Change the Focus

Short Talk (SHT191) Change the focus! © Jane Hulme 2020 Aim of Short talk: Use of Short talk: Main themes: Biblical references: Lectionary: Props: SHORT TALK: “Change the focus!” To encourage people to focus upon God’s love and goodness, rather than focus upon the things that worry them. This is a short All Age talk picking out one issue from the Lectionary Gospel reading of the Sunday main service. The talk stands alone and assumes that the Gospel Bible reading may not yet have been read to the congregation. It could be used for example, for the whole congregation before the children go out to their age specific groups, leaving the adults with a full sermon later. Jesus, Worry Matthew 6:25-34 Year A – The 2nd Sunday before Lent You need: • A handheld magnifying glass1 You also need some Power Point slides (see Appendix) that you can project of: • Tiny insects life size and • Tiny insects magnified many times so that they look like monsters! .................................................................................................................. Today I have my magnifying glass with me, • which makes things look bigger when I look at them through it. Now some insects you can barely see with the human eye. • Look at this tiny flea on someone’s thumb. (Show picture 1) • It is hard to see it isn’t it? See what happens when you look at the flea, not just with my simple magnifying glass, but with a much more powerful magnifying glass. (Show picture 2) • It looks really scary doesn’t it? Have a look at this tiny ant. (Show picture 3). • It would probably look quite a bit bigger with my magnifying glass, • but see what happens when you look at it with a very powerful magnifying glass. (Show picture 4) 1 You can purchase a handheld magnifying glass from ebay at www.ebay.co.uk © Jane Hulme 2020 2 It looks really scary doesn’t it? Now fun as it can be to use magnifying glasses to make insects and other things look bigger than they are, • sometimes we can make things bigger and scarier in our minds by focusing on them. • Let me explain. Imagine that you are going on holiday and you have to get to the airport early the next day. • You and your parents set an alarm clock and go to bed. As you lie in bed you start focusing on whether you will get to the airport on time. • Before you know it, you are worrying that the alarm clock might not go off. • As you think about that, you worry that your car might not start, or that you might get caught in a traffic jam. • Your mind has made getting to the airport into a great big scary thing by worrying about it. It can be so easy to worry about all sorts of things can’t it? • Some of us worry about what we look like. • Others of us worry about having enough money or food or clothing. • Others of us worry about exams or our families. When we worry, we allow our minds to make something much bigger than it really is. • It is a bit like looking at an insect through a magnifying glass. • It can be really scary! So, I wonder what Jesus would say to us. • When Jesus was teaching His disciples one day, He said to them, “Do not worry about your life.” (Matthew 6:25) • The reason Jesus said that is that He knows that worrying doesn’t help us. • It just makes things look bigger and scarier than they really are. Instead, Jesus tells us to put our focus on knowing and trusting our loving heavenly Father, • who will give us what we need in our lives. So next time, you find your mind behaving like a magnifying glass, focusing on something and making it bigger and bigger, and more and more scary, • change the focus and start thinking about Father God...... Think about His great love for you and how precious you are to Him. • Think about His goodness, His kindness, His willingness to help you, His presence with you, • and before you know it other things will seem a lot smaller and a lot less scary. © Jane Hulme 2020 3 Picture 1 - a dog flea – normal size Picture 2 - a dog flea – highly magnified Appendix 4 © Jane Hulme 2020 Picture 3 – an ant – normal size Picture 4 – an ant – highly magnified 5 © Jane Hulme 2020