INI       Children’s Lesson for October 11, 2009       Mark 9:50

What do I have here? (A salt-shaker). What do we use it for? (answers may vary). We use salt everyday to make our food taste better. Can you imagine eating a hamburger and French fries without any salt? They wouldn’t taste very good, would they?

Salt is used to make our food taste better, but it’s also used to make many different things.

• Salt is used to make colors in clothes. (Hold up shirt) Without salt, the colors in this shirt would quickly disappear.
• Salt is also used to make leather. (Hold up leather belt) Imagine if we didn’t have such things as leather belts. What would happen?
• Salt is also used to make plastic. (Hold up plastic toy) Without salt, we wouldn’t have a lot of the plastic toys that we play with.

Since salt is so important, is it any wonder that Jesus told us we are to be like salt in the world? Listen to Jesus’ words in our Gospel lesson for today: "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."

Jesus was telling us that we should salt everyone around us with his love. We do that by telling our friends about Jesus and what he has done for us. Who can tell me what Jesus did for us? (He died on the cross to save us from our sins and he rose again from the dead)

Let’s fold our hands and bow our heads to pray:

Dear Jesus, help us to be salt to everyone around us. Help us to share your love by telling others how you lived and died and rose again to save us. In your name we pray. Amen.