Click to skip to content.

 UMCOR is part of the General Board of Global Ministries.

clipart: Mary and Baby Jesus in starTopsy-turvy God

by Beverly Bartlett

Children's Sermon based on Luke 1:46-55 for use during Advent/Christmas

What does topsy-turvy mean? (Turning things upside down, upsetting things.)

Did you know that we have a topsy-turvy God? That God likes to turn things upside-down, upset things a little from what we're used to?

When Jesus was born, God was turning things upside down, topsy-turvy. That's what Mary, Jesus' mother, sings about in words from the gospel of Luke in the Bible. After God tells her that she is going to be the mother of Jesus, she sings a song to God that says,

Thank you God! You are wonderful! You are magnificent! I am a simple, poor woman, a servant, and you have chosen me! You have done wonderful things for me, God. You didn't chose someone who was rich and powerful and proud, instead you chose a poor woman to be the mother of your son. You help people who are hungry and you give them good things. Thank you God, for remembering us, for keeping your promise to your people.

Mary believed that God was turning the world topsy-turvy, because God chose Mary instead of a rich and powerful woman to be the mother of Jesus.

Mary's song reminds us that Jesus wants us to help turn the world topsy-turvy, he wants us to help feed people who are hungry and take care of people who are poor. He wants us to help make a world where there won't be any more poor and hungry people. When God sent Jesus to be born to a poor family in a stable, one of the things God was telling us was that people who are poor or homeless or struggling are very important, and God loves them just as much as God loves anyone else.

One way we can celebrate Christmas is by helping God turn the world topsy-turvy. There are lots of ways we can do that: we can give money that will buy food for hungry people, or tools for people so they can grow crops. We can give money to help a poor child go to school, or to help a mother learn how to take care of her baby when she is sick. We can make school kits and health kits and baby kits for people in other countries who don't have these things. UMCOR, which stands for United Methodist Committee on Relief, does all these things, and we help with our special offerings and projects.

Prayer:

Thank you God for sending us Jesus who turned the world topsy-turvy by showing us that he loves all of us, no matter how rich or poor, how powerful or weak, or how old or young we are. Help us to celebrate Christmas by following Jesus and helping to make a topsy-turvy world. Amen.

About the One Great Hour of Sharing

One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) is observed by United Methodists on the fourth Sunday in Lent but you can give all year around. The OGHS offering supports ongoing work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing allow UMCOR to work efficiently and effectively in disaster response, hunger and poverty ministries, and refugee ministries around the world. UMCOR does not receive support from World Service. Give generously in thanks for all that God has given you.