Over the last 4 weeks I’ve been giving the children’s talk at Church in the mornings. Seeing as I’ve been slack on posting recently I thought I’d change them into a blog post, so with luck I’ll be posting 4 new entries in the next few days.
The first talk I did was on repentance. Now having considered the subject it dawned on me what an awesome responsibility it is speaking to children, and I say that as a teacher. When teaching/preaching to adults ‘gaps’ can be left to a degree as they can be filled in by a logical, adult mind. My point is that small slips and stumbles in speech can be forgiven, providing the overarching doctrine/theology is correct.
But with children... no such assumptions can be made. These are people who have imaginary friends, can really believe that their uncle is tickle monster and that they are indeed a superhero because they have a tea towel wrapped around their neck. If you talk about a lamb or a lion they have an image of just that – imagery and figurative speech can be dicey. All this combined with a wide age range, comprehension age and varying intelligence. I’m sure some are reading this and nodding and others are starting to worry about the talk they did last Sunday.
So anyway – repentance. I wanted to provide the children with an image of Jesus waiting for us arms outstretched waiting for a repentant sinner to turn away from their sins and to run to him when He calls their name. So I asked:
What does repentance mean?
The answer I got “saying you’re sorry”. Brilliant. I went on to describe it as the pastor has done many times as ‘an about face’, or turning completely from your sins. I also explained that sometimes those sins can be something other than an action or a ‘thing’.
• “Sometimes we aren’t sure exactly what the sin we are turning from is. It may not be a ‘thing’.”
• “For me it was a horrible feeling that there were things that upset and scared me in my life, caused by sin.”
I then told them a story and asked them to see if they could spot the repentance in the story. Growing up in South Wales we used to get told this story near Mothering Sunday as a reminder of Mothers’ love. It suited the image I wanted to portray.
One day a little boy went walking and he wandered onto the coal field. Now apparently they often used dynamite to blast large chunks of surface material away, and the boy had sauntered into an area that had been set with explosive. The miners saw him and shouted at him to move and that he was in danger. Some even tried to get to him, but the louder they shouted and the closer they got the further he moved into the danger area. The boy couldn’t see the dangers or was at least unaware of them. He was more scared by the miners shouting than anything else. (Dangers of overly aggressive evangelism?... there’s another blog!)
Eventually the boy’s Mum was called. Her solution was simple. She was terrified for him, so scared he’d get killed. But she didn’t want to scare him. So she knelt down flung wide her arms and called the boy’s name.
In response the boy heard his name, saw his Mum open armed and the concern on her face and ran to her. So the boy was safe with Mum, the dangers left behind.
Where was the repentance? Thankfully they got the answer right as you can see in the picture.
I used the story to make the following points:• When we repent we may be able to see our sins clearly, at other times, like me, we may just get a sense that there is sin/danger in our lives.
• When you hear Jesus call your name, don’t hesitate! Don’t wait!
• Run to Him and He will give you the best hug ever and make you safe forever.
Talks to come – justification, temptation and tomorrow’s ‘The Golden Thread’.
