Children’s Sermon on the importance of Sunday School
Once upon a time, about two hundred years ago, a steamship was sailing from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Aboard the ship there were lots of people and many of them were men who had been mining gold during the Gold Rush.
As the ship started to near the harbor, there was a great explosion. One of the huge boilers that made the ship run had blown up. Many, many people died instantly, while others were burned by the fire that ravaged the boat.
One of those miners ran to his cabin, retrieved his bag of gold, and was readying himself to jump into the water when noticed a little girl who was crying. She looked lost and afraid. Her mother and father were probably killed in the explosion and she didn’t know what to do. She saw people jumping into the water, but she was frightened because she couldn’t swim. When that the little girl saw the man looking at her and she instinctively ran up to him for help.
Through her tears she said, “I can’t find mommy or daddy and I don’t know how to swim; can you help me?”
The man looked at the little girl – so fragile and helpless – and replied, “Yes, I can swim. I’ll help you get to shore.” But when the man tried to pick up the little girl, he realized that he couldn’t carry her AND the heavy bag of gold, so he threw the gold into the water, told the little girl to get onto his back, wrap her arms around his neck, and hold on tight.
The man leaped into the water and began swimming towards shore. It was a long way off and many times the man grew weak and weary, but when he thought of the precious “treasure” that was on his back, it gave him renewed courage and he found the strength in his arms and legs to keep swimming.
When they finally reached the shore, the man was so exhausted that he passed out. When he awoke, the little girl was next to him, rubbing his forehead and kissing his cheek.
Do you think that little girl ever forgot what that man did for her? Would you ever forget someone who saved you; risked his life for you; gave up something precious just for you?
That, boys and girls, is just what someone has done for you. Jesus gave up everything…including His life, for your sake. Yet there are also others who have, or are, doing the same. Your parents, your priest, and your Sunday School teachers. All of them, just like the man who gave up his own treasure to save the little girl, have made sacrifices for you. They may not have given up gold, but things that are just as precious. They give up time, money, pleasures, comfort, and things they’d like to do for themselves just so that t you could have a good Christian education.
Many times, they may have felt like the man with the gold in my story. On one side they saw their time, which is precious; on the other side they saw you: someone waiting to be saved, waiting to be helped, waiting to be taught all about God. And in a second they decided; they gave up all that for your sake.
Most of you are probably too young to understand the many sacrifices your Sunday School teachers make for you. They work hard all week, yet give of their time, and do all they can to teach just so that you can learn about God and salvation; so that you can arrive safely at the shores of heaven, just as that man gave up his gold to help the little girl arrive on land.
So now I want to ask every boy and girl this question: “What are you doing in return?”
With our new Sunday School year having just begun, how about repaying what your teachers are doing for you, by doing your very best in class? When you are tempted to be lazy, don’t want to attend, or even feel like fooling around, say to yourself: “I am going to listen and pay attention because of all the things my teachers are doing for me and giving up for me. I’m going to make them proud – and my parents proud – by doing my very best.”
Just like regular school, what you learn in Sunday School will help you throughout life. The man in the story told the little girl to, “Hold on tight,” and your teachers are hoping that you will hold on just as tight to your faith…for it is your faith in Jesus Christ that will save you.
Fr. John
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