Children's Homily for February 5

A Youth Homily for the 5^th Sunday after the Epiphany (RCL B) 2-5-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39

Themes:         prayer, spiritual energy, solitude in prayer
Title:               Recharging the batteries

Good morning, my friends! How are you this morning?

We just heard a report of what our Lord Jesus did when he was out in the cities and towns of Galilee.

He was surrounded by a huge crowd of people who all wanted and needed something from him.

How do you think that made him feel?

Tired, I imagine! Really tired. So what did he do to get his energy back?

This is what the Gospel of Mark says: “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.”

You see, he probably fell asleep the night before, exhausted from all of the day’s activity.

But then he woke up before anyone else so that he could find a place all by himself where he could pray.

And this is how our Lord, our Savior Jesus recharged his batteries.

Do you know what that means to “recharge the batteries”?

Do any of you have toys that use batteries in order to work?

Well, here is one of my favorite battery-powered toys! It’s called a drill, and I use it all the time for lots of different projects.

Watch what happens when I pull the trigger with a battery that is empty.

Now, I will switch the battery and put in one that is full of power. It looks the same on the outside, right? But, on the inside, it’s entirely different. See? Now, the drill works the way that it is supposed to work.

This is how it was for our Lord Jesus, and this is how it is for each one of us.

We re-charge our batteries when we pray.

But I do not mean just asking God for things. I mean spending time with God.

Jesus went out and found someplace where he could be alone in order to spend time with our heavenly Father. And that time spent alone re-charged his batteries; it gave him new energy to carry on his work.

I also need to spend time alone with God in prayer, and so do your parents, and so do you!

Now, when we pray, we do ask for things, of course, but that’s not how we begin.

Do you remember how the Lord’s Prayer begins?

“Our Father, who are in heaven.” First, we recognize who we are with, to whom we are speaking. Our Father, the God who made us and loves us.

What comes next in the Lord’s Prayer?

“Hallowed be your name.” May you be honored and praised and worshiped in all the world.

And then we go on and ask for help and grace in our lives and in the lives of others.

But it is being alone with God, focusing upon who God is and how wonderful God is – that is how we re-charge our batteries, how we regain our strength.

I have a gift here for each one of you to help you to pray. Do you promise me that you will use this to pray, maybe when you are alone just before going to bed, or when you first wake up in the morning?

These are prayer cubes. They have 6 different prayers on them – one on each side. You can roll the dice to pick a prayer, or you can use all 6.

Will you use these to spend time with God, to re-charge your batteries, to get your strength from the Holy Spirit?

Thank you! May your whole life be strengthened by your time spent with God in prayer. Amen.