Children's Liturgy Series: 3rd Sunday in Advent (Cycle B)

In today's Gospel, we learn about John the Baptist and his role of preparing the way for our Lord, Jesus.

Father in heaven we praise and glorify you. We thank you for bringing us together for this Children's Liturgy lesson. Please send us the Holy Spirit. Help us to have the wisdom to understand how we can prepare our hearts for the Lord during this Advent season . We ask all this in Jesus' name, let it be done in your will Lord.  Amen.

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.

And this is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests
and Levites to him
to ask him, “Who are you?”
He admitted and did not deny it,
but admitted, “I am not the Christ.”
So they asked him,
“What are you then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
So they said to him,
“Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you have to say for yourself?”
He said:
“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
‘make straight the way of the Lord,’”
as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him,
“Why then do you baptize
if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”
John answered them,
“I baptize with water;
but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,
where John was baptizing.

Show children a picture of Jesus. Ask: Who is this? (Jesus) 

Then ask children to tell you some things they know about Jesus, filling in details as necessary, such as “He is the Son of God and our Lord and Savior.” 

Then ask: How do you know these things about Jesus? (Accept all reasonable answers, such as from the Church, my parents, my priest, my grandparents, the Bible.) 

Say: We learn about Jesus from people we trust. The people who tell us about Jesus are called witnesses. They tell us about Jesus and about the joy and peace we feel as his disciples.

Say: In the Bible, we read about people who tell us about Jesus. We can trust these people because they knew Jesus and saw that he was the Son of God. Let’s hear about John the Baptist, who was a witness to Jesus.

Say: When John the Baptist told the people that Jesus was coming, the people believed him. Later, John the Baptist saw Jesus and recognized that he is the Son of God. We can trust John the Baptist because he knew Jesus.

Let’s take a moment to talk to Jesus quietly in our hearts. We can thank him for John the Baptist and all the other witnesses for teaching us about our Lord and Savior. We can ask him to help us be faithful witnesses by telling others about him.

Close by praying together the Glory Be to the Father.

Father in Heaven we thank you for the lesson today. Please bless each one of us in this room. Please give us the grace to have the courage to show our love to God by being good witnesses and telling others about Jesus. We pray all this in Jesus' name, let it be done in your will Lord. Amen.