Rebecca S. Ramsey's Blog, page 15

Knowing Jesus in a New Way 1: Known in Absence

Welcome to Knowing Jesus in a New Way 1: Known in Absence, our lesson for April 19, though we won’t be meeting, of course. I’m putting this out during our global pandemic just in case it can help someone who might be using these stories at home or on the internet. And I’m sending you a virtual hug!.

This week’s story always gives me goosebumps-especially the moment when Jesus calls Mary’s name and she recognizes him. It’s hard to think of a story that would be more full of suspense and fear and joy, and the script for this Godly Play lesson does such a great job of sharing all of that with the children. I’m so glad that we don’t have to cram all of the after-Easter stories into Easter Sunday! It’s a luxury to be able to enjoy them and study them over several weeks.

The script is shared in the book that comes in the basket with your story tiles. This series is told much like the Easter series, with each lesson shared in a weekly tile, presented in sequence. The book suggests that after the story is shared, that you give the children time to find something among your Godly Play materials that helps further tell/illustrate the story. I hope that if you have the materials out in your room that you’ll do that. I’ll also include wondering questions for you for each week.

Here are the wondering questions for this week. Thank you so much for taking time to jot down responses so that we can share them with the parents.They have shared that they find it meaningful and enjoy feeling connected to what happens in class.

Wondering Questions:

1. I wonder what your favorite part of today’s story is.

2. I wonder what the most important part of today’s story is.

3. I wonder if there are any parts of the story we could take away and still have everything we need.

4. I wonder if there are ways we can learn about Jesus even though  he’s not here with us. I wonder what those ways might be.

5. I wonder what God is trying to teach us with this story about loving Jesus even when we’re not with him.

Gift to God Response Time Ideas:

There are a couple different ways children can respond to the story: either by (1)retelling it through art with the ideas below, or (2) by exploring ways in which they can know Jesus in his physical absence.

(1) Retelling the story of the empty tomb through art.

Children may want to brainstorm how they might represent the empty tomb story with their own ideas. Could they make a cave with clay, and add some strips of linen to the inside, with a large stone rolled away? Could they build the tomb with Lego or Lincoln Logs (feel free to help yourselves to the materials in the game room.) Or make it out of paper plates?

Could they make the people in the story: the three Marys, Peter and John, Jesus as the gardener?  Could they act out the story for the class using the materials they made? If they choose to do this, please do take photos!

Or maybe they’d like to paint the story or draw it. You could also make the cave as shown here orhere  

or here.  

Or if you’re in the mood to cook, why make Resurrection Rolls? They turn out sort of like popovers-hollow in the middle like a cave. The recipe is here. You can use the oven in the parlor or make them ahead at home.



2) Exploring ways in which they can know Jesus in his physical absence

Hopefully the children will share ideas during the wondering questions of how they can know Jesus even though he’s not physically with us. They could work together to illustrate a mural / list of these ways, including reading the Bible stories about Jesus, (ask the children to look through the Gospels and pick out their favorite ones and illustrate those,) listening to teachers and preaching about Jesus, praying, looking at artwork that artists have done about Jesus and his life, studying the Jewish faith that Jesus came from, learning about Jesus from the ways other Christians treat people. (This is a tricky one, isn’t it?)

I’m sure the children will think of even more ideas of ways to learn about Jesus.

Children could also explore how they “see” Jesus in other people. How can we act to make sure people see Jesus in us? This could be a great subject for a mural or class project.

I hope these ideas help!

Love, Becky

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Faces of Easter VII: Celebrating the Risen Christ

Welcome to Faces of Easter VII: Celebrating the Risen Christ, our lesson for Easter Sunday, April 12, though we won’t be meeting, of course. I’m putting this out during our global pandemic just in case it can help someone who might be using these stories at home or on the internet. And I’m sending you a virtual hug!.

What a beautiful and important lesson we have this Sunday: the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

I love how Godly Play presents this lesson, reminding children that the crucifixion side of the story cannot be pulled apart from the resurrection part, and that which looks like an ending is actually a beautiful beginning.

There are wondering questions at the end of the lesson with the script. I’ll have those in your room as well.

Don’t forget to allow time for your children to celebrate the resurrection by visiting the cross on the courtyard outside the sanctuary, where each child will have an opportunity to add a flower or two to the cross. Maybe the younger children can go at the beginning of Sunday school, and y’all can stagger your visits so everyone has time to enjoy the cross. If you like, you could even take the kids to the labyrinth, with instructions for them to pray their own Easter prayer as they walk it. If the kids have plenty of direction as to what they’re supposed to do (and if the weather is good) it might be a meaningful part of the morning!

We will have snacks in the game room before Sunday school, but you might want to share a special Easter snack with your kids (Hot cross buns or something Easter-y.) Just give me a clean receipt and I can make sure you’re reimbursed. Easter is definitely something that deserves a party!

The children may have their own ideas about how they’d like to explore the story and celebrate it through art. It would be wonderful if they wanted to work together as a class to make a gift to God. Maybe a mural of the stone rolled away, or of the two sides of this week’s story tile?

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

Thanks y’all! Happy Easter!

Much love, Becky

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Happy Easter! Alleluiah!

This children’s sermon was given on Easter, April 12, 2020, to our livestream congregation during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Good morning, girls and boys! It’s great to be with you this morning, even though we can’t be in person. Happy Easter!

Have you been using the noisemakers that were in your Easter kids or other instruments this morning? Making joyful noise every time. you hear the word Alleluiah? Do you remember what that word means? Praise God! Hooray for God! Go God! During Lent as we get ready for Easter, we don’t say Alleluiah, but now we just can’t help but say it, because Easter is such good news!

The people thought all hope was gone! How could Jesus, God’s son, die on the cross. What a sad , dark day that was.

They must have been so sad when Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried in a cave. A great stone was rolled into the opening of the cave to close it like a door.

Saturday was so quiet that you could hear the earth breathing. On Sunday, it was the women who had the courage to go to the tomb just to be close to Jesus and take care of his body. They wanted to remember, even if it was sad. When they came to the tomb, what did they find? Yes, the stone had been rolled away and the tomb was empty! And angel told them not to be afraid. Jesus had died on the cross, but somehow he was alive again!

When you look at this side

you know that the other side is there.

When you look at this side you know that the other side is there. You can’t pull them apart. We can have so many feelings at the same time, can’t we?

I be the women who came to the tomb felt a lot of different feelings at the same time: sadness, fear, and BIG JOY and more fear! Have you ever been filled with joy and fear at the same time?

Maybe you are now. Maybe you’re happy to be out of school but missing your friends and teachers. Maybe this virus makes y ou worried or mad. It’s good to remember how much God loves us, even with all our feelings mixed up.

If God sent an angel to speak to us today, what do you think the angel would say after, “Don’t be scared.”? Maybe:

Don’t be scared. God is with you, right now. God loves us no matter what.

Don’t be scared. No matter what happens, God is always with us.

Don’t be scared. God’s loving power is more powerful than the worst evil of all.

Don’t be scared. God can help us do hard things.

Don’t be scared. Jesus is risen! God’s love always wins in the end.

That’s a real reason to say Alleluiah!! Praise God! Hooray for God! Go God!

Let’s pray. Dear God, thank you for sending us Jesus to show us how to love each other. Thank you for raising him from the tomb, so that we can be with him forever. We love you, God. Amen.

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A Parade for Jesus- and People Who Try to Be Like Him

This children’s sermon was given to our livestream audience on Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020, during our coronavirus pandemic.

Good morning, girls and boys! How are you doing? I hope you’re hanging in there.

Did you wave your palms today? You can still grab a branch for our next hymn if you want to. It’s a fun way to honor Jesus, even if we can’t be here together.

I wonder what it was like for Jesus, seeing people celebrating him, but knowing things would change later that week. I bet he enjoyed hearing people shouting their love for God, & putting their palms and cloaks on the ground- a parade.

Have you ever been to a parade honoring someone famous ? Maybe a famous football team you love?

We like to make a big deal about the good people do.

But Jesus was different, wasn’t he? He was God’s son. Was Jesus’s goal to be famous?

Jesus lived his life for other people. To teach them- and us- how to love each other and what God is like. To teach us how to live with each other, and serve each other. How to stop thinking all the time about getting things – but to think instead about giving things away. How to stop thinking about being the most important and to start thinking about people we consider the least important.

This day is for Jesus, but I wonder if Jesus would like us to think of others who right now are helping others like Jesus did, that you might want to give a parade for? People like Jesus, who serve other people? People like Jesus, who do what’s really important, even when it’s hard?

Maybe during quarantine it’s people like this:

People who work taking care of sick

People who work to make sure we have what we need, like truck drivers

People like teachers and people who aren’t really teachers, but are trying to help you learn.

People like you, who are trying to be helpful in your family right now?

We don’t have to be famous for doing good to be like Jesus, do we? We just try to do what we can- like the person who we’ll never know the name, who loaned the donkey for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem. But we know he/she was willing to help in his little way. We can do that too, and that’s a good way to honor Jesus as we get close to Easter.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for Jesus and all that he’s still teaching us. Help us as we try to love and serve others like he did. We love you, God. Amen.

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Welcome to Faces of Easter 6: Remembering Jesus Healing a...

Welcome to Faces of Easter 6: Remembering Jesus Healing and Sharing Parables, our lesson for April 5, though we won’t be meeting, of course. I’m putting this out during our global pandemic just in case it can help someone who might be using these stories at home or on the internet. And I’m sending you a virtual hug!

Welcome to Faces of Easter 6: Remembering Jesus At the Last Supper. You can also choose to do the same basic lesson but told in a different way,The Synagogue and the Upper Room (Lesson 11 in the yellow book.) Or you can combine the two lessons as you like. I bet the children would really enjoy seeing how the synagogue and the upper room physically unite together to become the church!

What a whirlwind of a story this week’s lesson is! So much happens, and all of it so very important: Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey, greeted with palms waving, Jesus teaching in the temple and sharing the parable of the widow’s offering, the temple guards’ plan to take him on Thursday, the last supper in the upper room, Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas’ kiss of betrayal and Jesus’ arrest. What an honor, to be able to share this with the children and help them process it.

This is a perfect week to let the children respond to the story by gathering things from the Godly Play materials in the room that they feel help tell the story. I hope you’ll be able to jot these down for me, along with their thinking on this, so that I can share it with the parents. I’ll also have the following wondering questions for you in case that works better for your class, or if you have time to do both:

Wondering Questions:

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

2. I wonder what part of the story is the most important.

3. I wonder what special message God has for you in this story

I wonder where you are in this story. I wonder what part of this story is about you.

Give A Gift To God Time

Here are some ideas to add to your own:

1. Retell the story in sections. The story can be divided into scenes, with children working on different ones in pairs or individually. These can be hung together in your classroom if you like. Scenes would include the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, Jesus teaching in the temple, an illustration of the parable of the widow’s offering, the Last Supper, Jesus praying in the garden, Jesus’ arrest.

2. Act out the last supper.

3. Make more ornaments for your Jesus (Easter) tree. Children could make donkeys or palm branches, representations of the widow’s offering, bread or chalices of wine, praying hands or a praying Jesus, or bags of money, representing the 30 pieces of silver Judas was paid to betray Jesus.

4. Palm art. Here are directions for palm crosses for older children. You can use green ribbon too.

5. See more ideas of Palm Sunday crafts here.

If you’re on Pinterest, find my Last Supper page here for more ideas.

Enjoy! I hope you have a very meaningful Sunday!

Love, Becky

The post appeared first on beckyramsey.info.

Faces of Easter 5: Remembering Jesus Healing and Sharing Parables

Welcome to Faces of Easter V: Remembering Jesus Healing and Sharing Parables, our lesson for March 29, though we won’t be meeting, of course. I’m putting this out during our global pandemic just in case it can help someone who might be using these stories at home or on the internet. And I’m sending you a virtual hug!

 As we get ready for Easter this week, we remember the work Jesus did as he traveled around, healing people and sharing parables. It’s a great chance to make clear to our children that being with people of all kinds, loving them, healing them of their physical and emotional wounds, and sharing truth through stories was the work that God sent Jesus to do–and still sends Jesus to do today. I look forward to hearing from the children ways that they can be like Jesus: how they can show their love for others, heal people who are hurting, and share God’s truth with others.

You may want to share more detail in this week’s lesson than what is written in the script. Because we are retelling all the parts of the Jesus story, sharing every tile that we’ve shared so far during Lent, the writer keeps the script very brief. As for me, I’d rather give very short summaries of the tiles shared in the previous weeks and spend a bigger chunk of time in the circle sharing the healing story and an example of a parable.

I’ve fleshed out the script for this purpose with a more detailed telling of Jesus healing the blind man and Jesus telling the Parable of the Friend at Night and will send you my version by email this week. Feel free to use it if you like.

If you haven’t yet given each child an opportunity at the end of the circle time to gather something from the Godly Play materials that is related to this week’s story and to share the relation that he/she sees, this week is the perfect opportunity to try it. Even if you also use the wondering questions, it could be an interesting and valuable part of the lesson. If you do, try to have an adult jot down their thoughts and ideas so that we can share them in the newsletter.

Since there are no wondering questions listed with the script, I’ll have the ones below ready in your rooms. Thanks so much for taking time to document their responses. Having a peek into their thoughts and ideas is such a gift to the parents–and to the rest of us!

Wondering Questions:

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

2. In the healing part of our story, wonder how the blind man felt and what he thought when Jesus first took him by the hand.

3. Jesus put his spit on the man’s eyes, and the man could see, but not well. Then Jesus put his hands on his eyes again and his sight was perfect. I wonder why it took Jesus two times.

I wonder what this might teach us about helping people.

4. We can’t heal people’s eyes by touching them, but I wonder how we can help people with their hurt bodies and hurt feelings.

5. We shared the story Jesus told called the Parable of the Friend at Night. In that story, I wonder who the friend is who has gone to bed.

I wonder who you are in the story.

I wonder what Jesus wanted us to know about praying.

6. We talked about the fact that Jesus’ work was to come close to people, especially the people no one else wanted to come close to. If Jesus came to do this today, I wonder what kind of people Jesus would want to spend time with.

Gift to God Time

There are many different directions the children can go in responding to this week’s time together. They could focus on retelling the healing story or the parable or both. Or they could extend this lesson by focusing on how we as Christians can participate in the healing of others and in telling truth and sharing God’s message.

Retelling today’s story:

1. Children could make 2 dimensional or 3 dimensional representations of the healing story or the parable story through drawing or painting it, making a mural, creating the scene in a diorama, making clay figures to act out the story, etc.

2. Children could work in a group or individually collecting healing stories of Jesus or parables Jesus told. How long a list could they make? Could you work together, giving groups of kids different gospels to scan, making a list on a piece of butcher paper? Maybe they could illustrate the list with a simple drawing beside each title. The Bibles in our Sunday school rooms have headings of each parable and healing story, making them easy to find. Do all the gospels tell the same stories? This would be good to investigate.

3. Children could be given the option of examining other parable stories in the parable boxes and retelling them to a partner. They might have to look these up in the Bible to make sure they remember the stories. We’d just need to be sure that they’re careful to keep all the materials together and separate from each other.

4. The children could even make a mini-booklet of parables, with one on each page and a simple illustration.

5. Children could make ornaments for our Jesus tree from the different healing and parable stories. How about a set of eyes for this week? Or a door from the parable? Or items from other parables and healing stories. There are some interesting ones here.

How we can help heal others:

 6. Children could make cards to help heal those who are sick or lonely. I’d be glad to pass these on to the ministers when they visit. When we’ve done this before we’ve had a great response. Cards really do make a difference!

If you like Pinterest, see here for more ideas the children could use as springboards. (Rather than copying them exactly, they could use them as inspiration!)

Enjoy!

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Faces of Easter 4: Remembering Christ’s Desert Experience

Welcome to Faces of Easter 4: Remembering Christ’s Desert Experience.

 As we get ready for Easter this week, we remember Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, described in Matthew 4: 1-11. It’s good to remember that this event happened right after Jesus’ baptism, before he could begin his work. Or maybe being tempted–and letting us see that even he was tempted–was part of his work!

As we all know (and have lived) children have plenty of experience with temptation. Thankfully they have this sacred story to refer to, both now and as they get older. Temptation never goes away in life, so it’s a great lesson for all of us.

Since there are no wondering questions listed with the script, I’ll have these ready in your rooms. Thanks so much for taking time to document their responses. Having a peek into their thoughts and ideas is such a gift to the parents–and to the rest of us!

Wondering Questions:

1. I wonder what is your favorite part of today’s story.
2. I wonder what it felt like to be so hungry and to be reminded that if he wanted to, he could turn the stones into bread.
3. Jesus responded, “To be a real human being, we need more than just bread to eat. I wonder what he meant. I wonder what he thought we needed.
4. When Jesus found himself on top of the Temple, I wonder how it felt to imagine himself falling and having the angels save him. I wonder if people had seen him do that, what they might have thought about him.
5. I wonder how it felt to be tempted to easily become the king of all the kingdoms.
6. I wonder why Jesus needed to go through all of these temptations before he started working with people.

Here’s an excellent video the kids might enjoy that tells the story.

It’s at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-6a25Yo2wE

Now, some ideas to add to your own to serve as springboards for the children’s response time:

Focus on retelling the story itself:

1. Children could draw the three separate scenes. They could do this individually, on a large paper, folded in thirds. Or they could do this as a class, on a large mural on butcher paper. They could make captions, explaining each scene.

2. They could show the desert scene with sand art, using glue and colored sand, as shown here.

3. They could pick one scene to draw (or all three) and paint the drawing with watercolors.

Focus on the idea of temptation and how God can help us deal with it.

1. On one side of a drawing or collage of magazine pictures, children could illustrate the different temptations they face at school or at home or at church or sports. (Cheating, disobeying parents, being hurtful to others, eating things that aren’t good for them, etc).  On the other side they could show how they resist temptation by asking God for help. Or they could put on that side a verse of scripture or “What would Jesus do?”  Some scripture that might be appropriate might include:

James 1:12 Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord* has promised to those who love him.

Psalm 62:8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and do not rely on your own insight. 

Isaiah 12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for theLord God * is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.

2. Children could make a What Would Jesus Do bracelet (or a love bracelet) with letter beads and twine, tying knots between each bead to make them stay in place.

6. Children could make ornaments for the Jesus/Easter tree in their Sunday school room. For today’s lesson, this might include hot gluing stones to thread to hang, or ornaments of scripture from this lesson.

7. Children could make a banner from felt or fun foam on What Would Jesus Do?

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

Enjoy!

Love, Becky

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Faces of Easter III: Remembering Christ’s Baptism and Blessing

Welcome to Faces of Easter III: Remembering Christ’s Baptism and Blessing.

 As we get ready for Easter this week, we remember and celebrate Christ’s baptism and blessing from God. How good it is to remember that Jesus chose to be baptized before he started his work, to mark the beginning of his adult journey toward the cross by getting in line with us, teaching us what to do. It reminds us how meaningful it is to begin our own discipleship by leaning into the darkness of the water, letting God cleanse us, allowing our old selves to die and be buried, and then get up, dry off, and start life marked and blessed officially as God’s own.

There are so many ways we can go with this lesson. We must focus on the story itself, of course, but we can also give thought to examining the concept of the trinity, recognizing that this moment in Jesus’ life is a beautiful interaction of the father, son, and the holy spirit.

At the end of the storytelling time you could  ask the children to gather items to put by the baptism tile, or you could use wondering questions to help them process the story. Here are the ones I’ll have in your rooms:

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

2. I wonder what the most important part of the story is.

3. I wonder what God can teach us from this story.

4.I wonder where you are in this story. What part of the story is about you?

5. God and the holy spirit gave Jesus a blessing. I wonder what a blessing is. I wonder if you’ve ever been given a blessing and how that felt. I wonder if you’ve ever given anyone else a blessing.

Here are some ideas that might serve as springboards for the children’s own creations:

Retelling the story:

1.  Have a small Jesus figure, a small John figure, and a pool (a large bowl of water) and let the children take turns at one table retelling the story and acting it out with the figures.

2.  Let the children make their own Jesus and John figures (clothespins?) and their own pool (plastic bowls or recycled containers like Cool Whip size-there may be some in the resource room. If not, you could even use a Solo cup, cut shorter.)

3. I remember a teacher from my own childhood having us clean dirty pennies with water and vinegar, talking about how our sins are washed away in baptism. I’m not sure how I feel about this.  If I did that today I would want to add that even after our baptism is done, we still have to ask God daily to forgive us of the mistakes we make.

4. Make a snack to celebrate this special event in Jesus’ life, like our edible locust to the right.

You could make edible bugs to dip in honey as done here, or make trinity muffins as described here.

5. Make ornaments for your Jesus tree.

A. You could always make doves, as shown here or here (I know it’s an owl, but you could make it into a dove,)  or here (I love that one.) Or pick up some feathers at the craft store and let the kids think themselves how to make it from the feathers and other materials you have on hand.

B. Another ornament idea is to make a Chrismon-type ornament that celebrates his baptism in particular as shown here(scroll down and see the scallop one.) Or why not use real scallop shells from a craft store and make your own like the one in the link. The kids could hot glue a ribbon to it and figure out how to represent the three drops of water shown in the chrismon–or not! They could put a dove with the shell, or make it however they like!

 C. There’s a pretty one out of felt here. Kids could copy it or even better, design their own!

http://www.mssscrafts.com/newtestamen...

Examining the Concept of the Trinity.

Since we just enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day, it might be a good time to look at the 3 leaved shamrock as a symbol of the trinity. Here’s an ornament the kids could make out of fun foam here. And there are plenty of other ideas here. Be sure to scroll down to see all the examples.

For more ideas on art response to this story, visit my Pinterest page, here.

Enjoy!

Love, Becky

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Faces of Easter 2: Jesus Is Lost and Found

Welcome to Faces of Easter II: Jesus Is Lost and Found, our lesson for March 8.

This week we remember and celebrate the phase of Jesus’ life when he was a boy by telling the story from Luke 2: 39-52. In this story, Jesus is found in the temple after the Passover festival.

What a great opportunity for children to think about Jesus as a boy, a child near their own age. I’m sure that if they really start doing some heavy duty thinking about this, a zillion questions may spring up. It’s great for all of us to witness this and ask questions of our own!

At the end of the story, you can choose whether to ask children to find an item in the classroom that helps tell about this part of Jesus’ life or you can ask wondering questions.

Here are some wondering questions you might ask:

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

2. I wonder what the most important part of the story is.

3. I wonder what God can teach us from this story.

4. I wonder where you are in the story- what part of the story is about you.

5. I wonder what questions Mary had about all of this after they were back home again.

Idea Starters for Our Make a Gift to God Time

There are several ways you and the children can choose to go during your response time. You can focus on the story itself, you can help children think about the role of church in their own lives, or you could focus on the idea of God helping us grow during childhood. I’m sure you can think of other ways to respond to this story. Here are a few ideas you might find helpful for the children to use as a springboard:

For a focus on the story itself:

1. Make a scroll of scripture, like the ones Jesus might have studied.

Each child could make their own, or the children could work together to make a big one for the class, with each child writing a verse on it.

To make a scroll, take a sheet of white paper the size of your own choosing and let the children write or copy a verse or several verses. (Luke 2:52 would be especially appropriate for this week.) Then crinkle up the paper, straighten it, and repeat several times to make it look old. If they want, kids can tear the paper around the top and bottom edge (not the sides, where they’ll attach the dowel sticks.) Then curl the sides around dowel sticks and glue to dowels. Paint the scroll with tea and let it dry.

2. Act out the story. Have props available (or make them!) Be sure to take photos!

3. Children could draw Jesus in the temple, or draw the temple background and cut a Jesus figure out of paper so that you can move him around the temple. Kids could also cut out Mary and Joseph figures so that they can “enter” the temple and play out the story. Or you could turn a shoebox into a temple scene with clay or clothespin Jesus, Mary, and Joseph figures, in addition to temple leader figures. Or you could have the children just make the figures and let them retell the story using the Godly Play temple we have in our rooms. (Our Mary to the right comes with a question mark, because she’s wondering where Jesus is.)

For a focus on the role of church in the children’s own lives:

1. Have the children draw or paint or cut out photos for a collage on what their favorite thing is to do at church. Maybe have one side of the drawing of all the things we do at church, and then on the other side their absolute favorite thing.

2. Have the children make a church/temple out of a shoebox or popsickle sticks or lego or clay. Kids could go look at the poster in the Children’s Activity Room and see what the temple looked like first.

3. Make a stained glass window from torn tissue paper and construction paper, as shown here.

For a focus on the idea of God helping us grow:

1. Have the children trace each other’s bodies on butcher paper and color them in with markers or paint. You could hang your classroom of students on the wall and have the children come up with a title about how God helps us grow.

2. As you talk about growing, each child could plant grass seeds or flower seeds in a small pot–or if you really want to get creative with the Easter theme, in an (Easter) egg shell, as shown here.

3. Jesus grew by learning and working hard. How do the children do this? They could draw the things they do as they grow to learn and work hard. Or they could make coupon cards for their parents, good for cleaning their room or dusting the furniture or sweeping, etc.

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

I hope these ideas help!

Love,

Becky

The post Faces of Easter 2: Jesus Is Lost and Found appeared first on beckyramsey.info.

Celebrating the Bible

This children’s sermon was written to accompany a sermon based on Matthew 4:1-11. The preaching pastor asked me to celebrate the Bible and how we use it. I also chose to use it to introduce a new practice for the children in our congregation, in which we offer them Bibles of different translations and kinds to take into worship.

Good morning, girls and boys. You know I love to share books that help teach us something about God and God’s love for us. Can you tell by my bag that I have a big one today? Yes, I have four books, but they’re kind of the same book. What book is it?

Show Beginners Bible, Bible storybook, Action bible, and Deep Blue Kids Bible.

What makes these alike?

What makes them different?

Hearing our sacred stories is so important in getting to know God better- and understanding God and ASKING QUESTIONS- LOTS OF QUESTIONS.  We do that a lot in worship. Today, we heard a reading from the books of psalms, after this we’ll hear a story about Jesus from Matthew, and before our offering, we’ll hear another couple verses from a psalm. These verses can be treasures for us, so its important to listen and try to figure out what they mean. But sometimes they’re hard to understand. We’re going to start something new to help us with that.

Every Sunday, we’ll have these different Bibles out by the worship bags for you to use during worship. I hope you’ll pick one and see if it has the story that we’re reading that Sunday. I hope you’ll Read along as we read together! You can also read it in the pew Bible. The page numbers are listed in the order of worship.

I’m so thankful that there are all sorts of Bibles so we can all hear God’s sacred stories.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for our Bibles. When we read it, help us ask the questions that lead us to understanding you better. And help us listen for your love, calling us to you. We love you, God. Amen.

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