Children’s Address

Materials:

A few balloons, some filled with air, some with water

Candle

Match

I have had a bad week! Everything I did went wrong. My car got a flat tyre… in the rain! My telephone got disconnected because I forgot to pay the bill. I was running late for everything. All of this made me really grumpy and to top it all off… Mrs Moxon got angry with me because I was so grumpy.

Did any of you have a bad week? Or even just a bad day last week?

Billy the balloon has had a bad week too… and you know what? Billy’s week is going to get even worse. What do you think will happen when Billy the Balloon touches this flame?

What happened? The balloon was destroyed by the flame! Do you want me to do it again?

OK… let’s have some fun. What do you think will happen when THIS (a balloon filled with water) touches the flame?

OK… Let’s see if you are right?

What is happening? The balloon is not being destroyed? Do you know why? Well… the water inside the balloon is absorbing and dispersing the heat from the flame so the balloon is protected.

This reminds me of baptism. When we are baptised… God becomes like the water in this balloon. God comes to live inside us to protect us from being destroyed when bad things happen.

Did you notice that even though the balloon isn’t destroyed… the flame still touches the balloon and it turns black? This reminds me that even though bad things happen… we are still affected by them, but we are not destroyed. Isn’t our god wonderful?

Lets pray…

Dear God, thankyou for promising to look after us. Help us to remember that no matter how bad things might be that you are inside, protecting us. Amen.

OK… we are all going to sing another song now and as we sing, you can collect your pastor’s puzzle page and then go back to your seats.