FAITH QUEST

Moses, the Plagues, and Passover

Praising Puppets

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Scripture: Exodus chapters 6-12, with emphasis on Exodus 12:21-42.

Memory Verse: Romans 8:39: Nothing in all creation can separate us from God's love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! (CEV).

Concepts: God remembers and keeps God’s promises.

God helps people who suffer.

Objectives: This workshop help children understand that just as God kept his promises to the Hebrew people of old, God keeps his promises to us today. The two promises of God that the children have focused on in this and the previous rotation are their memory verses: Matthew 28:20 “I will be with you always, even until the end of the world” and Romans 8:39 “Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This workshop will explore how God keeps these two promises to us today.

Procedure:

Welcome and Introductions:

1. Greet the children and introduce yourself. Remember you are interacting with a different group of students each week that may not know you.
2. Tell the children that today they will use the puppets to learn about God keeping promises.

Bible Story:

1. Ask the children what they remember about the Hebrew people in Egypt at the time of Moses.

• How were the Hebrew people treated? What was their situation? They were slaves of the Egyptians, they were treated poorly, were required to do difficult, heavy work. They were not free to live their lives as they wished.
• Ask the children if they know what God had promised to the Hebrew people many years before. Most children will not know this answer but tell them that God had promised to be with the Hebrew people as their God and that God would make them a great nation in a special land.
• Ask whether the children think God was keeping this promise when the people were slaves in Egypt. It certainly does not appear so—the Hebrews were not a strong nation living in the land God had promised to them. Instead they were slaves in someone else’s land.
• Ask the children what God did to help the situation change for the Hebrew people in Egypt. They should be able to talk about Moses being called from the last rotation. However in the first few weeks of this rotation, they may not know much more than that. Do not try to re-tell the rest of the Moses story here—the point for the children to know for this workshop is that God worked to keep the promises made to the Hebrew people—and that in time it finally came to pass.
• End this part of the discussion with the question: “Has God made any promises to us?” Answers will vary—but the two promises to focus on are the memory verses from the last rotation and from this one: Matthew 28:20 “I will be with you always, even until the end of the world” and Romans 8:39 “Nothing in all creation can separate us from the God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.” These are indeed promises God has made to us.

2. Tell the children they will use the puppets to see how God is keeping these two promises to us today.

Application:

Note: There are 4 short skits rather than one longer skit. Each skit has 2-4 characters.

1. Divide the class into four groups. Within each group, let the children decide who will be a puppeteer and who will read. NOTE: If the first graders are not able to read the scripts, the workshop leader could pre-record all the reading or the workshop leader and the shepherd could read all the parts while the children do the puppeteering.
2. Give each group enough scripts and puppets for each part in that skit.
3. Allow the groups 5 minutes or so to practice their script.
4. Have the first group come to the stage to act out their skit. Because some skits are short, they could be preformed twice, especially if it was hard for the audience to hear all the lines the first time.
5. At the end of each skit, ask the group to sit down and have a brief discussion about how God was keeping the two promises from the memory verses in the skit. Children should be able to see that God sends love, material help, and God’s presence in many ways—and that indeed, nothing can separate us from God.
6. Act the out the subsequent skits allowing time for a brief discussion at the end of each.

Wrap-up:

Because of the discussions between each skit above, there probably is not much need for further discussion at this point. Just remind the children that the memory verses are indeed God’s promises to us today and that God keeps these promises just as he kept the promises to the Hebrew people long ago. God keeps these promises to us even when it might not seem like it. Certainly for a long time, it didn’t seem like God was remembering the Hebrew people, but in time, God did keep the promises—and God keeps the promises made to us as well.

Reflection Time:

1. Ask the shepherds to pass out the journals and pencils/markers.
2. For the younger children (first and second graders) ask them to write the following title on their page. “God helps us.” Ask them to draw a picture of God helping someone. You may need to remind them, that just as in the skits, God uses other people to help, too.
3. For older children ask them to write about a time when God helped them. If this is difficult, ask them to think of something they prayed for and that happened or a time when they were sick or hurt and someone helped them. Their writing should have at least three sentences.

Closing:

Prayer: Close with a simple prayer thanking God for his promises to always be with us and for all the ways God cares for us.

Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help clean up as they wait for their parents to arrive. Put pillows behind stage area. Put away boom box, workshop bin, etc

Teacher preparation in advance:

1. Read the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study, Sunday, January 27, 2002 at 9:45 in the Main Room of the Activities Building. It will be very important for you to attend this study lead by Susan Mazzara. Please RSVP to the church office 467-4944.
2. Make 10 copies of each script.
3. Highlight the scripts so there are two for each part. The extra copies can be posted behind the stage or used by the workshop leader or shepherd.
4. Prepare a closing prayer.
5. For questions on this lesson plan, call Nancy Stokes 387-7155. For questions about the puppets, their care or manipulation, call Ginger Espino 380-7486. Ginger can give you wonderful tips if you are unfamiliar with puppetry.
6. Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located. The bin with supplies is in the locked cabinet of the puppet room. The key for this cabinet hangs inside the first cupboard in Creation Station. A boom box is located in the Puppet workshop cabinet.
7. Bring a CD or taped music for background music while you are gathering, along with meditative music for reflection time.

Materials:

1. Ten copies of the script.

GOD’S PROMISES

SKIT 1

Workshop leader note: This first skit includes a verse from Amazing Grace and has words that may be unfamiliar to the children (secures, portion, endures). You could review this verse with the children before the skit-or after it. Perhaps you would like to have the words written on a large piece of paper to help them understand it better.

MRS PEARSON: “I’m so worried. I’m so worried. Everything is bad. What will I do? How can I manage? How can anything get better? What can I do? I’m so worried! I’m so worried!!”

“But wait. Listen. I hear something. The radio is on. Is that singing? What are the words? What are they saying?”

VOICE FROM RADIO SINGING: “The Lord has promised good to me. His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be. As long as life endures*”

MRS. SMITH: “I’ve heard those words before. That’s a church hymn. That’s about God. With all my troubles, I forgot about God. That hymn says God will be good to me. It says God will protect me. I want to remember that.”

“Everything is not so bad now. I’m not so worried. When I remember God, everything is much better.”

*Verse 4, Amazing Grace by John Newton.

SKIT 2

JOHN: Uncle Brian, Uncle Brian! It was so exciting to watch you on TV. Did you really fly in the space shuttle? Were you really in outer space? What was it like? Were you scared?”

UNCLE BRIAN: “Yea, it was great! I can’t believe I really got to do it. I have trained and trained to ride in the space shuttle for a long time. It was amazing!”

JOHN: “They told us at church that God is everywhere. But I don’t believe it. I don’t think that God lives in outer space. I think God is only at church. What do you think, Uncle Brian?”

UNCLE BRIAN: “You know, John, I always thought God was only at church, too. But when I was in space, God seemed even more real than when I was in the church building.”

“I could see the earth and the stars and the moon so clearly. I could really understand how big God’s creation is. I could see how beautiful God’s world is. God felt very close to me then. That has helped me feel closer to God all the time now.”

SKIT 3

CHARLES: “Martha, I lost my job today.”

MARTHA: “Oh, Charles, how can we manage? It’s almost Christmas. The kids won’t have anything. What will we do? What will we do?”

CHARLES: “We’ll pray about it, Martha. God will take care of us.”

MARTHA: “Charles, that sounds good, but you know God doesn’t really care about us.”

CHARLES: “You can think what you want, but I’m going to pray. God will listen. God is here.”

TWO WEEKS LATER:

CHARLES: “The social worker has been great help, Martha. I still don’t have a job, but we will have a Christmas! She told me to write a list of the things the kids need for Christmas. She said clothes, toys, books—and that you and I could put a couple things on the list, too.”

MARTHA: “Charles, I don’t get it. Social workers don’t care about our kids or about Christmas.”

CHARLES: “She’s going to give our names and our list to people at a church. They‘re going to buy the things for us!”

MARTHA: “I can’t believe it! This is wonderful! Charles you are so good.”

CHARLES: “No, Martha, I didn’t do anything. God answered our prayers.”

SKIT 4

MRS. JARVIS: “It’s great to have all of you at Faith Quest today. I’m so glad to see you! Remember this rotation is about prayer so we will be asking for prayer concerns at the end of our time together.”

MRS. JARVIS PUPPET PRETENDS TO TEACH SUNDAY SCHOOL FOR A FEW MINUTES AND THEN SPEAKS AGAIN:

MRS. JARVIS: “Are there any prayer concerns or joys to share? God wants to know all our happy news and sad news.”

BELINDA: “My dog had five puppies yesterday!!”

JERAMY: “My grandpa is flying here to visit this week.”

TYLER: “My mom is really sick. She’s going to have surgery in two days. My dad still has to work and has to take care of her. I’m really worried about how I’ll get supper.”

A FEW DAYS LATER:

TYLER: “There’s somebody at the door. Dad’s home so I can answer it.”

MRS. JARVIS: “Tyler, I’m so glad you told us about your mother’s surgery. I’ve called a few of the other ladies from the church and we’ll be bringing supper for the next week while your mom is still resting. Here’s some spaghetti and salad for tonight.”