross have to do with the son of man being lifted up? That doesn’t seem to make sense to me.

Pastor: Well, the son of man is Jesus and sometimes when we see crosses, we see Jesus on them.

Sammy: Oh yeah, I have seen that before. You have one of those in your office. So, Jesus was lifted up on a cross?

Pastor: Yes he was Sammy. He was lifted up high on the cross on top of a mountain and many people could see him.

Sammy: That does not seem very nice. Who would do that do Jesus?

Pastor: Some very mean people hurt Jesus like he did something bad, but he did not do anything wrong. He ended up dying.  

Sammy: That makes me sad pastor.

Pastor: It made a lot of people very sad. His closest friends couldn’t even bear to watch it.

Sammy: But Pastor. You always say Jesus is alive.

Pastor: That’s because he is Sammy. Even though he died on the cross. He rose up from the dead and he was alive again. And he is still alive today.

Sammy: That makes me happy. But why did he have to die at all.

Pastor: He died to save us. Only he could save us from our sin and he did so by dying on the cross. He became a sacrifice and suffered death so we could live with him forever.

Sammy: Wow pastor. It sounds like God loves us a lot.

Pastor: He does Sammy. Jesus said,  ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Sammy: Thank you for explaining all of that to me pastor. That all makes more sense now. Boys and girls can you pray with me? Dear Jesus, Thank you for loving us so much. That you would die for us. Thank you lord for forgiving our sins. And thank you for your love. Amen.

Pastor and Sammy: Bye Everyone!

“He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words” (Matthew 27:43-44).

If God loves you, He will . . . .  Stop that kind of thinking.  God loves you!  This is what Scripture says.  Therefore, there can be no other conditions.  Sin is in the world, and you have the promise that our Lord will work things out for your good because He loves you and you love Him.  Beyond that, there is sin in the world and sin is destructive.  The hope is not in our situation, but in the truth that nothing created will ever be able to separate you from God’s love.

Heavenly Father, You wonderfully created all that You have made.  You delight in the good creation You have made.  You gave Your only begotten Son, begotten, not made, for the sake of those who would join in the love which You and the Son have.  Love trusts the One loved.  The Son loves You and You love the Son.  What happens in this age does not change that.  Lead me into Your love knowing that nothing can separate me from You.

Lord Jesus, You so loved all of us so much that You willingly paid the price for us to be redeemed.  Help me so that I am not bound by the circumstances of this world but live into the love and life which You offer through the salvation You have purchased from the cross.  Guide me, dear Lord, in this life and help me ignore the taunting and jeers of unbelievers in this age.  Lead me always in Your eternal love.  Amen.

If your church is following the three year lectionary, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10.  Officially, the pericope begins, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:20b–5:21, ESV) In light of the fact that he is addressing established Christians, what Paul is obviously driving at here is the ongoing need for even the most committed Christians to realign their lives with the will of God.  “Be reconciled” implies that these already-converted Christian believers are not in a conciliar state with God; in fact, Paul is addressing them for a third time precisely because while claiming Christian identity, they are behaving in ways inimical to God.

At a recent gathering of primarily conservative clergy, I got some hostility but engendered much more fantastic conversation when I brought up the danger of Christianity being coopted by conservative politics. In the end, everyone agreed that Christians need to be on God’s agenda first, offering critique as well as necessarily-conditional support to any ideology, political party or strategy. This is what it means to be “the light of the world” and the “salt of the earth.”

A wise mentor once told me that people’s politics are always influencing their theology, but that the great conversation that is the inner life of the church over time corrects—and when necessary, excises—the errors that people of any given time and place incorporate.  Because of the fractured nature of the Church’s communion and witness, amplified by social media, there is a real danger of these much-needed course corrections being significantly delayed or not even engaged in.

The solution to this is to heed Paul’s words to “be reconciled to God,” which is of course, what the season of Lent is all about. The difference between the orthodox Christian construal of these words and the progressive Christian one is that for the orthodox Christian, the Bible provides the content of what being reconciled to God looks like—a detailed road map for discerning where one’s life is out of sync with the life of the triune God.  Conversely, for the progressive Christian, the Bible provides abstract theological principles, but the content comes from elsewhere, sources deemed more relevant because they are more contemporary, scientific, progressive, or whatever.

The outcome of these two approaches is what yields at least some of the divisions observable in contemporary Christianity, where people united by confessional traditions like Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, etc. have radically different ideas of what makes for faithful Christian living.  While both agree for the need to reconcile ourselves to God, one group sees God as telling us what would constitute alignment with God, the other believes that God is “just” or “forgiving” or “love,” but asserts that what those words mean is not what Christians have traditionally thought they mean, based on the witness of Scripture.

What this means in practice is that the progressive Christian lacks any tool whereby to critique their own politically-influenced positions, for they have no data by which to evaluate them.  As long as the principles they have gleaned from Scripture seem to be met by the ideologies and morays acceptable within their own narrow cultural conditioning, they are living as God intends and no reconciliation is necessary. Conversely, for the orthodox Christian, while perceiving one’s own biases is always notoriously hard, the Scriptures provide actual canons against which to measure cultural assumptions and political prescriptions… and the exhortation to do so.

Paul goes on, “Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” It is important that we not consign the persistent warnings of the New Testament about spiritual disqualification to the dustbin based on our theological principles, no matter how venerable or new. We can receive the grace of God in vain, and only the lifetime of persistent Christian repentance (realignment) that Luther called for in the first article of the 95 Theses can stave off that terrifying reality. So, since we cannot hope to be perfected in theology, holiness, or piety, let us be perfected in repentance, and let the Scriptures dictate to us what that should look like… furthermore, let us start today. “For [God] says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6:1–2, ESV)