Week 4: Education
Focus Prayer: "Hallowed be your name"
Bible Story: Jesus sends the disciples.
Focus Prayer: "Hallowed be your name"
Bible Story: Jesus sends the disciples.
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STORY ACTIVITIES
SKIT: Watch Vimeo Skit Day 4
STORY: United States of America BIBLE STORY & JOURNAL TIME “Hallowed” means set apart or holy. When we pray that God’s name is holy, we are praying not only that God’s name be holy but that we might also be made holy, that we might also get to do God’s work. In today’s Bible story, we will hear about how the disciples were given a special job to use their gifts to teach others about God’s love. Opening Activity For the opening activity today, read together the Lord’s Prayer (use the translation on the Lord’s Prayer cards or the translation preferred by your family or congregation). As you read the prayer together, ask children to think about what it means to be set apart by God to do God’s work. Read the Lord’s Prayer and talk about the questions below. Questions for Conversation (older children): • What gifts has God given you to do God’s work? (Examples: Are you a good friend or a good listener, or really good at helping a sibling with math homework?) • What gifts have you noticed in other members of your family or community? Conversation Activity (younger children): • Invite children to share their favorite toy or stuffed animal. What makes it special? How do they take care of it? • We aren’t toys, but we are special to God, and we are part of God’s work in the world. Maybe that means God has made us extra-helpful to other people, or maybe God has given us talents to help care for nature. God loves us and makes us holy just because God made us, before we do anything. Our prayer is a reminder that we are special to God. Journal Activity: Being Holy If using journals at home, ask children to write the word “Holy” at the top of a page. Ask them to write or draw the ways their gifts or talents can be part of God’s work, caring for our neighbors, caring for nature or helping share God’s love. If you are recording their responses on poster board, write the words in the shape of the outline of a church building. When you are finished, show the picture and explain that the church is one way that God gathers all our gifts to help the world. Bible Reading As you read the story, think about what Jesus told the disciples. What special job(s) were they given? Read together Luke 9:1-6 and 10-11. (For younger children, use an accessible translation.) Questions for Conversation (all ages): • What did Jesus tell the disciples to do? • How did the disciples help others learn about Jesus? • Who helps you learn new things? Have you ever taught someone else something new? Prayer Thank you, God, for giving us so much to learn and so much we can teach. Help us to be open, to share what we know and to learn from each other, so that we can share your love with the world. Amen. |
CRAFT
CRAFT: Lord’s Prayer Cross
Craft Connection: The Lord’s Prayer Tracing Cross is much more than a craft – it is a spiritual practice that people of all ages can do. The idea is simple: using the tracing cross as a guide, you say the Lord’s Prayer while moving your finger along the outside of the cross, touching each phrase of the prayer as you go. The visual and tactile nature of the tracing cross creates a special experience of prayer. LORD’S PRAYER CROSS Materials needed: • Template of the cross • Cardstock in two or more colors, patterns • Glue or glue stick • Markers • Plastic “laminate” • Scissors Directions: 1. Print the tracing cross pattern (found below) on color cardstock. 2. Glue the tracing cross to a piece of scrapbook paper that is cut slightly larger than cross. 3. Cut and add an additional cross on top. This cross can be a complementing color or pattern. Or you can decorate that space with markers, stickers, crayons, etc. 4. If you want this to be something you take with you or attach to a backpack, laminate the entire project. 5. Optional: Punch a hole in the top corner and insert key ring or add ribbon loop. SPECIAL THANKS The Lord’s Prayer Tracing Cross comes from Krista Lovell and the Building Faith website, a ministry of the Virginia Theological Seminary. Krista is a PCUSA Certified Educator who has served congregations large and small over the past 35 years. She currently serves as the part-time Mission Coordinator for Faith Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 
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GAMES
GAMES
The games here can easily be played with a small family or group. You can also use this time for other board games, outdoor activities or puzzles that can reinforce the theme: Week 4: “Hallowed be your name.” o Game Theme: celebrating God’s world PAINT SAMPLE GAMES Materials needed: • Paint-sample strips from a local hardware store GAME 1: GOD’S COLORS Directions: This game works best outdoors in a large, safe space. Gather a wide variety of paint-sample strips from a local hardware store. Cut each strip so that each color tone is a separate piece. Mix the pieces in a bag or basket. Gather the household together and explain that they will each draw a certain number of cards of different colors from the bag or basket. Three or four colors is a good number to start with. Once they draw the colors, they have to find items in the space that match the colors. Define for them the boundaries of the space that they must stay within and other rules (for example, if they find a flower that matches the color, they should leave the flower where it is rather than pick it). Once they find their matches, they will come back to the leader. You can offer an incentive to the first person who returns and accurately matches all their colors. Or you can set a time limit for how long they have to find their matches. GAME 2: MAKE A RAINBOW Directions: This game is a variation on “Go Fish.” Gather a wide variety of paint-sample strips from a local hardware store. Cut each strip so that each color tone is a separate piece. Mix the pieces in a bag or basket so that there is a variety of colors that match the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple. For younger children, you may want to post a picture of a rainbow or list the colors somewhere visible in the room or space. Gather the household members and explain that they will each draw a certain number of cards of different colors from the bag or basket. Without looking, each player should choose seven cards from the bag or basket. Once they have them, they should hold them so other players cannot see them. (For younger children, clothespins can be a handy way to hold the cards together like a fan.) Once everyone has the cards, explain that the goal of the game is to gather all the colors needed to make a rainbow. They will gather their cards by asking each other for different colors. If another player has the color, they must pass it to the player asking for it. If they do not have the color, they will tell the player asking, “Make a rainbow!” and the player asking must go find the color from another player. In each encounter, both players should be able to ask each other for one color. The players can also trade in one color card for a chance to draw from the bag or basket. GAME 3: COLORFUL STORIES Directions: While children of most ages will be able to play, very young children may need some help from an adult. Gather a wide variety of paint-sample strips from a local hardware store. Cut each strip so that each color tone is a separate piece. Mix the pieces in a bag or basket. Gather the player and explain that they will each draw a certain number of cards of different colors from the bag or basket. Invite each player to draw six to eight cards from the bag or basket. They can look at the cards and do not need to keep them hidden from others. In this game, each player will come up with a simple story that involves the colors they have. The story should be short, but it must include each of the colors of their cards. You may want to set certain parameters for them. For example, the colors should not all be used in the same sentence (such as “The car was red, green, yellow, blue and orange”). Give the player a minute or two to think of a story and then invite them to share their stories with each other. As a final round, combine all the colors and place them in a row. Invite the players to sit in a circle around the colors and then tell a story in a round, with each player adding something to the story that includes the next color in the sequence. For example, if the first colors in the row are green, yellow and blue, the first player will start the story and include something green, the next will continue by including something yellow, the third will continue by including something blue, and so on. |
SERVICE PROJECT
SERVICE PROJECT IDEAS: Quality Education
• Many food pantries and other ministries provide school supplies to families in need in the community. Call a local pantry to see if there are opportunities to collect school supplies or books for neighbors in your community. • During the school year, backpack programs in many communities provide food to students in food-insecure households. ELCA World Hunger’s Backpack Buddies Guide can help you learn more. Consider volunteering with a backpack ministry in your community — or working with your congregation and local school to start your own! • The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted some of the disparities in education within the United States, especially in internet access. Together, learn more about the “digital divide” between households that have access to high speed internet and households that do not. Talk together about your own internet access. Learn more about access in your community and, if possible, write or call city council members or others to ask what is being done to ensure equitable access for everyone. | ||
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SNACK TIME CONVERSATION STARTERS
Our world produces more than enough food for everyone, but many people still don’t have enough food to be healthy. Why do you think that is? Why do you think it is important to God that we help people not go hungry? |
