Children’s Message

Feeding the Community

By Johan Daza

“You give them something to eat.” Mark 6:37a NRSV

Supplies:

-Loaves and fishes boxes

-Stickers, candies(or something else) and

-Copies of cards with the text “ You give them something to eat” Mark 6:37 a NRSV

Focus

The focus of this year Loaves and Fishes offering is Choctaw Presbytery. Choctaw Presbytery will be distributing food to children and families in need in the State of Oklahoma.

The text of Mark talks about Jesus asking his disciples to give something to eat a multitude of people. In other words, the disciples were asked to act as the distributers. Jesus was not concerned about the food. Jesus was concerned about the obedience and faith of the disciples. However, the disciples were more concernedabout the food, and they felt they were not ready to feed all those people.

The problem of hunger in the world is not a problem of resources; it is problem of inequality in the distribution. God is a self-giving person. God shares all creation with us, and God wants God’s people to become better distributers of God’s resources in order to share them with others with justice and love.

Preparation

  • Please come ready withthe small bible text cards and something (stickers or candies, etc) to share with each child at the children’s message. Please have more than enough of each.
  • Distribute all the sticker/candies and cards in advanceto adult members (pastor, pianist, praise band members, choir, Sunday school class teacher, etc) before worship starts. Keep in mind these people need to be present in the sanctuary during the children’s message.
  • Explain to the adults that they will provide the stickers/candies and cards when two kids ask, “Does somebody have sticker or candies to share with these children?”
  • Ask two of the older children to help you with the message. Explain to them that you want them go along with your message, even though they don’t really understand. You may have to anticipate reactions, because they will be confused, andthey mayask you for the stickers, or say they do not have any stickers with them. It is during the confusion when you will ask them to ask out loud “Does somebody in the church have sticker or candies to share with these children?”. That is the moment when your friends, the adult members say “yes, I have some please come for them”. Then encourage the two kids to go and bring them and share with the children.

Message (5-8mins)

Good morning dear friends! Today, our church is encouraging us to support the Loaves and Fishes offering that will provide food to many children and families in need in the state of Oklahoma through Choctaw Presbytery.The bible text used for this year’s effort is Mark 6:37. It says,“You give them something to eat.”This expression was used by Jesus when he asked his disciples to feed a multitude of over 5000 people. The disciples were concerned about where to get all the food needed to feed those people. However, Jesus was not concerned about the food. Jesus was more concerned about the obedience and faithfulness of his disciples.

God has provided enough food in the world to feed all human beings.Amazing, right? Unfortunately, there are many children and families in the world who don’t have enough to eat today. There are many children whoeat only one meal or less every day. I have a question, if there is enough food to feed all the people in the world, why does hunger exist? (Give a moment for answers. If there is silence you can ask the next question). If food is not the problem, what is the problem? It looks like there is a problem of inequality; it means that we are not sharing or distributing food correctly.

God has shared all creation and its resources with all of us. God wants us to share them with our neighbors with justice and love, especially with those who are suffering. Before I give you the boxes, I want to call (names of two children) to come here. I have a request for you both;I want you to give a sticker/candy to each of these children right now. Go do it… (Wait for a few seconds). You don’t have stickers/candies with you,right? Well, don’t worry about it. I am sure there are stickers here somewhere. I have an idea;I want you to ask out loud to the adults in church“Does someone have stickers/candies to share with these children today?” (That is the moment when your friends in the sanctuary have to answer encouraging the two kids to go and get the stickers). Look they have stickers, go and bring them and share them with all the kids here.

(In order to preserve the order, encourage them to distribute the stickers/candies and return to their place with the rest of the group)Wow, it looks like we have more than enough stickers/candies today. I think something similar happened when Jesusasked his disciples to feed the multitude. Jesus knew there was enough food to feed the multitude, and the role of the disciples wasjust to serve in obedience as the distributors of that food and they were able to feed over 5000 people.

Weneed to remember that wehave enough resources at home to share with others.Take home with you a loaves and fishes box. Fill them with coins remembering that you are giving other children something to eat with the resources God has provided your family. Once you fill the boxes with coins, please bring them back to church on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. This year we want to support Choctaw Presbytery in their effort to distribute food to children and families in need. (Take one of the loaves and fishes boxes with you) andAll Cumberland Presbyterians around the world are encouraged to collect offerings in these boxes in order to help them. Do you want to be part of this? YES!!! Let us pray.

Prayer:

Faithfull God, we give you thanks for all the resources you have shared with us in order to help others. As we fill these boxes, help us to remember that we are responsible for caring for others with love and mercy. Please help us to have a generous heart and giving hands to extend love and food to those in need. Please use our resources that they may be distributed with justice and love amongchildren and families experiencing hunger. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Note: pass the boxes as the children leave the sanctuary or return to their seats.