Children's Time: The Light of the Earth (Feb 9, 2014)

Children’s Time: The Light of the Earth

Good morning, my friends.

Have you ever wondered about the universe – about the stars, the earth, the moon, the galaxies, the planets in our solar system and outside of it?

Me too!

I have done that so many times. When I was a child, on some nights, I would stay awake for a really long time thinking about the mysteries that surround us in the night sky, especially the idea about how the whole universe began, everything exploding out of nothing all at once. (the Big Bang theory)

When you look up at the stars, what do you see?

It may sound like a silly question - of course you see stars.

What else do you see when you look out the stars at night?

(Children may answer, the moon, starlight, clouds, etc.)

And we also see the blackness between the stars…..

The darkness.

But - just because it’s dark doesn’t mean that it’s empty, or that there’s nothing great or special there.

It just means that we don’t know what it is yet - scientists are discovering that the black space makes up most of the universe - 95 percent of it.

And it is a field with energy. It pushes the universe apart. It speeds the universe up; it’s changing the shape of the universe even now. The universe is expanding.

In all of this pitch-black dark, dark space, there is one place we call home. One place to breathe the fresh air, to enjoy the green leaves, to drink fresh water, one place to live in the light.

It is the earth; it is our home.

And it has the light; the light is visible even from space. 

We can see the beautiful, blue light of the earth from the moon, from the space stations, even from another planet. 

This picture of the earth was taken from the surface of the moon. 

It is beautiful, isn’t it? The earth is beautiful.

And you know what? This beautiful light of the earth is also in you!

This beautiful, blue light, this amazing blue light, the light where all living beings find their home is exactly in you. 

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” 

Nobody knew what the world really looked like, shining against all that darkness, until people were able to go to the moon and take a picture, and everyone could see

this beautiful light, this amazing light, the light where all living beings find their home.

N will help us to hear what Jesus says in today’s Bible story. Jesus says,

(A grown-up comes forward to the children, and reads this from the Bible.)

“You are the light of the world: A light cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bed or under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.”

Be the light of the world.