Peacemaker

Children’s Sermon

Martinmas, 2025

Good morning, guys. Did you enjoy your Halloween? What did you go as?

You know, there’s another holiday coming up this week. Anybody know what it is? Veterans’ Day, that’s right. Today I want to tell you a story about Veteran’s Day.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Martin, and Martin was a soldier. He rode a horse, and he had a sword, and he wore a long red woollen cape, because that’s what soldiers wore back then. He served in the Roman Legions, stationed in what would later become France.

Well, one day, Martin saw that a snowstorm was coming, so he went to take shelter in a nearby town. And at the gate of that town he saw a beggar who had very little clothing. Martin was afraid that this man would freeze overnight when the storm came. But Martin didn’t have any extra clothes to give away.

So he took his army-issue sword, and used it to cut his army-issue cloak in half. One half he gave to the beggar, and the other half he used to wrap himself up in for the night, because it did get very cold. Lo and behold, that night he had a dream.

Martin dreamt that Jesus Christ stood before all the saints and angels of Heaven, holding up that half-cloak, that little cape, which Martin had given to the beggar. And Jesus said to all the saints and angels, “See how Martin the soldier has clothed me!”

Because Jesus promised that when we give something to the least of His brethren, we’re really giving that something to Him. So when Martin clothed the beggar by cutting his cape in half, he clothed Jesus.

Martin left the army and went on to become a bishop. His humility, kindness, and generosity grew famous—so famous, in fact, that he became known all over Europe as the patron saint of soldiers turned peacemakers.

Centuries later, when there was a great and terrible war, worse than any war that anyone could remember, the warring nations chose to end their fighting on St Martin’s Day, November 11th, the day of soldiers turned peacemakers. That became our Veteran’s Day.

Now, there’s a lot of other stuff that I could tell you about St Martin, like how our own Martin Luther was named after him. But what I want you to remember, is that no act of kindness, however small, goes unnoticed by God. And you never know what peace we might bring when we share the love of Jesus with anyone in need.

Sound good? Okay. Let’s pray.