Kids’ Sermon 8/18/02 – 10:30 a.m.

How many people can I see in this mirror if I hold it right up close to my face like this? (One.) How many people can I see if, instead of holding a mirror, I hold a window in front of my face? (Lots more.)

Do you think God spends more time looking in a mirror or out through a window?

Some people think that God only loves a few people, maybe as many as could see themselves in a big mirror. Jesus’ disciples seemed to feel that way in today’s Gospel story. A woman had come to see Jesus because her daughter was sick and she knew Jesus could make people get well. But the disciples wanted her to go away because she was a foreigner; she was different from them, and she was bugging them. They thought God only loved some kinds of people—people like them!

But the woman came and got down on her knees and asked Jesus to heal her daughter, calling him “LORD” even though she grew up in a different religion. Jesus knew that she had faith in God and in him and he healed her daughter instantly (snap fingers).

God looks out at the world as through a window at all six billion people who God loves, all kinds of people. We need to look out at the world, not just look at ourselves, and remember that God loves everybody and wants everybody to love God and love each other.

God has the whole world in his hands!

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church