FAITH QUEST
Noah and the Flood (Revised)
September 4-October 2, 2005
Creation Station
Scripture: Genesis 6-9 with emphasis on Genesis 8:19 -
9:17
Key Scripture Verses: Genesis
9:12-13 “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and
every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set
my (rain)bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me
and the earth.” (New Revised Standard
Version)
Memory Verse: “Our help is in the name of
the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 124:8 (NRSV)
Offering: PC
Concepts:
·
God’s power over
all of creation is amazing.
·
God makes and
keeps promises.
·
God communicates
with people.
Objectives:
1. Understand that God has made
a covenant (promise) to the earth’s creatures.
2. Recognize that rainbows
and each season are reminders of God’s promise.
3. Children will create a
scene of animals leaving the ark with the rainbow as God’s covenant.
Procedure:
Welcome and Introductions:
1. Welcome the children and introduce
yourself. Wear your nametag. Make sure
that everyone is in the right classroom!
Children will either already have name tags on, or will get a nametag
from their shepherd. Make sure that you know everyone’s name and greet the
students individually. Remember you are interacting with a different group of
students each week that may not know you.
2. Start the “lesson time”
with prayer. Perhaps: Dear Lord, thank you for your plans to give us a world
filled with goodness. Be among us as we
learn about your promises. Amen.
Bible Lesson:
1. This is the
story of Noah. The Bible story is very
long so we’ll just listen to a summary.
The Lord God saw that Noah was the only good man in the world and that
all the other people thought about and did bad things. God decided that he had to destroy this evil
by flooding the whole earth. Then he
would start over by filling it with the good things that would be saved from
the earth. The things that God wanted to
save were Noah and his family and all the creatures of the sea, land, and air.
The Lord told Noah
about his plan and told Noah to get good wood to build a very big waterproof
boat. God gave exact instructions to
Noah, telling him to have a roof over the boat and a door in the side of the
boat. Then he said that Noah should
collect a male and a female of every kind of mammal, reptile, and bird and put
them on the boat along with his family and lots of food for everyone. Noah listened when God spoke and obeyed. When the boat was built and everyone was in
it, God closed the door. It then poured
rain for forty days and nights. The
boat, called an ark because it provided safety, floated high above the
water-covered ground. Everything that
was evil was washed away.
Slowly the water
went down. One day Noah and his family
felt the ark rest on land and saw that the water had gone away. They climbed out and released all the
creatures. Noah built an altar and
worshipped God. God was pleased and
said, “Never again will I punish the earth for the sinful things its people
do. As long as the earth remains, there
will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, night and
day.” Then God said, “I am going to make
a solemn promise to you and to everyone who will live after you. This includes the birds and animals that came
out of the boat. I promise every living
creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by
a flood. The rainbow that I have put in
the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this
promise forever. When I send clouds over
the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky, I will remember my promise to you
and to all other living creatures. Never
again will flood waters destroy all life” (Contemporary English Version).
2. This promise that God made to man and animals
is called a covenant. Isn’t it amazing
and wonderful that he created this wonderful reminder – a rainbow. He is telling us that there will never again
be a flood that destroys the whole earth.
He also reminds us that we will always have food from planting and
harvesting, changes in temperature, seasons, night and day. This is God’s covenant – a promise that will
not be broken. He also wants us to
covenant with him to be kind. God said
that he created people to be like him.
He agreed as to what he would or would not do and he wants us to do the
same.
Application:
1. Create!
READ the Bible lesson (1-4 above) with expression.
2. Tell the children that they are going to
create a scene of the creatures leaving the ark under a rainbow that will
contain something they can ‘covenant’ with God in their own lives (e.g., to
love people, help those in need, read the Bible, be nice to brothers and
sisters, respect other peoples differences).
3. Steps:
Pass out drawing and construction paper, scissors, markers and glue
sticks. Have the children write their
names on the back of the drawing paper.
Tell them to quickly cut a good size ark shape out of brown paper. Then they can make pairs of animals by
folding a piece of colored paper in half and drawing the outline of an animal
atop the folded paper. When cut out, there
will be two. Note: younger children may
prefer to draw the animals instead of cutting shapes. Birds, reptiles, and other creatures should
be shown leaving the ark. All should be
pasted down. Make details and a large
rainbow with markers. Each child should
write a personal covenant across the rainbow.
4. Clean up!
Involve everyone in cleaning up so that you will have time to share
together in the closing. You may want to have a pre-arranged signal for clean
up and tell them at the beginning of art project what that will be - perhaps
giving them a 5 minute warning and then the final clean up notice to allow
those who need a bit more warning that they need to complete whatever they are
working on.
5. Turn out lights and lock the classroom doors
when leaving.
Reflection Time:
1. Ask the shepherds to pass out journal pages
and pencils/markers. The children should
spend a few minutes reflecting upon the morning's lesson – What is a
covenant? What was God’s covenant to all
creatures on earth? What things remind
us of God’s covenant?
2. At 10:40 ask the kids to close their journals
and prepare for the closing prayer.
Closing:
1. Encourage them to remember that we cannot
disobey God without his knowing it. Tell
them that God loves them and will keep trying to help them obey.
2. Remind them where their Pennies will be
given.
3. Say the Memory Verse together. You may want
to have this verse printed on a banner and hung in the room, write it on the
white board in the room, or have it on slips of paper that each child can take
home.
4. Pray! Ask the children if they have any
prayer requests. Perhaps: Dear God, thank you for the beauty and variety you
have given us on earth. Help us to
listen when your word is spoken and to remember that we have covenants with
you. Amen.
Teacher preparation in advance:
1. Read the scripture passage
and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Workshop.
2. Practice reading the Bible lesson (above)
with expression.
3. Prepare an opening prayer in case nobody
volunteers to pray.
4. Check the art room and the supply closet to
see what supplies exist.
5. Experiment with what the children will be
doing.
6. Prepare all the materials you will need for
the creation process. Have the materials
ready to go. There will be limited time
for the creation process, so do everything you can to conserve time.
7. Decide how you want to close the lesson. Prepare a prayer, ask for suggestions, or use
the one provided.
Materials:
12”x18” white paper for
background
Construction paper, including
brown
Scissors