Remember

Easter Sunday  C   April 21, 2019

Isaiah 65:17-25  Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:19-26  Luke 24:1-12

Johnny finished school on Thursday night and he picked his backpack and went outside to wait for his mom.  And he was very excited to leave for a long weekend for Easter.  When mom picked him up at school.  She asked, "Johnny, you seem really happy."  "I am," he said.  "Tomorrow is Good Friday so we don't have school and then we have a long weekend and Sunday is Easter and we'll have an Easter Egg hunt and we'll have lots of fun.  And I am really excited about something, but I forget about what I am excited about.  I had something really exciting to tell you but I can't remember it now.  Mom said, "Don't worry, Johnny you will remember."

"Oh, Oh, I was so excited to tell and I can't believe that I forgotten what I wanted to tell you."

Well, Good Friday came and Johnny got up early and came to breakfast.  Mom asked him, "Johnny did you remember what you wanted to tell me?"   Johnny said, "I remember being excited in my sleep last night, but I can't remember it this morning.  I know it was something special but I can't remember."

Johnny went to church and walked the Stations of the Cross with his family on Good Friday.  And he went to bed on Friday night.  He ask his mom to put a band aid on his finger.  She asked him, "Why do you want a band aid on your finger?"  Johnny said, "Maybe if you put a band aid on my finger, maybe I will remember the exciting news that I wanted to tell you about but forgot."  So Johnny went to bed with a memory band aid on, but it didn't work.  He got up on Saturday and he still could not remember.  But he did enjoy playing all day on Saturday and he was really tired on Saturday night.  When he went to bed and when his mom was tucking him in, Johnny said, "In my prayers, I am going to ask God to help me remember the exciting news that I wanted to share with you and the family."  Mom said, "Okay, let's pray."  And when they finished praying, mom said that she had a surprise for Johnny.  "What is the surprise?"  Johnny asked.  Mom said, "Well, tomorrow on Easter Sunday, after the Easter service and the Easter Egg hunt, we are going to go to the beach and have a picnic.  And your cousins are going to be there too."   Johnny said, " Wow...that's great, now if I could only remember my exciting news, I could share it with them too."

On Easter morning Johnny got up early and he made sure his Easter Egg basket was ready.  He went to church with his family and he got to wear a new lovely bright and colorful shirt.  He had a great time singing the happy songs of Easter and he collected about fifteen Easter Eggs on the church lawn.  He was really happy about that, though his mom, said that he could only eat one piece of chocolate before their picnic lunch.

Johnny's family got home from church and they packed up all of the blankets and towels and the beach toys.  Mom told Johnny to make sure and bring his backpack because it had his gym shoes and shorts that he could use at the beach, so Johnny threw his backpack into the back of the car.

Johnny and his family and his cousins had a great time and a great picnic at the beach.  But something strange happened.  Johnny's cousin Joey suddenly stopped on the beach and he yelled at Johnny, "Is that your backpack lying on the sand?  Why are those butterflies coming out of your backpack?"

Everyone on the beach started looking at Johnny's backpack.  The flap had fallen open and out of the back pack there flew one butterfly, two butterflies, three butterflies, four butterflies and five butterflies.  Mom asked Johnny, "How did those butterflies get in your backpack?"  Johnny said, "Oh, now I remember what I wanted to tell you.  When I left school last Thursday, the teacher let me bring home all of the cocoons from the terrarium.  We put them in a shoe box and put them in my backpack."

Mom said, "Well they are no longer cocoons.  They are now beautiful butterflies."  Johnny said, "Wow these butterflies were born on the the perfect day.  Just like Jesus Rose from the grave on Easter day, these butterflies have come out of their cocoons at just the right time."

Mom said, "I bet that you will never forget this Johnny."   Johnny said, "I will always remember Easter because I forgot about the cocoons, but the birth of the butterflies on Easter has made this a special day."

Easter is day that we celebrate the great change that took place in the life of Jesus.  He seemed to be dead and in a grave forever and his friends were sad.  But he came back to life to came to see his friends again.  And they were very happy.  And they never forgot this day.  And they shared this special day and now we again remember and share this special day.

Alleluia, butterflies come to life out of dead looking cocoons.   Alleluia!  Christ is Risen.  The Lord is Risen indeed.  Alleluia!  Amen.

Two Childrens Sermons for Easter

Easter Sermons for Children

In this sermon, have the entire congregation, one by one share the Easter Message "Christ is Risen."  Make a baton and write on it the traditions that the church has passed on.  This is to illustrate to the children the transmission of the Easter message for all of these years.

Sermon One: Passing the Baton in the Great Relay Race

   What Christian Feast Day is more important? Christmas or Easter?  They are both very important but Easter is the most important Christian day of the Christian year.  Why?  If Jesus had not come back alive, we would not celebrate Christmas and we would not even exist as a church

  When the resurrection of Christ happened, the friends of Jesus who saw him alive again after his death began to share the story.  And now that story has been share for about 2000 years.  If the church is about 2000 years old, that means that there has been about 100 generations using 20 years as the average length of a generation.  So how has the message of the life, the death and resurrection Jesus been remembered for 2000 years?  By one parent sharing the message with their children and their children share the message with their own children. 

  If we have about 100 people here let us see how long it takes to share the message. One by one, let’s share the message, one time for each generation.  Let’s see how long it takes to say Christ is Risen around this entire gathering.  Okay start.

   But the church has not just passed on spoken message.  We have passed it on in things that we can see and touch and feel.  And so I have made a baton for a relay race and I’ve written some things on the Baton.  The Bible.  The Old Testament Stories.  The New Testament Stories.  Creeds. Holy Spirit. Water of Baptism. Oil of Baptism and Confirmation.  Fire of Baptism.  Bread and Wine of Eucharist.  Prayers for the Sick.  Bishops, Priests, Deacons and Lay Persons.  Marriage Rings.

  These are things of the church that have been shared for 100 generations.  These things have been passed on from family to family for 2000 years.  And that is why we are here today, because someone told us the message about Jesus Christ and because the church has passed on the various things that have helped us to remember that Jesus rose again.  And because the Holy Spirit is inside us giving us the hope that we are going to live beyond our deaths.  And why do we believe that we will live beyond our deaths?  Because Jesus Christ lived beyond his death; he did it to show us what will happen to us after we die.  We will live beyond our death and we will live with God.  That is why this day is such a happy day and it is why we shout: Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!  The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia!  Amen. 

Sermon Two:  The empty Easter Egg

  Let me tell you today about an Easter Egg hunt that took place on Easter Sunday in a church.  And the Sunday School teacher wanted to teach a lesson to the children on Easter Sunday.  So Mr. Jones during Sunday School on Easter Sunday, said to his class, “Today is Easter Sunday and so we want to do something special.  We are going to have an Easter Egg hunt.  I’ve have already hidden the eggs.  So let’s go outside and look.  And I want each of you to find only one egg.  And when everyone has found one egg, then we will come back to the classroom and each of us will open our egg in front of the entire class.  So the entire class of twelve children ran outside to look for the eggs in a place on the lawn where Mr. Jones had hidden the eggs.  One by one each child found an egg.  One child said, “I’ve found my egg.”  Another child said, “Please help me find my egg.”  And finally after about 10 minutes each child found an egg.  Mr. Jones rang a bell and said, “Come into the classroom.”  And so the children came back into the classroom each holding an egg.  Now these eggs were not real eggs, they were plastic hollow eggs so that there could be a hidden treat inside of the egg.

   When they were seated in the classroom, Mr. Jones said, “Now one by one we are going to open each egg to see what’s in the egg.  And let me tell you, there is a surprise in one of the eggs and whoever has the surprise will get something special.”

  One by one the eggs were opened.  Johnny said, “I have a dollar bill in mine…I bet I won the prize.”  Mary opened hers and she found some very nice chocolates so she said, “No, these are really the best chocolates, so I bet I won the prize.”  Jimmy opened his egg and he had a little Lego man so he said, “I think I got the best prize.”  Grace opened her egg and she had a cute little furry bunny rabbit and she said, “I won!”  Gloria opened her egg and found a silver dollar and she said, “Wow!  I hit the jackpot!”  Jeremy opened his egg and he found a lovely ring that fit his finger and it had a red jewel on it, so he said, “Surely this must be the best prize.”  Betsy then opened her egg and she found a cute little baby chick, and she was thrilled because she knew she had won.  Todd opened his egg and found a shiny whistle and he blew the whistle because he thought he had won.  Everyone who heard the loud noise, said, “Stop blowing the whistle, it hurts our ears.”  Joey opened his egg and he found a little race car…just what he wanted, and so he believed he was the winner.  Margaret opened her egg and she found a cute little teddy bear and she was happy.  Harry opened his Easter Egg and he found a porcelain little Dalmatian.  And he just loved those spotted dogs.  And then there was only one person and one egg left to open and it was Lucy’s egg.  Everyone said, “Hurry and open it let us see.”  But Lucy got very shy and so she hid her egg under desk so that no one could see her open it.  She looked down as she opened it and when she got it opened, her face turned red and said.  Everyone shouted, “What did you get Lucy?  Did you win?  What did you get?”  And Lucy looked up and said, “I lost…I did not get anything…my egg is empty.”  And the children laughed at her and said, “Mr. Jones really played a joke on you.”

  Then the children asked Mr. Jones, “Tell who won the best prize?”

 And Mr. Jones said, “Children, Lucy won the best prize and so she get this special prize, a new Bible.”  The children said, “Why did Lucy win?  Her egg was empty?”

  Mr. Jones said, “Today is Easter.  And when the women went to the tomb of Jesus what did they find?”  They found that the tomb was empty and because it was empty they were winners, because that meant that Jesus was still alive.

  And so Lucy’s egg was empty.  And she wins the prize on Easter to remind us that the empty tomb of Jesus means that Christ is alive and that he is still with us today. 

   So as winners today let us be happy about the empty tomb of Jesus.  Let us say, Alleluia, Christ is Risen.  The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia!