Moko and the Whales

An Easter Sermon for Children
Preached by the Reverend Peter De Franco at
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Clifton, New Jersey
Easter 2008

On the other side of the world on an island country named New Zealand, a park ranger was patrolling the beach. He would check this beach every day since it was the time of year when whales would sometimes get confused and beach themselves on the sand. The whales would just swim into the shallow water until they swam out of the water and were laying on the sand. This bright sunny morning, the park ranger turned on the beach and he saw the sight he was terrified of seeing: A mother pygmy sperm whale and her baby were stranded on the beach. It was an emergency.

Pygmy sperm whale are not the largest whales. The mother was about 10 feet and the baby was 7 feet. But they were in serious danger. The people had to get the whales back into the water. There was no time to lose. The park ranger called for help and other park rangers and other people came to the beach. They all worked very hard to move the whales. After an hour and a half, both the people and the whales were totally exhausted. Four times they got the whales back into the water. But the whales stranded themselves on a sand bar off the beach. Unless the ranger could get the whales back into the deep water, he would have to kill the whales to spare them from a slow and agonizing death.

Then suddenly, Moko appeared. Moko is a bottlenosed dolphin who would swim along that part of the beach. Many people knew Moko since Moko likes to play with people in the water. Mako is a dolphin most of us would love to meet. When Moko saw the stranded whales, Moko knew that the whales were in trouble. Moko started to talk to them. Dolphins have their own language and Moko was speaking it to the pygmy sperm whales. Strangely, the two whales started to talk to Moko.
Moko swam up the whales and when the human pushed the whales out into the sea, Moko directed them to swim past the sand bar and into the deep water. The park ranger and the other people saw Moko direct the mother whale and her child into the safety in the deep ocean waters.

Today we saw another story about someone calling out someone’s name. Mary was in the garden and she was totally sad. I wonder why she was sad? (Children: She was sad because Jesus had died.) Suddenly Jesus came to her. But she did not recognize. That is something that we can learn about Jesus after he was raised from the dead. You just don’t know when he will appear to you. She thought that Jesus was the gardener. But then he called out her name: Mary. And something in her heart stirred. She knew the voice of her Jesus.
Jesus calls us too. Not in a voice that we can hear with our ears. But in a still silent voice in our hearts. Jesus lets you know that he loves you. No matter what happens to us, no matter the things that we do, or the things that we see, we can know one thing for sure: Jesus loves me. Jesus ALWAYS loves us. Can you say that with me: Jesus Loves Me. I cannot hear you. Jesus Loves Me. One more time. Jesus Loves Me.

Today, you will renew the promises you made when you were baptized. You will tell Jesus that you will be his hands, his feet and his heart in the world. You will promise that you will pray, that you will help other people, that you will treat everyone fairly and with love. We will then sprinkle you with water to remind you of the water that we poured on you when you were baptized. When you feel that water, know that it is a sign that Jesus loves you. When you taste the host and drink from the chalice, know that it is a sign of what? Jesus loves me.
God bless you with a blessed Easter!