Matthew 18:21-35

 ²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.   ²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.   ²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.   ²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.   ²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’   ³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.   ³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.   ³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Materials:  Two long pieces of string tied together with bow, bookmark (I printed some with a bow on top, "Jesus Helps Me Forgive Others' in the middle, and a present on the bottom)

Good Morning!  How are all of you today?  I have something to show you-- (hold up the bow)--what is this?  That's right--it's string.  What else?  Yes, there's a bow here.    There are two pieces of string here and a bow in the middle.  Where do you see bows?  (let them answer.)  Yes, there are hair bows, bows on shoe strings, and bows on presents.  A bow can be used to tie two things together--just like these two pieces of string.  Can I get a couple of helpers?  Okay, let's have you take one end of this string, and you can take the end of the other string.  Now you two are connected because the bow ties each of your pieces of string together.   That's kind of how we are with our friends and family members--we are connected to each other.  But sometimes, we get mad at each other or our feelings get hurt.  Does that ever happen to you?  And maybe we don't want to talk to someone or play with our friend when we're mad.  And that's a little like undoing the bow that connects us (untie bow).   See, now you are both holding your piece of string, but you aren't connected in the same way.  What can we do when that happens--when we get mad at our friends or when our feelings get hurt?  (let the kids answer).  You're right.  We can say we're sorry, we can make up. Have you heard the word 'forgive'?  Forgiving means we can make up with our friends or our brothers & sisters when they have done something wrong or something to hurt us.  And, that's like tying the bow again. (tie the bow as you speak).   And, we can do that as many times as we need too.  No matter how many times the bow comes untied, we can tie it again.  You know, Jesus tells us that God forgives us too.  We don't always say or do the right thing, and God forgives us.  Forgiveness is a gift that God gives us and he wants us to give that gift to each other too.  Even though forgiving each other is hard, Jesus will help us make up with each other.  So this week, every time you see a bow (whether it's in your hair, or on your tennis shoe strings, or on a present), I want you to remember that when we get mad or hurt, we can make up with each other and give each other the gift of forgiveness.

Let's say a prayer about that.

Dear God, Thank you for forgiving us.  Help us to forgive others.  Help us to remember that we are all your children and that you tie us together.  Amen. 

As you go back to your seats, you can each take a bookmark with you.