Psalms and 1 Peter

This children’s message series coincides with the Worship Series: “A Living Hope.” For this series, prepare a brown shopping sack each week with an object in the bag to reinforce each week’s learning. When presenting the bags to the children, spark curiosity and excitement while inviting children to wonder what’s in the bag and the item has to do with the scripture passage for the week.

Second Sunday of Easter, Year A

1 Peter 1:3-9, New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

Peter Praises God for a Living Hope

³Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us a new birth and a living hope. This hope is living because Jesus Christ rose from the dead ⁴He has given us new birth so that we might share in what belongs to him. This is a gift that can never be destroyed. It can never spoil or even fade away. It is kept in heaven for you. ⁵Through faith you are kept safe [cac1] by God’s power. Your salvation is going to be completed. It is ready to be shown to you in the last days. ⁶Because you know all this, you have great joy. You have joy even though you may have had to suffer for a little while. You may have had to suffer sadness in all kinds of trouble. ⁷Your troubles have come in order to prove that your faith is real. Your faith is worth more than gold. That’s because gold can pass away even when fire has made it pure. Your faith is meant to bring praise, honor, and glory to God. This will happen when Jesus Christ returns. ⁸Even though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, you believe in him. You are filled with a glorious joy that can’t be put into words. ⁹You are receiving the salvation of your souls. This salvation is the final result of your faith.

Materials:

One dirty penny (or gold coin), and one very shiny penny (or gold coin); brown paper sack. Have one shiny penny for each person in the worship service.

Message:

(Have dirty coins at the beginning of the children’s message. Replace the dirty coins with clean ones and have them available after the worship service for the entire congregation to take as reminders of not only getting dirty—the longer a coin has been around, the more a coin has been through—but also the process of grace.)

(Do you have space for some extra creativity? If you are bold enough to incorporate cleaning the pennies yourself during the message, see this video for a how-to approach to removing dirt from coins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4N-iGvYrbM.)

Last week was the most important day for us, the followers of Jesus. As a reminder, what happened last Sunday? (Allow children to respond.) That’s right, God raised Jesus, and Jesus is alive! It is such a great feeling to know that Jesus is alive and our faith in God brings praise and glory to God.

I have a brown paper sack with me today. There is something inside. I want to read you a passage from today’s scripture. Then see if you might be able to guess what’s inside. 1 Peter 1:5-7b says:

Through faith you are kept safe by God’s power. Your salvation is going to be completed. It is ready to be shown to you in the last days. Because you know all this, you have great joy. You have joy even though you may have had to suffer for a little while. You may have had to suffer sadness in all kinds of trouble. Your troubles have come in order to prove that your faith is real. Your faith is worth more than gold. That’s because gold can pass away even when fire has made it pure. Your faith is meant to bring praise, honor, and glory to God.

What words did you hear that might hint at what is in the sack? (Allow children to respond. If a child suggests the word “gold,” go with it. If not, suggest it yourself as a word that you heard when read aloud.)

Let’s see what’s in the bag. (Pull out only the very dirty coin.) What is this? I will pass it around so that you can see what it is. (Pass the penny around or hold it out in front of each child.) What are your thoughts as you see this penny? (Allow children to respond with the hope that one child states that the coin is very dirty.)

That’s right; over time, money and belongings may spoil, rot, or fade. This penny got really dirty. But in the Bible, Peter explains that your faith in God, the same faith that Jesus had in God, is worth more than gold and will never go bad. If you believe in Jesus, you will have HOPE.

I would like to play a game with you today. To do this, could you please join hands with the person next to you? (Allow children to join hands.) Sometimes people talk about HOPE like this, “I hope I get every present that I want for Christmas” or “I hope I can have a friend over after school tomorrow.” It is fine to hope for things like that, but when the Bible talks about hope, it means that we expect that our future in heaven will be better than life on earth. As great as this life may be on earth, life in heaven with Jesus is EVEN BETTER! Hope is the thing that makes us hold on tight (visibly squeeze the hand that you are holding; exaggerate the squeeze, but don’t squeeze too tight) to what we believe, even when life brings troubles and becomes hard. (Allow children to follow your example of squeezing without hurting other children’s hands before letting go.)

(Encourage children to drop hands.) Wait, I believe there is something else in the sack. (Reach in and pull out a shiny coin for each child.) What is the difference between these coins and the coin I showed you earlier? (Allow children to respond.) That’s right; these are shiny and clean. These shiny coins represent our hope for the future with Jesus. The Bible tells us that gold can pass away even when it is made pure and that our hope is worth more than gold.

We should rejoice and praise God, even when things are going bad or life becomes difficult. That sounds strange, and we may need to practice this, so let’s practice rejoicing right now as our closing prayer. Make a tight fist around your shiny coin. Our faith is God is even shinier and better than this coin! Squeeze tight, and hold it up, and when I count to three, we’ll shout, “Dear God, thanks for hope!” Ready? One, two, three: “Dear God, thanks for hope!” In Jesus’ name, Amen.

At the conclusion of this worship service, I invite everyone to pick up a shiny penny as you leave. I encourage each of you to keep your coin, to hold on to it and squeeze throughout the week, remembering hope. These shiny coins also remind us of the process that God takes when God cleanses our hearts and lives and provides us grace!