FAITH CHALLENGE

God Redeems Israel

Lesson A Week 1

Science and the Ten Commandments

Scripture: Exodus 20:1-17

Memory Verse: God spoke all these words, saying,

I am the Lord your God.

1. You shall have no other Gods before me.

2. You shall not make for yourself an idol.

3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.

4. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother.

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

(PC[USA] Book of Common Worship)

Concepts:

God has given us a community to help us be faithful.

God asks us to trust and obey God.

God has given us laws to order our lives according to God’s purpose.

Objectives:

Students will discuss and learn how the Ten Commandments functioned in the wilderness community and how they continue to function in the Kirk community through scientific demonstrations.

Gathering Time

The Coach leads the opening routine: snack, fellowship, Prayer Wall activity, and Prayer Chain. Nametags are available.

Workshop Lesson Procedure:

Introductions (Coach):

1. Review the timeline. Ask the class where they think the presentation of Ten Commandments occurred on the timeline--After God chooses a people but before God judges and redeems a nation. Remind the class they just finished Abraham and Joseph. Ask where Joseph’s family lived at the end of the story—Egypt. Ask them if they know what happened next to Joseph’s family—All his brothers had many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The Hebrew people became very numerous. After many years the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews and life became very difficult for them.

2. Introduce the Guides for this lesson.

Scripture/Bible Story (Guide takes over from here):

1. Review the background to the Ten Commandments. The first group to study the Ten Commandments will not have any history or background information regarding the exit from Israel, the parting of the Red Sea and the wandering in the wilderness. The sixth graders studied Moses and the Plagues in Faith Quest this past year and this can be a place to begin the review.

Suggestions for Review

· Use a Children’s picture Bible such as the Beginner’s Bible to show pictures to review the story leading up to the Ten Commandments.

· Create your own picture story to highlight the events leading up to the Ten Commandments

· Make printed strips of the some of the main events leading up to the commandments and have students arrange these events in order. Examples could be Moses called to lead the people, The Plagues, Pharaoh allows the Israelites to leave, Crossing the Red Sea, Manna in the wilderness, Arriving at Mr. Sinai.

1. Following the background review, generate a discussion related to the Ten Commandments by asking questions like: What are some laws that we have in our society? Why are they important or necessary? Can our laws ever be changed? What are God’s laws? Can God’s laws ever be changed? Most answers are acceptable at this point. It is just to get the class thinking about God’s laws.

2. Ask the students to find the Ten Commandments in the Bible—Exodus 20:1-17. Ask students to take turns reading.

Application:

After reading the scripture and discussing the idea of laws in general talk about the laws of physics. Suggest that God created these laws, too.
Throw a pebble in the air a few times and observe that every time you throw it, it comes down. Ask the children if they know which natural law makes the rock come down (the law of gravity). Repeat the demonstration with a cotton ball and observe that it too obeys the law of gravity. Next, show the kids a feather and ask them to predict what will happen (it too will come down). Tell the children that God made laws for nature and laws for people. Ask them what the difference between the two are (all physical objects have to obey the laws of nature, but God gave us freedom to ignore the Ten Commandments if we choose to). The idea to present here is that God made the laws of physics and the Ten Commandments.
Tell the children that they will explore the Ten Commandments and how they function for God’s people (what purpose they serve) by exploring some of the laws of nature. We will explore these laws by doing some experiments that are set up around the room.
Divide the class into three groups (if you have a large group, you might want to bring enough supplies to divide the class into six groups and run the experiments twice at each center; ask the coaches about what class attendance you can expect). Hand a copy of the “Laws for Nature/Laws for People” observation sheet to each child and review it with them. Tell them that they will go around the room doing experiments, recording their observations, and answering some questions that will help them understand why God gave us the Ten Commandments. (Hint to guides and coaches: there is one experiment for each of the three concepts for this lesson.) After you have explained the process to the children and answered their questions, assign each group to a station. Tell them that they will have 5 minutes to complete each station. Have a CD player ready so that you can play some music at 10-minute intervals. This will be the children’s signal to rotate.
Assign the coaches and guides each to one center (for each class we have two coaches and for this lesson we happen to have two guides: Nathan and Mary Lee Bigger). Have one adult be the time keeper and a floater who helps where needed. As the children rotate from station to station help them with the experiments and help them think about their observations and the questions. Use the instruction sheets for each experiment (attached) for guidance.
After the experiments are completed, bring the class back together for additional discussion. Have the children share what they observed and what conclusions they came to about the role God’s laws play in our lives.
Ask the class how the science laws they observed and the Ten Commandments are similar—God created the laws of nature as well as the Ten Commandments. Ask what happens if we try to break one of these laws—Generally a significant consequence happens—if we try to fly without a plane, gravity takes over and we fall down. If we do not follow the Ten Commandments, we will not have all the blessings God intends for us.

Wrap-up:

1. Ask students to tidy up.

2. Bring closure to the activity. Restate the lesson’s key concepts and plans for the following week.

3. Give each student a copy of the Ten Commandments and read it aloud together. Tell the students that they will memorize (or continue memorizing) the Ten Commandments for their memory verse. Ask them to be familiar with the Ten Commandments so they will be prepared for the game on the second week.

Closing (Coach):

1. The Coach conducts the closing prayer time.

2. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.

Guide preparation in advance:

1. Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located.

2. Put the icon for this lesson in the timeline

3. Decide how you are going to present the Scripture/Bible story and get together materials (for example, if you are going to do a pictorial story you’ll need to gather some pictures and have tape, etc.)

4. Assemble and prepare the materials you will need for the science experiments.

5. Make enough copies of “Laws for Nature/Laws for People” for each child to have one. These are in the file science.doc

6. Print and cut out the wings for “Is God Really There?” The pattern is in science.doc.

7. Set up three tables for the science experiments.

Supply List

small objects (rock, feather, coins),

Supplies listed in instructions for science experiments (attached)

An egg timer or a CD player and some music for signaling the children when it’s time to change stations.

Copies of the Ten Commandments for each student.

References

www.rotationworkshop.org

Jok Church, You Can with Beakman: Science Stuff You Can Do. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1992.

Instructions for “What Holds us Together?”

Concept:

God has given us a community to help us be faithful.

Equipment:

Coins (dimes work well)

Medicine droppers and cups of water or eye-drop bottles filled with water

Paper towels

Procedure:

Place the coin on a paper towel. Fill the medicine dropper with water.
Predict how many drops of water you think will “fit” on the coin. Write your prediction on your Laws for Nature/Laws for People worksheet.
Slowly start dropping water onto the coin. Count each drop as it lands on the coin. The first time a drop makes the water spill over the edge, stop counting. Record the number of drops that fit.

What’s Going On?

Many more drops will fit on a coin than most people will predict. Surface tension holds the drops together on the coin. Without surface tension the water would spread immediately and none of it would hold together.

How does this relate to the Ten Commandments?

What held the water together?

Surface tension

When the Israelites were lost in the wilderness many of them wished they were back in Egypt. Why would they want to go back to where they were slaves?

Life in the wilderness was hard and unpredictable. When they were slaves the Israelites were miserable, but at least they knew when they would eat each day. Without any way to order their lives, they might have preferred predictable misery to unpredictable freedom.

How do you think having laws from God helped?

The law gave them a way to structure their lives and take care of themselves and each other. It helped them figure out what they should do and how they should treat each other.

What might have happened to the Israelites if God hadn’t given them laws to live by?

They might have splintered off into lots of smaller groups. Some of them might have returned to Egypt. They might have started fighting among themselves. They might have become disorganized. There are lots of possible answers here.

What holds the Kirk Family together?

Again, lots of answers are possible: the Holy Spirit; the fact that together we try to help each other learn how God wants us to live; the fact that we have the Bible to teach us how to treat each other and other people in the world . . .

Instructions for “Is God Really There?”

Concept:

God asks us to trust and obey God.

Equipment:

A small fan with a “low” setting

Strips of paper (see pattern in file science.doc)

Pencils or small dowels.

Tape

Procedure:

1. Make a wing by folding the paper strip on the line and taping the ends together so that the top of the wing is longer than the bottom.

2. Put a pencil through the wing on the folded side.

3. Hold it with the pencil against the fan. Move it until the air is blowing over the TOP of the wing.

What’s Going On?

When air blew over the top of the wing, it lowered the air pressure. The air pressure on the bottom of the wing became greater, so it pushed the wing up. Air pressure pushing from the bottom of the wings keeps airplanes up in the air.

How does this relate to the Ten Commandments?

Even though you can’t see it, it is the air under the wings that holds an airplane up. A long time ago people believed if they ever saw God they would die. We believe we cannot see God, not because we would die, but because God is spirit. God is love. You cannot see these things.

How do we know God is with us?

We can see God at work in the church. When we serve others God works through us. When we baptize babies, confirmands, and new members, we God working in the lives of other people. When we share in the Lord’s Supper together, we can see God at work keeping us united as a church.

How do God’s laws help us know God is with us?

They help us understand how we are to live so that we can be a blessing to the world. They help us order our lives according to God’s purpose.

Do you think the Israelites felt closer to God after receiving laws from God?

Instructions for “What Makes Us This Way?”

Concept:

God has given us laws to order our lives according to God’s purpose.

Equipment:

A flashlight battery

2 feet of bell wire

a nail

metal filings

a piece of card stock

Preparation:

Make an electromagnet by stripping a half-inch of plastic off of each end of the wire and wrapping it around the nail so that 2 or 3 inches of wire hang off of each end. When the ends of the wire are pressed to each end of the battery, it will create a magnetic field.

Procedure:

Sprinkle metal filings onto a piece of card stock.
Hold the paper over the electromagnet and gently tap it until you start to see shapes form in the filings.

What’s Going On?

The shape you see is the same shape as the magnetic field created by the electromagnet.

How does this relate to the Ten Commandments?

What causes the shapes to form?

The magnetic field. The metal filings are attracted to the magnetic field.

How did God’s laws form the lives of the Israelites?

It gave them rules to follow so that their lives would reflect God’s intentions for them and the world. The first and second commandments, for example, made them a people who are faithful to the one God. The third and fourth commandments made them a people who are worshipful and respectful of God. The remaining six made them a people who would treat each other honorably, respect each others lives and property, and be faithful to each other

How do God’s laws make us different from others who do not follow God’s laws?

In many of the same ways that it shaped the Israelites. We worship on Sundays. We try to be honest and respectful and caring with each other. We remain faithful to each other.

In what ways do you think our lives would be different if we did not have God’s laws to order them?

The children may have lots of ideas on this one. There are not right or wrong answers. Encourage their ideas and affirm them when they are particularly insightful.