Oregon-Idaho Conference of The United Methodist Church

UMOI Homepage
Conference News
  United Methodist Online
 

Newsletter Archives
Strategic Direction
2008 Annual Conference
  Mission Project
2008 Jurisdictional and General Conferences
Connectional Ministries
  Nurture
 

Stewardship
  Outreach
 

Amigas del Senor
 

UMVIM
  Witness
 

Peace with Justice
  Campus Ministry
  Youth Ministries
Districts
  Central District
  Eastern District
  Metropolitan District
  Southern District
  Western District
 

WDCES
Finance & Administration
  2008 Apport. Reports
  2008 Bits & Bytes
  Finance & Administration Forms
  2007 Church Conf. Forms
  Financial Reports
Leadership
  Bishop Hoshibata
 

Bishop's Initiative to Eliminate Hunger
 

Bishop's Blog
 

Cabinet Connection
 

E-lumination
 

Videos
  Clergy
 

BOM
 

Order of Deacons
 

E-Vine
  CLT
 

CLT Minutes
  United Methodist Women

Eliminate Hunger
Eliminate Hunger
Got Faith Questions?
Camp & Retreat Ministries
Conference Directory
The Journal
Media Center
Reference Library
Strategic Directions






Hosted by Easystreet

Peace with Justice

Calendar | Contact

Connectional Ministries : Witness : Peace with Justice

Children's Sermon for Peace with Justice Sunday, May 18, 2008

By UMCOMM
Apr 16, 2008, 15:47

 Email this article
 Printer friendly page
Children's Sermon for Peace with Justice Sunday, May 18, 2008

Preparation:
Find instructions for folding a paper crane (www.sadako.com is a good source). Print enough copies for the number of children you expect to be in your group. Following the instructions, fold a paper crane in advance and bring it with you.

Greet the children:
Good morning! How are you today?

[Show a paper crane:]
Do you know what this is?
[Allow the children to respond]

It’s a crane. Have you ever seen a crane? Well, a crane is a large bird with long legs and a long neck. Of course, you can see this is not a real crane but a model made out of paper.

For many years, people in Japan have learned how to make cranes and almost any other thing you can think of by taking a plain sheet of paper and folding it into all kinds of shapes. Have any of you ever done this? The Japanese people call it origami. And people from Japan taught origami to so many other people that you can go all over the world and find people who like to make things like this from paper.

But of all the things you can make, there’s a special story behind this crane. The story starts with a little girl who was about the age of some of you.

Her name was Sadako, and she lived in a city in Japan called Hiroshima. About 60 years ago, the United States was in a terrible war with Japan. Near the end of the war, the United States developed a bomb so powerful it could destroy an entire city — with just one bomb. Hiroshima, where Sadako lived, became the first city ever attacked with this bomb.

Well, the atomic bomb brought the awful war to an end. But it also destroyed the city of Hiroshima. It killed thousands and thousands of people, and it made many others very sick. Sadako was one of the people who got sick because of the bomb.

Sadako had heard an old story that if you were sick, you would get well if you could make a thousand paper cranes. So while she was in the hospital, she began making them, one after another. People learned about her illness and what she was doing, and before long people from all over the world were making cranes and sending them to Hiroshima, hoping Sadako would get well.

Sadako lived for 10 years after the bombing. Then, unfortunately, she died. But people around the world kept making cranes and sending them to Hiroshima, by the hundreds of thousands. The cranes became a symbol of peace. When people make paper cranes, it’s a way of saying they hope the time will come when there are no more terrible wars, and no one dies or becomes ill because of bombs.


Top of Page

Links
Search for
phone 503.226.7931 | toll-free 800.593.7539 | fax 503.226.4158
1505 SW 18th Ave. | Portland, OR 97201-2599
© Copyright 2000-2005

Peace with Justice
Latest Headlines
Peace with Justice Grant Application & Guidelines
79 Religious Groups Oppose Nuclear Bomb Plant
Peace with Justice Sunday-May 18
To help put a human face on Peace with Justice Sunday a video clip with sound is available at the site below. After you open this click "Forgive the World" in light blue.
Peace with Justice Sunday Connectional Giving Page
Children's Sermon for Peace with Justice Sunday, May 18, 2008
Peace with Justice Sunday: making things right
Celebrate Peace with Justice Sunday-May 18
Peace with Justice Day Resources
Peace with Justice Day Media Kit
Nuclear Weapons Statement by Howard Morland
Online game delivers virtual nets, saves real lives
Anniversary of a moral disater
Our Lament and Hope for Peace
2008 Legislative Priorities
Peace with Justice Advent Booklet 2007
"We're all 'Minor' Prophets"
Justice lovers gather for international conference
Living Faith, Seeking Justice: Resourcing Local Churches for Justice Ministry
Social-action Event Unites Gospel, Good Works