Handcrafted Christians

People today seem to love handmade items. Many will pay extra for a small purse made out of yak hair from Tibet, a didgeridoo made by an indigenous Australian or handcrafted cabinets for the kitchen. Perhaps valued even more than a handmade teakwood jewelry box from Thailand is a personal act of kindness.

One way to get this sermon off the ground is to adopt the pose of a storyteller:

Good morning, boys and girls.

A long time ago, let’s say 60 to 75 years ago and before that, most people — average folks — tried to avoid buying manufactured things at stores because they were so gosh-darn expensive. Instead, most everything was made at home.

Mom made the family’s clothes on a Singer sewing machine. Clothes were washed with a tub and a scrub board. If the clothes developed a tear, Mom sewed things back together.

And she even darned socks. To “darn” something means to stitch it back together again. If your socks got a hole in them, she didn’t throw them away; she darned them! Or, if they were too holey, she made a hook rug out of them and a pile of other useless socks.

So your family didn’t buy store-bought clothes. They were handmade.

Mom didn’t buy bread; she baked bread.

Mom didn’t buy bedspreads and blankets; she made...