Father's Day: One Day Late

This was my Father's Day children's message:

I had the children present all come forward. I then had all the fathers in the congregation all stand up and remain standing. At 10:00, I had "all children" stand for a moment as well, just to make the point that we are all children.

At ten o clock there were just two children present who came forward (there were a couple of others, but they were too shy). One of them was African-American, and the other was a little girl from India. I had two of the dads standing come forward (not their own fathers), and I asked them, what was one of their important jobs as a father? One of them said, "Discipline." The other said, "Showing your children you love them."

Then I said, "One other important job is telling our children the truth. And since all children are our children, I have something I want you to share with the children who are here this morning. So if you would just turn toward one of the children, look them in the eye, and repeat after me:

"You are a beloved child of God.
Jesus died for you. That's how much he loves you.
He guides you every day, and he lives in you."

After worship, we had our dads over to barbecue steaks. My husband's oldest son manned the barbecue. He also helped my dad with his corn on the cob. (My dad has Parkinsons.)

What a fine young man he is turning out to be.