Category: Children’s Sermon

It’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And I want to continue today talking about what we started a few weeks ago – a look at the Nicene Creed! We began imagining this creed as a rule – describing what we say about God, church, worship, and life in our world. The Creed came out of a conversation a bunch of people had 1700 years ago about how God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were united together. There was a time when someone thought that God the Father/Creator was on-top and with Jesus – and the Holy Spirit – below – like a ladder. But the supporters of the Creed said no –  Jesus, the Father, the Holy SPirit – all are together because there’s no part of God that hasn’t experienced what our life is like. If you look at the Creed, you’ll notice it’s split into 3 parts – just like the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We talked about the first part – God as Creator – who is always creating, involved, and being a part of our lives. The part about Jesus is long – and full of big words – but reminds us how Jesus’ story is God’s story. God experienced what we do – the need to be born, to grow up, to be cared for, and even what it’s like to feel sad, hurt, disappointed, bullied, pushed around, and what it’s like to have friends who need to be cared for too. 

And so – we’re going to wrap up out conversation on the creed by focusing on the last 3rd of the Creed. But before we do that – I want to ask you – when you’re going down the slide while on the playground, and you’re having fun, is there something that you say or do? We might laugh. We might smile. We might cheer. And we might say “weeee!” When we’re having fun, we might say weeee. I have no idea why we do that. I don’t know where it comes from. But it’s something we’ve watched our friends do – our parents do – etc. When we’re having fun, we say “wee.” 

And I’ll admit that there are times when playing or being by ourselves is fun – but I tend to have more fun when I’m with others. When I’m with my family, my wife, friends, or playing games against others – I have more fun when others are there too. It’s easier to say “weee” when there’s a “we” – when we’re with others too. Those others, though, need to be on the same page. We have to be kind to each other, helpful to each other, and take care of each other. Making fun of each other or bullying or trying to act like we’re better than others – that isn’t very fun for everyone. But when we’re all having fun, all taking care of each other, all being for each other – then we can all say “weee” in exciting ways. 

And that – I think – is what the last part of the Nicene Creed is about. It shows how God has more fun by being a community too. It wonders how does God interact with us and God does that through God’s power – God’s presence – God’s energy and vibe and force – that we call the Holy Spirit. And the core of that energy – of the Holy Spirit – is love. It’s about what God’s love does – how God’s love interacts and makes itself real in our life too. It’s about where we, right now, might notice God at work. We hear it in God’s story – recorded in the words of the prophets in our Bible and also those prophets in our here and now who remind of our responsibility to take care of the most vulnerable around us. We acknowledge how the Holy Spirit – God’s power and God’s movement and God’s energy is why we are here now – in church and connected to a faith community that connects us to all Christians, of all time. We’re always part of something bigger than ourselves. We acknowledge how we, through baptism, were proclaimed as part of God’s holy family – and how the ways we separate each other or hurt each other or even death itself – won’t keep us from our God. And we also look forward, together, for God’s continued work in our world and in our lives to make GOd’s kingdom real. God doesn’t want us to do this faith thing on our own. God knows that we need each other to become who God knows we can be. It’s why the version of the creed we share in worship begins with a “we.” It’s not focused on fun – but it is focused on how we get to pray with each other, for each other, listen to God’s story together, and grow into who God knows we can be. We need each other – and everyone out there needs your prayers and presence and care and words too. And maybe we, as we follow Jesus together, might – occasionally – have a little fun together too.

Delivered on September 8, 2024.

Bring a beach ball with words written on it

It’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And I want to continue today talking about what we started last week – the Nicene Creed. We began two weeks ago thinking of the Nicene Creed as a rule – describing what we say about God and what we share in worship and with each other. It came out of a conversation a bunch of people had 1700 years ago about how God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were united together. There was a time when someone thought that God the Father/Creator was on-top and with Jesus – and the Holy Spirit – below – like a ladder. But the supporters of the Creed said no –  Jesus, the Father, the Holy SPirit – all are together because there’s no part of God that hasn’t experienced what our life is like. If you look at the Creed, you’ll notice it’s split into 3 parts – just like the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We talked last week about the first part – God as Creator. God is always active, creating, and being a part of our lives. Today we’ll focus on the second part this week which is all about Jesus by using this beachball.  

But this beachball looks a bit different. What do you see? Words written on it. It’s got all kinds of words on it. We have the words – begotten. Incarnate. Scriptures. Glory. Judge. Light and more. These are all words that we’ll say, together, when we recite the 2nd part of the Nicene Creed. These are words we might know – and words we might. So it’s okay to ask and wonder what these words are. 

So, for example, we have “begotten:” It’s a word that can mean brought forth – shows up – becomes real. In the creed, it doesn’t really mean born like we were born – but rather – shows how The Creator/ Jesus/ and the Holy Spirit are unique, different, but at the same level. 

Incarnate – this means born. This is the christmas story. Jesus entered the world like we do. And had to grow up like we do. And discovered what it’s like to be vulnerable and to need others to provide what he needed. Growing up is hard work – and it requires a lot of support from the people around us.

Scriptures – is a fancy word for our Bible. It’s what we will read – words that God gives us to read, ponder, and dream how God is always with us.

Glory – an invitation of seeing Jesus’ power on full display – full of special effects – so that there is no doubt in our mind who Jesus is. 

Judge – That Jesus – who is fully God but also fully human – who has experience the fullness of divinity and humanity and what that might mean – will be the One who will be given the authority to judge our actions, thoughts, experiences, and how we lived out God’s call to love and serve. 

Light – an imagine of the divine. More than a physical form. Or a human form. Or an old man in the sky or a young guy with a beard. Jesus is everything – and a very human thing – all at the same time. 

The 2nd part of the creed couldn’t put in all of Jesus’ life within it. But it focuses on Jesus being God. On Jesus choosing to be Human. On Jesus living our kind of life. And how even death won’t be what keeps us way from God’s love – and from our bonds to each other. We proclaim, confess, and trust that God knows what it’s like to be us – and that God promises to not let htis moment, this hurt, this joy, and all of this that might be hard – be the limit of what our full experience of God and Jesus will be. 

Delivered on September 1, 2024.

Nicene Creed Part 4

Bring the ingredients for slime.

It’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And I want to continue today talking about what we started last week – the Nicene Creed. We began two weeks ago thinking of the Nicene Creed as a rule – describing what we say about God and what we share in worship and with each other. It came out of a conversation a bunch of people had 1700 years ago about how God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were united together. There was a time when someone thought that God the Father/Creator was on-top and with Jesus – and the Holy Spirit – below – like a ladder. But the supporters of the Creed said no – Jesus, the Father, the Holy SPirit – all are together because there’s no part of God that hasn’t experienced what our life is like. If you look at the Creed, you’ll notice it’s split into 3 parts – just like the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So we’re going to focus on that first part this week by first making slime.

Now slime is a lot of fun. It’s gooey, oozes, and can be made into all kinds of shapes. There’s also a lot of different recipes for slime but here’s one I found and I have the ingredients laid out in front of me.

2 (4-ounce) bottles washable school glue, such as Elmer’s (see note for variations)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 to 3 tablespoons saline solution (i.e., contact lens solution), divided

So we have all the ingredients. They’re right in front of us. They’re the building blocks of slime. But do we have slime yet? Nope! No idea. We still need to mix everything together – to follow the recipe – and to get our hands dirty.

And that’s what the first part of the Nicene Creed is about. God the Father – God as Creator – is a God who creates. A God who gets involved. A God who gets God’s hands dirty, so to speak, in our lives and in our world. God isn’t far away when God creates. God is right here – right now – and God is still creating new things in our lives and in our world. We can see ourselves as part of the ingredients of what God wants the world to be like. And God promises through God’s presence, love, and grace to work in our own lives so that God’s love is made real in our world.

So let’s mix things up and remember that God isn’t far away; God isn’t done creating; and that God is active, present, and with us even now.

Pour the glue into a medium bowl.
Add the baking soda: Add the baking soda to the glue mixture and stir until smooth.
Add the contact lens solution: Pour in 2 tablespoons of the contact lens solution and stir slowly. The mixture should begin to harden, becoming stringy.
Mix until a ball forms: Continue mixing slowly until a ball of slime forms.
Knead by hand: Pick up the slime and work between your two hands, until smooth. If the slime is particularly slimy, work in another 1/2 tablespoon of contact lens solution as needed.

Delivered on August 25, 2024.

It’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And I want to continue today talking about what we started last week – the Nicene Creed. We began two weeks ago thinking of the Nicene Creed as a rule – describing what we say about God and what we share in worship and with each other. Last week, we talked about the history of where it comes from and how, in the year 325, the Roman Emperor Constantine got a lot of people together to talk about how some of us have different thoughts when it comes to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The Creed comes out of a conversation – and we are called to live our faith out loud in a community, with others, because other people help us see how God is beyond just our own thoughts and experiences. And today, I want to talk a little bit about the main – but not the only – controversy that caused the gathering in the first place. I’ll admit that I don’t understand the nuances behind the issue 100%. Part of that is because we mostly have writings from those who eventually supported the Nicene Creed and we don’t have, in their own words, the thoughts of those who thought otherwise. Part of it is because a lot of this is heavily tied to philosophy and ways at looking at the world rooted in the language, custom, and assumptions about different schools of Greco-Roman thought. And while I consider myself a pretty smart guy, I’m not really deep into philosophy so I can’t unpack – or explain – or share the nuances that others can. My hope is to give you a big picture perspective about why this Creed seems to spend a lot of time talking about Jesus in ways that the Apostles’ Creed doesn’t. And to do that well – I want you to imagine and think about how you would draw God. 

If you needed to make a picture of God, how would you draw it? Accept answers. 

Sometimes people picture God as an old guy with a beard. Others might imagine just a bright light since how can we really picture the divine? But I’ve often expected that what we imagine God to look like impacts what we think God is. So if God is an old guy with a beard, God will do what old guys with beards do. And that became part of the situation 1700 years ago. People were trying to figure out how God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit relate to each other. During that conversation, a man named Arian put into words what a lot of people practically imagine – saying there was God, the creator, kind of at the top with Jesus and the Holy Spirit below. This meant that Arian – and others – assumed that Jesus was created by God the creator – putting distance between God and Jesus. Those who disagreed with Arian often described this thinking through the words “there was a time when Jesus was not.” That didn’t mean Jesus wasn’t present when the universe was made or anything like that. Nor did it really challenge people’s experience of Jesus in their life since it didn’t really change his story. But it did place a little gap – a little hierarchy between the God, the Son of God, and the Holy Trinity. And that gap was, for those who eventually supported the Nicene Creed, was a bit of a problem. Because that gap implied that God – all of God – all of the Trinity – didn’t experience life as we know it to be. If the Creator aspect of God was a little bit apart from Jesus, then maybe what Jesus experienced – being a baby, being vulnerable, needing to be taken care of, laughter, joy, sorrow, and even death – was something all of God didn’t experience either. And if God the Trinity didn’t experience all of what it means to be human – then what does that say about us who were made it God’s image? 

The Nicene Creed affirms that we experience – and God chooses to express God’s self – in three. The’s God the creator; Jesus; and the energy and activity of God that we name the Holy Spirit. And this God isn’t just there but this God chose to experience all of what we experience too. It’s a mystery why God did that. It’s a mystery even how God, the divine, could experience what we do. But when we try to hide the mystery, to make the mystery small, to fully understand God and, in the process making God small and manageable, our relationship to God becomes something other than the complete, loving, and forever thing it’s meant to be. A lot of what God does is mysterious. A lot of who Jesus is a paradox, something we can’t always figure out even if we consider ourselves pretty smart. But we should be careful to not try to explain God by making God small. We should, instead, take God as who God chooses to be. And who we believe God is – according to Christians – is revealed in Jesus; a Jesus who lived; who loved; a Jesus who died; a Jesus who rose; and a Jesus who will be with and for you – forever.

Delivered on August 18, 2024.

It’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And I want to continue today talking about what we started last week – the Nicene Creed. I shared that the Nicene Creed serves as a kind of rule – a written explanation of what we say and teach and share. We, as followers of Jesus, talk a lot about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. But for 2000 years, different people have had different emphasis or focuses on who Jesus is and what to focus on. We hear that during Jesus’ own ministry when the disciples argue with each other. We also hear it in Paul’s letters to early churches when they talk about different preachers going around sharing different things about Jesus. And we even do that today since there are many different flavors of Christianity and we, here, are Lutheran Christians. All these different flavors can make us wonder what rule – what’s the basic outline of following Jesus and who God is – that we can lean into. And so, in the year 325, in a city in what is now Modern Day Turkey, lots of people got together to craft a rule that they hoped everyone would follow. 

So I have with me an artistic rendition – an icon – a visual representation of what it might look like. And so what do you see? A bunch of old dudes in a circle, auditorium style, who are together. And that’s sort of where the Nicene Creed comes from. In the early 300s, a lot was going on in the Mediterrean area. The Roman Emperor Constantine had started to grow an Empire and, in the process, started to give Christians special support. Before this period, the Romans believed in different things and this difference in belief had led to Jesus’ death on the Cross. But as more and more people told people about Jesus, more and more people in the Roman Empire started to follow Jesus. The Roman Emperor, after a time of political divison and collapse, wanted to unify all these different people in the empire and felt like their old beliefs was driving people apart rather than bringing people together. So he decided to help Christians build new churches and grow their communities as a way to keep people working and living and supporting each other. But he also thought that all the different flavors of Christianity at the time – and there were many – would cause division rather than unity. He hoped that he could get a lot of bishops and church leaders together to talk about God, Jesus, and come to a consensus – and craft a rule – that wouldn’t answer all our questions but serve as a baseline of what it means to follow Jesus and to believe. 

We’ll talk more later about what the issues were that led to these divisions. But, today, I want to focus on just how the Creed came about because a lot of different people came together to talk. And we are called to do the same thing. We’re invite to share with each other our thoughts, experiences, and our faith. We’re invited to listen to what each other says about God and Jesus and being a Christian in the world. We won’t necessary agree on everything but when we do this work out of love and with prayer and with the help of the Holy Spirit, our lives are changed. We won’t always think the way we did and we might discover that what we thought before wasn’t right. But when we talk, together, we become more of who God wants us to be. The life of faith isn’t something we can do on our own. We need each other which is why, when we’re baptized, we’re brought into a community of faith – a body of Christ – that extends beyond all time and place. And when we receive the Creed, we remember that story, that history, and that we are part of a team – and that this team can’t be what it’s supposed to be without our thoughts, our story, and our experiences with God too. 

Delivered on August 11, 2024.

It’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And today I want to talk a little bit about rules. Now why do we have rules? In games so everyone is competing at the same level and to keep it fair. To keep each other safe. To keep us from hurting or taking advantage of each other. There are some rules that are spoken and agreed to – like, if we’re playing a soccer game, there’s a long list of rules that are published, written down, that everyone can read. But there’s also unwritten rules – certain rules that we just expect each other to know. Unwritten rules can change depending on who we are with, where we are, and what we’re doing. And sometimes these unwritten rules are the ones that are the hardest to learn. So let’s imagine, for a minute, we were brand new here at CLC. We can imagine the “rules” to be the bulletin. This is how worship is going to work – the songs we’re going to see – when we will be invited to stand and when we will be invited to sit down. But I wonder – what do you think are the unwritten rules we’d expect everyone to know and follow? And these rules are specific only to this church – and might not be the same if you go to a church down the road or even another Lutheran church somewhere else. Let’s make a list of those rules. 

Be quiet. That’s a big one. But it’s a rule we have to be careful about. Some of us, because of our age or how we’re made, can’t be quiet all the time. Some of us prefer silence but some of us can’t be silent. So while “being quiet” might be a rule – a better rule would be all of us being flexible and intentional about helping each other worship the best we can. So maybe we can be as quiet as we can – but know that we will be who we will be. And maybe those who prefer quiet can learn to accept that noise, a baby crying, or a cough or someone getting excited isn’t a problem – it’s just a reflection of how the body of Christ is full of so many different things. 

We’re going to talk about Lutheran things. We’re a Lutheran Christian community so our perspective is going to be a bit different than a Roman Catholic or Baptist church. We might not know what makes a Lutheran Christian church different – but hopefully, the longer we’re in this community, we realize how central Jesus, grace, the Cross, and the gifts of faith – the love God has for us that we can do nothing to earn – shapes our words about Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit. 

Something will probably go wrong during worship. The audio will go out. Someone will cough. The wrong song will be printed in the bulletin. Something will always go wrong – so giving ourselves grace will go along to making this experience the most worshipful it can be.

And the community isn’t just the people here; its the people who aren’t here today or the people who are at home or at work or who are watching later. We’re always bigger than just the 30 people here. 

The rules – written and unwritten – are important and ever since Jesus walked the earth and called his 12 friends together to show what the love of God looks like in the world, communities of faith have wondered what these rules of following Jesus should look like. We’ll hear a little bit in the letter Paul wrote to the community in Ephesus of how we’re supposed to value each other, assuming the best, and not letting anger, divisiveness, and our own sin get in the way of loving others. That’s one rule of how Christian communities should look and be different than the other communities we are apart of. And later on in worship, we’re going to recite – together – the “Nicene Creed” which shares what we teach, share, and how we center ourselves as followers of Jesus. A creed – is simply a statement of what we teach and share. If someone asked you what this community says about God and Jesus – reciting the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed isn’t a terrible start. I’ll talk more next week about where the Nicene Creed comes from – it’s history – and then spend the following weeks talking through different parts of it. A creed is a rule – sharing with us and with ourselves some of our thoughts about who God is, who Jesus is, what the Holy Spirit is about, and how Jesus’ presence with and among us changes all our other rules – especially our unwritten rules – so that love, hope, mercy, and forgiveness shape all we say and do.

Delivered on June 9, 2024

Bring toothpaste. 

So it’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And I’d like to do a children’s sermon I’ve done before and it involves…a tube of toothpaste. This is just a regular, everyday, typical tube of toothpaste. And what do we do with toothpaste? Use it to brush our teeth. We squeeze a little out on a toothbrush and then spend 2 minutes brushing our teeth and gums so we’ll have a healthy mouth. These tubes are designed to let us squeeze and get the toothpaste out. So let’s do that. Squirt on a plate. It’s out in the world! The toothpaste tube has done exactly what it wants to do. But I’ve got a question for you. Now that the toothpaste is out of the tube, go ahead and put it back in? 

We can’t. 

And that’s right. We can’t. Once the toothpaste is out in the world, it’s not designed to go back in. The action of squeezing the tube led to the consequence of the toothpaste coming out and not being able to get back in. If we were going to use that toothpaste, great. But if we did it by accident – then we just wasted it. The consequence – the outcome – what happened when something was done – is something we have to live with.

And today’s first reading [Genesis 3:8-15] from our Bible is about that – a consequence. It comes from the very first book of the Bible – the book of Genesis – which is filled with stories wondering why things are the way they are. One of the stories is about how God cares about the world is made, like a hymn, singing it into being. Another story is about the first people – and wondering why we aren’t as kind or loving or helpful or respectful as we should be. In that story, the first people live in a garden that God takes care of. And God tells them they can do anything and eat anything except for the fruits from two trees in the garden. Since they’re people, someone saying “don’t do something” just made them want to do it and a serpent convinces them that they should eat from the tree, claiming that there would be no consequences if they listen to someone else rather than God. So they eat fruit from the tree and the people suddenly discover all about what’s good and bad and everything in between. And once that happens, there’s no going back. Like the toothpaste out of the tube, things are now different and the first people have to live with the consequences. 

We don’t hear much of those consequences in the reading today – and we might want to wonder and spend our energy thinking about why they did that. But rather than focusing so much on the why, I think it’s okay to focus on what God does in this story. God starts the story in the garden. God is there. God is present. God is hanging out with them. And even though Adam and Eve don’t listen to him – God doesn’t give up on them. The consequences are great; their selfishness – and the ways they chose to act like God rather than listening to God – is something we still struggle with today. We want our way and our needs met at the expense of everyone else; we want things our way, right now, and we don’t always listen to people around us. We do this a lot with our actions – but also our words – and we don’t like living with the consequences that come. Those consequences might be something small but they can also be large. And we’ll often get more mad at the consequences rather than the original actions that caused that issue in the first place. God, though, doesn’t let us run away from our consequences. God knows that we make mistakes, we mess up, and that we fail to love others the way they should be loved. God knows that – and doesn’t want us to do that – nor does God sanction us acting as if we are God ourselves. But God doesn’t give up on us. God chooses to be present with us. God chooses to be with us through the consequences with grace and mercy and promise that lets mercy, love, and forgiveness win in the end. So – we should be mindful that our actions and our words are like toothpaste in a tube – once it’s out, it’s out and we should face and live with the consequences that come. And yet those consequences don’t drive God from us. Rather, God chooses to be with us through those consequences – through what we have to live through – so that those who have been affected, those who have been hurt, and even those who did the hurt – can be with the One who, through grace, mercy, attention, time, and guidance – help them discover who God knows they can be. 

Delivered on May 26, 2024

Bring a windwill

So it’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And I brought something from the front of my lawn. What is it? A little windmill. It’s a decoration that does one thing. It spins. And when it spins, it makes these pretty colors that are fun to see. But it needs something to spin. What do you think? Wind. It needs moving air to whirl and take something static, something not moving, and bring it movement that others can see and enjoy.

Today is a day in the church calendar when we celebrate who we experience God to be. And the special word we use to describe that is: Trinity. Trinity means “3” – and we talk about God as One thing but with 3 expressions or abilities or ways of being in the universe. That does not mean we worship 3 gods or that one part of God is better than any other or whatnot. Rather, I see the Trinity as a way for us to try to use our limited language and human mind to put into words who we experience God to be. God is always bigger than any metaphor or idea that we have. Yet God chooses to make sure we experience God in concrete ways. One way is through God as creator – and we experience that becase we are created. We live in a world that was created, the stars were created, our food was created, and more. Just by being, we experience God’s creation – a creation we and our friends and even strangers are part of. Next we experience God as Jesus. God chose to live a human life, to experience life as if God was created, and how scary and limited and beautiful life can be. We listen to Jesus’ story through stories in our bible, through the songs we sing, as well as through the worship we do everytime we gather in Jesus’ name. But there’s another part of God that we often struggle with. And that’s God as Spirit – which is, to me, our experience of God moving and living and impacting our lives and our world. It’s the Spirit that tells us we’re loved. It’s the Spirit that inspires us to do good and kind things. It’s the Spirit that reminds us that we are not alone. And it’s the Spirit that brings us hope when we feel hopeless. But what does that look like or feel like? Well – that’s why I like the windmill.

The Bible will often describe the Spirit as wind – and wind moves things. It can be very big and scary and frightening. Yet it can also cause clouds to be in the right place so that rain can water crops that grow. The wind causes things to move – and when we see something beautiful, lovely, kind, supporative, patient, and brilliant happening – like the windmill turning and all the beautiful colors – that’s the Spirit moving.

But what happens if there’s no wind going. How could wind happen when we’re inside – like here? Accept examples but then talk about breath. We can breath out – and that wind that we generate can cause a beautiful thing to happen. You, as created and beloved children of God, carry within you God’s Spirit. And just like God’s spirit spreads love, we get to do the same. We get to be kind even when it’s difficult. We can to love even when it’s hard. We get to make sacrifices so others can experience joy. And we can remember those who did exactly that – especially those who served in our military who died so others could live – which is what Memorial day is all about. We don’t always realize how the Spirit is showing up in our life yet we do have the gift of the Spirit within us that we can give and share to others. So remember that God is with you – Jesus loves you – the Spirit is moving through you – and we see that Spirit at work when life, love, and hope are made real in our world.

Delivered on March 3, 2024

So it’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And I’d like to keep talking about a word we learned two weeks ago: covenant. A covenant is a list of shared promises and, in our Bible, often follow a pattern. God makes a promise, people respond with their own promises, and then God says – yeah, I’m going to keep my promise even if you don’t. So far, we’ve heard the promise God made to Noah after a giant flood and heard the promise God made to Abraham saying how he will become part of a big, holy family that we are a part of too. Those focused a little bit on the promises God makes to us and so we’re shifting a little in our first reading because God is going to invite us to think about the promises we make to God. And while these promises come from God, they really are about our way of being in the world – and we give them a special phrase: the ten commandments. 

So to think about these ten commandments – ten big rules to help the way we care about ourselves and each other – I wonder what kind of rules we would create for ourselves. Imagine, for a moment, you woke up this morning and you decided all the rules you were going to live by. The rules your parents make no longer apply. What kind of rules might you come up with? Accept answers. I wonder what it would be like to live by those rules at school or maybe if you went out to the store. I wonder if coming to church today would be part of your rules. Maybe it wouldn’t be – and it’s okay cuz sometimes coming to church is hard because you physically can’t or maybe you’re not feeling well or maybe you’re mad at someone in the church or mad at me or you’d rather go to a store or sleep in. How we live our life is complicated – and different situations or different things we’re feeling can make it complicated too. 

So those are the rules we might make and those are helpful to wonder and compare those to the promises God wants us to make. We can also, as we think about those promises, wonder what the opposite of these promises might be. I saw someone compose their own opposite ten commandments [which I slightly modified] (worshippingwithchildren.blogspot.com) and I’d like to share those before we hear the promises God wants us to make. 

1.    You are your own boss.  Do whatever you want to do whenever you feel like it. And pay attention to the people and things that only you care about. 

2.    It does not matter when or how you say God’s name.  You can use it to speak in a way that harms others or use it to claim that God is on your side so you can get what you want. 

3.    It doesn’t matter if you worship with God’s people on Sunday/regularly.  If there are other things you’d rather do, go do them.

4.    Parents don’t get it so ignore them whenever you can. 

5.    It’s okay to hurt, harm or even kill those who get in your way. The strongest are supposed to live the longest. 

6.    Don’t worry about the promises you make to each other. If you break your promises, that’s other people’s problem – not yours.

7.    Finders keepers! I see it, I want it, I get it. 

8.    Lie if you have to get out of trouble, lie to get what you want, and it’s okay to lie about other people and pretend that they are evil or bad or dumb or anything you want them to be. 

9. The one who dies with most toys wins. 

10. The world is full of wonderful things and there’s only so much that can go around. Get your share or else someone will take it from you. 

The ten commandments – and all the promises GOd invites us to make – are gifts from God that invite us to live our lives in a way that doesn’t center ourselves at the expense of everyone else. Instead, God invites us to recognize the love God has for everyone and how we, with God’s help, can be just as loving, kind, patient, and caring as God is to us.