Children’s Sermon, Sunday, July 24, The Parable of the Leaven—Matthew 13:33 6th Sunday after Pentecost

So all week, I have been thinking about rice krispy treats. I think it is because I have been wanting to make something sweet and cookie-ish, but it has been so hot, that I haven’t wanted to warm up the kitchen--so rice krispy treats seemed like the perfect treat to me.

Now, I have also been thinking about today’s scripture and how I was going to talk with you all about it. Today, we get a whole bunch of parables--6 to be exact. I’d like to read you one of them: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Do you know what yeast is used for? It is used to make bread rise. As I was reading this parable, I pictured a woman working really hard at kneading a hunk of dough, working all of that leaven through it.
And because I was hungry for rice krispy treats, I thought about how much work it takes to mix the krispies into the marshmallow.

So here’s what I came up with. . . Without yeast, bread would just be a sticky flat dough. Without the marshmallows, there would be no “treat”--only a bowl of dry cereal. They become a part of each other. I think that is how God works in us as Christians. Can you imagine if someone handed you a rice krispy treat and asked you to take out all of the marshmallow? You couldn’t do it. Maybe it is the same with us. Being a Christian is just a part of us--mixed into who we are so much that we cannot separate the Christian from the rest of us.

In the Presbyterian Brief Statement of Faith, the last line states, “We rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God Through Christ Jesus our Lord.” AMEN!!

Let’s Pray:

Loving God

We are thankful that you are a part of us

And we pray

That you remain in us--

Now and always.

Amen.