CHILDREN – 2nd Sunday of Lent B

OBJECTS: A sheet of paper labeled (depending upon its orientation) MOM or WOW.

I have a little test for you today – a reading test. I’m going to show you a word that I’m pretty sure some of you will know. Take a look quietly and put your finger on your nose if you can tell me what this word is…ready? (Reveal the paper, oriented to read “mom.” Solicit children’s answers.)

That’s right – “mom.” M-O-M spells mom, but are you sure that’s what this word really says? What if I turn it over like this? (Turn paper over to orient the letters to read “wow.”)

Hmm…You’re right – and “wow” is a good word to describe it too, because just by turning the paper in a different direction we have a whole different word. It’s the same paper – but we’re seeing it in whole new way.

Something similar happens in this week’s Gospel lesson. Several of the disciples are walking with Jesus up a high mountain when all of a sudden they see him in a new and different way. His clothes suddenly become a dazzling white and they hear the voice of God explaining that “this is my Son.”

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SOURCE: Sermon Writer

OBJECT:  Draw a large exclamation point on poster board or a blackboard, if available.

I love learning new things. How about you? Doesn’t it seem exciting to learn something you didn’t know before?

Have you ever thought about how you learn? You gather new information by using your senses. You see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. All of those ways of using your body give you clues about the world around you.

When you talk, you are not gathering new information; you are only saying what you already know. It is when we listen that we learn.

You may remember your teacher saying, “Listen!” The teacher is trying to get your attention so you can hear, and perhaps learn, something new. A coach may say, “Listen up!” The coach wants you to hear his suggestions and what the next play may be.

The Bible helps us understand the importance of listening. Jesus, with Peter, James, and John, went to a high mountain where they were apart from other people. While they were there “a cloud came, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son. Listen to him’” (9:7).

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OBJECT: None

Have you ever seen something so surprising, so beautiful, or so exciting that you could hardly believe your eyes?

Sometimes rainbows form as double rainbows that arch across the sky. The glistening colors are so dazzling that you must run to get someone to look at it with you.

Perhaps you are looking out a window on a stormy night and see lightening zip across the sky. Your mom or dad may say, “Yes, I saw that too.”

Maybe you have seen the Grand Canyon, a tall tree like a sequoia, or a skyscraper that seems to reach into the clouds. Objects that are very large make us question what we are seeing; we wonder if the object is really as big as it seems and we ask others to see what they think.

When Jesus lived on earth he took three of his disciples and went to a high mountain to be apart from the crowds of people. While he was on the mountain a great change came over him and “his clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them” (9:3).

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SOURCE: Sermon Writer