Children's Sermon

for July 1  (based on Mark 5:21-43)

Items  needed:  magic marker,  paper.   Beforehand, write the word,  SMILES, in big letters on some paper. Also, make some smiles separately that you can hand out to each child, or even enough for everyone present.  Ask kids, What is the longest word?  Let them guess. Then  show,  SMILES.  What's the first letter of this word---S (use your marker to circle it.)  What's the last letter--S (circle).  In between this first letter and the last letter of the word, SMILES, there is a whole MILE (underline this middle portion.)  So, SMILES is the longest word!!  I have made a smile for each of you (hand them out.)   In today's Bible reading, Jesus heals two sick people.  He helps them get better.  We can't always heal people like Jesus did.  But one thing we can do, which often helps people feel better, is that we can give them a smile. In fact, when I smile at people, it often helps both them, and me, to feel better.  So, I've given you a smile today to remind us all that smiling at people can help everyone feel better.  (You can ask kids to hand out paper smiles to everyone.)