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Y EAR 1: WEAV ING OUR FAITHBACKGROUND FOR TEACHERS

A Curriculum for Children in the Episcopal Church

JOANNA LEISERSON

Morehouse Education Resources, a division of Church Publishing IncorporatedEditorial Offices: 600 Grant Street, Suite 630, Denver, CO 80203

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Edited by Sue MacStravic, Jeanne Fyfe and Tess J. IandiorioIllustrations by Paula Becker

© 2016 by Joanna Leiserson.All rights reserved.Printed in the United States of America.

Weaving God’s Promises is copyrighted material. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The scripture quotations used herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible. © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

Background for TeachersWeaving God’s Promises: An Introduction to the Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Our Focus This Year: Weaving Our Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Sharing the Gospel with Our Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9How to Plan Your Curriculum Around Your Church Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12Walking Through a Lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14The First Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Late PentecostOverview of the Church Season and Lessons

Lessons from the Liturgical CalendarThe Feast of St. Francis of Assisi and the Blessing of Animals (October 4) All Saints’ Day (November 1)Christ the King (Sunday before Advent)

Lessons from the Bible: Old Testament 1. Fall and Exile from the Garden of Eden 2. Cain and Abel 3. The Tower of Babel 4. *Abraham and His Adventures with God 5. *Slaves in Egypt 6. *The Passover and Exodus from Egypt 7. *Troubles in the Wilderness 8. Into the Promised Land 9. Building Israel, Building the Temple of God 10. *Stories of Elijah 11. God’s People in Exile 12. *Ezekiel Gives Hope

TA B L E O F CO N T E N T SFirst Year: Weaving Our Faith

* Contains several stories; may be divided into more than one lesson© 2016 By Joanna Leiserson. Published by Morehouse Education Resources, www.MorehouseEducation.org. All rights reserved.

Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for use in the purchasing congregation only.

Advent and ChristmasOverview of the Church Season and Lessons This Year’s New Testament Focus: The Gospel of Matthew

Lessons from the Liturgical CalendarAdvent (Four Sundays Before Christmas)

Lessons from the Bible 13. Isaiah Promises Peace and Salvation 14. Angels Come to Mary and Joseph 15. John the Baptist 16. Jesus Is Born

Epiphany and Lent to EasterOverview of the Church Season and Lessons

Lessons from the Liturgical CalendarThe Season of Epiphany (5-8 Sundays) The Season of Lent (5 Sundays)

Lessons from the Bible 17. Jesus’ Baptism and Early Years 18. *Jesus’ Teachings (The Sermon on the Mount) 19. *Jesus Heals the Sick 20. Jesus Calls His Disciples 21. *Stories of the Kingdom of Heaven 22. *Scenes from the Ministry of Jesus 23. The Transfiguration of Jesus 24. *Be Ready! The Son of Man Is Coming! 25. Jesus Enters Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) 26. Jesus’ Last Supper 27. From the Garden to the Cross

* Contains several stories; may be divided into more than one lesson© 2016 By Joanna Leiserson. Published by Morehouse Education Resources, www.MorehouseEducation.org. All rights reserved.

Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for use in the purchasing congregation only.

Easter and BeyondOverview of the Church Season and Lessons

Lessons from the Bible 28. Alleluia! Christ Is Risen! 29. Jesus Ascends into Heaven 30. Come, Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit at Pentecost 31. Paul Spreads the Good News 32. The City of God (The Book of Revelation)

Weaving Our Faith Tradition 33. Going to Church 34. Red Book, Blue Book: The Books We Use in Church 35. We Are Baptized in Christ 36. Eucharist Feeds Us Every Week 37. We All Have a Place in God’s Church

AppendixGathering Activity Ideas Storytelling Enhancements Activity IdeasOutreach and Mission IdeasBooks and VideosPrayer Ideas Snack Suggestions Saying Grace Memorization Suggestions and Aids

© 2016 By Joanna Leiserson. Published by Morehouse Education Resources, www.MorehouseEducation.org. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for use in the purchasing congregation only.

Weaving God’s Promises is a Christian education program for children from age 3 (preschool) up to ages 11-12 (5th-6th grades). The curriculum is titled Weaving God’s Promises after our process of faith formation in which we learn how God’s promises of salvation are inextricably woven into our lives.

The goal is to teach children the way of Christ, not only in the church but also in the world, and to give them a solid preparation for entry into the youth program, which in turn will prepare them for Christian adulthood.

Through this church school curriculum, we hope to foster the spiritual formation and growth of our children in Christ’s love and mercy, to teach the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation, and to send our children out into the world as Christ’s ambassadors.

Guiding Scriptures...be encouraged and woven together in love.

—Colossians 2:2 (NRSV)

Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

—John 14:23

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

—1 Peter 2:9-10

The ThemesThe curriculum follows a three-year cycle, covering the following basic themes.

First Year: Weaving Our FaithThe lessons of the first year cover the story of our salvation, our story from the Fall of humankind to our redemption by Jesus Christ, and how we, as individuals fit into this story. The theme is God’s love for us and how God stays with us, no matter what, to bring us back to God’s divine love. The New Testament lessons focus on the Gospel of Matthew, with its emphasis on the Kingdom of God. Later lessons focus on our Anglican tradition and faith.

A N I N T R O D U C T I O N TO T H E C U R R I C U L U M


7 | BACKGROUND FOR TEACHERS | WEAVING OUR FAITH, YEAR 1


Second Year: Weaving Together the Family of GodThe lessons of the second year cover the story of how we become God’s people and part of the household of God, the Communion of Saints. The theme is Once we were no people, but now we are God’s people. The New Testament lessons focus on the Gospel of John, with its stories of the encounters of individuals with Jesus and their transformation in the light of his love. Later lessons focus on the “Easter people,” the saints in the Church up to the present time.

Third Year: Weaving God’s Beloved CommunityThe lessons of the third year cover the story of how we are called by God to live in loving community with one another, to fulfill God’s promises for us in the healing of all creation. The New Testament lessons focus on the Gospel of Luke, with its emphasis on our holy calling to care for others. The children will learn what constitutes God’s beloved community, including the gospel values of welcome, inclusion, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, justice and liberation.

The Building BlocksWeaving God’s Promises is a comprehensive program designed to provide children with basic knowledge of Church teachings in Christian education, worship and service, the three elements essential to the practice of our faith. Like a three-legged stool, each is dependent on the other in order for the faith to stand firmly.

In order to help build this foundation of faith, the following areas will be covered during the course of the program.

Holy ScriptureThe great stories of the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, are the core of the lessons, with special emphasis placed on the life and teachings of

Jesus. Basic Bible knowledge will be encouraged, including some memorization for older children.

The ChurchChildren will more fully appreciate worship in the church as they learn about the church and its practices. The curriculum includes information about: ■ church history ■ the seasons of the Church year ■ church practices ■ the use of the Book of Common Prayer ■ our Anglican and Episcopal tradition ■ the principal sacraments of our church, Holy

Baptism and Holy Eucharist

Christian LivingThe application of Christian principles to our lives is essential to a living, growing faith. Reaching out in service to others is a natural outgrowth of a meaningful relationship with Christ. These principles and practices of Christian living are taught in this program through: ■ prayer ■ outreach and service ■ Christian ethics ■ contemporary issues

The Structure Modeled after the Family of GodClasses are structured to encourage bonds of fellowship within the church, to help participants hear and share stories of faith and to support the practice of acting worshipfully while gathered in our class groups as part of the family of God.

Modeled after the Eucharistic LiturgyClass sessions follow the model of Holy Eucharist in their order of activity, as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer: ■ gathering together ■ telling the sacred story (Liturgy of the Word) ■ prayer (Prayers of the People)



■ sharing (Holy Communion) ■ the dismissal or sending forth (“Go in peace to

love and serve the Lord.”)

O U R FO C U S T H I S Y E A R: W E AV I N G

O U R FA I T HThe Story of Our SalvationThe God of all creation is also the God of our salvation. The God who created heaven and earth is the God who cares so much for each of us that God gave God’s own self to us—through God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. Clearly, part of God’s promise and will for us is for us to be united with God.

The Bible is the story of how God called us to be God’s own people and how God stayed with us no matter what, in spite of our faithlessness, rebellion, hard-heartedness, laziness and indifference. And in God’s ultimate act of self-giving, God sent God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, to show us the Kingdom of God and to reconcile us with God.

In the Great Vigil of Easter we gather in the dark and move into the light of Christ’s resurrection, hearing the stories of salvation through God’s actions for us in history. Here too, in our lessons, we gather together as communities of children and adults—communities of faith—hearing and sharing stories of salvation, stories that tell how God continually came to God’s people with love and tenderness to bring them to God’s divine bosom.

In Eucharistic Prayer C, we also hear a brief telling of this story, from the creation of the universe to the creation and fall of humankind to God’s staying with us...

Again and again, you called us to return. Through prophets and sages you revealed your righteous Law. And in the fullness of time you sent your

only Son, born of a woman, to fulfill your Law, to open for us the way of freedom and peace (BCP, p. 370).

This is the story—the story of our salvation—that we tell this year.

Stories of Separation and ReconciliationIn this year’s lessons, we follow our own story from the darkness of alienation and sin to the light brought to us by God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

The children will learn about us and God, how we come from despair to faith through God’s own initiative, working for and in us to make us God’s own. In these stories, we go from being orphans to being sons and daughters of God. We move from being a wandering nomad to being the bride of Christ. What a love story!

In our own faith journeys, we can see ourselves in these Old Testament stories of faith journeys—journeys full of spiritual stumbling, getting lost, falling back and just plain mule-like stubborn refusal. But can we not also see ourselves being tended to by Jesus, being fed by his bread, healed by his touch, transformed into saved persons by his love?

Old TestamentThe Old Testament lessons are stories of humanity, represented by the people of God in Israel.

We tell three stories from prehistory in this first year—the fall of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and the Tower of Babel—that symbolize our fall and the nature, the pervasiveness and the far-reaching consequences of our separation from God.

Then we tell the stories of the long relationship with God, beginning with the man—Abraham—whom God counted as righteous and whom God chose to be the ancestor to the people of God. We follow



these people as God helps them flourish, liberates them from slavery, gives them a new land and a new law and then stays with them as they keep wandering away from God’s love.

New TestamentIn the New Testament lessons this year, we follow the Gospel of Matthew with its focus on the fulfillment of our salvation—the Kingdom of God. Matthew sees Jesus as the very fulfillment of the law and the prophets that the people have been given, with John the Baptist as the one chosen to proclaim the coming of the Son of the Most High.

We then follow briefly the period after Jesus’ resurrection, looking at Jesus’ ascension to heaven, the day that the Holy Spirit came to the disciples on Pentecost, the life and ministry of Paul from the book of Acts, and finally the book of the Revelation of John, which is one person’s picture of the Kingdom of God.

Our Anglican TraditionAt the end of this year, the lessons focus on the Anglican tradition in the church and on the ways in which we serve God in our church and in our worship. In our baptismal rite, the whole church says to the newly baptized, “We receive you into the household of God...” (BCP, p. 308).

In these final lessons, we explore what it means to be part of the household of God in the Episcopal Church. The children will learn some of the practices of the church so that they can fully participate in the work and the worship of the church, as full members of the Body of Christ.

S H A R I N G T H E G O S P E L W I T H

O U R C H I L D R E NClass StructureWe have modeled the class sessions after the Holy Eucharist, as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. This class structure makes a lot of sense because it focuses on (1) telling the story and (2) worship. Each session presents an integrated lesson in which telling God’s story and worshiping God become one. Classes also follow the general order of worship in the church and so make liturgical sense.

Following are the main parts of a typical class.

GatheringIn church, we usually prepare ourselves for worship by kneeling in prayer, listening quietly to the music preludes

and looking over the worship service leaflets. In church school, we can help the children prepare for the lesson by having quiet music playing as they arrive and providing simple story-related activities to help get them focused on the lesson to come.

As an option for older children we suggest offering a short time of fellowship, allowing them to connect with each other and build relationships, which is an important part of being in “the household of God.”

A short opening prayer ends the gathering time and signals to the children that it is time to begin the lesson.

The Episcopal ThreadTeachers and older children can explore the connections between the lessons and our Anglican faith. We invite you to look at the Book of Common Prayer

for echoes of biblical themes that are covered in



the lessons, in our prayers, our Baptismal Covenant and our liturgical rites—especially the rites of Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist. We also invite you to look at familiar hymns, which also reflect the ideas and themes of our stories. And, finally, we invite you to look at our whole Anglican tradition, and especially what the Anglican tradition is all about within the context of Christian life and formation.

Telling the Story The story is the heart of the lesson. We are telling our children the story of God in history and in the lives of God’s people—us. We urge you not

to ask the children to read the story from the Bible because they tend to read without meaning. Telling the story—especially when enhanced with story aids such as pictures, puppets, flannel boards, etc.—allows the children not only to absorb the story, but also to feel its power. In the numbered lessons you will find scripted stories that you can use in place of reading from the Bible or telling the story in your own words. These stories always follow the lesson introduction and precede the section of activities.

PrayerHere, in worship to God, we acknowledge the story and we give thanks for God’s presence with us. Worship time begins with a reading

of a few verses from the lesson’s scripture. This helps the children make the connection between the story they just heard and the Bible.

We recommend the reading be done the way it is done in church, beginning with “A Reading from the book of (name of book)” and concluding with “The word of the Lord.” This is a way for the children to learn how we customarily read the scripture during our church worship service.

Following the reading, children are invited to join in prayers of thanksgiving, praise and intercession,

familiarizing the children with another part of our church liturgy (The Prayers of the People).

SharingFollowing Prayer, we allow a time for fellowship and sharing a snack. This act

has links to our great sacramental feast, the Holy Eucharist. This time of sharing food and eating together is a natural time for community, and so the phrase “breaking bread together” has both religious and social significance. To encourage a spirit of thanksgiving and supplication to God for the nourishment that God gives us, we suggest saying a simple grace to begin the sharing time.

Sharing time, when everyone is relaxed, is also a good time to initiate a conversation about the story that has just been told. This is an opportunity to invite the children to share their reactions to the story and begin to explore its message.

Activities: Art, Crafts, Drama, etc.To supplement and enhance the lesson’s story, the children are

invited to participate in a variety of story-related activities. Outreach and service projects are also encouraged at this time.

Closing PrayerThe class concludes with a closing prayer, which sends the children into the church worship

service or back to their homes with God’s love and blessing.

We encourage you to follow the closing prayer with a dismissal that is used in church, such as: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” The children respond: “Thanks be to God!” In this way, children become accustomed to another of our church worship practices.



Threads At the end of

each of the numbered lessons you will find a two-page take-home paper for families called Threads. Threads provides parents with a briefer version of the information on scripture and Episcopal faith found in the introductions to the lessons, as well as multiple suggestions for household activities and prayer. Parents can use Threads to continue each child’s classroom experience at home throughout the week. We suggest duplicating and distributing these two pages to children and/or their parents at the end of each lesson.

Telling the StoryIn her book Offering the Gospel to Children, Gretchen Wolff Pritchard says of our traditional way of doing Bible lessons for children:

We carve up the Bible into “Bible Stories,” so that few children even suspect that the story of God’s people—our story—is not a collection of object lessons or heartwarming anecdotes, but a long story of unbearable loss—and unbearable hope.

...the power of the Gospel is not, primarily, that it gives us the tools for an intellectual understanding of our relationship with God. Its power is imaginative, and speaks to our inmost feelings in ways that even as adults we can hardly describe... It deserves to be told—our children deserve to experience it—over and over again, directly as gospels and liturgy, and also as it is mirrored in fairy tale, myth, and other works of art.2

The stories of the Bible—as summarized in the readings of the Great Vigil of Easter—can be described in one sentence:

Once we were no people; but now we are God’s people.3

The story of our becoming God’s people needs to be taken as a whole, though we traditionally learn it in bits and pieces. But the whole story is one that begins in a garden and moves through a long drama of alienation in our world and in our lives now. The climax of that story is that God, in God’s immeasurable love, has chosen not to leave us in exile but to be with us, though at great cost—the cost of God’s own life.4

How can we teach the children about this story—the story of our fall and exile and then our redemption by God? By telling the story—without trying to shield the children from the hard parts or reducing the story to a content lesson.

Children will see the complexities in the story of God, even if they cannot yet articulate them. So we don’t really need to tell them how a story connects to our everyday lives. Often they already know that! What we want them to hear is how the Bible story is part of our story, the story of how we have become God’s people. So for us, the story of Cain and Abel is not just about how one should not murder his younger brother! That story—as is each small gem of scriptural story—is a part of the larger story of God working for us and for our salvation. Even as adults we do not understand it very well intellectually. But the power of the story works in our hearts and in our children’s hearts even if we just tell the story and let the children hear it, then allow them to reexperience the story through art and drama.

Telling the story of God is more helpful than having the children read the story straight from the Bible. For centuries, storytelling has been the main way of transmitting the faith and passing on the tradition of the church. Storytelling has deep roots. Remember the stories of the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Lost Sheep? Jesus’ stories!

When we tell stories or read to our children, they can relax and listen. They are not under pressure to



read well, or to know all the words, or to perform in the ways that are part of the secular school’s learning-to-read program. In church school, our emphasis is not on how to read or even on how to read from the Bible. Our focus for children is on hearing and inwardly digesting the story.

That is why we tell the stories over and over, why children in the fourth year of this three-year cycle will hear the same story that they heard four years ago. Children of different ages will hear the same story and elicit different meanings from it as they mature and grow in faith. As they grow older, they will remember these stories and begin to see and understand how the stories fit into their own lives. Such a familiarity with the scripture and with the messages that the scripture provides will give them confidence and comfort as they face challenges throughout their lives.

The Bible is a love story! We want our children not only to know the scripture but to encounter God in the scripture. And we want them to love the scripture and to love the God who is revealed in the scripture because once we were no people, but now we are God’s people.

1. Jerome Berryman, in Godly Play (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1995) calls this time “The Feast,” and it is done solemnly and with great ceremony to bring out its sacramental qualities.

2. Gretchen Wolff Pritchard, Offering the Gospel to Children (Lanham, MD: Cowley, 1992), pp. 13-14.

3. 1 Peter 2:10, paraphrased by Carolyn Chilton, Diocese of Virginia.

4. Pritchard, Offering the Gospel to Children.

H O W TO P L A N T H I S

C U R R I C U L U M A R O U N D

Y O U R C H U R C H S C H E D U L E

How the Curriculum is OrganizedWeaving God’s Promises is intended to be used in church school classes to complement the observance of the Church year, in particular, the church seasons and the special holidays and feast days that we celebrate as Christians.

Most of the lessons are stories from the Bible—from the Old Testament until Advent and Christmas, from the New Testament until the end of the year. This format helps children begin to gain a familiarity with the Holy Scripture, which is the source of much of our knowledge about God. However, we also weave special themes into this basic biblical structure, which you may wish to incorporate into your teaching schedule: ■ Church seasons: Lessons on the church seasons—

Advent, Epiphany, Lent and Easter—are included at the beginning of their respective seasons. These lessons are intended to be taught on the first Sunday of the season.

■ Special holidays and feast days: Lessons for these days are placed at the beginning of the season in which the dates fall. For example, the lesson on St. Francis is located at the beginning of the section on Late Pentecost. You may add to or replace one of the Old Testament lessons with one of these lessons on the appropriate date.



■ The church and its sacraments: Lessons 33 through 37 cover the Anglican and Episcopal faith tradition, including the church, its ministries and its major sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist. These lessons on Weaving Our Faith Tradition are intended to be taught as a unit after the New Testament lessons, in late spring or early summer. However, you may also teach each lesson separately at an appropriate time. For example, on the day of a child’s Baptism, you might teach the lesson on Baptism; on a Sunday in which your church celebrates a Ministry Day, you might teach the lesson We All Have a Place in the Church.

Planning Your Lesson ScheduleThere are more lessons in each year of Weaving God’s Promises than you will probably be able to use in a single church school year. You will need to make some choices. Most of the lessons are arranged in order of the stories in the Bible, in conjunction with the church seasons. For example, we begin the season of Advent with appropriate Advent lessons. We assume that you will want to include these lessons, along with other lessons from the liturgical calendar.

Here’s how you can plan your church school schedule to fit your needs: ■ Find or create a calendar that lists special church

dates. You will need to know not only such dates as Easter and Ash Wednesday, but also the dates of Christ the King Sunday and other days of celebration that your church may observe.

■ Fill in your church’s basic church school schedule for the year. Indicate the first and last days of church school. Take note of the Sundays on which the church school does not meet and block those out.

■ We recommend using the suggestions for The First Day, found on page 17, as your lesson—or at least part of your lesson—for the first day of church school. Pencil this in your schedule.

■ If you want to teach lessons from the liturgical calendar celebrating events that follow the Church year, such as All Saints’ Sunday or Advent, fill these in your schedule.

■ Find the Bible lessons (the numbered lessons) that you want to teach for this year. You may pick and choose, but these lessons should be kept in order, as they are in historical sequence and will not make much sense if taken out of order. Here are a few things to consider as you make your choices:

— Some lessons are more difficult than others. If you’ll be working with younger children, you may wish to skip the more difficult lessons such as Lesson 2 (Cain and Abel), Lesson 7 (The Golden Calf), Lesson 9 (Building the Temple) and/or Lesson 11 (People in Exile).

— Some lessons are long (such as the story of Abraham) and may be difficult to fit into one class session. You may want to spend more than one week on these lessons. Lessons containing several stories are marked with an asterisk (*) in the table of contents and noted at the beginning of the lesson.

— Some lessons are shorter or can be easily abbreviated. You may want to combine them into one lesson.

■ Once you have penciled in your schedule, record the dates on the first page of the lessons that you plan to use.



WA L K I N G T H R O U G H A

L E S S O N Where You’ll Find Today’s StoryIn the BibleHere we’ve listed where in the Bible you will find the stories. We recommend using the New Revised Standard Version.

In Children’s BiblesIf you plan to use a children’s Bible for storytelling, you’ll need to choose a Bible and locate the story. Here we’ve provided space for you to write in the page numbers of the story in the Bible that you choose.

In Our Sunday LectionaryThis section tells when the story or scripture passages are read in our Sunday worship service as part of the Old Testament, epistle or gospel reading. The lectionary refers to the Episcopal version of the Revised Common Lectionary.

Some stories may be told more than once a year, and some stories may be told only in part. This will be true especially of the longer stories, such as the Exodus story.

Year A, B or C refer to our lectionary year, which begins on the first Sunday in Advent. (Year A begins in Advent 2013, then again in 2016.)

When we refer to Proper 12 or Proper 28, these terms mean the specific Sunday in Pentecost. Since the weeks in Pentecost are set by the variable date of Easter, the Episcopal calendar assigns propers to the different weeks in Pentecost. You will find the three-year lectionary cycle online at the

official website of the Episcopal Church in the US: www.episcopalchurch.org.

Summary of Today’s StoryThis is a brief account of the story on which the lesson focuses.

Weaving Our Story with the Biblical StoryThis section tells the context in which the particular story fits into the great

story of the Bible and of our salvation. Some thoughts about how this story fits into our own story of faith are also included.

The Episcopal ThreadThis section is for you and the older children. Use the Book of Common Prayer to explore how the day’s lesson connects with our Episcopal faith as

reflected in the Prayer Book.

You can also discuss how the Anglican tradition incorporates the themes, theology and ethics of the lesson as part of our faith.

Gathering (5-10 minutes)This is the time when children begin entering the classroom.

To keep the children busy as other children filter in, provide them with a simple, fun activity that relates to the lesson. Younger children enjoy drawing or molding figures with play dough. Older children enjoy word games and puzzles. You will find an online resource for creating puzzles under Gathering Ideas on pages 1-2 in the Appendix.

Simple lesson-related entry activities are suggested in each lesson. In some lessons, Gathering Activity



handouts are provided in the activity section at the end of the lesson. Additional Gathering activity ideas can be found on pages 1-2 in the Appendix, also found on the website.

As an option for the older children, you might offer a brief fellowship time, giving the children a chance to visit with each other, share past news and establish friendships. This social time is important for building community in the church school class and we encourage you to offer this fellowship time on a regular basis.

Mark the end of the gathering time with an opening prayer. For younger children, we suggest using the same simple prayer each Sunday, such as:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us all here together today. Thank you for all the children who are here, and bless and remember those who are absent today. (You may name individuals.) Amen.

Telling the Story (5-10 minutes)This is the storytelling time. We recommend that you read the story

to the children from a children’s Bible or tell the story in your own words. The emphasis is on the story, not on the words, so we encourage you to tell the story as you would tell a story from your own life.

Occasionally we give suggestions for how to enhance the story with puppets, drama or other lively storytelling methods. There are more ideas in the Appendix on pages 2-3.

We suggest that you not try to analyze or discuss the story at this time, but wait until the story has sunk into the hearts and minds of the children. We are encouraging an appreciation for the story as a whole, without adding our analytical “thinking”

ideas yet. Bible stories are powerful, and most of them are clear in their meaning and their message.

Prayer (5-10 minutes)This is the worship time. Have the children set up the worship center

with a simple altar, placing on the altar any special items they might have made during Gathering time. This is a way to help give the children a sense of true participation in the worship of their Lord.

Begin the worship time with a short reading from the lesson’s scriptures. This will help the children connect the Bible story that they have just heard to the Bible, itself. Scripture suggestions are provided in each lesson.

We recommend you do the reading as it is done in church, with the preface “A reading from the book of...”, followed by “The word of the Lord.” The children then respond, “Thanks be to God.”

Then lead the children in prayer, inviting each child to offer prayers of thanks, praise and petition.

Sharing (5-10 minutes)This is a good time to give

the children their physical nourishment, after the spiritual nourishment of the word of God.

Begin the sharing time with a simple grace, either using the one provided in the lesson or sharing one that you or one of the children say at home. Additional graces can be found on pages 12-13 in the Appendix.

This is also a good time to discuss the story and the children’s feelings about the story. Mealtime often makes conversation easier and more open than a formal discussion time. You will want to encourage the children to speak and ask questions



freely, but you will need to guide them in staying on the subject of the lessons and what they may have learned or feel about the story. Conversation starters are provided in every lesson.

For the very young children (preschoolers), a discussion of the story will not be beneficial. Let them just enjoy the stories and the activities connected with the stories.

Activities: Arts, Crafts, Games, Drama, etc.(10-20 minutes)

This is the activity time when you can reinforce and enrich the story by offering the children a variety of story-related activities. While the children are doing an activity, be sure to talk about the story so they make the connection.

Suggested story-related activities are provided at the end of every lesson. This document includes suggested arts and crafts activities for four age groups: preschool (up to age 4), primary (kindergarten to first grade), elementary (second and third grades), and intermediate (fourth to sixth grades). Other suggested activities include videos, drama, games, discussions, field trips to parts of the church and visits by others, including clergy. These may be done instead of or in addition to an art or craft project.

In addition, a variety of general activities that can be adapted to any lesson can be found in the Appendix on pages 3-6. Feel free to use your own ideas.

Memorization (variable time)To enable the older children to better participate in the church

service or do Bible study, we recommend some memorization. It is especially important for the children to know the books of the Bible and certain passages from the Bible (such as the Ten Commandments) and from the Book of Common Prayer. Other Bible passages are important as “spiritual guideposts.” We suggest memorization exercises in each lesson.

We’ve provided suggestions for ways to help children with their memorization on page 15 in the Appendix, also found on the website.

Note: Though memorization is recommended primarily for intermediate-aged children, some passages, such as the Lord’s Prayer, may be appropriate assignments for younger children.

Weaving Our Faith (2- 5 minutes)As God’s people, our faith and our lives are woven together from the sacred story of God and our own

personal and sacred stories. In order to know how God’s story is connected to our own stories, we first need to be able to tell God’s story. Then, to weave the story into our faith and our lives, we need to understand the story so we can absorb it in our minds and hearts.

As the class draws to a close, help the children begin this weaving process by asking them a few questions such: ■ What was our story about today? ■ Who (or what) did we talk about? ■ What did we learn from the story?



Such questions help the children assimilate the story and also provide them with a simple synopsis of what they have learned.

Closing PrayerA closing prayer sends the children into the church worship service or back to their homes

with God’s love and blessing. Try to say a closing prayer before the first child has to leave (choir members or acolytes may need to part early). We provide a sample prayer in every lesson.

End the class with a dismissal that is used in your church, such as: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” The children reply: “Thanks be to God.”

T H E F I R ST D AYThe first day of church school (Sunday school) is often chaotic and hectic. Parents are there with their children. Enrollment forms need to be filled out. Teachers and children meet each other for the first time. Children meet each other for the first time or greet each other after a summer’s absence.

There is a lot to do and a lot to share. We recommend that you spend the first day of church school—or at least part of the first day—forming bonds and setting goals as described below.

Our FocusJesus gave us two commandments: love God and love one another. Similarly, we focus on two essential elements in the church school class: encountering and loving God and building community and loving each other in our community. The first day will be a good beginning if you can move the class in this direction.

We want our children to know at the beginning that they are here to encounter God, especially God in Jesus Christ. Sharing this fundamental goal with

them is important in setting the tone for the rest of the year.

We also want to encourage the children to build community and friendships within their group. As Christians, our spirituality includes life with others. It is important that we worship together, break bread together, serve one another, seek God together. In church school, this building of community, together seeking God, is part of what the Church is all about.

Forming Bonds and Setting GoalsAfter the paperwork is finished, the children are properly enrolled and the parents have left, you can begin the class. Following are some suggestions.

WelcomeWelcome the children warmly and introduce yourself. Have the children introduce themselves. If you wish, make name tags for this Sunday and perhaps for the next several Sundays until everyone has learned each other’s name.

Getting-Acquainted GamesYou may want to begin the class with one or two getting-to-know-you games. Older children especially enjoy these games. (Preschool children may be too young for this kind of activity.) You will find two icebreakers at the end of this section, on pages 22-24.

Sharing Ask the children to sit down and invite them to share something about themselves. If they are older, you may ask them to fill out a questionnaire for your use, asking such questions as favorites, special days and special interests or concerns (these questionnaires should be confidential). For group sharing, introduce topics that are easy to talk about and not threatening, such as school likes and dislikes, family vacations and hobbies or sports.



Church School Introduction Take a few minutes to talk about church school, saying: ■ We are here to learn about God who created us,

loves us, sustains us, protects us. We will learn especially about how God showed God’s love for us by sending God’s Son, Jesus Christ to live and die among us and for us.

■ The story of God-with-us is in the Bible, and we will learn how the Bible is not just the story of God but the story of God-and-us.

Tell the children—in greater detail if they are older—what you hope the class will learn during the year and what you plan to cover (scripture, seasons of the Church year, special days, sacraments, etc.).

Rules It is important at this time to go over the rules of the class in order to ensure that the class runs smoothly. It may be a good idea to have the rules posted on the wall for children old enough to read.

SnackProvide simple snacks. Food encourages togetherness and fellowship! When was the climax of Jesus’ ministry with his disciples? At the Last Supper!

God and MeAs an introduction to the focus of the church school, an activity that encourages the children to begin thinking about their own relationship with God may be helpful. You’ll find directions for this activity at the end of this section, on pages 22-23.

For very young children, a simple coloring activity (such as coloring a picture of Jesus with children) will work.

Class or Individual CraftsYou may want to work on a craft that establishes the identity of the group or of each child within the group.

For the younger children, something like an individual pennant would be a fun way to help the children celebrate who they are as a prelude to celebrating whose they are. (We belong to God!) Another idea would be to have the children make placemats for themselves, which they can use during each lesson’s Sharing time. You’ll find directions for these activities at the end of this section on pages 19-20.

For older children, a group banner or symbol would be fun and help create a group identity through a shared project. To further enhance their community, have the children give their group a name that they can identify with. (One church school had groups call themselves Funky Fish, Silly Stars, Trippin’ Turtles and Cool Cats, with a special banner for each.) You’ll find directions for this project at the end of this section, on page 21.

PrayerWe suggest that you open and close your class with a prayer to God, giving thanks for bringing everyone together and asking for God’s guidance during the year. You might also ask to be shown the light of God’s love, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember, our focus is to learn to love God and to love one another. And have fun this year!


I A M S P EC I A L P L AC E M AT Sfor Preschool, Primary

Children make place mats to honor their individual uniqueness.

Materialsconstruction papercrayons or markersany special decorative items you wishclear shelf paperscissors

Directions:Invite each child to make a placemat. Help the younger children as needed. Give the children these directions:

1. In large colorful print write I am special on a piece of construction paper.

2. Add your name then decorate your placemat.

3. Cover your placemat with clear shelf paper and trim the edges.

19 | THE FIRST DAY | WEAVING OUR FAITH, YEAR 1 | CRAFT



I N D I V I D U A L P E N N A N T Sfor Preschool, Primary, Elementary

Children make pennants celebrating their special qualities.

Materials:instant print camera with film or digital camera and printerconstruction paper or felt scissorsdowel or balloon sticksmarkers or crayons

Preparation:Cut the construction paper or felt into pennant shapes, one for each child.

Directions:Take a photo of each child and invite the children to make personal pennants. Help the younger children as needed. Give the children these directions:

1. Glue your photo onto a pennant shape then decorate your pennant with markers or crayons.

2. On your pennant write a word that describes what God sees in you (helpful, loving, gentle, kind, creative, etc.) then add a word on others’ pennants to describe what God sees in them.

3. Tape a dowel stick or balloon stick on the end of your pennant.



C L A S S B A N N E Rfor Elementary, Intermediate

Children give the class a name and make a class banner.

Materials:2 dowel sticks large construction paper or butcher papermasking tapemarkersdecorative materials (ribbons, streamers, felt)scissors

Directions:Invite the children to work together to make a class banner. Give the children these directions:

1. Tape two dowel sticks together, either like this:

Or like this:

2. Decide as a group what the class name should be, then design a symbol if you wish.

3. Work together to design your banner, then draw the design with markers on the large sheet of construction paper or butcher paper.

4. Decorate the banner, then tape it onto the taped-together sticks.

5. If desired, use ribbons or streamers to decorate the ends.



G O D A N D M E : P E R S O N A L CO AT O F A R M S

for Intermediate

Children make personal coats of arms.

We use our character, our gifts and our talents in God’s service. Here the children begin to find out what some of these are.

Materials:Coat of Arms Pattern (p. 23)markers and pencils

Preparation:Make copies of the Coat of Arms Pattern, one for each child.

Directions:Distribute copies of the Coat of Arms Pattern and invite each child to make a personal coat of arms. Give the children these directions:

1. On your coat of arms, draw a picture or symbol that tells something about you or your family: — church involvement — greatest achievement — leisure activities — community or school involvement — most important thing in your life — future plans

2. Add to the drawing three words to describe your family (or a three-word family motto). Enter these words on the banner line (7).

3. Use this personal coat of arms to introduce yourself.

This idea comes from Encountering Christ in the Episcopal Church by Charlotte N. Molrine and Ronald C. Molrine (Morehouse Publishing, 1999), p. 3


CO AT O F A R M S PAT T E R N

23 | THE FIRST DAY | WEAVING OUR FAITH, YEAR 1 | CRAFT CONTINUED


24 | THE FIRST DAY | WEAVING OUR FAITH, YEAR 1 | ACTIVITY

G E T T I N G -TO - K N O W-Y O U G A M Efor Elementary, Intermediate

Make copies of the list below, 1 per child. Distribute the list and ask the children to follow the instructions. Allow about 10 minutes to complete the list.

Find someone else in the room who:

...has the same favorite book, story or author as you.

...uses the same color toothbrush as you.

...wears the same size shoe as you.

...has the same favorite toy as you.

...has the same number of brothers and sisters as you.

...was born in the same month as you.

...owns the same kind of pet as you.

...has the same favorite animal as you.

...ate the same thing for breakfast as you.

...has the same favorite TV show as you.

...can say “prickly pickled porcupine Popsicle” with you three times.


25 | THE FIRST DAY | WEAVING OUR FAITH, YEAR 1 | ACTIVITY

W H I C H A R E Y O U L I K E ?for Primary, Elementary, Intermediate

Children choose which of two contrasting but related items they are more like, helping them develop a sense of themselves and others and encouraging them to get to know each other.

You can play this game at the very beginning of the session or as a break from other activities.

Preparation:Before the class, make up a series of pairs of related but contrasting items that children can relate to, such as breakfast/dinner or summer/winter. Include fun and even silly things that kids know about. Some examples:

couch or rocking chairattic or basementbath or showergreen or redSaturday or Wednesdaywater or dirtchocolate or strawberrypizza or ice creambeach or mountainonion or applesnow or suncandle or flashlightbreakfast or dinnerkite or ballrunning or hoppingTV show or bookcow or mousepaper or rockT-rex or brontosauruseyes or ears


Directions:Invite the children to play this icebreaker game.

1. Choose two opposite sides of the room to be the bases—one side for the first choice, the other side for the second choice.

2. Call out one pair of items, asking the question “Are you more like (name an item) or (name a contrasting item)?”

3. Children run to one side of the room if they are like the first thing named, and to the other side if they are like the other thing. Call out the choices fast!

What is the point?God loves us so much that God gave God’s only Son to be with us. All of us are different and God loves each and every one of us. Jesus probably had his favorites when he was here with us! What do you think he liked? Even if he liked different things than we do, he loves us just as much!

26 | THE FIRST DAY | WEAVING OUR FAITH, YEAR 1 | ACTIVITY CONTINUED



G O I N G -TO - C H U R C H B O O K S for Primary, Elementary

Children make books of pictures showing what they do at church.

Materials:Church Pattern (p. 28)white drawing papercrayons or markersscissorsstaplerfine-tipped marker

Preparation:Make copies of the Church Pattern, several copies for each child.

Directions:Give each of the children several copies of the Church Pattern and invite each child to make a going-to-church book. Give the children these directions:

1. Write (Your Name) Goes to Church on one of the church outlines. This will be the cover of your book.

2. On the cover draw the church’s door, window and other details.

3. On other pages, draw and color pictures of what you do at church, using as many pages as you wish.

4. Staple the book together.

C H U R C H PAT T E R N





C H U R C H - A N D - C H I L D P I C T U R E Sfor Preschool, Primary

Children decorate church cut-outs that frame their photos.

Materials:Church Pattern (p. 30)poster board or construction paperinstant camera with film or digital camera and printerscissorsgluecrayons

Preparation:Make copies of the Church Pattern on poster board or construction paper. Cut out one church for each child. Then cut a door, large enough for a photo, in each church.

Directions:Hand out the church cut-outs and invite each child to make a church-and-child picture:

1. Take a picture of each child.

2. Carefully put glue around the borders of each photo and place a church picture on top as a frame.

3. On the church, write the words (name of church) welcomes (name of child) or (name of child) goes to church. Primary children may be able to write the words themselves, or at least their names.

4. Invite the children to color their churches.

C H U R C H PAT T E R N



Summary of Today’s StoryAfter God created the world, God created the first man, called Adam.

Adam gives names to all of the animals, and then is given a partner, a woman whom he names Eve. Their home is a garden called Eden. They are told by God that they may eat any of the fruit from the garden except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but Adam and Eve disobey God by eating the forbidden fruit. God sends them out of the Garden of Eden.

L e S S o n 1Fall and Exile from the Garden of Eden

Where You’ll Find Today’s StoryIn the BibleWe recommend the New Revised Standard Version Bible.

Genesis 2 –3

In Children’s BiblesIf you plan to use a children’s Bible for storytelling, write the page numbers of today’s story in the space below.

In our Sunday LectionaryToday’s story is told in church on the following Sundays:

Year A: First Sunday in LentYear B: Proper 5 (Sunday closest to June 1) Year C: Proper 22 (Sunday closest to

October 5)


2 | LeSSon 1 | FaLL and exILe From The Garden oF eden | WeaVInG oUr FaITh, Year 1


Weaving our Story with the Biblical StoryThe Bible is like a book of chapters, with different stories

about God and us. This is the beginning of our story.

When God created the world, all was “good.” But we turned against God. Today’s story is the story of the first time we failed God. There’s not much cheer at the end of this story, but it is only the first chapter: how we messed up.

Notice how we put ourselves first before God. The consequence is unbearable loss, not just for us but also for God, who mourns for us. By our sin we drive ourselves out of right relationship with God, out of righteousness. The punishment is death, where death is separation from God, the giver of life.

We can see how this could happen by looking at our own relationships now and in the past, how some of our actions might cause separation and alienation from our loved ones.

After this story come a series of stories that tell how we continually fail God by trusting in ourselves rather than trusting in God, and how God continues to stay with us, pardon us and save us, even as we repeatedly abandon God.

The next big experience of loss like this one is the loss of Israel, when the people are conquered and exiled from their Promised Land and sent into Babylonia. But that comes later. First let us deal with our own falling away from God.

Remember, though, that the primary message of the stories in the Bible, including today’s story, is that God stays with us—no matter what.

The episcopal ThreadIn our Eucharistic Prayer C, we acknowledge our sinfulness. After praising God for creation of the

wonderful universe, the celebrant says:

From the primal elements you brought forth the human race, and blessed us with memory, reason, and skill. You made us the rulers of creation. But we turned against you, and betrayed your trust; and we turned against one another (BCP, p. 370).

Our proclivity toward sin is acknowledged in other places in our Prayer Book. We acknowledge our sinfulness in the General Confession (p. 330), which we say each week in Holy Eucharist. In times when we are unable to “cleanse ourselves from sin” (Psalm 51) through the General Confession, the Church allows a Rite of Penitence, a private confession made to a priest at times other than the Sunday Eucharist.

The story of the Fall is told in Lent. We recognize the finitude of our lives and bodies—without God, there is death—at our Ash Wednesday service. As the ashes are placed on our foreheads, the priest says to us, repeating God’s words to Adam and Eve as God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We are not left with such hopelessness. The mark made on our forehead with ashes is the sign of the cross to remind us that in Christ—and through his death and resurrection—there is life.

Not all Christian denominations understand creation and sin the same way. Anglicans believe that creation is good because God made it. And we believe that humanity is good, though we do fall into sin. We do not believe, as the Calvinists do, in the “total depravity of humanity.” God made us, blessed us and called our creation “very good.” We turned away from God, but we are not inherently evil. We do sin but we cannot blame it on the “serpent.”



GatheringAs the children enter the room, have them do a simple, quiet, but fun activity

connected with creation. On pages 12-13, you’ll find two Gathering Activity handouts to use if you wish. Or you might set out play dough and have the children mold a boy and girl resembling Adam and Eve. You could also bring in a few natural objects and have children glue the items onto a piece of construction paper to make a Garden of Eden scene.

As an option for the younger children, you might have them make finger puppets of the characters from today’s story to use during Telling the Story. You’ll find directions and patterns on pages 14-15 in the activity section at the end of this lesson.

As an option for older children, you might offer a brief fellowship time, giving the children an opportunity to visit with each other, establish friendships and build community. Relationships are an important dimension of Christian formation, so a few minutes of visiting will enrich their spiritual development.

After all the children have arrived and had a few minutes of activity or fellowship time, gather them together and say a simple opening prayer, for example: ■ Thank you, Lord, for all of us being here. Please

stay with us as we hear your story and learn about your love today. This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen.

Another good prayer would be one from the Celtic tradition. If you have a book of Celtic prayers, use one of them. These prayers offer thanks and acknowledge God in all activities, no matter how small. You can make up your own Celtic-style prayer, like this one: ■ God be in our hearts today,

God be in our ears today as we listen, God be in our hands today as we create,

God be in the things that we make, the words that we say, and the love that we give. Amen.

Telling the StoryRead aloud today’s story from a children’s Bible, showing the pictures, tell the story in your own words, or read from the version of

the story we provide, found on pages 8-11.

To bring the story to life, try one of these suggestions for enhanced storytelling: ■ When telling the story, use voice inflections and

hand movements. ■ Use a flannel board with felt or paper figures as

you are telling the story. ■ Use a stock photo or computer image to set the

scene for the story. For today’s story, you could show a picture of a lush natural garden or a forest or a gentle waterfall with quiet pool.

There are many ways to bring a story to life for the children. Here are a few additional storytelling enhancements that would work well with this story:

Puppets: If the children made finger puppets during today’s Gathering time, invite them to use the puppets as you tell the story.

Story in a Bag: Put a few props in a paper bag and pull out the appropriate items while telling the story.

For today’s story, use: ■ a couple of twigs or branches to symbolize the

tree of knowledge of good and evil ■ a piece of fruit ■ a toy or stuffed lizard ■ a toy or stuffed snake (remember, the serpent

originally had legs!) ■ large leaves for the humans’ new clothes ■ outlined paper dolls or something similar for

Adam and Eve



Interactive Storytelling: Invite the children to listen for key words as you read or tell the story and then to respond as follows when they hear these words:

God Praise to you! (Lift hands in air.) Adam Welcome to earth! Eve Listen to God! Serpent BOOO! Walking Make walking noises by pounding hands on floor or thighs.

The story about Adam and Eve is an important part of this year’s story—the story of our salvation—but you do not need to explain or analyze it, nor do you need to ask the children to explore its meaning at this time. For now, we just want the children to absorb the story in their minds and hearts and to remember its power. Later, while having snacks, you can bring up the story again and invite the children to talk about it.

PrayerSet up a small worship center in your classroom.

materialssmall table with a cloth to cover it2 candles or a single large Christ candlematchesBiblecrossoptional: flowers (real, fake or handmade by the children)

Have the children set up a simple altar with the materials listed above. Invite them to place on the altar any drawings or crafts that they created during the Gathering. Then light the candles.

Read one or two verses from today’s scripture to help the children connect the story that they just heard with the Bible. If working with older children, you might expand the reading to several verses, though we recommend keeping the reading short.

Suggestions for the reading:

For younger children: Genesis 2:15

For older children: Genesis 2:15-17

Help familiarize the children with our liturgy by doing the reading as it is done in church. Read as follows:

Reader: A reading from the book of Genesis: (Read the selected passage.)

Reader: The word of the Lord.

All: Thanks be to God.

Invite the children to sit in a circle and join in prayer. Say a brief prayer then invite prayers from each child in the circle: ■ Ask for prayers of thanks for God’s work in our

lives during the past week—at home, at school, with family or friends. This helps the children to gradually gain an awareness of God’s constant presence in their everyday lives.

■ Welcome intercessory prayers, asking for God’s help or presence. Encourage children to pray for themselves or for others who are in any need or trouble.

■ Ask if anyone has had a birthday or celebrated a special day during the past week and give thanks for these special times.

■ End the prayer time by praying together the Lord’s Prayer.

Carefully extinguish the candles.



SharingPass out snacks and say a simple grace, such as:

■ Bless, O Lord, this food to our use and us to your loving service, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Or share a favorite grace that you or one of the children say at home.

This is an excellent time, while sharing a snack, to begin talking about the story that the children have just heard and to elicit their reactions to it. As you share food and drink with each other, encourage everyone to share their feelings and thoughts.

There may be many questions about what Adam and Eve did and about God’s response to their wrongdoing, for example: ■ What did Adam and Eve do that was wrong? ■ Are there any parallels to our own actions? ■ How do we disobey God?

Some say that the first sin was pride, or trying to be like God, or simply disobeying God’s command. Ask: ■ What do you think?

Remind children that God did not sentence these people to death, that humans in effect sentenced themselves to alienation and separation from God.



activities: arts, Crafts, Games, drama, etc.

After Sharing, begin an activity to supplement and enhance today’s story. While the children are doing an activity, talk about the story so they make the connection.

Suggested story-related activities are provided at the end of this lesson. These activities about Adam and Eve in the garden are meant to reinforce the idea that God loves us and stays with us, no matter what. God loved and stayed with Adam and Eve, even though God would not allow them to live in the Garden of Eden with the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Additional activity ideas can be found on pages 3-6 in the Appendix where we’ve provided suggestions and directions for a variety of general activities that can be adapted to any lesson. Also included are outreach and service projects that can be done at any time.

Take-home Paper

At the end of this lesson you will find a two-page take-home paper for families called Threads. Threads provides parents with a briefer version of the information on scripture and Episcopal faith found in the introduction to the lesson, as well as multiple suggestions for household activities and prayer. Parents can use Threads to continue each child’s classroom experience at home throughout the week. We suggest duplicating and distributing these two pages to children and/or their parents at the end of each lesson.

aCTIVITIeS For ThIS Week’S SeSSIon



memorizationInvite the older (intermediate) children to begin memorizing

the books of the Bible, beginning with the Old Testament books. By the time these children enter junior high, they should know the placement of the books of the Bible so they can quickly turn to Bible passages.

You’ll find suggestions for ways to help the children with their memorization on page 15 in the Appendix, also found on the Website.

Weaving our FaithAs the class draws to a close, help the children weave today’s lesson together with their life experiences and their own thoughts and ideas by asking

questions such as: ■ What was our story about today? ■ What did we learn from this story? ■ What did we learn about God? ■ What did we learn about ourselves?

Encourage the children to remember key words or phrases from today’s story, such as: ■ obey ■ sin ■ God stays with us.

Closing PrayerBefore the children leave, say a closing prayer to send them into

the church worship service or back to their homes with God’s love and blessing. The prayer can be very simple, such as this one: ■ Thank you, God, for being here with us today.

Send us now back to our homes, our families and friends in peace. May we spread your love to all whom we meet this week. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

End the class with a dismissal that is used in church, such as: ■ Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.

The children respond: ■ Thanks be to God!


8 | LeSSon 1 | FaLL and exILe From The Garden oF eden | WeaVInG oUr FaITh, Year 1 | STorY

GeneSIS 2–3God Creates the World

This is God’s story about us. Science tells us how we were made. God’s story tells us why we are here. This is a story about how God made us to be with God, and how we messed up.

In the very beginning of the world, there is only ground, it is just dust, and nothing grows on it because there’s no rain yet. Then out of the ground a little stream of water bubbles up and waters the ground so it becomes dirt, and then green grasses, and then plants and trees.

Then God takes some of the dust, and God makes it into the form of a man, with eyes and nose and mouth, hands and feet and body. Then—because God’s breath is the breath of life—God blows some of God’s breath into the nostrils of the man. Now the man is alive. He is called Adam.

Then God plants a wonderful garden in a place called Eden. God puts trees with fruit for the man to eat, trees that are just pretty to look at, one single tree called the tree of life, and one single tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then God plunks the man down into the middle of this garden and says to him,

“Now look at all these trees with wonderful fruit that is good for you to eat. You can eat the fruit from every single tee except this tree here, the one I call the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat the fruit from that tree, you will die. But look, you have lots of other things to eat and enjoy!”


9 | LeSSon 1 | FaLL and exILe From The Garden oF eden | WeaVInG oUr FaITh, Year 1 | STorY ConTInUed

God Creates humansAnd then God looks around. God sees that this man is all by himself in this

garden. So God says, “It’s not good for this man to be all by himself. I’ll make him a partner!” So God took some of the dust, like when God made the man, and God made animals to be with the man. God made cows and horses, lizards and frogs, dogs and cats, and what else?

The man gives names to all the animals. He names the long, slimy one a snake, and the big bird with the long neck he calls an ostrich. He sees a strange creature digging in the dirt and calls it an anteater because that’s what it does. He gives names to all the fishes and the birds and the bats and mice and crawly things and cuddly things—and then the man is tired.

But out of all these animals, the man can’t find a partner, someone he could talk to and laugh with and just sit with. So God makes him a partner who looks like him. She has eyes, nose and mouth, two arms and two legs and a body. She talks like he does. She becomes his partner and friend. She is Eve.

The First SinNow one of the creatures that God made is a smart creature called a serpent.

The serpent can talk. We don’t know why he did what we are about to hear him do, but this is God’s story, not our story. And in God’s story, this is what happens when we disobey God.

Eve is sitting by herself, and the serpent comes up to her. He says, “Did God say you can eat any fruit in this garden?”

Eve says, “God told us we can eat any fruit except the one from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—that tree over there in the middle of the garden. He told us that if we eat that fruit, we will die.”

But the serpent says, “Oh, no, you won’t really die. God just told you that because it’s a special fruit. If you eat it, you will know what’s good and what’s bad, and you will be just like God. Don’t you want to be like God?”



Eve looks at the tree again. The fruit looks pretty. It looks good to eat. And she does want to be wise. Who wouldn’t? So she picks a piece of the fruit, wipes it off, and takes a bite. It is good. And nothing happened—she’s still alive!

So she takes her piece of fruit and goes off to find her partner, Adam. He looks a little surprised when he sees her with this delicious piece of fruit in her hand. When she holds it out to him, he takes a bite, too.

It doesn’t happen all of a sudden, like a lightning bolt or a rug swept out from under them or a magic spell. But it just happens. Now they know what they didn’t know before. Now they know they are naked and need to hide their private parts from each other. So they take some big leaves—that’s the first thing they can find—and they make some clothes and put them on.

God Finds out What adam and eve didThen Adam and Eve hear a sound. They hear the sound of God walking in

the garden in the cool of the evening. They know that God will be angry, so they hide from God in the thick trees. But you can’t hide from God.

God calls out to Adam, “Where are you?’ even though God knows perfectly well where he is.

Adam doesn’t know how to lie yet, so he comes out from behind his tree and says, “I heard you coming in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked. So I hid. Here I am.”

God knows that Adam would only know he’s naked if he has eaten that fruit. So God says, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from that tree—that one single tree that I told you not to eat from? That one tree?”

Adam says, “Well, this woman here handed it to me, so I ate it.”

God turns to Eve, who is as afraid as Adam. God says, “So, what did you just do?”

Just like the man blamed the woman, so the woman blames the serpent. “That serpent over there, he tricked me! I ate it because he talked me into it! It wasn’t my fault!”



God looks at the serpent, who hides trembling behind a tree. And God looks at Eve, and then Adam. They have done very wrong.

So, because the tree of life is still in that garden in Eden, God drives Adam and Eve out of that garden. And then God puts some of his heavenly beings, called the cherubim, to guard the way and to keep out anyone who tries to get in. With a flaming sword, the cherubim stand guard over the Garden of Eden, the paradise that God had made for us.


G aT h e r I n G aC T I V I T YY o U r a n I m a L C r e aT I o n

One more animal is needed for the Garden of Eden. If you could create your own animal, what would it look like? Draw it below.

12 | LeSSon 1 | FaLL and exILe From The Garden oF eden | WeaVInG oUr FaITh, Year 1 | aCTIVITY


G aT h e r I n G aC T I V I T Y ad a m a n d e V e

Follow the line of this tree to find out what the Bible says about how God made the first man.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (Genesis 2:7, NRSV).



F I n G e r P U P P e T Sfor Preschool

Children make finger puppets of the characters from today’s story. If you have the children make these puppets during today’s Gathering time, they can use them to interact with you during today’s storytelling time.

materials:Puppet Patterns (p. 15)scissorscrayons or markerstoilet tissue, wrapping paper or paper towel tubetape or stapleroptional: pieces of fabric, fake hair

Preparation:Make copies of the Puppet Patterns. Cut out one puppet for each child. Cut the tube into 1" rings.

directions:Distribute the cut-out figures and invite each child to make a simple finger puppet:

1. Have children color their puppet figures then help them attach their puppets to tube rings.

2. To attach a puppet to a tube ring: — Hold the puppet upright on the table and place a tube ring at the back, circle facing up-down. This will

ensure that the puppet can stand on the floor or table if not used on the finger. — Then staple or tape the tube onto the back of the puppet.

Variation:For a fancier puppet, provide fabrics and fake hair to decorate the figures.

14 | LeSSon 1 | FaLL and exILe From The Garden oF eden | WeaVInG oUr FaITh, Year 1 | CraFT

15 | LeSSon 1 | FaLL and exILe From The Garden oF eden | WeaVInG oUr FaITh, Year 1 | CraFT ConTInUed



a P P L e S h aV e T h e I r G o o d S I d e !for Preschool, Primary

Children don’t eat these apples; they use them as stamps.

materials:apples, 1 per childknife to cut apples (for teacher only)tempera paintconstruction paper or white paperplain wrapping paper or butcher paper, cut in sheetsstyrofoam food trayspaper towels

Preparation:Cut each apple horizontally so that the star design on the bottom of the apple shows. This is the stamp. To make a stamp pad, saturate folded paper towels with tempera paint in disposable food trays. Make two or three stamp pads of different colors.

directions: Show the children how to gently press the star design of the apple on the stamp pad then firmly press the paint-coated apple on the paper. Then invite them to make one of the following:

■ a note card: Fold a piece of construction or white paper in half and make an apple impression on the front.

■ wrapping paper: Press the paint-coated apple on a large sheet of light-weight paper, making several impressions to create a design. Use all the colors available to make the design more interesting.

■ a place mat: On a piece of construction paper, make an apple impression in two corners, diagonally opposite each other—or create an original design!



ad a m a n d e V e P o P- U P B o o k Sfor Primary

Children make simple pop-up books with Adam and Eve hidden between folded hands.

materials:yellow construction paper9" x 12" pink or tan construction paper scissorstapecrayons or markers, pencils

Preparation:Fold the yellow construction paper in half and draw a simple doll figure on it, with one arm on the fold (see diagram) and cut out the figure. Make one for each child.

directions: Hand out the cut-out paper doll and invite each child to make an Adam and Eve pop-up book. Help the younger children as needed. Give the children these directions:

1. Fold a piece of construction paper in half and place your hand on the paper with the outside of the hand and pinky finger along the fold. Trace around your hand with a pencil.

2. Cut out your hand pattern, making sure to keep the fold intact. Put a dot on the inside part of each hand, about 3" apart. This will be the cover of your book.

3. Color the paper doll (on both sides of the fold), making one side Adam and the other side Eve. Then fold the two outer arms of the paper doll backwards at the “wrist” position.

4. Put a dab of glue on each dot inside the hand-shaped cover and glue the free arms of the doll to the dots, making sure that the decorated part of the figures show. (Check that the children have glued the Adam and Eve figure in correctly so it pops up when the hand is opened.)



S n a k e S I n T h e G a r d e nfor Preschool, Primary

Children make snakes from paper plates.

materials:paper plates, 1 per childscissorsmarkers or crayons

Preparation:On each plate, draw a spiral. At the center of the spiral, in the middle of the plate, draw the face of a snake. Older primary children may want to draw the faces themselves.

directions:Hand out the prepared paper plates and invite each child to make a spiral snake. Help the younger children as needed. Give the children these directions:

1. Color your snake with markers or crayons.

2. Cut the paper plates along the spiral line.

3. Attach a piece of string to your snake for hanging.



a n G e L S W I T h F L a m I n G S W o r d Sfor Preschool, Primary

Children make stand-up angels with “flaming swords” resembling the angel that God placed at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.

materials:Angel Pattern (p. 20)toilet paper tubescrayons or markersfrilly party toothpicksscissors

Preparation:Make copies of the Angel Pattern, one for each child.

directions:Pass out the Angel Pattern and invite each child to make a special angel. Help the younger children as needed. Give the children these directions:

1. Cut out and color your angel.

2. With the end of a toothpick, carefully make small holes where shown on the hand of the angel.

3. Give your angel a “flaming sword” by poking a toothpick in the top hole and out the other hole, with the frill on top.

4. Put a strip of glue along the side of a toilet paper tube and press the angel onto it. Make sure to keep the bottom of the angel’s dress level with the bottom of the tube so that the angel will stand up.




a n G e L PaT T e r n

✁


G a r d e n o F e d e n STo r Y W h e e L Sfor elementary, Intermediate

Children make story wheels that tell today’s story.

materials:paper plates, 1 per childcopies of the Story Wheel Patterns (pp. 22-23)paper fastenerscrayons or markerspaper clipsgluetransparent tapescissors

Preparation:Make a copy of the Story Wheel Patterns for each child.

directions:Hand out the patterns and invite each child to make a Garden of Eden story wheel. Give the children these directions:

1. Color a picture of the Garden of Eden on the circle with the triangle shape at the top. Glue this picture onto a paper plate.

2. Cut out the triangle from the upper center of the picture and plate.

3. Cut out the story wheel and dial.

4. Draw four pictures depicting the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, in chronological order. (Encourage the children to pick scenes that are important to them from today’s story. Though telling the same story, every child may pick different scenes.)

5. Turn the wheel over and tape on the paper clip, leaving half of it extended over the side of the circle. This is the dial for turning the wheel.

6. With paper fasteners, attach the story circle to the back of the paper plate so that the pictures show through the window.




STo r Y W h e e L PaT T e r n



STo r Y W h e e L PaT T e r n 2


Pa r T Y a n I m a L Sfor elementary, Intermediate

Adam and Eve have invited the animals to come to a party in the garden—but they don’t know which animals are coming. They must guess the names of the animals when they arrive.

Children play the parts of Adam or Eve and the animals in this guessing game.

Preparation:Cut up small pieces of paper. On each piece, write down the name of an animal.

directions:Invite the children to play the Party Animals game:

1. Pick one person to be Adam or Eve. The rest of the children are animals. Give each of them a piece of paper with the name of an animal written on it. Tell the children to keep their animal identity a secret.

2. Adam or Eve pretends to be in the garden puttering around, waiting for the invited guests to arrive. One by one, the animals come and act their part. They cannot make any noise, only act out their animal part. (If this is too difficult, let them make their animal noise as a hint.)

3. Adam or Eve tries to guess what animal the child is playing. Animals can come in one by one, or in quick sequence. When their animal name is guessed, the child sits down. Play until Adam or Eve has guessed the names of all the animals.



W h o a m I ?for Primary, elementary, Intermediate

Children guess what animals they are in this game played like 20 Questions.

materials:index cards or small pieces of paperpen or markertape

Preparation:On each card or piece of paper, write the name of an animal. Children love this game, so make more than one per child so the game can be played more than once.

directions:Invite the children to play the Who Am I game:

1. Tape a card onto the back of each child. Explain: — You are one of the new animals that God created. But who? — You must guess who you are by asking the other children questions about yourself. The questions can be

only “yes” or “no” questions, for example: “Am I brown?” or “Do I like to play in the mud?” or “Do I have fur?”

2. When a child has guessed correctly, give him or her another card, or wait until everyone has guessed correctly.

Option: 1. Pick one person to be Adam or Eve, who will guess the animal names.

2. Give a card with an animal name to three other children. Tell them to keep their animal names a secret.

3. Adam or Eve asks each child a question, like “Do you live in the water?” That child answers “yes” or “no.” For an easier game, Adam or Eve can ask questions like “What kinds of food do you eat?”

4. After a few questions, Adam or Eve tries to guess the animal.



a n I m a L Pa I r Sfor Preschool, Primary

Children make animal sounds in search of their partners in this animal pair-up game.

materials:index cards or small pieces of paperoptional: bag or hat

Preparation:On each card or piece of paper or card, draw a picture of an animal or tape or glue a magazine picture. Make two cards of each animal. The animals should be simple to imitate and to guess by their sounds, such as a dog, cat, cow, pig , duck or bird.

directions:Invite the children to play the Animal Pairs game:

1. Show each of the children a card with a picture of an animal on it or have them draw a card out of a bag or hat. Tell them to keep their animal names a secret. Explain:

— You are a lonely animal! Find your animal partner, using only your animal sound.

2. At your signal, ask each of the children to make their animal’s sound and go in search of their animal partner, the one who is making the same sound.

3. When they find each other, the animal pairs run together to a predetermined base—for example, a corner of the room, a certain chair or you.



n a m e T h aT a n I m a Lfor elementary, Intermediate

Adam has been instructed by God to name the animals that God has made. When Adam names the animals, they turn and run home. Adam chases them, trying to catch one.

Children play Adam and the animals in this variation of tag.

materials:masking tape

Preparation:Put a line of tape across the hallway or room, as shown in the illustration below. Behind the far side of the line is home.

directions:Invite the children to play the Name that Animal game:

1. Choose one child to be Adam. Have Adam stand at one end of the room. All the other children stand together behind the masking tape line, at the other end of the room.

2. The group chooses to be an animal from God’s creation, without Adam hearing. They then walk up to Adam and dance around him, acting like that animal and making that animal’s noises and no other sounds.

3. Adam tries to guess the name of the animal. When he does, all the animals run home while Adam tries to catch one.

4. If an animal is caught by Adam, he or she becomes Adam for the next round. If no one is caught, the same person is Adam. Or you may select a new Adam, regardless of who is caught.



S n a k e S o F o B e d I e n C efor Preschool

Children make snakes and put them on leashes.

materials:foam pads, about 1" thick and 3' longscissorsmarkerswide ribbonpaints and paintbrushes red feltstapleryarnoptional: large googly eyes

Preparation:Cut the foam pad into 3" x 3' strips. Make one strip for each child. Cut felt tongues 1" x 3". Cut ribbon into 18" pieces and write Obey God on each piece.

directions:Give each of the children a foam strip, a piece of felt and a piece of ribbon and invite each child to make a snake and put it on a leash.:

1. Ask each child to glue the felt tongue and two googly eyes (or draw them with markers) on one end of the foam strip. (The felt tongue may also need to be stapled.)

2. Then invite the children to decorate the bodies of their snakes as they wish, using markers or paints. You may help the children write the words Love God, love each other on their snakes, if you wish.

3. Tie a ribbon around each snake’s neck for a collar.

4. Help the children attach yarn to their snakes’ collars to make leashes.



a n I m a L h o o k - U P Sfor Primary, elementary

Children create an animal zoo.

materials:pipe cleanerspictures of animalstransparent tapescissorsconstruction paper

Preparation:Cut pipe cleaners into lengths about 6" long.

directions:Ask the children to each pick out a picture of an animal, then invite them to join their animals together to make a zoo. Give the children these directions:

1. Cut out the picture of an animal.

2. On the back of the picture—at the top and the bottom or on the two sides—place two pipe cleaners with at least half of the pipe cleaners extending past the edge of the picture. Tape the ends to the picture.

3. Glue the picture to a piece of construction paper with the pipe cleaner in between. Cut away the construction paper at the edge of the animal picture.

4. Make a hook on the ends of the pipe cleaners.

5. Link the animals together to create a zoo.



S U P e r T e m PTaT I o n Sfor Intermediate

Children take a look at temptations, first in a personal inventory, then in a group discussion.

materials:paperpencils or pensSome Great Things to Have handout (p. 31)Bibles

Preparation:Make copies of the handout, one for each child.

directions:Invite children to participate in this conversation jump-start activity. Begin by saying: ■ We are all tempted by things. Not all temptations are bad. Sometimes we are tempted to do or be something

that is OK in itself but takes us away from God. Let’s look at temptations!

Pass out the worksheet and ask the children to do the exercise.

Give the children a few minutes to write in their answers, then invite them to consider why these things might be “forbidden fruit.” Discuss: ■ What is the down side of getting what you want? For example, what if you did get to live forever?

Read what the Bible has to say about the things we value and why they might be “forbidden fruit.” Help the children look up these passages: ■ Mark 10:35-45 ■ John 3:16 ■ Luke 12:13-21 ■ 1 Corinthians 8:1b-2

Jump-start a conversation with these questions: ■ What does the Bible say about these things we value? ■ Are these things bad in themselves? ■ What makes them bad? (when they take us away from God)



S o m e G r e aT T h I n G S To h aV e

What really makes you drool? Number from 1 (No way!) to 10 (Wow!) what you would be tempted to go to great lengths to get.

___ lots of money

___ X-man power (Describe it below:)

_________________________________________________

___ lots of power

___ living forever

___ lots of friends

___ knowing everything

___ all A’s on tests

31 | LeSSon 1 | FaLL and exILe From The Garden oF eden | WeaVInG oUr FaITh, Year 1 | aCTIVITY ConTInUed

© 2

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www.MorehouseEducation.org

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This lesson contains several stories and can be divided into two or more lessons.

Summary of Today’s StoryIn chapters 8 and 9 in the Gospel of Matthew, we hear many stories of Jesus healing people: ■ A leper (Matthew 8:1-4) ■ A Roman centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13) ■ Peter’s mother-in-law and others (Matthew

8:14-17) ■ The Gadarene “demoniacs” (Matthew 8:28–9:1) ■ A paralyzed man (Matthew 9:2-8) ■ A dead girl and a hemorrhaging woman (Matthew

9:18-25) ■ Two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31) ■ A mute man (Matthew 9:32-34)

L e S S o n 19Jesus Heals the Sick


Matthew 8–9


In our Sunday LectionaryToday’s stories are told in church from the other gospels, not from Matthew.


2 | LeSSon # | TITLe | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1


Weaving our Story with the Biblical StoryBoth Jewish (Talmudic) and

early Christian sources agree that Jesus performed miracles and healing during his lifetime.

In Matthew, Jesus’ healing ministry follows his preaching of the Sermon on the Mount in which he proclaims the kingdom of God. Then he brings the kingdom to earth by bringing people to wholeness, which is the beginning of bringing all of creation to wholeness. Having shown Jesus as Messiah of the word, Matthew now presents Jesus as the Messiah of the deed.

Jesus’ healing power does not prove that he is the Son of God. He is not the Son of God because he healed the sick. Rather, his healing is a sign of God’s presence in him, God working in him as in no other person. The healings are a sign that God, through Jesus, is healing God’s creation, which God promised to do in the fullness of time.

Jesus is God with us. Remember, in the Old Testament, we learned that God stays with us no matter what. Here, Jesus shows himself as the abiding presence of God, making us whole.

And who are those that are healed? In these stories, they are often the outcasts—those who are by Jewish law unclean because of their illnesses. There is the leper, a “demoniac,” a woman with a hemorrhage. There is also the servant of a Gentile soldier, a nod to Jesus’ reaching out to the whole world. Jesus allows access to salvation to all, including those we consider to be outcasts.

As we follow Jesus, we, too, can offer our hospitality and open our arms to all people.

The episcopal ThreadEpiscopalians take a holistic approach to healing. We ask for healing, not curing, knowing that God’s way of healing may not be our way. When

praying for someone and confused about what to ask for, we often say, “We entrust all who are dear to us to your never-failing care and love…knowing that you are doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for…” (BCP, p. 831).

However, the church also recognizes the need to ask God for healing, following Jesus’ ministry of healing. The sacramental rite of Unction of the Sick, also called Ministration to the Sick (BCP, p. 453-461), involves anointing the sick with holy oil or the laying on of hands to summon God’s grace in healing the spirit, mind and body. This suggests a holistic approach to healing, asking God not so much to cure our disease but to make us whole.

Many Episcopal churches also offer anointing or laying on of hands at regular services, including Sunday services. Special services of prayer and healing are also offered at times of critical need.

For prayers for the sick or for use by a sick person, see The Book of Common Prayer, pages 458-461.



gatheringAs children begin to arrive have them share stories about hurts that they have had or

that other people whom they know have had. This will be a lesson on compassion, so be gentle with this sensitive topic.

Primary children are often eager to talk about illness and injury. Preschool children would enjoy a box of play medical equipment. If an additional activity is needed, have them draw a get-well card for the homebound in your church or for someone they know who is sick or injured.

Older children may also use this time to catch up with each other on the past week’s events and enjoy a brief time of fellowship, which is important for building friendships and community.

When everyone has arrived and you are ready to begin the lesson, gather the children together and say a simple opening prayer, such as: ■ Dear God, bless those who are here today [add

names], and those in our class who are absent. And bless this hour that we have together learning about you, Lord, and with your Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Telling the StoryToday’s stories—there are nine or ten of them—are wonderful stories about healing miracles. Read them aloud from a children’s Bible,

showing the pictures, tell the story in your own words, or read from the version of the stories we provide, found on pages 8-14.

You may pick a few stories to tell or you can spend two or more weeks on this lesson and tell all the stories. Jesus’ healing ministry is an important part of his work and reflects the importance of making

people whole and curing the sick, so feel free to expand on this lesson.

Here are a couple of different ways you might tell these stories.

Drama: Pick the stories you want to focus on and write the titles in large letters on separate pieces of paper. You might also add a short summary of each story under its title. At the beginning of each story, hold up the title, then tell the story and invite the children to act it out. Assign the parts or ask for volunteers. Give the children who will be playing the parts the paper with the story title to use as a guide and/or as an opening “marquee.” You’ll find several suggestions of ways to dramatize a story on pages 6-7 in the Appendix at the end of this document.

Expressive storytelling: Put yourself in the place of the afflicted people. Imagine and express their sense of gratitude and awe at being made well!

The Story of the Gadarene Demoniacs (Matthew 8:28-9:1) is a good story for a different kind of expressive storytelling. This story is the closest the Gospels come to comic storytelling and could be told with great fun and imagination! To the Israelites, pigs were not only unclean but funny. To Gentiles (non-Jews), the Jews’ horror of pigs was a subject for laughter and teasing. Some people jokingly call this the story of “deviled ham”! A few props might make this story even more lively. For ideas, see Storytelling Enhancements on pages 2-3 in the Appendix on the Website.

After telling the stories, proceed to Prayer, saving any discussion for later, while having snacks or doing an activity.




Materialssmall table with a cloth to cover it2 candles or a single large Christ candlematchesBiblecrossoptional: flowers (real, fake or handmade by the

children)

Have the children set up a simple altar with the materials listed above. Invite them to place on the altar any drawings or crafts that they created during Gathering time. Then light the candles.

Read one or two verses from today’s scripture to help the children connect the story that they just heard with the Bible. If working with older children, you might expand the reading to several verses.


For younger children: Matthew 8:14- 15 ( Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law)

For older children: Choose a story of a single healing. See the section Summary of the Story for Bible verses.


Reader: A reading from the Gospel of Matthew: (Read the selected passage.)



Invite the children to sit in a circle and join in prayer. Say a brief prayer yourself then invite prayers from each child in the circle: ■ Invite prayers for those who are sick or injured.

Encourage the children to offer prayers for anyone they know who is sick or injured. Add your own prayers for members of your church who you know are not well.

■ Invite prayers of thanks for God’s work in our lives during the past week. Ask children to remember when God has guided them or helped them, whether in school or at home, with friends or family or strangers. Encourage praise and thanksgiving!







■ Give us grateful hearts, O Lord, for all your gifts, and make us mindful of the needs of others, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Or: ■ For this good food and for the people who made

and brought it, let us thank the Lord. Amen.

Or invite children to share favorite table graces from camp or home.

This is a good time, while sharing a snack, to discuss the stories that were read or told or acted out today. Remind children that the people in the stories had long-lasting or permanent illnesses. Encourage children to put themselves in the places of those people. You might ask: ■ How does it feel to be sick for so long? ■ How do you think it felt to be made well? ■ What would you do if you were made better by

someone?

Children can easily connect these stories of illness and healing with their own lives. Jesus heals our hearts and our minds as well as our bodies. Ask: ■ What are times that we have felt sick in heart

(heartbroken), in mind (anxious or worried, afraid), or in body?

■ How can Jesus make us well? Can we trust him in the way that the hemorrhaging woman or the centurion did?

aCTIvITIeS For ThIS Week’S SeSSIon



activities: arts, Crafts, games, Drama, etc.

After Sharing, begin an activity to supplement and enhance today’s story. While the children are doing an activity, talk about the story so that they make the connection.

Suggested story-related activities are provided at the end of this lesson on pages 15-22.


Take-home Paper




MemorizationEncourage the children to continue to memorize the Lord’s

Prayer and the Beatitudes.

You’ll find suggestions for ways to help the children with their memorization on page 15 in the Appendix on the Website.

Weaving our FaithAs the class draws to a close, help the children weave together the lesson and say what they learned today by asking questions such as:

■ What were today’s stories about? ■ Who was in all of these stories? ■ What did he do for all of the people?

Encourage the children to recall key words or phrases from today’s stories such as: healed, miracle, thankfulness.


the church worship service or back to their homes with God’s love and blessing. The prayer can be very simple, such as this one: ■ Thank you, God, for being with us when we are

sick and when we are well. Be with us this week and guide us in whatever we do and wherever we go, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

End the class with a dismissal that is used in church, such as: ■ The peace of the Lord be always with you.

The children respond: ■ And also with you.


MaTTheW 8–9, especially 8:1-4; 8:5-13; 8:14-17;

8:28–9:1; 9:2-8; 9:18-25; 9:27-31; 9:32-34Everybody’s sick! We need a doctor! Who will come and make us well?

Pleas for help“I am a leper. I have sores all over my body and everybody stays away from

me. They are afraid they will get these sores, too. In fact, I can’t even live at home. I live in an old dump with other lepers. I will live here all my life, unless…unless somebody comes and makes me well.”

I am a Roman soldier. I am called a centurion because I am in charge of a hundred soldiers. My servant is very sick. He is paralyzed—he can’t move. So I am seeking help for him. Please help my good servant!”

“I am lying in bed with a fever. I am very, very hot. I don’t know if I have the flu, or scarlet fever, or something a lot worse. I can’t serve dinner to my son Peter and his friends when I am this sick. I wish I could afford a doctor to make me well.”

“They call me a demoniac. That means I have a demon inside me. I spend my time with another demoniac, because we are fierce and mean, and nobody else can be with us. We might hurt somebody. We can’t get rid of these demons!”

“My friend is paralyzed. He had a bad accident and now can’t walk. He lives and sleeps on a mat all day. But he is my friend, and I want to help him. I wish he could use his legs so we can take walks together again. I bet a man of God could heal him. Help me find this man of God!”

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9 | LeSSon 19 | JeSuS heaLS The SICk | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | STorY ConTInueD

“I have been bleeding for 12 years! I am weak from losing all this blood, a little at a time. And Israelites believe that when you are bleeding, you are unclean and need to stay away from people. So I have been all by myself for all these years. No one will be with me. No doctor has ever been able to stop me from bleeding. Is there a doctor who can help me?”

“At least you are alive! My daughter just died! Can somebody bring her back to life?”

“My friend and I are blind. We can’t do anything but beg in the streets. Can somebody give our eyesight back to us so we can see again?”

“I am a demoniac, too. The demon inside me stops me from talking. I have not been able to say a word for many years. Please take this demon from me, somebody!”

Jesus is this somebody. When he is here, people are healed of their sicknesses. Here are their stories.

Jesus heals a leperJesus has just taken a hike in the mountains. When he comes down, a huge

crowd is there waiting for him. At the back of the crowd is a poor leper, dressed in old rags, sores all over him. He runs through the crowd. The people back away from him. “Eew! A leper! Get away from him! Don’t touch him!”

The leper runs up to Jesus and kneels before him. “Lord, if you choose, you can make me well.”

Jesus touches the man. No one dares to touch a leper, but Jesus does. Jesus says to him, “I do choose. Be well!” Suddenly there are no more sores. The man is healed! He runs through the crowd. They are amazed, but they don’t back away from him anymore.

Jesus heals a roman centurion’s servantA Roman soldier comes up to Jesus. Usually the Romans stay away from him.

He has come to serve his people Israel mostly, and they know it. But this one knows about Jesus and believes in his healing powers. He says to Jesus, “Lord,



my servant is lying at home sick. He is paralyzed and can’t move, so I come to you for him. He is suffering and I can’t bear to see him suffer like this.”

Jesus says, “Show me where your home is. I will come and make him well.”

But the soldier says, “No, Lord. I do not deserve to have you come to my house. All I ask you to do is speak the word, and my servant will be well. I know that you have the power to make things happen just by speaking the word. I too am a person with power over my soldiers. When I say ‘Go over there,’ he goes over there. When I say ‘Come over here,’ he comes. When I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ he does what I tell him. I know that you can do the same thing, for you also are a man with power.”

Jesus is surprised. This man really believes in him, without needing special signs! No one else that Jesus has met has such faith in him!

Jesus says to him, “Then go home. You have such faith, and what you wish will be done.” When the soldier goes him, the servant is well again.

Peter’s mother-in-law is sickJesus decides to visit Peter’s house. Peter’s mother-in-law (his wife’s mother)

is a good hostess and always welcomes Jesus into their house for meals. But today she is very sick. She has a high fever. Now she is lying in bed.

Jesus goes to say hello to her. When he touches her, her fever goes away. Her face is not hot anymore, and she feels strong and well. She gets up from her bed and does what she wants to do most—to welcome Jesus and all of Peter’s friends, and to make them a nice meal.

The news has spread. Jesus is at Peter’s house, and he just made Peter’s mother-in-law well, just by touching her! Soon, many sick people come to Peter’s door. They too want Jesus to heal them. They have diseases, demons and all sorts of sickness, and Jesus makes them well, too. Then he goes to bed. It has been a long, long day.

Demons!The next day, Jesus decides to go to some towns on the other side of the sea.

He gets into a boat with his disciples. When they land on the other side, who



should meet them but two men and two demons! The demons are within the men, so the men are called demoniacs. No one comes near to them because they are strong and fierce and dangerous. They live in the tombs, where people bury their dead. There is no other place they can live.

The men are just coming out of the tombs when Jesus comes to the shore. The demons inside them make them speak to Jesus. They shriek, “What do you have to do with us, Son of God? When we are evil and you are holy, your presence torments us!”

Jesus looks at them. Here are men on the outside, but demons on the inside. The men need help. They need help just being human again.

Jesus looks around. Way out in the distance, he sees a herd of pigs, eating. The demons inside the men see the pigs, too. They say to Jesus, “If you throw us out of these men, at least send us into those pigs.”

Jesus says, “Go!”

The demons rush out of the men and with a loud swoosh, they go into the bodies of the pigs. The pigs, now filled with the demons’ energy, rush down a steep hill and right into the sea. Then they die in the sea, along with the demons. The two men are free from their demons! Now they can go find a home in the town. Now they are well. Jesus has made them well.

a paralyzed man gets his legs backNow Jesus wants to go back to his own town. He gets into his boat with his

disciples, crosses the sea, and gets out. He sees a little knot of people gathered around a bundle. The bundle is a man, lying on a bed. The people are his friends. They have brought this man to Jesus.

The man is paralyzed. His legs do not work. He lies on this bed all day and all night, and his friends take care of him. Now, they are taking care of him in the best way they know how—by bringing the man to Jesus. Jesus has made many people well! Maybe Jesus can make him walk.

Jesus looks at the friends, then at the man. He looks at Jesus with hope in his eyes.



Jesus says to him, “Take heart, son. Cheer up. Your body, mind, spirit are all well now. Even your sins are forgiven.”

Some of the strangers around Jesus mutter, “What does he mean? How can he forgive sins? Only God can do that?”

But Jesus says to them, “Just so you know that I tell the truth, let me know say to this man…” Then he turns around and bends down to the man lying on the bed. He says to him, “Stand up. Take your bed and go home.”

The man looks at Jesus and sees the truth in his eyes. Slowly he wiggles his toes, then he moves his legs. They can move! He can walk! He stands up straight and tall. Then with his friends around him, hugging him, he goes home.

a bleeding woman and a dead girlThe Jews worship God in a synagogue, just like we worship God in a church.

The leader of the synagogue has a little daughter, and she is very sick. Suddenly she dies. The leader hurries to find Jesus. Maybe he can help.

The man is crying. “My little daughter just died,” he says. “Please, come and lay your hand on her. If you just touch her, she will live again, I know it. Please, please help me!”

The man turns to go home. Jesus is following him, with his disciples walking behind him. Suddenly Jesus feels something strange. Somebody has just touched his cloak.

Now, there is a huge crowd around Jesus, all jostling around each other to be near him. A lot of people are touching his cloak as they get near to him. But this one is different. Jesus feels his healing power get drawn out of him.

“Who just touched me?” he asks as he turns around to where the touch was.

A woman is kneeling on the ground in front of him. She has been bleeding for 12 years. Doctors cannot stop the bleeding. She is weak from losing a little blood every day. But most of all, she is lonely. When you are bleeding, according to the law, you can’t be with other people. You have to go off by yourself. But she believes—no, she knows—that Jesus can make her well. She thinks, “If I only



touch his cloak, I will be well again. He is so powerful, all I need to do is touch his cloak. Nothing else. Just touch his cloak. He won’t even know what I did, but I will be well.”

But Jesus does notice. When he sees her, fallen on her knees, afraid that Jesus will scold her, he says to her, “Take heart, daughter. Cheer up. Do not worry. You have had faith, and your faith made you well. “

It is true. She has stopped bleeding. She runs from Jesus, praising God and jumping for joy.

Back to the dead girlNow Jesus has to be on his way. The synagogue leader is impatient. His

daughter is dead! Please hurry!

Jesus comes to the man’s house and goes inside. He sees people playing flutes and other people crying and moaning. They do this whenever somebody dies. But Jesus has another plan in mind.

“Go away,” he says to these people. “The little girl is not dead! She is just sleeping!”

The people are puzzled. Of course she is dead! They laugh at what Jesus is saying. But they go outside anyway.

Jesus goes into the girl’s room and sees her lying on the bed. He takes her by the hand and lifts her up. She opens her eyes, squeezes Jesus’ hand, and gets up. When her father sees her get up, he cries. When she sees him, she cries. And they hug…for a long time. She is not dead!

Two blind men need their eyes backJesus leaves the house where the little girl is now sitting with her father and

mother. They are happy. As he walks a little way down the path, two blind men come out from the shadows of the bushes and start to follow him.

Both men cry out loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” They say this over and over again. “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”



Jesus knows what they are asking for. They want to be able to see again. They want their eyes to work again. Jesus turns around to look at them. Then he says, “Do you really believe I can do this for you?” He never tells them what “this” is. But they know.

Both men say together, “Yes, Lord.” They are sure.

Jesus says to them, “As you have faith, let it be done to you.”

And they have faith! Their eyes open up and they can see. They run off telling everybody how Jesus gave them back their eyesight, even though Jesus told them not to tell anyone. How can you keep such a secret anyway?

now, a man who cannot talkAs humans, we have parts of our body that let us see, and hear, and walk,

and talk. Jesus has helped blind people to see, deaf people to hear, paralyzed people to walk. Now, somebody brings to him a man who cannot talk. There is a demon inside him, his friends say, that keep him from saying any words. He has not opened his mouth to say any words for a long, long time.

Jesus orders the demon, “Get out of this man! Leave him, now!” Suddenly the man opens his mouth and speaks. What does he say? We hope he says, “Thank you!”


ST I C k P u P P e T Sfor Preschool, Primary

Children make stick puppets.

Materials:People Patterns (p. 16) or make up your owncraft stickscrayons or markersscissorsglue

Preparation: Make a copy of the People Patterns for each child.

Directions:Invite each child to make a stick puppet. Help the younger children as needed:

1. Let the children color the people as they wish, and then cut them out.

2. Glue the people onto the craft sticks.

15 | LeSSon 19 | JeSuS heaLS The SICk | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | CraFT


16 | LeSSon 19 | JeSuS heaLS The SICk | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | CraFT ConTInueD

P eo P L e PaT T e r n S


C L aY W o r k Sfor Primary, elementary

Children discover what it’s like to create with clay, without the benefit of sight.

Materials:clay, either air-drying or nondryingmarkers

Directions:1. Give each child a lump of clay. Ask the children to close their eyes and keep them shut. Have them fashion a

bowl or other utensil. A coil bowl can be made by rolling a long rope-like piece and winding it around.

2. Alternately, you might want to have them divide their clay into two equal pieces, making one item with eyes closed and the second with eyes open, and then comparing the differences.

3. If using Crayola Model Magic® air-drying clay, let the finished items dry until the following week, and then children can decorate.



B r a I L L e e x e r C I S e Sfor elementary, Intermediate

Children learn about and use the Braille alphabet.

Materials:copies of Braille Alphabet, (p. 19), 1 per child safety or straight pinsstiff paperrulerspens or pencilsblack markers

Directions:1. Have the children write one of the following scripture verse in Braille. Show them how to use a pen or pencil

to make dots before pricking the holes with a pin. ■ Your eyes are healed because of your faith. ■ Love one another.

2. Here’s a tip: Write the verse on the paper, leaving enough space between the letters and an inch above each word, to fit the Braille. Then make dots of each letter, following the guide on the next page. The dots need to be able to be seen on the back side. Note that the dots for the letters are in grids of two columns across, and three rows down. Students may use a pencil and ruler to make light dividing lines above the printed letters, which will make it easier to get the dots straight.

3. Turn the paper over and mark the dots again, so they’re easy to read.

4. Have children turn the paper over to the back side and push the pins through the paper at each dot marked, so the dots will be raised on the front side.

5. Have students write something else of their own in Braille on another piece of paper. Encourage them to share their creations.

18 | LeSSon 19 | JeSuS heaLS The SICk | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | aCTIvITY

19 | LeSSon 19 | JeSuS heaLS The SICk | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | aCTIvITY ConTInueD


Courtesy of www.thinkstockphotos.com

B r a I L L e a L P h a B e T


F L I P P eo P L efor Preschool

Children make people that appear alternately sad and then happy, according to Jesus’ healing touch in their lives.

Materials:craft sticks (large ones work well), 1 per childsmall pieces of fabric, 1 per childpens or markersgluescissors

Directions:1. Give each child a craft stick.

2. Let them decorate both ends of the craft stick with faces—one happy, the other sad (see illustration).

3. Cut a piece of fabric to fit over and cover half the craft stick (like a skirt, such that it can cover one face, and then the other, when flipped back and forth). Glue this on the stick halfway down. Let dry.

4. When telling a story of Jesus healing a sick person, show the puppet with a sad face when the person is sick. When he’s healed, turn him over and show him with the happy face.



B o o k o F P r aY e r Sfor Intermediate

Children each make a Book of Prayers to give to the homebound or sick in the congregation.

Materials:copies of various prayers for different occasions, including the Twenty-Third Psalm

(King James Version); prayers for the sick (The Book of Common Prayer, pp. 458-459); prayers for morning and evening (look in the Prayer Book under Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer); other prayers (Prayer Book, pp. 810-841); any other prayers/meditations you may find

poster board, cut in 6" x 9" rectangles for the book covermarkersassorted decorative elements, especially “jewels,” sequins and glitter gluehole punch (3-hole works best)thin ribbon, assorted colors, to match or complement the covers

Preparation:Make copies of the selected prayers on half-sized white paper (that is, the top and bottom half of 8½" x 11" paper), enough so that each child has one of every prayer. Cut the poster board into 6" x 9" sections. Punch holes in the prayer papers for binding, and in the poster board covers, as well.

Directions: Give each child two poster board covers and the selected prayers. Invite them to make a Book of Prayers they can give to someone in need:

1. Have children decorate the front cover with markers and decorative items. Let dry.

2. Assemble the book, starting with the front cover, followed by the selected the prayers in the order desired, and finishing with the back cover.

3. Align the holes in the book, and then tie firmly with ribbons.



B r I n g a F r I e n D To J e S u Sfor Preschool, Primary

Drawing on the account of his healing the paralytic brought by caring friends, children cooperate to deliver a (balloon) friend to Jesus.

Materials:towels, one for every 4 childrenballoons, one for every towel

Directions:Invite the children to work together to help a pretend hurting friend experience Jesus’ healing touch. Assist the younger children as needed:

1. Divide the class into teams of four children, if possible. Give each team a towel and a balloon.

2. Tell the children that each child on a team must hold one corner of the towel, which serves as a stretcher. Explain that the balloon is their friend, who must be carried because he or she can’t walk. Place the balloon in the middle of the towel.

3. At your signal, have each team carry their towel from one side of the room to the other, trying to keep the balloon from falling. If you want to make the game more challenging, you can have the team start over if the balloon falls. If there are enough children, you could even have a relay game with, for example, two teams going up against two other teams.

4. If time permits, mix it up and form new teams, and then play again.

Variation:If you have enough children, or an odd number, select one child to play the part of Jesus. Have Jesus stand at the end of the room to touch and heal the balloon friend when each team reaches him.

22 | LeSSon 19 | JeSuS heaLS The SICk | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | aCTIvITY

© 2

014

by Jo

anna

Lei

sers

on. P

ublis

hed

by M

oreh

ouse

Edu

catio

n R

esou

rces

, ww

w.M

oreh

ouse

Educ

atio

n.or

g. A

ll rig

hts r

eser

ved.

Per

miss

ion

is he

reby

gra

nted

to re

prod

uce t

his p

age f

or u

se in

the p

urch

asin

g co

ngre

gatio

n on

ly.

Less

on

19:

jes

us

HeA

Ls T

He

sIC

K

We

Bel

ieve

. . .

Ep

iscop

alia

ns ta

ke a

holis

tic

appr

oach

to h

ealin

g. W

e ask

fo

r hea

ling,

not

curin

g, k

now

ing

that

God

’s w

ay o

f hea

ling

may

not

be o

ur

way

. Whe

n co

nfus

ed ab

out w

hat t

o as

k fo

r, w

e ofte

n sa

y, “W

e ent

rust

all w

ho ar

e dea

r to

us t

o yo

ur n

ever

-faili

ng ca

re an

d lo

ve…

know

ing

that

you

are d

oing

for t

hem

bett

er

thin

gs th

an w

e can

des

ire o

r pra

y fo

r…”

(BC

P, p

. 831

).

The c

hurc

h al

so re

cogn

izes

th

e nee

d to

ask

God

fo

r hea

ling.

The

sacr

amen

tal r

ite

of U

nctio

n of

the

Sick

, also

calle

d M

inist

ratio

n to

the

Sick

(BC

P, p

. 453

-46

1), i

nvol

ves

anoi

ntin

g th

e sic

k w

ith h

oly

oil o

r the

lay

ing

on o

f ha

nds t

o su

mm

on

God

’s gr

ace

in h

ealin

g th

e sp

irit,

min

d an

d bo

dy.

Toda

y’s

stor

y:

Mat

thew

8–9

Je

sus’

heal

ing

pow

er d

oes n

ot p

rove

that

he i

s the

Son

of

God

. He i

s not

the S

on o

f God

bec

ause

he h

eale

d th

e sic

k. R

athe

r, hi

s hea

ling

is a s

ign

of G

od’s

pres

ence

in h

im, G

od

wor

king

in h

im as

in n

o ot

her p

erso

n. Th

e hea

lings

are a

sign

that

G

od, t

hrou

gh Je

sus,

is he

alin

g G

od’s

crea

tion,

whi

ch G

od p

rom

ised

to d

o in

the f

ulln

ess o

f tim

e.Je

sus i

s God

with

us.

Rem

embe

r, in

the O

ld T

esta

men

t, w

e lea

rned

th

at G

od st

ays w

ith u

s no m

atter

wha

t. H

ere,

Jesu

s sho

ws h

imse

lf as

th

e abi

ding

pre

senc

e of G

od, m

akin

g us

who

le.

And

who

are t

hose

that

are h

eale

d? In

thes

e sto

ries,

they

are o

ften

the o

utca

sts—

thos

e who

are b

y Je

wish

law

unc

lean

bec

ause

of

thei

r illn

esse

s. Th

ere i

s the

lepe

r, a “

dem

onia

c,” a

wom

an w

ith a

hem

orrh

age.

Ther

e is a

lso th

e ser

vant

of a

Gen

tile s

oldi

er, a

nod

to

Jesu

s’ re

achi

ng o

ut to

the w

hole

wor

ld. J

esus

allo

ws a

cces

s to

salv

atio

n to

all,

incl

udin

g th

ose w

e con

sider

to b

e out

cast

s. A

s we f

ollo

w Je

sus,

we,

too,

can

offer

our

hos

pita

lity

and

open

our

ar

ms t

o al

l peo

ple. Wor

ds o

f Fai

th

Hea

ling—

part

of J

esus

’ min

istry

was

to h

eal p

eopl

e of i

llnes

s

and

dise

ase

Mira

cle—

an ev

ent t

hat c

anno

t be e

xpla

ined

by

hum

an p

ower

or n

atur

al la

w,

usua

lly as

crib

ed to

God

Than

kful

ness—

our n

atur

al re

spon

se to

the g

oodn

ess,

grac

e and

gift

s of G

od

God

is w

ith u

s, w

heth

er w

e ar

e he

alth

y or

sic

k.


© 2

014

by Jo

anna

Lei

sers

on. P

ublis

hed

by M

oreh

ouse

Edu

catio

n R

esou

rces

, ww

w.M

oreh

ouse

Educ

atio

n.or

g. A

ll rig

hts r

eser

ved.

Per

miss

ion

is he

reby

gra

nted

to re

prod

uce t

his p

age f

or u

se in

the p

urch

asin

g co

ngre

gatio

n on

ly.

Less

on

19

| je

sus

HeA

Ls T

He

sIC

K |

WeA

vIn

G G

oD

’s p

Ro

MIs

es, Y

eAR

1

shar

ing

In ch

apte

rs 8

and

9 of

the G

ospe

l of

Matt

hew,

we h

ear m

any

stor

ies o

f Jes

us

heal

ing

peop

le, a

ll of

them

fasc

inat

ing;

ch

oose

one

or m

ore t

o re

ad, e

ither

fro

m a

child

ren’s

Bib

le o

r you

r fam

ily

Bibl

e: ■

a lep

er (M

atthe

w 8

:1-4

) ■

a Rom

an ce

ntur

ion’s

serv

ant

(Matt

hew

8:5

-13)

■Pe

ter’s

mot

her-i

n-law

and

othe

rs

(Matt

hew

8:1

4-17

) ■

the G

adar

ene “

dem

onia

cs” (

Matt

hew

8:

28–9

:1)

■a p

aral

yzed

man

(Matt

hew

9:2

-8)

■a d

ead

girl

and

a hem

orrh

agin

g w

oman

(Matt

hew

9:1

8-25

) ■

two

blin

d m

en (M

atthe

w 9

:27-

31)

■a m

ute m

an (M

atthe

w 9

:32-

34)

Rei

nfor

ce th

e ide

a tha

t we c

an re

ly o

n G

od to

hel

p us

thro

ugh

times

of i

llnes

s an

d su

fferin

g.

Hou

seho

ld

pra

yer

We p

ray

for a

ll th

ose w

ho

are s

ick

or in

any

kind

of

troub

le to

day—

peop

le w

ho

are s

uffer

ing

in b

ody,

min

d or

spiri

t. G

ive t

hem

hop

e in

thei

r tro

uble

s, an

d m

ake t

hem

w

hole

agai

n.

And

as w

e pra

y, w

e kno

w th

at

you

are d

oing

for t

hem

bett

er

thin

gs th

an w

e can

ask

or p

ray

for.

But

we s

till p

ray,

for w

e kn

ow th

at yo

u se

e int

o ou

r he

arts

. Am

en.

This

Wee

k at

Hom

e ■

Be

the

heal

ing

hand

s of J

esus

for s

omeo

ne. Th

ink

of

som

eone

you

know

who

is si

ck, p

erha

ps so

meo

ne su

fferin

g fro

m

a chr

onic

illn

ess.

Hel

p br

ing

Jesu

s’ he

alin

g to

uch

to th

em b

y vi

sitin

g th

em, b

ringi

ng a

card

, brin

ging

food

, hel

ping

with

chor

es, e

tc.

■R

olep

lay

one

or m

ore

of th

e he

alin

g st

orie

s col

lect

ed in

toda

y’s l

esso

n (f

ound

in M

atthe

w 8

-9).

Firs

t pic

k a s

tory

, the

n re

ad it

and

talk

abou

t wha

t the

di

ffere

nt ch

arac

ters

mig

ht h

ave f

elt a

nd th

ough

t, in

clud

ing

Jesu

s. Th

en as

sign

part

s and

impr

ovise

your

ow

n di

alog

ue, e

xpan

ding

on

the s

tory

. You

mig

ht le

t yo

ur ro

lepl

ays p

lay o

n be

yond

the m

iracl

e its

elf t

o w

hat h

appe

ned

late

r tha

t day

, th

e nex

t day

...or e

ven

year

s dow

n th

e roa

d.

■Ta

lk a

bout

tim

es w

hen

you’

ve b

een

sick

or h

urt a

nd o

ther

s hel

ped

you.

M

aybe

you

fell

off yo

ur b

ike,

fell

on th

e play

grou

nd, g

ot a

bad

case

of t

he fl

u,

wer

e hur

t in

a car

acci

dent

... W

ho w

as w

ith yo

u? W

hat h

appe

ned?

Did

anyo

ne

help

you

out?

Can

you

see G

od in

this

inci

dent

?

■Ea

ch e

veni

ng th

is w

eek

at d

inne

r or a

t bed

time,

read

toge

ther

one

of t

he

heal

ing

stor

ies f

rom

this

less

on, e

ither

from

the B

ible

, or i

f you

hav

e you

ng

child

ren

in yo

ur h

ome,

from

a ch

ildre

n’s B

ible

. Let

the s

torie

s sta

nd o

n th

eir o

wn

or ta

ke ti

me f

or re

flect

ion.

Wha

t did

you

like i

n th

e sto

ry? W

hat d

id yo

u no

t lik

e?

If yo

u w

ere i

n th

e sto

ry, w

ho w

ould

you

be? W

hat d

o w

e lea

rn ab

out J

esus

from

th

is st

ory?

Con

clud

e the

disc

ussio

n by

aski

ng, “

If yo

u co

uld

say

som

ethi

ng to

Je

sus r

ight

now

, wha

t wou

ld it

be?

” Let

this

be yo

ur cl

osin

g pr

ayer

.

■R

esea

rch

mir

acul

ous h

ealin

g. S

earc

h fo

r “he

alin

g m

iracl

es” o

r “m

iracu

lous

he

alin

g” o

nlin

e. R

ead

som

e of t

he st

orie

s. W

hat d

o yo

u th

ink

of th

ese?

Doe

s G

od st

ill p

erfo

rm h

ealin

g m

iracl

es to

day?

Som

e peo

ple t

hink

so, b

ut o

ther

s do

not.

Wha

t’s yo

ur co

nclu

sion?

(Not

e: N

ot ev

eryt

hing

you’

ll fin

d on

line i

s rel

iabl

e or

trus

twor

thy.

How

can

you

dete

rmin

e wha

t has

valu

e and

wha

t doe

s not

? This

is a c

halle

nge t

hat h

as im

plic

atio

ns fa

r bey

ond

this

disc

ussio

n of

hea

ling!

)


Summary of Today’s StoryJesus and his disciples come to Jerusalem for the Passover. Jesus tells his disciples to find a donkey and bring it to him. He gets on the donkey and rides into Jerusalem.

As he enters the city, a crowd of people spread their cloaks on the road. Other people spread palm branches on the road before him, shouting, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

L e S S o n 25Jesus Enters Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)


Matthew 21:1-11


In our Sunday LectionaryToday’s story is told in church on the following Sunday:

Year A: Palm/Passion Sunday


2 | LeSSon 25 | JeSuS enTerS JeruSaLem (PaLm SundaY) | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1


Weaving our Story with the Biblical StoryMost of the people at the time

saw Jesus as an earthly messiah or a prophet. But we know him as the Messiah, the one who comes from heaven to reconcile us with God.

This story of Palm Sunday, though it depicts Jesus’ “triumphal entry into Jerusalem,” contains in it the seeds of sorrow. For we know also that his journey ends not in triumph but in death. We know that later he “was crucified, died, and was buried.” We know that the people later deny him, that Peter later denies him, that even we sometimes deny him. And Jesus knew that, too.

Still Jesus stayed with us to the end, to his crucifixion and death. He remained true to his mission—to be God with us. This event, which we call Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday, is the beginning of the end of his mission. But it is also the beginning of new life for us, as Jesus gives his own life to bring us new life in him.

That is why this time—the beginning of Holy Week, the most solemn time of our church year—is so important to us as Christians.

It is fitting that this Palm/Passion Sunday event begins our Holy Week, for in Jesus’ life and ministry his entry into Jerusalem just before the Passover was an enacted symbol of the coming of the reign of God. Jesus knew the prophetic writing of Zechariah 9:9:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zechariah here proclaims the coming of the ruler of God’s people, one who would restore Jerusalem

to the eschatological glory promised to her as the mother of Israel. Jesus takes this symbolic story of Zechariah and enacts it in reality, to signal the reign of God coming to fulfillment in him—God with us.

Jesus’ enactment of the coming of the reign of God will continue as he brings to his people a renewed covenant between God and God’s people in his Last Supper. As he shares his body and blood with his disciples, it becomes clear that Jesus himself is the center of that new covenant. Jesus becomes for us the fulfillment of God’s promises of union with God

in a new creation.

The episcopal ThreadThe service of The Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday (BCP, p. 270-

273) is one of the most majestic services of the entire Church year, marking the beginning of Holy Week, the most important week of the Church year.

On this day, Episcopalians will ring out with the processional hymn for the Liturgy of the Palms, Hymn 154 from The Hymnal 1982 (New York, NY: Church Publishing, 1985):

All glory, laud, and honor to thee, Redeemer, King! to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.

When the people greet Jesus with the acclamation, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” we are reminded of the words we sing at the beginning of the Holy Communion (the Sanctus): “Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” (BCP, p. 362) So at every Eucharist, we sing the song that the people cried as they waved their palms to Jesus, acclaiming him as the Blessed One of God.



gatheringAs the children begin arriving, engage them in a simple activity in preparation for

the lesson. Today you might tape a large piece of butcher paper to the wall and invite the children to begin a mural. Provide green and plain white construction paper and have the children draw palms and cloaks and cut them out, then glue them onto the bottom half of the butcher paper. Later the children can draw large pictures of people and of Jesus on a donkey and add them to the mural. For other Gathering activity ideas, see pages 1-2 in the Appendix on the Website.

As an option for the older children, you might offer a brief fellowship time. This gives them a chance to visit with each other and encourages them to build relationships and community.

After all the children have arrived and had a few minutes of activity or fellowship time, gather them together and say a simple opening prayer, such as: ■ Thank you, Lord, for being with us today. Show us

the light of your love as we hear the story of your Son Jesus, who came into Jerusalem to be hailed as our king. We ask this in the name of Christ. Amen.

Telling the StoryRead aloud today’s story from a children’s Bible, showing the pictures, tell the story in your own words, or

read from the version of the story we provide, found on pages 8-9.

If you tell the story, focus on the large crowds of people who hail Jesus as the Messiah, the one “who comes in the name of the Lord,” though by later this week they will have him killed. But now, tell about the joy in the city, the cloaks spread out and the palms thrown down to greet him as people in those times greeted the arrival of a king.

You may connect this story to your church’s celebration of Palm Sunday in your worship service, especially if you have the children re-enact the story in the procession of palms and/or tell the story in dramatic form.

Or you could show excerpts from the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar, specifically the scene relating to Christ’s passion. There are also other, more traditionally presented films depicting Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and showing the kind of excitement that Jesus’ action generated, which very soon dissolved into the chaos around Jesus’ condemnation and death.

After telling the story, proceed to Prayer, saving any discussion for later, while having snacks or doing an activity.




materialssmall table with a cloth to cover it2 candles or a single large Christ candlematchesBiblecrossoptional: flowers (real, fake or handmade by the

children)

Have the children set up a simple altar with the materials listed above. Then light the candles.

Read one or two verses from today’s scripture to help the children connect the story that they just heard with the Bible. If working with older children, you might expand the reading to several verses.


For younger children: Matthew 21:8

For older children: Matthew 21:8-9


Reader: A reading from the Gospel of Matthew: (Read the selected passage.)



Invite the children to sit in a circle and join in prayer. Say a brief prayer yourself then invite prayers from each child in the circle: ■ Invite prayers of thanks for God’s work in our lives

during the past week. ■ Welcome prayers of concern or petition. Children

may offer prayers for themselves or for others in need or trouble.







■ For this food that God has given us, and for the hands that made it, let us thank the Lord. Amen.

Or:Bless each of our families.Bless this food that we eat.May we be a blessingTo all that we meet. Amen.

—from One Hundred Table Graces, p. 94 (New York: Bell Tower, 1992)

Or have children say a table grace that they have learned elsewhere.

This is an excellent time, while sharing a snack, to begin talking about the story that the children have just heard. Help the children compare the kind of king that Jesus was to earthly kings by asking questions such as: ■ How is Jesus different from earthly kings? ■ What earthly king rides a donkey? ■ What earthly king is servant to his people?

aCTIvITIeS For ThIS Week’S SeSSIon



activities: arts, Crafts, games, drama, etc.

After Sharing, begin an activity to supplement and enhance today’s story. While the children are doing an activity, talk about the story so that they make the connection.

Suggested story-related activities are provided at the end of this lesson on pages 10-18. If the children started a mural during Gathering time, have them finish it as one of today’s activities.


Take-home Paper




memorizationOlder intermediate children may learn the Sanctus that is sung at

the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,Heaven and earth are full of your glory,Hosanna in the highest.Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.Hosanna in the highest.

Weaving our FaithAs the class draws to a close, help the children summarize the story and say what they learned today by asking questions such as:

■ What was today’s story about? ■ Who was in this story? ■ What did Jesus do? ■ What did the people do when they saw him?

Encourage the children to remember key words or phrases from today’s story, such as: Jerusalem, donkey, palms, hosanna, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”


the church worship service or back to their homes in the knowledge of God’s love and protection. Make up a prayer of your own or use the following: ■ Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us

together to celebrate your Son Jesus Christ as Messiah and King of the whole universe. Help us this week to spread his love to our families and friends in all that we do, in his name. Amen.

End the class with a dismissal that is used in church, such as: ■ The peace of the Lord be always with you.

The children respond: ■ And also with you.


8 | LeSSon 25 | JeSuS enTerS JeruSaLem (PaLm SundaY) | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | STorY

maTTheW 21:1-11Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem with his disciples. He knows that when

he gets there, the leaders will try to arrest him. He wants to make too many changes, and changes are dangerous.

Jerusalem closes on them as they walk from Jericho. Its hills and small mounts stand tall, with the temple shining bright in the sunlight on the temple mount.

Jesus has a plan for entering the city. He remembers what one of the old prophets said to the Israelites a long time ago: “Tell the daughter of Zion: Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Jesus is the King now. He is not just any king. He is the Son of David, the holy One of Israel, whom God has sent to save Israel and her people. He is the Son of God, sent from God. Later, we will also call Jesus the King of all creation.

So Jesus will now show himself as king, the humble king coming to Israel. He calls two of his disciples and says, “Go to the village just up ahead. When you get there, you will find a donkey tied up to a fence, with her colt with her. Untie the donkey and her colt and bring them to me.”

The disciples say, “But what if somebody says something to us? They are not our animals.”

Jesus says, “If anyone says anything to you, just say this. ‘The Lord needs them.’ The owner of the animals will give them to you right away.”


9 | LeSSon 25 | JeSuS enTerS JeruSaLem (PaLm SundaY) | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | STorY ConTInued

So the two disciples go to the village up ahead. There, just as Jesus told them, they find a donkey and her colt tied to a fence. They take the ropes off and walk the two animals back to Jesus.

Jesus goes up to the donkey. One of the disciples puts his cloak on the donkey. Another puts his cloak on it also. Then Jesus gets up upon the animal and the donkey starts to walk straight toward the gates of Jerusalem.

A crowd sees Jesus on the donkey. Maybe they too remember Zechariah’s words, “Your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey.” Maybe they just recognize Jesus and know what he has done for them. Maybe they know that Jesus has been sent from God.

As the donkey with the colt ambles along toward Jerusalem with Jesus on it, people take off their cloaks and spread them on the road—a greeting for a king. Other people cut some big branches from the palm trees that line the road. They take these branches and spread them on the road also. Cloaks and branches fill the road to greet Jesus and welcome him to Jerusalem.

Other people in the crowd go ahead of Jesus. They are announcing his arrival. They shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Jesus rides into Jerusalem, the crowd in front and behind him shouting and waving and cheering. The whole city is excited. Some people ask, “Who is this person?”

The crowds shout excitedly, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth! Jesus is here!” Yes, Jesus is now in Jerusalem. Soon the welcome will be gone. But now, he enters in triumph, to the cheers of the people of Jerusalem.


Pa L m S u n d aY P L aC e m aT Sfor Preschool

Children make place mats that recall Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem.

materials:construction paper: green, and white (or other colors for

the place mat backing)clear stick-on shelf paper, 2 pieces per childscissors gluemarkers or crayonsoptional: small piece of “biblically appropriate” fabric (no

Hawaiian prints!)

Preparation:Cut narrow strips of green construction paper, approximately 8" long, for the palm frond stalk. Cut palm leaves of varying sizes from the green paper. On the white construction paper, write, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Make enough frond stalks, palm leaves and papers with captions so each child can take home one place mat.

directions:Give each child the construction paper with the caption and invite them to make a Palm Sunday place mat to use at home. Help the younger children as needed:

1. Have each child glue a green palm stalk onto the construction paper with caption.

2. Show them how to add the green paper leaves to the stalk with glue to make a palm frond.

3. Let the children decorate their place mats with colors or markers if they desire.

4. Cut two lengths of clear shelf paper, about the same size as the place mat, for each child. Lay one out flat, sticky side up. Carefully lay the place mat on top. Then place the other sheet over the top of the place mat, being careful not to let it wrinkle.

5. Trim off the excess edges of the shelf paper.

variation:For a transparent place mat, leave out the construction-paper backing.

10 | LeSSon 25 | JeSuS enTerS JeruSaLem (PaLm SundaY) | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | CraFT


Pa L m S u n d aY F L ag ( S )for Intermediate

Children make a flag that depicts a Palm Sunday scene. (This could be an individual flag or a group project.)

materials:dowel rod(s)plain fabric for a bannerassorted colors of felt or other fabricmarker or penpaperglue scissorsstapler (or other means of securing flag to dowel rod)

directions:1. Have the children think of and design a simple picture of a Palm Sunday scene. It may be helpful to sketch on

paper or a chalkboard, if available, before drawing on the fabric. See the Palm Sunday Sample Illustrations on page 12.

2. Transfer an outline of the picture onto the fabric.

3. Cut the felt or other fabric into the shapes in the picture (gray felt for the donkey, green felt for palm fronds, etc.)

4. Glue the felt onto the picture.

5. Fold the top of the flag over the dowel rod and secure.

6. Display the flag in the classroom.


12 | LeSSon 25 | JeSuS enTerS JeruSaLem (PaLm SundaY) | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | CraFT ConTInued


PaLm SundaY SamPLe ILLuSTraTIonS


T h e e v e n I n g n e W Sfor elementary, Intermediate

Children report Palm Sunday happenings in an evening news format.

materials:All materials are optional:

microphone (may be fake or pretend, for example a pencil)scriptbusiness-type outfitcamera (may be fake or pretend, for example a large matchbox)camcorder TV or monitor (if recording the show) props: donkey, palms, cloaks, etc.

Preparation:For younger children, you may want to prepare a script ahead of time. Or copy the Bible reading for the anchor person to read as the news story. You may also want to gather the props ahead of time, if you don’t make them up as you go.

directions:Invite the children to come together as a news team to report Palm Sunday happenings:

1. Have the children make up a news script about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

2. Assign the parts: camera person, anchor person, on-the-spot news team, Jesus, disciples, crowd, resentful Pharisees, donkey.

3. Use props you’ve gathered ahead of time, or make up the props as you go, using classroom objects.

4. Put on an impromptu evening news show and actually tape it for reshowing, if possible.

13 | LeSSon 25 | JeSuS enTerS JeruSaLem (PaLm SundaY) | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | aCTIvITY


a S S o r T m e n T o F C r o S S e Sfor Preschool, Primary

Children create decorative crosses.

materials:Cross Pattern (p. 15) stiff paper, such as poster board, thin wood or foam boardgluevariety of materials, as desired (sea shells, egg shells, sequins, beads, glitter, colored sand, etc.) newspaperoptional: gold or silver spray paint

Preparation:Copy the Cross Pattern onto stiff paper, board or wood, and then cut out, one per child.

directions:Give a cross to each child and invite them to decorate it however they like. Help the younger children as needed:

1. Put newspaper on the table to protect it.

2. Cover the cross with glue.

3. Carefully place the decorative materials on the cross. It’s suggested that you use only one kind of material per cross for a more consistent look, though it’s fine if some children wish to mix it up! Let dry.

4. If you wish, spray paint the cross and let dry again.

Variation:For a fancy background, you could spray paint the cross first and let dry. Then cover it with glue, decorate and let dry again.



15 | LeSSon 25 | JeSuS enTerS JeruSaLem (PaLm SundaY) | WeavIng our FaITh, Year 1 | CraFT ConTInued

CroSS PaTTern


a n u n u S u a L S C e n e : e n T r Y I n To J e r u S a L e m

for elementary, Intermediate

Children use snacks to create a scene that depicts Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

materials:soft tortilla shells, one per childgraham crackersfrostingBugles® crackersFruit Roll-Ups®, assorted colorscoconut, dyed greenanimal crackerslarge paper plates, as flat as possible

Preparation:Dye the coconut green.

directions:Distribute a paper plate and tortilla shell to each child. Invite children to make a scene depicting Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem:

1. Tell the children that the plate and tortilla shell will serve as the ground.

2. Have the other materials available to make the scene, as follows: ■ Jerusalem: graham crackers ■ Jesus and people: Bugles ■ peoples’ cloaks, also to be spread on the ground: Fruit Roll-Ups ■ palm branches: green coconut ■ donkey: animal crackers (need to find animals that work for this)

Note: The frosting will be used to stick the materials together.

3. Give the children plenty of time and let them use their imagination! When they’re finished, allow each child to share a bit about his or her creation.



STa n d - u P C r o S S e Sfor elementary, Intermediate

Children make and decorate a cross that can be placed on a shelf or table as a remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice.

materials:cross made of wood, Styrofoam™ or other sturdy materialposter board or thin wood for a baseclay (air-drying or nondrying)materials to decorate the cross, if desired (paint, spray paint, markers)silk or dried flowersglue

Preparation:You can buy wooden or Styrofoam crosses at craft stores. Cut the poster board or thin wood to make a base for the cross. Each child will need a cross and a base.

directions:Give each child a cross, a base and a lump of clay. Invite children to make a stand-up cross to remind them that Jesus gave his life for us:

1. The cross may be decorated. However, as a symbol of the crucifixion, a plain cross may be desired.

2. Put the clay on the base and firmly insert the cross. You may want to glue the cross to the clay and the clay to the base, to make sure everything sticks, especially if using air-drying clay.

3. Glue the flowers around the base of the cross.



d o n k e Y S a n d d I S C I P L e Sfor Preschool

Children act out the scene of the disciples obtaining a donkey for Jesus.

materials:towel

directions:1. Divide the class into two teams: the donkeys and the disciples. The teams should stand at opposite ends of the

room. Instruct the donkeys to get down on their hands and knees. You may want to clear out the center of the room, or you can leave the furnishings for obstacles.

2. Give a towel to one disciple and ask that child to go get a donkey for Jesus.

3. The child with the towel will walk to the other end of the room, select a donkey and put the towel on its back. The two will then walk back to the disciples’ side of the room.

4. Retrieve the towel and give it to another disciple, who, upon your instruction, will do the same. Continue play until all disciples have had the opportunity to retrieve a donkey for Jesus.

Variation:You may want to select one child (or yourself or an adult helper) to play the part of Jesus, who can thank each disciple when he or she retrieves a donkey.


© 2

014

by Jo

anna

Lei

sers

on. P

ublis

hed

by M

oreh

ouse

Edu

catio

n R

esou

rces

, ww

w.M

oreh

ouse

Educ

atio

n.or

g. A

ll rig

hts r

eser

ved.

Per

miss

ion

is he

reby

gra

nted

to re

prod

uce t

his p

age f

or u

se in

the p

urch

asin

g co

ngre

gatio

n on

ly.

Less

on

25:

jes

us

enTe

Rs

jeR

usA

LeM

(pA

LM s

un

DAY

)

We

Bel

ieve

. . .

Th

e ser

vice

of Th

e Sun

day o

f th

e Pas

sion/

Palm

Sun

day (

BCP,

p.

270

-273

) is o

ne o

f the

mos

t m

ajes

tic se

rvic

es o

f the

entir

e Chu

rch

year

, m

arki

ng th

e beg

inni

ng o

f Hol

y Wee

k, th

e m

ost i

mpo

rtant

wee

k of

the C

hurc

h ye

ar.

Whe

n th

e peo

ple g

reet

Jesu

s with

the

accl

amat

ion,

“Hos

anna

to th

e Son

of D

avid

! Bl

esse

d is

the o

ne w

ho co

mes

in th

e na

me o

f the

Lor

d! H

osan

na in

the

high

est h

eave

n!” w

e are

rem

inde

d of

th

e wor

ds w

e sin

g at

the b

egin

ning

of

the H

oly

Com

mun

ion

(the

San

ctus

):

“Hos

anna

in th

e hig

hest

. Ble

ssed

is h

e w

ho co

mes

in th

e nam

e of t

he L

ord.

H

osan

na in

the h

ighe

st.”

(BC

P, p

. 36

2)

Toda

y’s

stor

y:

Mat

thew

21:

1-11

Mos

t of t

he p

eopl

e at t

he ti

me s

aw Je

sus a

s an

eart

hly

mes

siah

or a

prop

het.

But w

e kno

w h

im as

the M

essia

h,

the o

ne w

ho co

mes

from

hea

ven

to re

conc

ile u

s with

God

.Th

is st

ory

of P

alm

Sun

day,

thou

gh it

dep

icts

Jesu

s’ “t

rium

phal

entr

y in

to Je

rusa

lem

,” co

ntai

ns in

it th

e see

ds o

f sor

row,

for w

e kno

w al

so

that

his

jour

ney

ends

not

in tr

ium

ph b

ut in

dea

th. W

e kno

w th

at

late

r he “

was

cruc

ified

, die

d, an

d w

as b

urie

d.” W

e kno

w th

at th

e pe

ople

late

r den

y hi

m, t

hat P

eter

late

r den

ies h

im, t

hat e

ven

we s

omet

imes

den

y hi

m. A

nd Je

sus k

new

that

, too

.St

ill Je

sus s

taye

d w

ith u

s to

the e

nd, t

o hi

s cru

cifix

ion

and

deat

h. H

e rem

aine

d tr

ue to

his

miss

ion—

to b

e God

with

us

. This

even

t, w

hich

we c

all P

alm

Sun

day o

r Pas

sion

Sund

ay, i

s the

beg

inni

ng o

f the

end

of h

is m

issio

n. B

ut it

is al

so th

e beg

inni

ng

of n

ew li

fe fo

r us,

as Je

sus g

ives

hi

s ow

n lif

e to

brin

g us

new

life

in

him

. Th

at is

why

this

time—

the

begi

nnin

g of

Hol

y W

eek,

th

e mos

t sol

emn

time o

f our

ch

urch

year

—is

so im

port

ant

to u

s as C

hrist

ians

.

Wor

ds o

f Fai

thJe

rusa

lem—

the c

ity in

to

whi

ch Je

sus e

nter

s on

Palm

Sun

day;

whe

re

he w

ill sp

end

his fi

nal w

eek

Don

key—

wha

t Jes

us ro

de o

n as

he e

nter

ed

Jeru

sale

m

Palm

—to

pra

ise Je

sus,

peop

le w

aved

br

anch

es fr

om th

is tre

e and

spre

ad th

em o

n th

e gro

und

befo

re h

im

Hos

anna

—a w

ord

of ac

clam

atio

n, u

sed

as Je

sus r

ode i

nto

Jeru

sale

m; i

t may

mea

n “S

ave u

s!”

Bles

sed

is he

who

com

es in

the n

ame o

f the

Lor

d.—

wha

t the

peo

ple s

aid

of Je

sus a

s he

ente

red

Jeru

sale

m

Jesu

s rid

es in

to J

erus

alem

, our

Mes

siah

and

Kin

g.


© 2

014

by Jo

anna

Lei

sers

on. P

ublis

hed

by M

oreh

ouse

Edu

catio

n R

esou

rces

, ww

w.M

oreh

ouse

Educ

atio

n.or

g. A

ll rig

hts r

eser

ved.

Per

miss

ion

is he

reby

gra

nted

to re

prod

uce t

his p

age f

or u

se in

the p

urch

asin

g co

ngre

gatio

n on

ly.

Less

on

25

| je

sus

enTe

Rs

jeR

usA

LeM

(pA

LM s

un

DAY

) |

WeA

vIn

G G

oD

’s p

Ro

MIs

es, Y

eAR

1

shar

ing

Rea

d to

day’s

stor

y fro

m a

child

ren’s

Bib

le, s

how

ing

the

pict

ures

, or t

ell t

he st

ory

in

your

ow

n w

ords

. If y

ou te

ll th

e st

ory,

focu

s on

the l

arge

crow

ds

of p

eopl

e who

hai

l Jes

us as

the

Mes

siah,

the o

ne “w

ho co

mes

in

the n

ame o

f the

Lor

d,”

thou

gh b

y la

ter t

his w

eek

they

w

ill h

ave h

im k

illed

. But

now

, te

ll ab

out t

he jo

y in

the c

ity,

the c

loak

s spr

ead

out a

nd th

e pa

lms t

hrow

n do

wn

to g

reet

hi

m as

peo

ple i

n th

ose t

imes

gr

eete

d th

e arr

ival

of a

kin

g.

You

may

conn

ect t

his s

tory

to

your

chur

ch’s

cele

brat

ion

of P

alm

Sun

day

in yo

ur

wor

ship

serv

ice,

espe

cial

ly if

yo

u re

enac

t the

stor

y in

the

proc

essio

n of

pal

ms a

nd/o

r tel

l th

e sto

ry in

dra

mat

ic fo

rm.

Hou

seho

ld

pra

yer

Jesu

s, w

e hai

l you

as K

ing,

th

e one

who

com

es in

the

nam

e of t

he L

ord.

May

we

alw

ays b

e rea

dy to

hai

l you

as

our L

ord

and

Savi

or, t

he S

on

of G

od w

ho g

ave h

imse

lf fo

r us

beca

use h

e lov

ed u

s so

muc

h.

Amen

.

This

Wee

k at

Hom

e ■

Go

soci

al w

ith P

alm

Sun

day.

If to

day

is Pa

lm S

unda

y, an

d if

your

fam

ily is

soci

al-m

edia

savv

y (F

aceb

ook,

Tw

itter

, e-m

ail,

Pint

eres

t, et

c.), d

o a p

ost o

r tw

o w

ishin

g fri

ends

and

follo

wer

s a

“Hap

py P

alm

Sun

day.”

Pos

t a p

ictu

re o

f you

r fam

ily co

min

g ou

t of c

hurc

h w

ith

your

pal

m fr

onds

. If y

ou co

mpl

ete t

he P

alm

Sun

day

art p

roje

ct el

sew

here

on

this

page

, hav

e eve

ryon

e hol

d up

thei

r art

wor

k fo

r the

pho

to. S

hare

the j

oy!

■M

ake

cros

ses o

ut o

f pal

m fr

onds

. This

is a l

ong-

stan

ding

Pal

m S

unda

y/H

oly

Wee

k tra

ditio

n. S

earc

h on

line f

or “p

alm

fron

d cr

oss”

for s

impl

e dire

ctio

ns fo

r do

ing

so. T

oget

her c

reat

e the

se cr

osse

s as a

Hol

y W

eek

rem

inde

r for

the n

ext

wee

k. N

ot su

re w

here

to fi

nd p

alm

fron

ds? Y

ou m

ay b

e abl

e to

brin

g so

me h

ome

from

toda

y’s ch

urch

serv

ice.

Also

chec

k yo

ur cl

oses

t flor

ist; m

ost w

ill ca

rry

thes

e th

e cou

ple o

f wee

ks p

rior t

o Ea

ster

.

■E

xplo

re th

e ir

ony

in th

e im

ager

y of

a k

ing

(ind

eed,

the

Kin

g of

Kin

gs),

ri

ding

on

a do

nkey

, the

hum

bles

t of c

onve

yanc

es. T

alk

abou

t the

way

s in

whi

ch Je

sus i

s our

Kin

g, b

ut al

so th

e man

y im

ages

we h

ave a

Jesu

s as a

very

di

ffere

nt, v

ery

hum

ble s

erva

nt k

ing,

for e

xam

ple,

was

hing

the d

iscip

les f

eet,

dyin

g on

the c

ross

bet

wee

n tw

o cr

imin

als,

serv

ing

dinn

er to

the c

row

d th

at fo

llow

s hi

m. W

hat d

oes t

his t

ell u

s abo

ut th

e kin

d of

kin

g Je

sus i

s? W

hat d

oes i

t tel

l us

abou

t fol

low

ing

such

a ki

ng? I

n th

is fin

al w

eek

of L

ent,

how

can

we s

erve

oth

ers

the w

ay Je

sus s

erve

d ot

hers

? Is t

here

a ne

ighb

or, f

riend

or c

hurc

h m

embe

r who

co

uld

use o

ur h

elp

this

wee

k? M

ake c

oncr

ete p

lans

to o

ffer h

elp

to th

is pe

rson

.

■K

eep

trac

k of

the

even

ts o

f Hol

y W

eek.

Cut

som

e str

ing

and

tape

each

end

to

your

refri

gera

tor o

r wal

l. C

ut p

lain

pap

er in

to q

uart

ers.

Dra

w p

ictu

res o

f Hol

y W

eek

even

ts—

or d

raw

pic

ture

s of s

ome o

bjec

ts th

at ar

e par

t of t

he H

oly

Wee

k st

ory,

like a

don

key,

a lan

tern

for t

he g

arde

n, a

swor

d, a

cup

of w

ine,

etc.

Ass

ign

the a

ppro

pria

te d

ate t

o ea

ch p

ictu

re, Th

en, o

n th

e app

ropr

iate

dat

e of t

he ev

ent

(Mau

ndy

Thur

sday

, Goo

d Fr

iday

, etc

.), u

se a

clot

hesp

in o

r pap

er cl

ip to

attac

h ea

ch p

ictu

re to

the s

trin

g.


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