Year A, Advent 2, Children's Sermon

Year A, Second Sunday of Advent

“Christmas Stumps?”

Isaiah 11:1-10

Object: gather around the Chrismon tree.

Have you decorated your Christmas stump yet?

A Christmas stump?  That really does sound silly!  We decorate Christmas trees; not Christmas stumps.

One of our Bible lessons today talks about a stump.  Isaiah tells us that a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse.  If we take a look at Jesus’ family tree, we learn that one of his ancestors was a man named Jesse.  Jesse was King David’s father.  When we read the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke, we learn that Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, was “of the house and line of David”, and if we go one back generation from David, it takes us to his father Jesse.  We can see that Jesus was the shoot, the young branch, that grew from the stump of Jesse.

When we think about tree stumps, we might think about something that is dead.  The tree has been cut down and all that’s left is a stump.

On the other hand, when we think about trees, we think about life.  We decorate our homes and churches with evergreen trees.  They stay green all year round. They don’t lose their leaves in the fall.  They look alive in every season.  For Christians, the evergreen tree represents life—eternal life—the gift God sent Jesus to give us.

Jesus came to make a big difference in our lives.  Something alive and life giving has sprung up from something that was cut down and considered as good as dead.  Jesus even taught that he came to give us life, an abundant life at that.  That sounds like a flourishing, evergreen life.  When we welcome Jesus into our lives, we move from death to life.  We have God’s promise of eternal life.

Decorating stumps sounds like a silly idea, but today we thank God for the life of Jesus that sprang up and gave us all life.

Dear God,Thank you that you are the Lord of life.  You give us eternal life through Jesus.  Because of his life, we are able to live differently in our world.  Please bless us to show signs of his life in our own.  Bless us to be generous.  Bless us to care for others.  Bless us to love one another as much as Jesus loved us.  It is in his name we pray.  Amen.

Year A, Advent 2, Candle Lighting

Lighting of the Second Advent Candle

from Isaiah 11:1-10 and Romans 15:4-13

Reader 1:  Is there hope for our world?

Reader 2:  Well, of course, there is hope for our world.  Jesus is that hope, and he came to give hope to the whole world, not just part of the world. 

Reader 1:  He is our hope.  The spirit of the Lord rests on him.  He delights in reverence.  He works in favor of the needy and the meek.  He is dressed in righteousness and faithfulness.

Reader 2:  Jesus brings peace—unheard of, unimaginable peace.  The wolf will live with the lamb.  The leopard will lie down with the baby goat.  The calf and the lion will dwell together in peace.

Reader1:  For as much as that scene seems miraculous, why do we find it so hard to imagine peace in our time?

Reader 2:  Too often we resign to the fatalistic notion that real peace is impossible.  We have a hard time wrapping our minds around so many different people, whether by age, gender, nationality, race, culture or religion, celebrating a common bond of peace.  The world is far more complicated than the greeting cards we send with the picture of a vulnerable, little lamb cuddled up to a powerful lion—we believe that scene might actually happen.

Reader 1:  Is there hope for our world?

Reader 2:  Of course there is.  Jesus is our hope.  “A little child shall lead them.”

Reader 1:  Isaiah directs our attention to hope in the Child in the manger.

Reader 2:  And there is more.  Because of Christ, we can hope in every child.  Jesus taught us the kingdom belongs to them.

Reader 1:  For every grown up that means we must work to instill the hope of Christ in every girl and boy we meet.  The pathway to peace begins with how we welcome these little ones.

Reader 2:  We care for and provide for them.  We nurture them and teach them.  We talk with children, and more importantly, we listen to them.  In Christ, they are well equipped to be leaders who can proclaim his peace.  “A little child shall lead them”, and we would do well to follow their lead.

(At this point a child should come forward and light two candles in the Advent wreath.)

Child:  Come let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Unison Prayer:  Mighty God of peace, we bow our heads and give ourselves to be led by your Child the Christ that we might have hope.  Bless us to welcome children just as Christ welcomed us.  Bless us to welcome their uncomplicated, idealistic, beautiful, faithful leadership.  Fill us all with the joy and peace of believing so that with one voice the whole world will glorify you the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.