Children’s Sermon

Luke 2:1-20

Happy Birthday

By Lois Parker Edstrom

OBJECT SUGGESTED: Birthday cake

Today I’ve brought a birthday cake to celebrate the day Jesus Christ was born. The cake has four candles on it, one for each of the past four weeks of Advent – the time when we prepared for this day. The larger white candle in the middle of the cake represents this very day – Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. (Light the candles.) The light that shines from the candles reminds us of the love of God which shines in us when we have faith and believe in the power of God’s love.

It is very special to have you here today at this birthday celebration. Let’s talk a bit about who was there on the day that Jesus was born. His mother and father were there, in Bethlehem, in a stable where animals are kept. Nearby shepherds were living in the fields. An angel, sent from God, came to the shepherds and there was a great light that shone all around the shepherds. The Bible tells us that the light was “the glory of the Lord…” (2:9). We can think of that light as love shining from God to all of us on earth. Then the Bible tells us that all the angels of heaven came and sang praises to God.

What a celebration that must have been! Later, wise men, from far away, came to see Jesus and they followed the light of a star to bring them to the place where he was born. Again, we see how important God’s light is. God’s love is like light that helps us see things more clearly.

Thank you for coming today to celebrate the birth of Jesus, just as the angels, shepherds, and wise men came to celebrate his birth many years ago.

(Share cake or cupcakes with children if appropriate to your situation.)

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2007, Richard Niell Donovan