In My Father's House (Preschool Adaptation)

Have you ever lost your favorite toy? Oh no! Where did it go? Maybe you put your teddy bear down and forgot where. Maybe you can't find your toy car. What do we do? We look and look until we find it!

Today we learn about Jesus' mommy and daddy. Their names are Mary and Joseph. One day, they lost Jesus! Oh my! How did that happen?

Mary and Joseph went on a big trip to a special place called Jerusalem. Jesus went too! He was twelve years old - that's much bigger than you! After their trip, Mary and Joseph started walking home. But Jesus stayed behind. Mary and Joseph didn't know! They thought Jesus was walking with their friends.

After walking all day, Mary and Joseph looked for Jesus. "Where is Jesus? Where is Jesus?" they asked their friends. But Jesus wasn't there! Oh no! So Mary and Joseph walked all the way back to look for him. They looked and looked for three whole days. That's a long time!

Where did they find Jesus? In God's house! Jesus was sitting with the teachers, listening and asking questions. He was learning about God!

Mary said, "Jesus! We were looking everywhere for you! We were so worried!"

Jesus said, "I need to be in my Father's house." Jesus meant God's house - the church!

Sometimes we forget about Jesus too. We get busy playing and eating and sleeping. But we can always find Jesus in God's house - right here in church!

Jesus loves God's house. We love God's house too! God's house is happy. God's house is full of love. God's house is where we sing and pray and learn about Jesus!

Dear God, thank you for your house. We love coming here to learn about Jesus. Help us remember to think about you every day. Amen.