A Children’s Sermon Series from Pastor Brooks…
Part III: The Third Candle
A week came and went, so Kirstin plodded through the snow back to Skag’s home. She knocked on the door three times with her small little hand. Skags answered the door with a great big, “Hello there, little girl!” He then invited Kirstin inside. As Kirstin drank some hot chocolate Skags made for her, Skags lit the first two candles. He then told Kirstin the story of Marsela, the beloved Viking of ages past who to this day sings in the hearts of Vikings everywhere. The story of Marsela, however, begins before she became famous and became a name spoken with honor and reverence in every Viking household.
The story begins when the little village of Norwich seemed to be dying away. All the young men had been gone for years fighting wars in distant countries. Over time, the hearts of the people of Norwich grew heavy as they missed their sons and brothers, so heavy that it became harder and harder to carry on and continue living. Then, one night, the entire village was awakened by the sound of a baby crying. At first, everyone was confused. There had not been a baby born in Norwich in many, many years, so they didn’t know what the sound was at first. Was it a hyena? Was it leaky faucet? Eventually, a young woman named Marsela left her house in the cold and went to follow the sound to its source. Through the cold wind, she thought she heard the sound coming from the center of the village. As she got closer and closer to the center of the village, the crying became louder and louder until finally she saw wrapped in a blanket lying on the ground a baby. Marsela lifted the baby up and saw how cold it was. She took the baby back to her house and began to feed it warm milk until finally the baby stopped crying and fell asleep in her arms as she sang the baby a song of love and joy. From that day forward, Marsela raised the baby and every night the entire village could hear Marsela sing her song of love and joy as she rocked the baby to sleep. And, over time a funny thing happened. Every night as Marsela’s sang her song, her song sank deeper and deeper into the hearts of the people of Norwich, and as the song sank deeper and deeper, the little village began to come to life again. No longer were they a small, dying village. They were now a village full of life and full of love.
Having told this story, Skags lit the third candle on the Advent wreath as he said, “This is the candle of love. May it remind you of the love that came into the world on Christmas day when Jesus was born. Jesus was born to a mother named Mary who had sung a song of love and joy for all the world to hear.” Skags then told Kirstin to return the next week to learn the meaning of the fourth candle…