FAITH CHALLENGE
Jesus: Passion and Resurrection
Resurrection
Lesson B, Weeks 1 & 2
Scripture: Matthew
28:1-10 (CEV)
Memory Verses: “Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us.” (Romans 5:10, CEV)
“God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.” (John 3:16, CEV)
1. The Coach leads the opening routine: snack,
fellowship, Prayer Wall activity, and Prayer Chain. Name tags are available.
2. The Coach reviews the timeline. Remind the class that we are still in the
“God sends a son” section of the timeline.
3. Introduce the Guide, who leads the workshop lesson.
Note to Guide: This is a two-week lesson and
essentially the planning, writing and practicing of the drama will fill both
weeks. Although this could be done
quicker, encourage the class to take their time and to be thoughtful and
thorough since the adult Sunday school classes will view their drama on the
final week of this unit.
1. Introduce the memory verses. Note there are two memory verses: Romans
5:10 and John 3:16. Many youth may have
already memorized John 3:16 in Faith Quest, so we are introducing two verses
for this lesson. Several methods for
learning the memory verse are:
·
Printing phrases of the
verses on cards or pieces of paper and passing them randomly to students who
are asked to stand and put themselves in the proper order.
·
Reciting the verse as a
class several times and then trying to do it without looking.
·
Reciting the verse
several times and then asking for volunteers to say it aloud to the class. Hershey kisses could be used as a reward for
anyone who is able to recite it correctly.
2. Explain the purpose of this workshop. Over the next two weeks, the class will
study the story of Jesus’ resurrection as told by Matthew and then write a
drama based on this story. On Palm Sunday all the Kirk adult Sunday school
classes have been invited to watch the class present their drama in the
sanctuary.
3. Pass out Bibles and ask students to turn to Matthew
28:1-10. Take turns reading aloud.
4. Have two pieces of flipchart paper on the wall,
labeled “characters”, “special effects/ costumes/ props”. Discuss the Bible story in detail and ask
students to supply the character names, what special effects and costumes will
be needed for their drama. Suggested
minimums for these lists are:
·
Characters: Mary, Mary
Magdelene, angel, 2 guards, Jesus, narrator to introduce the story?
·
Special effects/ props/
costumes: earthquake, lightening,
stone, shimmering white robe
5. Divide the class into two groups, corresponding to
the categories above. Be sure there are
enough students in the “characters” group to allow each student to be one
character.
6. The tasks for each group are:
·
Characters: Write the script and outline the action for
each character. Assign roles. At the end of week one, it would be helpful
for the guide to take home all notes or the hand-written script to type it into
a readable format.
·
Special effects/ props/
costumes: Creatively construct or
create the illusion of an earthquake and lightening. If desired the guide could provide a flashlight or suggest the
students cut yellow strips of paper to look like lightening. Someone jumping on the floor to make it seem
as if it was moving, or other creative ideas may come from the youth for the
earthquake and lightening. Paint a piece of cardboard to look like the stone
rolled from the tomb. Paint or draw any
other desired scenery or backdrops. Choose which characters will wear which
costumes from the available costumes. Creatively design and construct the
angel’s “shimmering white robes” from a white sheet and glitter, sequins,
etc.
7. The guide should work with one group and a coach with
the other group so that each group has an adult to keep the youth focused.
8. At the end of week one, the script and props should
be complete or nearly so. The second
week will focus on fine-tuning and rehearsal.
1. Ask students to tidy up.
1. The Coach conducts the closing prayer time.
2. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.
End Week 1
Begin Week 2
The
Coach leads the opening routine: snack, fellowship, Prayer Wall activity, and
Prayer Chain. The Coach introduces the
Guide, Ann Branch.
1. Briefly review by asking students who were present
last week to explain the Bible story and the class activity to any students who
were not present. Allow new students to
fill in for others who might not be there or to choose a group with which to
work.
2. Review memory verses.
3. Allow a few minutes for the “character” and “special
effects/ props/ costumes” groups to meet and get organized for a
rehearsal.
4. Rehearse/perform the drama several times as needed to
make it a smooth, understandable performance.
Remind students the adult Sunday school classes have been invited to
watch their drama on April 13.
5. With about 15 minutes left to class, ask the class to
tidy up and sit down for a brief discussion.
(If it seems this discussion would be better placed before rehearsal,
that is certainly fine)
6. This discussion is to allow youth to focus on the
concepts (what they can learn) from this lesson. Ask questions to help the class realize there is more than just
what happened in the story—but we can take messages for our lives from these
events in the Bible. Example questions
might be: What can we learn from the
resurrection story? What parts of the
story teach us this idea? Use the
whiteboard or flipchart paper to record class ideas and to focus on the
following concepts.
·
God raised Jesus from
death so that we can live again after we die.
· God asks us to share the good news with others.
· Jesus is with us when we share the good news.
7. If the rehearsal went quickly and extra time is
available. Ask the class to divide into
pairs to write prayers to be shared with the adults at the end of their
drama. The guide will collect the
prayers and choose one to be read at the end of the drama. The guide could also choose to combine two
or three into one prayer. If this is
done, the guide could print the prayer for all to read together at the end of
the drama.
1. Ask students to tidy up.
2. Collect scripts, props, etc to use for drama later
1. The Coach conducts the closing prayer time.
2. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.
1. Set up the room with approx 20 chairs before your first Sunday. No tables are needed. Be sure all supplies are in room.
2. Obtain a white sheet—or purchase inexpensive white fabric that could be decorated and draped for the angel’s costume. Obtain sequins, glitter, gold rick-rack, etc.
· Bibles
· Flipchart paper
· Pencils/paper for script writing
· Flashlight, yellow paper, crepe paper, etc for lightening
· Costumes
· White sheet or white fabric, glitter, sequins, for angel’s costume
· Large piece of cardboard or box for stone
· Paint and brushes