Rebecca S. Ramsey's Blog, page 16

Transfiguration Sunday

The idea of this children’s sermon for Transfiguration Sunday came from Carolyn Brown’s site, Worshiping With Children. (She’s awesome! I always go to her site first!)

Good morning girls and boys. How many of you love stories? So do I. And I love how sometimes something big happens in them and you get to see who the main character really is, down deep inside. I brought two pictures to share of stories like that. 

Shrek kisses Fiona, the beautiful princess, and in a flash and sparkle of bright lights, we see the person she really is inside- brought by true love’s kiss- a sweet kind ogre, who loves Shrek.
Rafiki takes Simba to the pond, he looks in, and realizes he really is his father’s son, meant to be the Lion King.

But do you know that it happened in real life, to Jesus too? We’re celebrating it today. Jesus and Peter and James and John went up high on a mountain, and Jesus changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes were filled with light. They saw him talking with Moses and Elijah, God’s people who had been dead long ago. A voice says, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I’m well pleased! Listen to him.” 

They see who he is inside!

It scared them but Jesus came and touched them and said, “Don’t be afraid.”- they looked and it was just Jesus. 

As we begin this Wednesday (Ash Wed) getting ready for Easter, we’ll be trying to do what God said. “Listen to him!” as we remember all the stories of Jesus’ life. We can remember the day when we got a glimpse of who he is inside, full of light, beloved by God.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for Jesus. Help us listen to his words and the way he lived his life and learn from him. We love you God. Amen. 

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Faces of Easter I: Remembering the Birth and Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Welcome to Faces of Easter I: Remembering the Birth and Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the first Sunday lesson for the Lenten season. 

If the Faces of Easter lessons are new to you, you’ll find that in Godly Play we use the season of Lent to remember Jesus’s life, step by step. In our first lesson of this series, we explore the story of Jesus’s birth. As you retell it in light of the Lenten season, why not also share the story of his presentation in the temple from Luke 2: 22-38? We don’t always share this part of the story and this would be a great time to do so.

If your Godly Play story baskets are all displayed in your classroom where the children can see them, I’d encourage you to include the part of the script in which you invite the children to gather one by one anything in the room that reminds them of this part of Jesus’s life, put it around the story tile, and share their thoughts about its connection with the story. As you know, the children can be so creative in this and make connections that we might not even think about.

If your materials are not where the children have easy access to them, here are some wondering questions you can ask, in lieu of having the children gather materials that support today’s lesson.

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

2.    I wonder what Joseph and Mary did for Jesus when he was a baby to help him grow?

3.   I wonder what hopes Mary and Joseph had for Jesus and who he would grow up to be?

4.   I wonder what hopes God had for who Jesus would grow up to be?

5.   I wonder who else might have helped Jesus grow to be the person God made him to be?

As for the Give a Gift to God Time, here are some thoughts…



If your class is decorating a Jesus tree, (the trees should be in your room) there are several ideas for ornaments:

*Jesus in the manger

(Like this one on the right from catholicsupply.com)

The kids could make Jesus from a clothespin and make a manger out of twigs and leaves from a walk outside.

Make ornaments of baby Jesus and the pigeons out of felt as seen here. So precious! Or how about these felt doves here?

Or they could make the animals in the stable, the shepherds, angels, holy family, or the Magi.

Wyline had a great idea of making ornaments by having the children cut out egg shapes out of construction paper and decorating one side like an Easter egg and illustrating the other side with elements from that Sunday’s lesson.

As much as you can, let the children come up with how they want to illustrate the story. They’re so much more invested in their work when the whole thing is their idea.

If your class is working on completing the cross map of Lenten lessons, as shown here, this would be the time to make an illustration for the square of Jesus’s birth. Children could illustrate this with whatever materials they 

want–watercolors, markers, collage, colored pencils, etc.

Another idea would be to create three dimensional scenes in your classroom for each week’s lesson. For this week you could bring a baby doll to represent Jesus and have the children figure out how to make a manger to lay him in, maybe make pigeons out of clay for the presentation in the temple. Find material in the resource room for the kids to make a blanket with which to swaddle him. I bet the children can think of other elements for the scene. You could arrange these scenes around the room, making your own version of the stations of the cross!

You can find more ideas at my Pinterest page on the dedication of Jesus, here. Here’s a Pinterest board for nativity sets that might be helpful.

Thank you for all you do!

Love, Becky

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Jesus Meets a Poor Man and a Rich Man

Welcome to Jesus Meets a Poor Man and a Rich Man, our story for February 23, about Jesus’ encounter with the blind beggar on the side of the road and then with Zacchaeus. These stories can be found in Luke 18:35-19:9.

I wrote this story script to give the children a Godly Play style lesson in which they could see that both poor and rich people were important to Jesus and greatly needed his healing in their lives.

I’ll include the script below, in case teachers from other churches would like to use it. (Just scroll down to the end of this post.) It’s been exciting for me to see our extra stories be used in churches all over the world! I hope this one works well for everyone.

Ideas for Response Time (Our Make a Gift for God Time!

Hopefully children will think about the different ways we need God’s healing touch (in our hearts and bodies) as they respond to the story through art. Here are some ideas for you:

Explore the blind beggar’s experience with blindfolds. Try to draw the story blind folded. Then take off your blindfold and examine your work. As you work, think about what it might be like to have lived the blind beggar’s life. How did he show his faith? Why do you think Jesus asked him what he wanted him to do for him? What do you think it would be like to be at the mercy of the giving of others?
Explore Zacchaeus’ experience with Jesus through art. Can you make a tree out of paper towel holders or sticks or clay and put Zacchaeus in it? Can you include Jesus in the art? Or maybe represent Jesus eating with Zacchaeus, as he plans to pay those he cheated 4 times more and give half his money to the poor.
Make a class mural- half working on the beggar side and half on the Zacchaeus side, both showing Jesus doing healing work.
In the last line of the story, Jesus says to Zacchaeus, “You are a true part of God’s family. It’s why I’m here, to find people like you who are lost and bring them back to God’s family where you belong.” What can you make that shows God with God’s family? Who is included in this family?

Find more ideas on my Pinterest board, here.

Here’s the script. I hope it works well for you!

While Jesus did his work, healing, preaching, and telling stories, people wanted to meet him. Even as Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, where he knew that his life would be in danger,

Add the cross to the end of the underlay.

he made time for people.  He walked along the road and changed people’s lives.

Add the road, unrolling it on the underlay.

There were two people he met that were very different. One man was poor and one was rich.

First Jesus met the poor man.

Add the poor man.

The man was poor because he was blind. The only way he could have the food he needed to live was by sitting by the side of the road, begging people for money. The blind man heard a crowd going by and asked what was happening. The people around him said that it was Jesus from Nazareth going by. The blind man shouted out, Jesus, son of David, please help me!

The people told him to be quiet. But he didn’t. He shouted out louder, “Jesus, son of David, please help me!”

Jesus heard him and stopped walking. Maybe he noticed that even though the man was blind he could see what the crowd didn’t know, that he was the son of David, the Savior! “Bring the man to me.” When they brought him close to Jesus, Jesus said to the blind man, “What would you like for me to do for you?”

“I want to see again,” the man said.

“Go ahead,” Jesus said, “See! Your eyes are healed because of your faith.”

Add the picture of eyes.

It was true! Right that second, the blind man could see. What did he do? He joined the crowd praising God and following Jesus.

Then Jesus met the rich man.

Add the man with the full money bags.

His name was Zacchaeus and he was rich because he was the chief tax collector. As he collected taxes for the government, he took a lot of people’s money just for himself.  Zacchaeus who was really excited about the chance to see Jesus, but he had a problem. Zacchaeus was shorter than most people and couldn’t see over their heads. Nobody wanted to help him get a good look because they knew that he was the chief tax collector, the cheater of cheaters.  Jesus was coming close. Would he miss his chance? Zacchaeus had an idea.

Zacchaeus saw a sycamore tree ahead where Jesus was going.

Add the tree.

If he climbed that tree, he’d get a good view of Jesus. But only children climbed trees. Would he be willing to look silly? Jesus ran ahead and climbed the tree and waited for Jesus to walk near.

When Jesus got to the tree, he stopped! “Zacchaeus hurry and get down from there. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled down the tree, so thrilled he thought he might burst with happiness. The crowd wasn’t so happy. “Of all people to stay with!” they grumbled. “Why pick such a bad man?”

Zacchaeus could hardly believe it. Later at his house he said, “Master, I’ll give away half of my money to the poor—and if I’ve cheated anyone, I’ll pay them four times more.

Jesus said, “Today your faith has saved you.” Zacchaeus’s heart was healed because of his faith!

Add the heart.

“You are a true part of God’s family. It’s why I’m here, to find people like you who are lost and bring them back to God’s family where you belong.”

The post Jesus Meets a Poor Man and a Rich Man appeared first on beckyramsey.info.

This Little Light of Mine

This children’s sermon was written to accompany a sermon on Matthew 5:13-16.

Good morning, girls and boys. I have a mystery for us to figure out today and a clue in my bag that might help us. The mystery is: what did Jesus mean when he said that you are the light of the world? I wonder what it means when Jesus asks us to be the light of the world.

Here is the clue. It’s a candle.

You may remember when you were in Sunday school in the 4’s and 5’s and you’d hold up your candle and sing…”This Little Light of Mine”

That song might give us some ideas. What’s the first line?

Yes, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.”

I wonder what you think that means- what is the light? You don’t have a candle in your pocket, so what does that mean?

(God’s love, God’s wisdom, God’s spark that makes you you.)

“Hide it under a bushel? No! I’m going to let it shine.”

What does it mean to hide your light? Do you ever hide who God made you to be? Or God’s love or God’s wisdom that comes into your mind? God’s love and wisdom is so important in our world. Our world really needs it. Jesus knew that and wanted God’s people to share their light, not hide it.

“Won’t let anyone blow it out, I’m going to let it shine.”

Has anyone ever tried to blow out your light? Keep you from sharing God’s love or the spark that God put in you?

The light that God puts inside us- God’s own presence- does what a candle does, in that it helps us see the good way God wants us to go. It helps us not be afraid. It reminds us that we are God’s children, and so loved by God.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for your light, your love in our lives. Help us share your love with others that we meet. We love you, God. Amen.

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Jesus Welcomes the Children

Welcome to Jesus Welcomes the Children, our story for February 16, a script I’ve written to share the scripture from Luke 18:15-17. The story script also alludes to several other stories from the Bible in which children play important parts, hopefully helping our children understand more of what Jesus is saying is important about how children think, love, believe, and trust.

I’ll include the script below, in case teachers from other churches would like to use it. (Just scroll down to the end of this post.) It’s been exciting for me to see our extra stories be used in churches all over the world! I hope this one works well for everyone.

 

Ideas for Response Time (Our Make a Gift for God Time!)

1. Children could celebrate Jesus welcoming the children by doing a collage of children’s faces from magazines. (There’s a big box of them in the art resource room near the door.) They could write the verse from Luke 18:17 at the top.

Or make a mural for your class, where each child draws themselves!

2. Children could make a puppet of themselves from a paper bag. We have lots of yarn for hair and fabric and all sorts of other things they could add. Could you video your kids using their puppets to sing Jesus Loves Me?

3.How about make a version of this? It comes from Growing Kids in Grace.

Children could write their own caption, using scripture or their own words.

4. How about letting the kids make story stones for Jesus and children- and maybe a disciple or two or parents. This idea comes from Flame: Creative Children’s Ministry.

Or you could make characters out of play clay or clothespins. Or whatever else kids think of!

5. You could always act out the story. My camera is on the blink right now, but if you have an iphone, send me the video and I’ll upload it for parents to see.

6. Older children might want to research Bible stories about children, and then share them with the class.

Joseph-Genesis 37-47

Miriam- Exodus 1:1-2:10

Moses-Exodus 2:1-10

The boy who led a blind man

Samuel – 1Samuel 1-3

Isaac- Genesis 22:1-19

Ishmael-Genesis 16:1-13, 21:1-20

David – 1 Samuel 13

Mephibosheth-2 Samuel 4:4; 9:1-13

The widow’s son- 1Kings 17

Two boys saved from slavery-2 Kings 4:1-7

The Sunammite boy- 2 Kings 4: 8-37

The slave girl- 2 Kings 5: 1-16

King Josiah-2 Kings 22

King Joash-2 Kings 11, 12

Jesus as a boy-Luke 2:1-20; Matthew 2, Luke 2:41-52

Nobleman’s son- John 4:46-54

Daughter of Jairus- Mark 5:22-43

Boy with the Loaves and Fish- Matthew 14:14-21; John 6: 5-13

Little sick boy-Mark 9:14-29

Rhoda- Acts 12:1-19

Paul’s nephew- Acts 23:1-22

Timothy- 2 Timothy 3:14-17

(This list is covered in the book, Children of the Bible, by Cindy Baw & Paul C. Brownlow)

You can find more art response ideas at my Pinterest site here.

Here’s the story script…

Jesus Welcomes the Children

Whenever Jesus came to a town, people wanted to go see him.

Add Jesus figure to the underlay.

If their bodies had sicknesses or if their hearts or minds were sick or sad, they hoped Jesus could heal them. They wanted to watch Jesus heal others and to hear Jesus’s stories about what is important to God.

Add crowd

One day when Jesus came to town, the people were very excited. They put down their work to go and be near him.

Add symbols of work- broom, wheelbarrow or bucket

Moms and dads wanted their children to see Jesus too. If Jesus would only touch them, how special that would be for their children!   So they brought their children to the crowd around Jesus.

Add children figures

The disciples were there with Jesus as he spoke to the adults, and they saw the parents coming with their kids. Before the families could reach Jesus, the disciples stopped them in their tracks and said, “Jesus doesn’t have time for children. Don’t you see that he’s talking about important things? His time is too special to bother with kids.”

Add stop sign

But Jesus knew how important all children are.  Jesus knew children could think important things and do important things, like loving and trusting.

I wonder if he thought of all the stories he’d heard in the temple about children, like the one about the little girl who was taken from her family in Israel as a slave.

Add Naaman figure.

When her master, Naaman, was sick with leprosy, she believed that God’s prophet Elisha could heal him. She suggested Naaman should go to Israel and see Elisha, and even though she was just a child, Naaman did what she said and he was healed.

I wonder if he thought of Samuel who served God in the temple, even as a little boy.

Add scroll.

I wonder if he remembered the way Miriam, the big sister of Moses, followed her mother’s directions and put Moses in a basket in the river and stayed nearby, when the pharaoh said all Hebrew boys had to die.

Add Moses in basket.

When the princess found him, Miriam suggested the princess take him as her own and have Miriam’s mother be his nurse.

I wonder if Jesus thought of the little boy who offered to share his fish and bread with the hungry crowds who had come to hear him, and with Jesus’ help, there was enough food to feed thousands.

Add loaves and fish picture

Jesus knew how children think and love and believe and trust– how each of you think and love and believe and trust. He thought it was the best way to be of all.

Jesus saw the disciples shooing the children away and stopped talking to the adults so that he could call the children back.

Add Go sign.

He said to his friends, “Leave these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These kids are the God’s pride and joy. I’ll tell you something true: Unless you have their trusting kind of faith, you’ll never get inside the gates of the kingdom of God.”

Add children around Jesus figure.

Wondering Questions:

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

2.   I wonder what God loves most about you.

3.   I wonder what God loves about the way you think and believe.

4.   I wonder what God would like adults to learn from children.

I hope it works well for you!

Love, Becky

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Gifts for Foundation Sunday

This is a children’s sermon prepared for Foundation Sunday. 

Good morning girls and boys. Today a brought a gift with me, because today is Foundation Sunday, a day all about celebrating gifts that God uses! I thought we could open it up and see what’s inside. More gifts!

Let’s see what we have:

Bibles and vitamins for Amani Sasa (Uganda)- Amani Sasa ministers to vulnerable refugees in Uganda. One thing- Childcare/nutrition for women/children, Bibles

Children’s book in Spanish- Baptist Church of the Way (Guanajay, Cuba)- one thing they’re using the money for is to furnish the community library

A toy bike- to remind us of Momentum Bike Clubs- in schools or neighborhoods, helping kids who need extra help growing up – speakers, field trip, transportation

Speaking of bicycles, when we give to the Foundation, we become part of a gift cycle! What does it mean to be part of a cycle? People give money to the Foundation at church- a special pot of money, separate from the offering we give-  used for God in our community and around world. The people who take care of that pot of money find organizations here in Greenville and all around the world that help people, like God asks us. The organizations spend that money to help others- they’re the experts and know how best to do it. Then we get to hear those stories and learn from those people, which is a gift back to us. And we know that the money we gave went just to the right place to help people we don’t even know!

We just opened three gifts, but there’s a long list of organizations who received the money in the order of worship. I hope you’ll look at it and see all the places where Foundation gifts went.

Let’s pray.

Dear God, thank you that we have all sorts of ways to serve you by helping others, people close to us and people we may never even meet. Help us give to others the loving way you give to us. We love you God. Amen.

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The Parable of the Loving Father

Welcome to The Parable of the Loving Father, the story Jesus tells in Luke 15: 11-32. At FBC Greenville, we’ll share this lesson this Sunday, February 9.

I’ve always called this parable the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but I like that many others call it by this name, changing the focus from the sins of the son to the amazing forgiveness, grace, and love of the father.

What an important lesson to teach our children, that nothing can separate us from the love of God. (Romans 8:38-39!) The world is full of hurting people who need to hear this, don’t you think? Who hasn’t made mistakes and felt out of the circle– and who hasn’t also felt a tinge of resentment when someone not playing by the rules gets a free ride? (Or maybe that’s just me!)  Awareness of God’s grace is so important to our kids. It’s a perfect discussion topic for this week.

If you’re one of our Sunday school teachers at FBC Greenville, you will receive an email with the script included. Let me know if you didn’t get it or have trouble opening it and I’ll see if I can fix the problem. (If you’re at another church and would like to use the script, send me an email and I’m happy to send it to you. Or join this site and get this script and 9 others.)

The parable is in a gold box (after all, it’s a parable!) in your Sunday school rooms, ready for you.

Now, how can we help the children deepen their exploration and understanding of the story through their art response time? What ideas can serve as springboards for their own creativity in making a gift for God?

Starter Ideas for Art Response

(Called “Starter Ideas” because this isn’t your grandmother’s craft time. We hope to give the children germs of an idea and then let them take it where they want to take it! Children respond on a much deeper level when they contribute their own ideas to their responses.


1. Have a celebration feast, just like the father threw for the son, celebrating God’s special kind of love. The kids could decorate cookies–or here’s something corny… eat pigs in blankets–reminding them of the pigs the son took care of. You could eat at the end and spend the first few minutes making it really special, letting the children make have decorations for the table-like a tablecloth full of love messages to God. Candles on the table would be nice. And as you prepare, you could help the children remember what the feast is all about: honoring God, who loves us and welcomes us back to him, no matter what we do, no matter if we misbehave or if we stick so closely to the rules that we miss the whole point of love all together.

I’m glad to reimburse you for any supplies you need to buy. Just bring me a receipt (with only Sunday school purchases on it) and I’ll make sure you’re repaid quickly.

2. Put a small mirror in a craft store frame which each of the children can decorate, writing on it with Sharpies something like God loves me exactly like I am. Children could decorate the frame however they like, by gluing on sequins or foam shapes, by using glitter glue or whatever supplies you have on hand.

We have a few of these frames in the resource room. If you give me a call before noon on Thursday, I can let you know how many we have and put them in your room for you.

3. Children could make cards for Meals on Wheels and for our folks in the hospital or in nursing homes. I’d be glad to see that they get to those who need them.4. Some children might enjoy acting out the parable. If you can video it, send it to me and I’ll share it.5. Older children might be interested in taking a look at the much loved hymn Amazing Grace. They could illustrate it –or record themselves singing it. Let me know before Sunday if you need a recorder.6. I bet the children could be really creative if you ask them to make a valentine for God, however they want, however big or small, whether 2 dimensional or 3 dimensional (clay maybe?)

4. Why not make a door out of popsickle sticks, with the sign on it that says, “Welcome Home!” That’s a great reminder of the father who waits, ready to welcome home his son no matter what he’s done.

For more art response ideas, see my Pinterest board on the parable, here.

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Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

Welcome to the lesson for February 2, Jesus Visits Martha and Mary, the story from Luke 10:38-42.

 I love this story because it does such a good job of raising questions about hospitality- hospitality that we try to practice  and the unique, radical hospitality of God.



Truth be told, I think I also love this scripture because I can really relate to Martha’s predicament. What kind of hospitality is important in our own lives? To what extent is it important? I find it interesting-and comforting- that Jesus doesn’t disapprove of Martha’s focused cleaning and cooking and all her caring for her guests. His response to her frustration of finding herself doing all the work (“Lord, make my sister help me!”) is to turn the focus to his own brand of hospitality to Mary.


As I know you know, children will need help understanding what the word hospitality means. Does God ask us to show hospitality to others? What about God’s form of hospitality to us?


Of course, one of the big questions this story raises is just who gets to receive God’s hospitality. You’ll want to remind the children that in Jesus’s time, rabbis did not allow women to sit at their feet and study the Torah, to listen and ask questions. Yet Jesus encourages it. Who would Jesus welcome to sit at his feet today, to act as a disciple? Are there people that some might choose to exclude? Children are so good at helping us broaden our circle!


(If you’re new to the blog and don’t have this story script, it’s one I’ve written and would be happy to share with you. You may join the mailing list and have all ten new scripts sent your way or email me for this individual script.)

Ideas to Get the Children Started for the Give a Gift to God Time

*Our creative time works best when the child feels ownership over his own work–that it comes from her ideas and is merely inspired by the ideas we share to get them started.

Here are some ideas from which they can springboard. I’m sure you can add even better ones. Please feel free to share in the comments.

1. Focus on Retelling the Story
*Each child could recreate a set of the Godly Play materials for themselves either 2 dimensionally, through drawing the pieces and cutting them out, or 3 dimensionally, with clay (bucket, plates, etc), clothespins (Jesus and the sisters) and other materials-a twig broom, etc.
* Make a mural of the story on butcher paper.

*Act out the story, either set in Bible times, or set in modern day. Let the children perform it for each other or another class. Children could play the roles of Jesus, Mary and Martha, and other children (who might be more shy) could be among of the 72 guests.

 

2. Focus on the theme of Who Would Jesus Want to Sit at His Feet?
I can imagine this being successful as an individual project (either a drawing or a collage from magazine pictures) or a class project, with each child picking what kind of person she would like to draw. Would Jesus want the poor, the rich? Different races? The old? The young? Families? Singles? Prisoners? Sick people? Well people? Lonely people? Happy? They could even draw themselves! In fact, I love that idea!

There is butcher paper in the hallway ready for a class to work on it together. (They could draw directly on the paper or on small sheets and then glue each person’s work to the larger paper.)


3. Focus on Hospitality Skills
*Some could prepare some kind of food as Martha did. Some could sweep and clean. Others could be Mary, listening to a teacher read a story. Afterwards, the group could talk about how it felt to play each role. Then the children could take a look at Matthew 4:4 “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”  This verse comes from Jesus’s desert experience (his quoting from Deuteronomy,) but it applies to this story as well. The children could write the verse in their own words and illustrate it with the Mary & Martha scene.

*We have a Love Luncheon with Senior Adults scheduled for Feb. 11, so one way our children could practice hospitality is to make decorations for the lunch!

 *Our second graders drew pictures of what each of us would do to entertain Jesus if he came to our house.



For more art response ideas to get the children started, see my Pinterest page here.

Enjoy the story!
Love, Becky

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Change As We Follow, Wherever We Go

This children’s sermon was written to accompany a sermon based on John 1:35-42, the story of the calling of Andrew and Simon Peter to be disciples. The preaching pastor asked that I give a children’s sermon about change as we follow God. 

Good morning! Did you listen to today’s scripture? It’s the same Bible story the

1st -5th graders studied last Sunday, when Andrew and Simon Peter, the fishermen,

first met Jesus and made an important decision- What was it? To follow Jesus!

When I read the Bible story again this week, I thought of a picture book I love. I

thought I’d read the first part of the book, and I’d like for you to listen and see

why I think the two stories might go together. We’ll talk about it when I finish.

It’s Wherever You Go, by Pat Zietlow Miller.

(Read selected pages.)

What do you think this has to do with the Bible story?

(Our kids responded with so many great thoughts!)

Andrew and Simon Peter said yes to going on a journey following Jesus. They

didn’t know what to expect. There were detours- as he healed people and told

people stories about how to love each other and ate with people no one else

would come close to. They had choices to go or stay. They wished to be close to

him. They had moments they tripped and when they stood tall.

Every day we get to decide whether we’re going on this adventure too, trying our

best to follow Jesus. Are we going to treat each other like he told us? We’ll make

mistakes, and God knows that, but God is there to help us.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for giving us choices to change what we do or not,

and for staying close to us when it’s hard to follow. We love you, God. Amen.

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Jesus Gives the Sermon on the Mountain

Welcome to Jesus Gives the Sermon on the Mountain, the story for January 26 from Matthew 5-7.

I love this story because the sermon covers so much territory–and because Jesus’ words are so poetic and full of images which children can understand. I also like it because he clearly illustrates how different his ideas were. (His message on the ten commandments, for example, that obeying the commandments was not enough…that we’re called to do more than they ask.) And I like that teachers can focus in the expression time on whichever part of the sermon that interests individual children.How do I love this scripture as a story for children? Let me count the ways…

Do your kids want to work on learning/illustrating the Lord’s Prayer? Why not?  Are there children in your class that are captured by Jesus’ message about worrying? They can focus on that. Older children might be very intrigued by the upside down nature of the Beatitudes. Why not go to the Bible and really go through these together?

If you’re a Sunday school teacher at FBG and you haven’t received the story script in your email, let me know. If you’re interested in getting the script and you don’t attend FBG, I’m happy to share. The script is available free along with 9 others when you subscribe to this blog. You can unsubscribe at any time- no worries!