A Children’s Sermon
Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.
I’m going to need three volunteers to help me this morning. Would you please line up here?
One of you do this (clinch your fists and hold them in front of you).
One of you do this (cross your arms tightly across your chest).
One of you do this (stand with your hands together and open).
And let me be clear….this is for illustration purposes only! Keep your hands like that and, I promise, you WILL each get the small gift I have for you.
(Go to each child and “drop” a Hershey’s kiss onto their hands/arms. The first two lose
out…it bounces off of their clinched fists or crossed arms. The last one receives it in
his/her open hands.)
The lesson? It’s important to be open if we are going to receive the gifts God has in store for us.
In the Gospel we heard today, there’s an interesting word: “Ephphatha!” It’s really a command. Jesus says it to the man who can’t speak or hear. It means, “Be opened!” Will you say it with me? “Ephphatha!” Be opened! And the man’s ears are opened and his tongue is loosened. He opens his mouth and speaks. What a gift he received!
But Jesus also received a gift. In the first part of the reading, a woman whose daughter is dangerously sick comes to Jesus and asks him to heal her. But Jesus isn’t open to her at first because she’s from a different tribe and a different religion. This determined and courageous woman from Syro-Phoenicia essentially says to Jesus, “Ephphatha! Be open to the vastness of God’s love for all people. Be open to new possibilities. Be generous with the riches of God’s grace.” And Jesus realizes she’s right. He heals her daughter and then goes on to teach others to be open. Ephphatha!
We all need to be open to the riches of God’s grace. If we go through life with clinched fists or rigidly crossed arms, we’ll miss out on the gifts God has in store for us. But if we are open (with our hands gently open and cupped together) we will be in a better position to receive the gifts God has in store for us.
Those gifts also include people. In our other reading from the Letter of James, he reminds us that all people are children of God, and we are to receive all of them as gifts from God, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, or how different they may be from us.
So today, as we come to Holy Communion, “Ephphatha!” (Open hands.) Be open to the gift of Christ’s presence being given to us. Receive the gift of God’s love and the healing it brings. As we gather for the picnic, “Ephphatha!” (Open hands.) Be open to meeting new people. Receive the gift of community and the loving support and encouragement that is essential for our life of faith. Ephphaha!
Children’s Sermon by The Rev. AJ Heine at Trinity Episcopal Church, Staunton, Virginia, September 8, 2024.
