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Getting Ready for God

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Christmas Pack #9 - Make Room at the Inn

Getting Ready for God

Table of Contents

Getting Ready for God

Advent: A Time of Preparation

A Four Session Resource Activity Guide
for Leaders of Older Children

by Cecile A. Beam

 

Author

Cecile A. Beam is a United Methodist education specialist for children.

Introduction

This resource is an Advent Bible study focusing on God's truth and our response to that truth.

GOALS

The children will:

DESIGNING THE SESSION

The suggested outline for each session may be used in Sunday morning classes, music groups, after-school events, week-night activities. The outlines are written for use in four one-hour sessions. They may be shortened by omitting some of the suggested activities or lengthened by adding others. There may be situations in which parts of a session may be included in the teaching plans for an on-going class or group,

PREPARING NOW

Before you begin, follow this procedure:

  1. For additional resources and suggestions review the other activity guides in this series for the other age groups.
  2. Obtain a copy of one of the six Alternative Celebrations Catalogue or Alternatives' Treasury of Celebrations and read it as you plan for this unit. Select some projects which could be supported by the children as an outgrowth of their study.
  3. Select two lively songs, such as "The King of Glory" (Willard F. Jabusch/Israeli folk song) and "I Am a Promise" (William J. & Gloria Gaither). [Due to copyright restrictions, these songs are not included here.]
  4. Review the session outlines and gather all necessary materials.

 

Session One: Standing Up For God

Scripture Selections: Luke 21:36a, 28 (NEB) Psalms 25:4-5 (TEV)

Song: "The King of Glory"

As the children arrive, hand each one an envelope containing ten 3x5 cards or pieces of paper. Ask them to draw or write on five of the cards words or pictures of the five things which they feel are important or good to them: things to own, things to be able to do, things which are personality or physical characteristics. Use the other five cards to write or draw five things which are not important or good-to own, to do, or to be.

Let each child share the five most valuable things. Tell the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35), using puppets or flannel board figures for emphasis. Involve the children if possible. Ask questions such as: What did the Good Samaritan think was important? What makes you think so? The Good Samaritan was "standing up for God." What other Bible characters can the children think of who stood up for God? Allow time for thinking, sharing and perhaps acting out the stories. (Have some suggestions in mind that will be familiar to the children.) Read or have the children read aloud Luke 21:36a, 28 (NEB). Then ask the question, "How does what we remember about Jesus remind us that we can stand up for God?" After some conversation with the children, teach a song such as "The King of Glory." Get the children involved in writing another stanza or two based on what has been said during the session. For example "We do remember Jesus/God's Son, our brother/He came to tell us all,/ 'Love one another.'" "Stand up, stand up before him,/He comes to tell us/We can stand up for God/He'll stand beside us."

Refer to the cards from the first activity of the session. Are there some other things which need to be listed as important or valuable if we are to stand up for God? Use additional cards or paper to add words or drawings.

Give each child a plain sheet of paper and let them glue their cards on the front and back of the page. If you have more time, you could ask the children to share the five cards of things they felt were not so important and tell why they feel that way. Be sure to include all ten cards on this sheet. (This sheet will be kept and added to others so that each child will have a notebook at the end of the four sessions.)

Ask the children to look this next week for people who stand up for God. Encourage them to write down or draw what they see. Bring that work to the next class. End the session by saying that we are always learning how we can stand up for God. Read Psalms 25:4-5. Have it written so that all the children can see it and say it together, or say a phrase and let them repeat it. Use a closing prayer.

 

Session Two: Standing Together For God

Scripture Selections: Luke 3:2b-3; Psalms 126:2a, 3
Song: "I Am a Promise"

As the children arrive, ask them whom they have seen standing up for God since the last session. If they have not drawn a picture or written a story about their observations, plan for time to do that. As alternate activities, you might have the children interview each other or write a letter to a friend describing someone who stood up for God. Share the results with the whole class.

Tell the story of John the Baptist. (For your own recollection, read Luke 3:3-20.) In the Bible, Luke tells us about a man named John the Baptist. John and Jesus were cousins. John lived with a group of people called Essenes. They lived very simply, did not own much and ate honey and locusts. John must have been a very noticeable person. He wore a camel's hair coat and a leather belt.

He went through the whole area around the Jordan River telling people, "Turn away from your sins and be baptized, and God will forgive your sins." He baptized a lot of people, so he was called John the Baptist. He even baptized Jesus in the river.

Ask the children what sins they think John wanted the people to turn away from, to stop doing. You might even want to ask them this question, "If sin were a color, what color would it be?" (Be prepared to deal with black/white images or red/white images. Either response could be typical for this age and simply gives you an indication of how the children are thinking.) Use a chalk board or piece of newsprint to record their ideas.

Pass around a bowl of water. Let the children put their hands in it and then dry their hands. What does water do when you put your hands in it or take a bath? Move conversationally to the use of water in baptism as a symbol of cleansing the baptized from past sins. Let the children act out the service of baptism. Remind them that always there are people standing with us when we are baptized. It is a sign that we are not alone: God promises to be with us; the community of faith promises to be with us; we promise to be faithful.

Have the group stand in a circle with elbows locked together. What happens when one person moves? How do you feel in this kind of circle? (Be prepared to deal affirmatively with the possible response of being too close, too tied together.)

Ask everyone to drop arms and move slightly away from each other. Now what is everyone feeling? Sit in a circle and talk about how we can stand together in this church. What can we do? How can we show our faithfulness? What can we do together that we could not do as well separately? Identify a project to work on together. One idea is to make happy faces to share with the church members in the next worship service, or make circles and print inside them the words "I Am a Promise."

Close by singing a song such as "I Am a Promise" and saying together, "How we laughed, how we sang together... Indeed (God has done) great things for us." (Ps. 126:2a, 3-paraphrased.) Also Mark 1:1-11 and Matthew 3:1-6

 

Session Three: Walking Together With God

Scripture Selections: Luke 3:10-12; Isaiah 12:5

Songs: "'Tis a Gift to be Simple" or "Alexander" from Mary Lu Walker's Songs for Young Children

As the children arrive, ask each one to draw a picture of the rooms in their house and identify in each room something that they particularly like. As they are drawing, ask them what kind of toothpaste is in the bathroom, what's playing on the television, what favorite book is on the shelf, and so on. The children will want to share their drawings with each other.

On the back of the drawings, have each one list what they would give up first if they had to and what they would give up last. Allow time for conversation and decision making: some children may have difficulty choosing.

Read the selection from Luke 3:10-12 to the class. Since this is a recording of John's words, recall briefly some things about John the Baptist from the previous session. What does John mean by these words? Is he talking only about shirts and food? What happens to their clothes as the children outgrow them? What is done with old toys or books? How do they spend their allowances?

Give each child a paper plate or circle of paper. Ask each one to choose pictures of food they like to eat and glue them on the circle. (To save time, have pictures of food already cut out.) Then place a few grains of rice on each plate, explaining that that is all some people have to eat.

Teach "Alexander" to the class and sing it together. Talk with the children about the possibility of sponsoring a walk-a-thon for CROP or Heifer Project International or some other world hunger project. (For other ideas, see Fund Raising Projects with a World Hunger Emphasis by Paul Longacre or a similar resource.) Set a date, determine how far they will walk and discuss how they get sponsors. Then suggest that, in order to do something for people in the immediate community, the children can bring books, toys and/or clothes for a day care center or particular family or the pediatric ward of the local hospital. Close by saying that we share out of thankfulness that God loves us. We have to share and can share because we are God's people. Others can then see something of what God is like because we care; our walking with God and standing up for God can make a difference in the lives of others. When we share what we have, there is a happiness in our lives which cannot be measured. Sing "'Tis a Gift to be Simple." Read Isaiah 12:5 and close with an open-eyed prayer (one in which everyone looks at each other as words of thanksgiving and benediction are spoken by different persons or the leader).

Session Four: Rejoicing in God's Word of Truth

Scripture: Luke 1:39-55; Isaiah 80:7
Song: "The King of Glory"

Prior to the session, set up a maze with chairs, tables, partitions, boards or whatever is handy. Blindfold the children and lead them individually through the maze. Children who have already completed the maze may help others; caution them to walk slowly and carefully with the one who is blindfolded.

When everyone has gone through the maze, read Psalm 80:7 to the group. Walking through the maze blindfolded is like trying to go through life doing what God wants us to do. Allow some time for the children to discuss how they felt and what happened to them. Then ask them if they can think of some people in the Bible who didn't always do what God wanted them to do. (Adam and Eve, Jonah, Peter and Paul are some good examples.) The children might role play what happened to these Bible persons. The role play could take the form of an "on-the-spot" reporter. Remind the group that the last part of verse 7 is GOOD NEWS. Ask them if they know of someone in the church family or in our country who has tried to do what God wanted them to do. Can they think of times in their own lives when they have struggled with what they thought God wanted them to do? How did they feel love and acceptance while they were struggling?

Lead into the story of Mary and Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45), two cousins who were trying to do what God wanted them to do. Both of them experienced a great deal of happiness in doing that. Both of them could share with, lean on, draw strength from each other. This reminds us of God's love and mercy.

Read the Magnificat out loud (Luke 1:46-55). Then divide the group into four sub-groups. One group can write a litany based on this passage. It could be done easily by adding a congregational or group response between the verses (such as, "My heart praises the Lord"). Plan a way to share this with the congregation. Another group can do a collage (using a variety of materials-cloth, paper, seeds, buttons, etc.) of how we feel when we experience love, acceptance and joy. The third group could illustrate the scripture passage or do a mural which illustrates the passage. The fourth group can complete the following poem:

Mary and Elizabeth
best of friends,
Each with a joy to share:
Knowing God's love,
Sharing God's love,
Daring enough to care.
Others there are,
Between then and now,
Who have tried to walk with God. . .

Give each child time to gather the things they have worked on during this unit and put it in a folder or notebook.

Close by sharing what each of the four groups has done and sing together "The King of Glory."

Make copies of this resource under the Creative Commons attribution, not-for-profit license.

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