Children’s Sermon--Scripture Sleuth

When I was in 7th grade, my French teacher gave our class an extra credit project: we had to look for French writing on things, like food packaging, brochures, newspapers, wherever we could find it. For every item that we brought in, we would get two points of extra credit. And you know something, to this day, when I see French writing, I first off, try to see what little bit I can still read, but I also think, “that could’ve gotten me two points!” I think my teacher’s point was to try to get us to notice what we were studying in the real world, and I am proof that it worked, even almost 20 years later!

So how does my 7th grade French class fit in with you all at church? I’ll tell you how—I want you to be on the look out, but not for French words, I want you to be my Scripture Sleuths. I want you to keep your eyes open when you are looking at books, or the newspaper or comics or magazines. You will almost certainly need help from your parents or teenage or adult friends and family members. I want you, my scripture sleuths to keep your eyes peeled for mentions of scripture references, and I want you to find out where in the bible they are and bring them in to share with us. I have kept my eyes open, and here’s what I found in the last few weeks:
§ In a catalog, I found this ad for a “Moses Basket” baby carrier. I bet the got the name for that baby carrier from the story of Moses in the bulrushes!
§ In the D&C, I found a listing for the “Loaves and Fishes” personal chef service. I wonder if that chef could feed 5,000 people from 5 loaves and two fishes like Jesus did in that familiar Bible story!
§ In Newsweek, I found this article that says we could resume “Idol Worship” do you think God meant Paula Abdul in the ten commandments??
§ Another article in the D&C just after that rainstorm a few weeks ago talks about people who performed “good Samaritan” duty, just like the main character in that wonderful parable.
§ This one was just in the paper on Friday. Seeing all those people who had to leave Texas last week made me think of the Exodus, too.
§ My favorite is the write up of gourmet sea salts called, “Lot’s Wyfe”. It makes a lot of sense, but only if you know that in Genesis, there was a man named Lot whose wife was turned into a pillar of salt!
Now these are just a few that I found in the last few weeks—I bet that you can find a lot more! And when you do, bring in a copy of what you’ve found with a scripture reference to go with it, and I will put them on the big bulletin board in the education building.

So what do you think, sleuths, are you up to the challenge?

Let’s pray:
Loving God
Help us to search for your word
And be with us this week
In all that we do.
Amen.