The paperclips that flew together

5 min read

Hands up if you ate chocolate for breakfast this morning.

Go on, be honest. My son did — and he wasn't supposed to. I turned around and thought, where did that come from?

But we ate chocolate for a reason today. We don't just normally eat chocolate for breakfast. (No judgment if you do.) Something happened. Something worth celebrating. Jesus came back to life.

And it's so exciting. But we need to talk about why. Why did God want this to happen?

The God we can't see

Can we see God? Not the way you see me, not really. And sometimes when we can't see God, we feel like he's not there. Because we can't see him. It's hard for us to understand that.

We look around and go, "God's not actually there." You can't see him. So, no.

But here's the thing. You think God's hiding, but he's not hiding. He's calling out to us. He wants to be with us. That's why he sent Jesus — to die and come back to life.

Two paperclips and a piece of paper

Let me show you something. I've got a folded piece of paper with two paperclips on it. One here — that's us. And God's on the other side. But he's actually right next to us. He wants to be with us. We just think we can't see him and that he's hiding.

But he's not hiding. He calls out to us by name.

So here's what we're going to do. Parents, I need your best loud voice — the one you use when your child is running across the road when they shouldn't be. I need you to yell out your child's name. Kids, when you hear your name being called, I want you to pull the sides of the paper really tight, and we're going to see what happens.

Ready? On the count of three.

One, two, three — XAVIER!

Did your paperclips fly in the air? Did you see what happened?

They joined together.

Because God wants us to be with him. And that's why he sent Jesus.

If yours didn't work, grab the side bits and pull — and you'll find your paperclips stick together. Because when God calls out to us, all we need to do is respond. We say, "Yes, God." And we get to be together with him forever.

All because of today

All because of what we celebrate today. Jesus dying and coming back to life. All for us to be with God forever.

That's it. That's the whole thing. God is not far away. He's not hiding. He's calling your name — loudly, like a parent calling a child — and waiting for you to turn around.

All we have to do is say yes.

A prayer

Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that you want to be with us. You're calling our name. You're yelling out, "I'm here!" Because you sent Jesus to do that — so we would hear you and we could be with you always.

All we have to do is say yes, God. So this is us, coming before you, saying: yes, God, I'm listening. Because we know that you want to be with us and you sent your son to do that.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God, for all your gifts. For your amazing sacrifice. And because you love us so much, no matter what.

Thank you for this really special day. We pray all of these things in your name. Amen.