Rebecca S. Ramsey's Blog, page 10

What Are You Learning Lately?

This children’s sermon was given January 17, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary. I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.

Good morning, girls and boys. I’m so glad you’re here with me today.

Some of you may know that over on Facebook this week I asked your parents to ask you something. My question was, “What have you learned how to do lately that you didn’t know how to do before?” This could be something from school or something just for fun.

I got all kinds of answers, and I have to say, y’all are learning all kinds of things. Here are the answers you gave me:

 

Can you guess what Peter is learning? (Draw cursive in the air.)

Edie is learning to crochet.

Ben is learning to speak better.

Michael is learning to pay attention to what he eats- and how to take care of a cat.

Brynn is learning how to draw better and ride her bike better.

Ainsley has learned how to do a cartwheel

Danvers has learned to do a back walkover

Miller has learned how to do a round off back handspring,

Lucy has learned to do a front flip on her air track.

Carlos and Lily are learning how to add numbers.

And Laila learned how you can twist around a name and it can mean something else…like Tom Riddle and Voldemort in the Chamber of Secrets.

Addison is learning to area model- and I didn’t even know what that is! I had to look it up so I learned something too!

Brookelyn is learning to multiply fractions- and you know what else she said?  She’s learning is to take better care of herself! What a valuable thing to learn!

How do you learn all these things? Sometimes a teacher or a friend shows you and explains every step, gives you a turn and let you try, whether it’s a front flip or writing a cursive or multiplying fractions. We watch them do it , try ourselves. We make lots of mistakes. Sometimes the teacher shows us what mistake we’re making, but then we get back up and practice. Sometimes we see the mistakes others make and that helps us learn too- we learn together. Sometimes we forget what we learned yesterday and we have to learn it again, over and over. And we keep trying. Maybe that’s the key.

It’s the same with learning about what Jesus teaches us. We watch our teacher, Jesus. We study what Jesus did- how he listened to people and gave people second third and fourth chances, how he stood up for people that others said were bad, and he didn’t go around saying things behind people’s backs. And then we try our own hand at it. We make mistakes and have to start again. Sometimes we forget what he taught us and we have to relearn it. We learn from others’ mistakes – we all learn together-but we keep trying.

Luckily we don’t have to do it by ourselves. We can ask God to help us. God will be with us our whole lives long, teaching us. I’m so glad that God made us so we can learn, and change and grow. And I’m thankful for what you teach me!

Let’s pray together. Dear God, thank you that we can learn new things, like how to be close to you. We love you, God. Amen.

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Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

Welcome to Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man, our story for Jan. 17, based on Luke 5:17-26. We’re currently sharing our stories via Zoom, while the pandemic is still keeping us home.

It was really fun to think about how to tell this story, how to create the house so that the friends could deliver their paralyzed friend to Jesus’s feet. It was also a pleasure to think about the lesson itself: what happened that day and what we can learn from it about faith, the power of Jesus, (and his ability to heal both wounds of the spirit and physical wounds) and what it means to be a Christian friend.
As you can see from the scripts, I’ve written the story in two versions: one for the younger children, which focuses on the healing itself and on friendship, and one for older children, which also includes the discussion after the healing between Jesus and the religious scholars. There is an added wondering question for the older children concerning this discussion as well.

As you tell the story, you will find enough Lincoln logs in your basket to build the house as shown below. I’m hoping to have enough donated so that you can be creative and build it how you like, but just in case you have to go with the blocks I’ve got, I’m sharing a pictorial guide to building it here.

If you like, as you build the house you could remind the children of last week’s story about Jesus calling Levi (Matthew),  that some of the most important work Jesus did was done while visiting people in their homes, listening to them, talking with them, teaching them, bringing them peace, and often healing them in different ways.

Once the house is built, you can begin the story.
The popsicle stick roof makes it easy to remove “tiles” so that the paralyzed man can be lowered. You may want to take off all of the tiles and part of a side wall so that everyone can see what is going on inside the house.  Or just demonstrate the lowering, and then tell the rest of the story on the green underlay.

If you’re teaching the older children, as you talk about Jesus’s discussion with the religious scholars, you will want to stress that people may have thought that sin was connected to illness in Bible times, but that this is untrue. Children sometimes mistakenly pick up only parts of a sentence, and the idea that illness has anything to do with sin is definitely one we don’t want them to get!

We can celebrate that there were actually two miracles shown by the story: that of healing the paralyzed man and that God empowered Jesus to heal the heart of the man, forgiving him of his sin. None of it would have happened if it hadn’t been for the man’s friends, who loved him enough to do whatever it took to get him to Jesus.

Gift – To – God Ideas
The story is probably enough to inspire the children to express it through their very own artistic gift to God, but just in case they need a little springboard, here are some ideas I hope will be helpful.

1. Let the children act/play out the story:

 *on the rug with the teaching materials (in a group of 2 or 3)

(Encourage them to retell the story to each other, not just build the house.) I hope to have enough extra Lincoln logs to add to those in the story basket. We’ll see.

*Pick characters and act it out. Bring a blanket and let them try to lift one person in the blanket (over the carpet, and not very high,:) )

2. Make parts of the story.

* Make a mat with fabric and Popsicle sticks and a man and his friends and Jesus from clothespins. Bring shoe boxes and let the kids make awhole set, with the house too. Can they make a set of stairs leading up to the roof? (See an example of something sort of like this here.

*Weave a mat as shown here. When the kids can use it at home as a placemat, it will remind of the story. All it takes is construction paper.

3. Make a collage about what it means to be a (Christian) friend. Cut out pictures from magazines that show people being friends to each other or draw pictures that show friendship in action. This could also be a great mural that the whole class works on together.

4. Make a Person-on-a-Mat snack.  Frost graham crackers with icing, and arrange stick pretzels and marshmallows to form the body of the person on the mat. Or you could use gingerbread men. (Who would turn down frosting?!)

5. Cards for others. We might not be able to heal others, but cards with pictures and friendly messages can help aid the healing. Offer kids the option of making get well cards for church members or shut ins.

For more art response ideas, see my Pinterest page here.

I hope you enjoy the story.
Love, Becky

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Water for You

This children’s sermon was given January 10, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary. I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.

Good morning girls and boys. I’m so glad you’re here with us today. Did you notice where I’m sitting? That’s right. This is the baptistry. We haven’t seen anyone be baptized in nearly a year, have we, as we’re all home staying safe. Today, I wanted to talk to you a little about baptism, because today is Baptism of our Lord Sunday, the day we remember when Jesus was baptized.

I bet you remember that story. John the Baptist was baptizing people in a river, helping them think about how they wanted to change their lives, dipping them back into the water to help them imagine God washing all those mistakes away. And then Jesus came, and asked John to baptize him. Do you remember what happened next?  The spirit of God came down like a dove, and a voice said, “This is my son —I’m so pleased with him.”

I wonder what you think about being baptized, yourself. Have you started thinking about that yet? Pastor Jim often mentions it when he dedicates babies to God. That we hope one day, when you’re ready, that we’ll fill this baptistry with water for you. No one’s rushing you. You get to choose. When you’re ready to say yes, I want to follow Jesus and serve God all my life long, that’s how you’ll know that it’s time. And on your baptism day, you’ll walk into the baptistry in your bare feet and a white robe, and show God and your church family that that’s what you’ve decided about your life.  You can do it at any age, whether you’re 9 or 90.

We baptize people in the name of the Creator God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we think about the creator God, we can imagine the God who made our world and makes us new every day. The Creator washes our mistakes away, and will walk through life with us. The Son, Jesus, is the one who saves us in so many ways, teaching us how to love, and helping us to be close to God forever. The son washes our mistakes away and will walk through our lives with us.  The Holy Spirit, comforts us and helps us understand and do what’s right. The Holy Spirit washes our mistakes away, and will walk through our lives with us.

I look forward to your baptism one day, if you haven’t already done it. I’d be glad to talk with you any time about it.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for Jesus and his way of always showing us – not just telling us- how to do beautiful things and serve You our whole lives long. We love you, God. Amen.

 

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Jesus Calls the Disciples

Welcome to Jesus Calls the Disciples, our story for Jan 10. We’re still presenting these stories over Zoom, but I’m including the art response ideas for anyone who would like to encourage children to make gifts to God in honor of these stories at home.

This story focuses on two of the Jesus stories Godly Play doesn’t cover: the calling of the fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James and John, and the calling of Levi (also called Matthew.)



I love these two stories for many reasons. First, I think it’s so valuable for the children to begin to explore what exactly a disciple is and that Jesus calls us all to come along with him and help him do his work. The fisherman miracle is so powerful, and it introduces the beautiful idea that Jesus calls ordinary people to bring in others to join the faith journey. (By the way, it’s also a great time to talk about why Christians use the fish symbol, if you want.) The Levi story helps us remember that we are all broken, that nobody is “good enough” to be called by God, yet God still calls each of us.

To inspire the kids–and for extra fun– I usually have a basket of goldfish crackers in your rooms and a fishing net.

IDEAS FOR THE CREATE A GIFT FOR GOD TIME
Re-create the Story

Children could retell the story in many ways:

1. Two Dimensionally:

Besides drawing or painting story scenes, a class could work on creating a scene for each of the stories together. I can imagine a big boat on butcher paper and the kids making lots of fish, the fishermen, a net, Jesus, etc.  You could also create the banquet scene: Levi, Jesus, his friends, and tables heavily laden with food (from magazine collage pictures or drawn.)

2. Three Dimensionally: Make items from the story (a boat, a banquet table with clay or

felt, boats (paper folding) or felt, lake, money bag,

Here’s a site with a plan to make 3D boats: http://www.sundayschoolkids.com/activities-nt/1-nt-boat-for-jesus-instru.htm

Or you could talk about the story as you fish, like these children in our third grade class.

Make Artwork Focused On Being a Disciple

1. You could suggest the children head their paper: Disciples Do Jesus’ Work. Then they could draw or watercolor or do a collage showing how we do Jesus’s work: helping others, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, being a peacemaker, sharing what we have, etc.

2. You could focus on the fishermen and Levi’s decision to be a disciple, drawing a before and after of what each person’s life might have looked like. (Before: Peter mending nets, fishing in a boat, selling his fish. After: following Jesus, watching him teach the crowd, helping him go from town to town, telling others about how his life has been changed by Jesus.

 

Spend Time Learning/Researching the other Disciples

Children may want to search for the names of the other disciples and draw all twelve, labeling them with their names. (Find this in Luke 6: 12-16)  If you like, assign each child a disciple and have the children draw a face, labeling it with the name they were given. They could include their own face and name with the 12 for a great classroom decoration.

Want to help the children learn the disciples’ names? There’s a song at the website here. Could they rewrite it into a rap song? (I know they could!)

For more art response ideas to spark the children’s own thinking, see my Pinterest page, here.

Enjoy!

Love, Becky

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Epiphany / Baby Jesus is Dedicated to God

Welcome to the celebration of Epiphany Sunday, January 3! I hope your 2021 will soon be off to a wonderful start.

Since we’re in a global pandemic our Godly Play time is virtual. I’m still including the art response time in case it’s helpful to someone.

This Sunday you can choose whether to present the Epiphany story or the story of the Dedication of Jesus to God. I’m including both in this blog post.



Epiphany

Since this is Epiphany Sunday, this is a great time to talk in more depth about the visit of the Magi–and to help children understand what Epiphany really celebrates. As you teach the lesson as is written in the book, I hope you’ll have time to light the frankincense and myrrh, discuss the significance and meaning of each one, and let the children compare the scents. They won’t forget this! If you have any experience with being at a worship service when incense was used, I hope you’ll share it. Also, you might like to add that we still have a star of sorts on our own journey to discover who Jesus is: the scriptures in the Bible which share the words he said and the things he did.

As you know, on Epiphany, we celebrate that Jesus was born not just for the Jewish people but for the Gentiles as well (such as the Magi.) The children may need help realizing what a big deal this is.  Epiphany also commemorates the dedication of Jesus in the temple with Simeon. (Luke 2:21-38) This is not in the Godly Play script, so the children may not know this story. What a great time to share it! Especially since most of them have been dedicated in our church or have seen a baby dedication.  You could follow the script with a retelling of this story.

Since there are so many different ways you could go in this lesson, I’m not going to give you wondering questions. If you use the Epiphany lesson, I hope you’ll come up with your own questions to get the children thinking and deepen their thought process. I’d love it if a teacher could write down any comments the children make during this wondering time that I could share with their parents. I’ll put a sheet of paper in your class folder for this.

Hints for the Create-a-gift-for-God time:

1.  Children love making stars and crowns, so this is a perfect time to do that!

2. You could also have the children recreate Jesus’s dedication in the temple, either by drawing or painting it with watercolors. A child could make a baby Jesus 3 dimensionally with clay or clothespins and other children could make the parents and the temple.

Baby Jesus Is Dedicated to God

Hopefully this story will help the children understand Jesus’ dedication in the Temple as well as explore the way they were dedicated to God at our church when they were babies. The Bible story comes from Luke 2:21-39.

If you teach Godly Play at a different church, this lesson might work for you too. You just may need to adjust the second part of the lesson to fit your church’s traditions.

The story basket contains: a swaddled Baby Jesus, a pair of doves, figures for Simeon and Anna, a rose, a New Testament, a copy of our dedication song, and the felt underlay.

Here’s the story script, with instructions to the storyteller in regular lettering, and words to say in italics:

At Christmas we celebrated the good news that God sent Baby Jesus into the world.

(Place Baby Jesus on the underlay.)

 Joseph and Mary celebrated too when Jesus was born, and forty days later it was time to celebrate again. Back in Jesus’ time, forty days after a mom and dad had their first boy baby, they took him to the big temple in Jerusalem and dedicated him to God. Jesus was Mary and Joseph’s first boy, and they wanted to dedicate him to God too. So off to the Temple they went, Mary and Joseph and little Baby Jesus.

Just like all the other families, they took with them a pair of doves or young pigeons to give to God as a gift.

(Place pair of birds on the underlay.)

They didn’t know that something special was going to happen that day, something that had never  happened with other families.

There was a good man living in Jerusalem who loved God very much. His name was Simeon, and he was sure that one day God would send someone to change everything and save the people of Israel. This man’s name was Simeon.  God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah, the special person God would send.

(Place Simeon, a figure of a person, on the underlay.)

God told Simeon to go to the temple that day. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus in, Simeon took Baby Jesus in his arms and knew that this was the Messiah, the special person God had sent to change everything. As he held Baby Jesus, he thanked God for him and prayed something like, “God you’ve done it! Now that I’ve seen him with my own eyes I can be at peace.”

Mary and Joseph were amazed at what Simeon said. They hardly knew what to think!

Then Simeon said to Mary that Jesus would save Israel. He also told her some strange, sad things. He said that many people would speak out against Jesus. He told her that what would happen in Jesus’ life would break her heart.

There was another person in the temple who noticed Jesus too. Her name was Anna, and she was a very old prophet, 84 years old.

(Place Anna, a figure of a person, on the underlay.)

  Anna loved God so much that she never left the Temple. She was so close to God and God was so close to her that she knew what was important.  She saw Simeon holding Jesus and she knew how special Jesus was. She gave thanks to God and then told everyone that Jesus was the one who would change everything.

What an amazing day at the temple!  Jesus was dedicated to God. Now he did the important work of growing into a little boy and then a young man.

Did you know that people still go to church to dedicate babies to God? Different churches do it differently.

If you are a baby at First Baptist, we do some special things to celebrate your birth.  On the Sunday after a baby is born, we put a red rose on the baptistery and tell the whole church about the baby in worship.

(Place a rose on the underlay.)

Then the whole congregation sings a song together to celebrate the baby’s birth.

(Place the song on the underlay and read it to the children. )

When the baby is old enough to come to church, we have a special time in worship to dedicate the babies to God. A family brings the baby up to Pastor Jim, and Pastor Jim introduces the family to the church and takes the baby for a walk around the sanctuary. As he holds the baby and walks, Pastor Jim tells the baby about how much God loves her, how much our church family loves her, and how we will show our love to her as we teach her about God and watch her grow. Then the baby is given a little Bible with her name on it.

(Place a Bible on the underlay.)

Then we pray together, asking God to bless the baby and her family.

Wondering Questions:

I wonder what is your favorite part of the dedication of babies at our church.

I wonder what is your favorite part of the story of Jesus’ dedication to God in the Temple.

I wonder what Mary and Joseph thought when Simeon said that their baby Jesus was the person who would save Israel. I wonder what they thought Jesus might do.

I wonder what Mary thought when Simeon told her that what happened to her son would break her heart.

I wonder what part of this story is about you.

I wonder what this story is teaching you about God and what God is like.

For teachers of older children:

For older children, you may want to include a clarification about the timing of all the events- the presentation in the Temple, then the visit of the Magi, then the escape to Egypt, then the return to Nazareth. It may make the circle time a little long, but consider adding it if you want to. It is something the kids (and adults!) get confused by, since we present the Magi in with the Christmas story.

IDEAS FOR CREATING A GIFT FOR GOD TIME (ART RESPONSE):

There are many directions the children could go in responding to this story, either focusing on Jesus’ dedication or their own. Both are important. Children love getting to choose which way they want to respond and what particularly they want to do.

Ideas to respond to the story of the dedication of Jesus:

1.  Make puppets of Simeon and Anna out of socks or paper bags or tongue depressors and paper. There are general directions for making all sorts of puppets here. You could also make ones for Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus.

2. Act out the Bible story. (Be sure to video!) I’ll have a baby doll or two on hand in the activity room for anyone to borrow.

3. Make a pair of doves, as shown in various ways here.

4. Make a collage of gifts we can give to God

5. Simeon and Anna became close to God through constant prayer. One symbol of prayer is the pretzel (which represents arms crossed in prayer, as people did long ago.) Make a pretzel necklace, as shown here. (Scroll down to p.11)

6. Make a temple out of blocks (First grade has blocks in the Rubbermaid containers near their story circle.

7. Draw the scene in the temple of Baby Jesus in Simeon’s arms, or Mary and Joseph with Anna.

Ideas to respond to the story of the dedication of babies at our church:

1. Have the children draw themselves as babies with their parents, and then draw themselves now with their families.

2. The children can make a self portrait and title it with a line from the blessing: “I am (child’s name), a child of God” or “God made me!”

3. Help the children think about how our church takes care of them. They could make a collage or drawing of the ways we do it: holding them, feeding them, reading to them in the nursery, teaching them about God and Jesus, reading Bible stories to them, teaching them songs in choir, teaching them about missions and sharing God’s love, etc.

4. What does it mean to be a partner with God, taking care of God’s creation? Children could make a collage or mural about that, cutting out pictures or drawing ways we take care of God’s creation: taking care of the earth, taking care of each other, etc.

5. Make a class collage of pictures of babies for your classroom. Have the children come up with a title having to do with dedicating our children to God. Discuss what that means.

For more ideas for art response, check out my Pinterest page, here.

Enjoy, and happy new year!

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The Dedication of Jesus …and of You

This children’s sermon was given December 27, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary. I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.

Good morning, girls and boys! I’m so glad you’re here with us! Did you have a wonderful Christmas? I hope so! I don’t know if you noticed, but we’ve added the whole reason for Christmas at all to the nativity set: baby Jesus! We’ve brought him to where he belongs, in the stable, but also right with us.

Today we celebrate the story that Pastor Jim is going to read in a few minutes, when Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to Jerusalem, to present him to God in the temple. Do you remember the story? They bring him to the temple, and what do they give God as an offering? A pair of doves or pigeons. There were two people there, a man and a woman who came up to them and said things about this baby, about who he would become- that were amazing and puzzling. Listen for that when Pastor Jim reads it. And then what happened? The mom Mary and father Joseph and baby Jesus went back home to Nazareth, And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

This passage reminds me of you- and all the children in our church. Maybe you were brought here to the front after you were born, or to another church, to dedicate you to God. Your parents didn’t bring doves, but they give offerings to God in other ways, because we just can’t help but give to God when we’ve been given so much.

You probably don’t remember us looking at you when you were brought to the front, and the promises we made to you. But if you were in big church before the pandemic hit, you might remember how Pastor Jim asks the parents if they recognize that you were a gift from God. Then he takes the baby around the church so that we can all see her, and he says important things. That this is her church home and we will be her faith family, that God will love and accept her no matter what she does or doesn’t do, and we will too. We make promises that we will help teach her about God, and raise her. Then he gives a blessing to her, reminding her that she is a child of God. Juli Morrow, her first minister gives her a New testament- full of stories of Jesus and his love.

And then what happens? The mom and the dad go back home, and the child grows—into you!  You become strong & wise and the grace of God is on you too! Do you know what grace means? 2nd chances- 3rd &4th! As many as you need.

Lucky for us baby Jesus grew up into a man who still teaches us how to grow up as we grow old, how to love each other, how to treat each other, and teaches us who God is, and that we can keep coming close to God our whole lives long.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for coming as a baby- just like us- and growing so that we can understand you better. We love you, God. Amen.

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Great Joy!

This children’s sermon was given December 20, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary. I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.

Good morning, girls and boys. Christmas is almost here, the biggest gift of love in the world. Have you ever played a part in the nativity story? I have a book to share with you about a girl who did, and some surprising characters who became part of the story. It’s called Great Joy, and it’s by my favorite children’s author, Kate DiCamillo. As you listen, see what God might be telling you in this story.

[Read the book. It’s short.]

So I wonder what you think God be telling you through this story? I hope you’ll share that with your family.

I wonder if the organ grinder knew that God’s love and the joy that comes with it was meant for him too? Maybe, but it probably was nice to hear the angel say that he wasn’t left out.

Do you think that there’s anyone who is left out of God’s circle of loving? No, I don’t think so either. God’s love is too big to leave anyone out.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for your big, big love. Help us be ready to share it like you do, with the whole wide world! We love you, God. Amen.

 

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The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Welcome to the celebration of the Fourth Sunday of Advent, this Sunday, December 20, when we introduce the fourth advent card, focusing on the visit of the Magi to the Christ child.

There are several themes you may wish to explore during the time in the circle or during the create-a-gift-for-God time. These include:

1. The idea that not only did the poor, uneducated shepherds go to see the baby, but so did the Magi — men so wise that people thought they were magic.

2. The idea of God providing a wild star for the Magi to follow.

3. The significance of the three gifts for Jesus. (You may want to go ahead and share the details normally shared in the Epiphany lesson, since we’ll be focusing on Jesus’s dedication that Sunday- the gold (for a king,) frankincense (used for worship,) and myrrh (burned at funerals.) What is the significance of these three gifts in Jesus’ life?

4. The interaction between the Magi and King Herod.

Ideas to Get Children Thinking About Their Gifts to God

There are several areas of focus for their gift-to-God making:

The Wild Star

1. Make a three dimensional star, as is shown here, by hot gluing sticks together and then wrapping them with wire and beads, here or here (directions included)

2. Make a star out of Popsicle sticks shown . The children could cover it with sparkly sequins. (There are some on our art cart.) The Kings

3. Make crown ornaments for the tree, as are shown here.  (Directions included.) 4. Make present ornaments by wrapping boxes in wrapping paper, as you talk about the wise men’s gifts.

The Entire Nativity Scene Recreate the manger scene in its entirety as a group project. Help the children choose which figure each one can make and take a photo of them all together.There are lots of ways you can do this…

1. With crushed candy, as with the directions .

2. With Little Debbie gingerbread men and icing and sprinkles, etc.

3. With clay–either quick dry or modelling clay.

4. With Dixie cups and big wooden beads or polystyrene balls, as is shown here.

5. Paint or use markers on butcher paper, assigning each child a figure to contribute. Or have watercolors available for children to paint their own nativity scene.

For more art response ideas, see my Pinterest page, here.

Wondering Questions:

1. I wonder what is your favorite part of the story.

2. I wonder what the wise men thought when they saw the wild star that didn’t behave as any other star they’d ever known. I wonder what questions they asked themselves about it.

3. The gifts the wise men brought were unusual for a baby. I wonder what Mary and Joseph thought about the gifts. I wonder what questions they asked themselves about the gifts.

4. I wonder what King Herod thought to himself when he heard about the baby from the Magi.

5. I wonder what message God is giving you about yourself through this story.

Merry Christmas to you all!

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The Third Sunday of Advent

Welcome to the celebration of the Third Sunday of Advent, this Sunday, December 13.

This Sunday we introduce the third advent card, focusing on the angels’ visit to the shepherds and the angels’ song of Good News.

The themes you might wish to explore include:

1.The shepherds were the first people, besides Mary and Joseph and family, to be told of the Good News. What does it mean about God that they were the ones told first?

2. The angels’ message itself: Don’t be afraid. We bring tidings of great joy: Peace on earth and good will to everyone. A child is born. Go see the child who will change everything. How would he change everything?

3. The shepherds’ response to the angels’ message. They chose to do what the angels said. Don’t you wonder what they were thinking?

Make a Gift for God Ideas

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1. Make a mural of a host of angels. There is butcher available, and the children could paint it as a mural if you’re feeling adventurous, (the kids would LOVE it) or use markers or watercolors. How many angels could we fit on one mural? I wonder if all the angels looked the same or if they were different.The mural could include a hillside with shepherds and sheep, or just be focused on the angels.

2. We could make ornaments of angels or lambs or shepherds.

The angels could be made from clothespins and felt or tissue paper, (see last week’s lesson.) The shepherds could be done in a similar way, with felt or tissue paper for clothes. Use sharpies to make the faces and yarn or whatever the kids want for the hair.Or, if you don’t want to use clothespins, check out these sites for more ideas (keeping in mind that the more choices you give the children in directing and making their work, the more invested and excited they’ll be about it):

3. Angel ornament ideas

4. Lamb ornament ideas

http://crafts.kaboose.com/cotton-ball-lamb.html



http://crafts.kaboose.com/pom-pom-sheep.html

5. Could you make an entire nativity scene from clothespin people? Or cut out from paper?

What about a mural of the scene? How about a (child) life size one to hang in your Sunday school room or on a bulletin board?

It’s wonderful when children come up with their own original ideas. Here a young lady thought about how we’re all on our own road to Bethlehem and decided to make her own 3D map.If you look from left to right you see an angel, some mountains, the great star and the moon, as well as an arrow in the road, pointing to a “G” which stands for God.

6. You could also focus on the song the angels sang and make some music of your own. Make musical instruments and sing Christmas carols and play the instruments. Make sure somebody videotapes this!

Here’s a site that tells how to make 9 different instruments:

http://www.familycorner.com/family/kids/crafts/9_musical_instruments.shtml

Here’s another site with a few other ideas on instruments:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/music/

Find more art response ideas on my Pinterest page here.

Here are some wondering questions to help the children process and internalize the story:

1. I wonder what your favorite part of the story was today.

2. I wonder why you think God chose the shepherds to hear the good news first.

3. I wonder how the shepherds felt when the angels appeared and sang.

4. I wonder what the shepherds thought about as they made their way to see Baby Jesus?

5. I wonder where you are in today’s story? I wonder what message God has for you?

The post The Third Sunday of Advent appeared first on beckyramsey.info.

Something to Do While We’re Waiting

This children’s sermon was given December 6, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary. I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.

Good morning, girls and boys. I have a question for you today. Are you good at waiting? I’m not really. Here’s an example: Every year we unpack the nativity set that we put on the communion table, and each Sunday of Advent, kids carry the pieces and add them one by one. The first Sunday all they get to carry is the tree and the stable- and that’s really hard for me. I want ALL the characters there- Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the sheep- even baby Jesus. But I make myself wait. I’m not good at waiting. It’s so hard to wait for something as happy as Christmas!

So what can we do while we’re waiting?

I brought some ideas, to help us get ready for Christmas- not just the presents that we’ll get and give, but to get our hearts ready for the truest meaning of Christmas- for celebrating that God put on skin and came to earth as a baby, to teach you and me how to live and love like God loves.

[Show Advent bag materials] Many of our families are doing daily Advent activities from the Advent bag– like the advent wreath. On Thursday they made a Not to Do List- because we can’t just add things to our calendar- we have to take some away, so that we have time to do things that matter. This is for a hot chocolate gratitude party, where you drink hot chocolate and share what blessings you’re thankful for- which always point us to God, the source of all good gifts.
[Show Bibles] We’re celebrating the birth of a baby Jesus, but who did he grow up to be? It’s fun to read stories about what he did and said- and what we’re supposed to learn from him. Older kids can read them yourself. Where are the stories? In the gospels: Matt, Mark, Luke and John.
[Show eyeglasses] – keep your eyes open for seeing God in nature

-eyes open for seeing God in action, with helpers [reference reading the Advent Book from our church and looking for examples as we go about everyday life]

– eyes open for ways to let God work with you!  What can you do to help others?

Gift- Time for nothing! Give yourself time where you just find a comfy place to sit and don’t have a list of things to do. Breathe deeply. Think of a word for God, and close your eyes and call that word. When other thoughts come in, just say that word inside your head again and breathe. Be with God for 3 or 4 minutes, just letting God love you, and sending love back.

There are so many things we can do while we’re waiting. I’m wondering what you and your family will do today.

Let’s pray. Dear God, we are so ready to celebrate your coming into our world! Help us use our waiting to get to know you better. We love you, God. Amen.

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