Children’s Sermon

Mark 1:14-20

The Call

We get and receive calls for many different reasons. When we are faced with an emergency, perhaps someone is very ill or has had an accident, how do we get help? Yes, we call 911, an operator answers our call and sends help.

Maybe a friend arrives at your door and says, “Come out and play.” That is another type of call and, if it is okay with your parents, you follow your friend outside to play.

Even in nature we see this idea of calling. During the autumn season birds migrate from their summer feeding areas and head for a warmer climate to spend the winter. You may have heard the wild geese call to one another as they lift into the sky and follow each other for their journey south in a beautiful V formation.

A mother ducks calls to her babies with a quack, quack, quack. They obey and follow where she leads.

A story in the Bible teaches us about another type of call. As Jesus was walking “along the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea – for they were fishermen.”

And Jesus said to them, “Come after me…” (1:17).

“Immediately they left their nets, and followed him” (1:18).

These two men, Simon and Andrew, answered Jesus’ call to follow him so they could help him spread “the good news” of God’s love.

Each one of us is called to accept God’s love and share “the good news” with others. We are given the choice to follow.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible