2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-10

MARK 6:1-6

Sermon with Children

July 9, 2006 -10:30a.m.

(We gather before the altar and I put a weight in the midst of the children which it is unlikely one of them alone could lift very much.) Would anyone like to try lifting this? (If anyone does, I encourage them, but I’m not surprised if they can’t lift it, or lift it very high.) Does this mean that you’re too weak to lift this? (Yes.) Jesus’ friend St. Paul says in today’s Bible reading, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” If you’re too weak to lift this, how could you be strong? (If no one suggests an answer, I say) “How else could you lift this except by yourself?” (If someone says “by asking for help,” I invite her/him to ask for help, and then applaud the results.) Wow! Look what you did together! By asking for help, you admitted your weakness, and then became strong!

St. Paul says it’s like that with other things, too. If we think we can do everything ourselves, not only do we not ask other people to help, we don’t even ask God to help! How dumb is that?

If we don’t act “stuck up” and we admit that we can’t do everything ourselves, we don’t have all the answers and we need help, that’s when we become strong by letting God help us, “letting go and letting God,” admitting we were powerless and letting God’s strength help make our lives better. It’s true whatever age we are, and no matter how strong and able to lift weights we may become, that we all have weaknesses and the biggest one can be not asking for help when we need it!

Jesus told St. Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Let’s hold hands together and say a prayer. “Dear God, help us remember to ask for your help, so that your wisdom and strength may pour into us. Amen.”

(The Rev. ) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church