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Choose from the following:

• The Family of God, based on Mark 3:20-35,
  by Rev. Frank Schaefer     (see below)
   

• God's Witnesses, use with II Corinthians 4:16-5:5
  by Rev. Randy Quinn        (see below)
   

• Included in God’s Family, based on God's family (ideal for baptism)
  by Rev. Randy Quinn       (see below)

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The Family of God
based on Mark 3:20-35,
by Rev. Frank Schaefer

I brought a few pictures of my family to show you. They are the pictures I display on my office desk. They feature my wife, all of my children, and myself. Look at how we all smile in those pictures; it appears like we are the perfect family judging by those pictures.

But there is no such thing as a perfect family, is there?  No, every family has happy times and sometimes families have problems.  Sometimes we argue with each other, get angry at each other, hurt each other with words or actions, and sometimes we don't speak to each other.

There is a saying that puts it nicely: "It happens in the best of families."  Well, apparently, it happened in Jesus' family too. In our bible text this morning it seems Jesus' mom, his brothers and sisters had come to correct him; they had heard that he was getting in trouble with the priests. Not that Jesus was doing anything bad, in fact, he was doing good things, like healing people. But the priests didn't like it because he was not .....a priest; so they accused him of using the powers of the Devil to heal people, which is ridiculous.

But apparently, Jesus' family feared that Jesus might be on the wrong track and came to "talk sense" into him. Jesus may have felt that his family had let him down because he basically said: if you follow me, then you'll always have another family--the family of God. And the family of God is just as close as a real family.

That's why we talk of our church family sometimes. You know, all those who have decided to follow Jesus actually become brothers or sisters to Jesus. As we become Christians we become children of God and all of us become brothers and sisters. That's why we refer to each other as brother and sister when we talk to each other. We are brothers and sisters in Christ.

It's neat to be members of two families--our physical family and our spiritual family. They are both important. We need them both. I can never understand Christians that think they don't have to go to church. I would miss it so much, not just because of the singing and the sermons, but also because I would miss hanging out with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let's pray: "Dear Lord Jesus, today we thank for our families, not just our physical family we live together with, but also our spiritual family which is there for us in so many ways, Amen."

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God's Witnesses
use with II Corinthians 4:16-5:5
by Rev. Randy Quinn

Props: an emergency light stick (the kind that work with chemicals)

Do you know what this is?
It looks like a plastic tube with some colored water in
it, doesn't it? It's called a light stick. Inside
that 'colored water' you can almost see something
floating. There's another tube inside with a
different liquid in it.

If you bend the light stick, you'll break that little
tube inside and something happens - let's see what
happens . . .

(As the two liquids mix, it becomes phosphorescent and
begins to glow.)

Pretty cool, huh?

God lives in each of our hearts. But God doesn't want
to just live there, God wants to shine through us so
others can see and know that God lives there.

We do that by sharing God's joy. We do that by sharing
God's love.

It's like breaking open the little tube inside of us
when we share God's love with others. We begin to glow
in a way, like this light stick.

I have some small tubes for each of you to take home
today. Before I give them to you, you need to listen
carefully to the directions.

1. First, I want you to wait until it's dark outside
so you can see how bright they are.
2. Second, I want you to have your parents help you
break the tube.
3. Third, I want you to remember that God lives in
your heart and wants to shine through you, too.

Let's pray:
God we know that you live inside of us. And we know that you want us to share your love with other people.  Help us be witnesses to your love in the world as we share your love. Amen

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Included in God’s Family
based on God's family (ideal for baptism)
by Rev. Randy Quinn

How many of you remember when you first became part of your family?  (I doubt any will – although some may have been adopted that I do not know about.)  Most of us become a part of our family when we are born; so we can’t really remember not being a part of our family, can we?

What does it mean to be part of a family?  (This may be hard for them.)  It means we have people who love us and help us; it also means we have people we learn to love and care for.  Sometimes it means we have brothers and sisters; sometimes it means we have to share our toys and our rooms, too.  Some parts of being part of a family are good and some parts don’t seem quite so good, do they?

Did you know that some people are adopted?  Do you know what that means?  (Some may know; although I doubt many will.)  For a lot of different reasons, people become part of a different family than the one where they were born.  When they are adopted, they become part of a new family – it’s as if they were born into that family.  They might have brothers or sisters; they might have to share toys and do chores, too.

Today we will be baptizing a baby.  Kamryn was born this summer – and she has been to church quite a bit since then.  But when we baptize her, we will officially welcome her as a member of our church family.

In some ways, it’s more like being adopted than being born into the family.

It means we are now a part of her family, too.  That means we will learn to love her and care about her.  And it means we will have to teach her what it means to be a part of our church.  What are some of the things you think we should teach her?  (This may be really interesting!)  It means we pray for one another; we learn to give our time and our money; it means we have dinners and celebrate together – and a whole lot more.

Let’s pray:

God:  thank you for including us in your family.  Teach us how to share your love with others so they can know what it means to be a part of our church family.  We pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.