Children's Sermon - Reformation Sunday

For those of you that are protestant, you know what an important day today is. It is Reformation Sunday: the day to celebrate the posting of Martin Luther’s questions of the church. This reform eventually produced the Protestant religion. The actual date was October 31st, but it is celebrated in the church today.

It was my day to give the children’s sermon so I opted for this topic. It wasn’t biblical per se, but definitively historical to our religion. I wasn’t sure if the subject matter would go too far over the kids’ heads, but it went off very well. One of the kids even came up with the invention of the printing press to one of my questions.

I was so nervous and this weekend had not been going well. I even joked with the other choir members that if I seemed to get lost in thought that they should break into “Jesus Loves Me” to save me. And just before I went down to the give the meditation, I actually gave a quiet prayer asking God to help me through and getting his message across.

The general mediation went basically like this:
Welcome everyone. How are you today? Today we are celebrating a very special day in the Protestant religion. Way back on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther began the reformation. Some of you may have heard that word earlier when mentioned that today was “Reformation Sunday”.
Sometimes when you are part of the church there are words or terms that go over your head. Today, I am going to try to let you know what this special day is about. The reformation was started by Martin Luther (Not Martin Luther King Jr. that many of you may be familiar with, but Martin Luther). Martin Luther actually set out to ask some questions about the Holy Roman Catholic church. He did not set out to beginning a new church, but just to reform the Catholic Church. Reform – thus we call “Reformation”. He began a protest that became our protestant church.

Interestingly, part of what happened Marin Luther never intended. Have you ever done something that you haven’t thought something all the way through. For example, if I had a pile of books next to me and asked one of the kids to take out the bottom one. If he pulled the bottom one out, what would happen? (the books would fall over) This is kind of what happened to Martin Luther. He was troubled by some of the things going on in the church and so he got his quill out and wrote down 100 questions and thoughts which he posted out on the door to be discussed. But there was a little invention that had just come out. Does anyone know what that might be? (the printing press)

Exactly, very good. So the note that Martin Luther had posted on the door was taken down and copied. Copies spread throughout the town, Germany, and even to other parts of Europe. The for a series of political, social, and religious reasons, a protest was begun: A protest that would lead to the reform of the church and the founding of the church.

And one of the important parts of our church is the questioning and learning. That is why our minister is Dr. Reverend so that he can help us learn and understand. So keep questioning and keep learning and this Friday take a few minutes to say thank you to God for the special man, Martin Luther.

Before my words of prayer our said, I fold my hands and bow my head.

Dear God,
We have so much to be thankful for. Specifically, we thank you for Martin Luther. We thank you for giving him the insight and courage to begin the reformation that led to the Protestant church.
Amen