FAITH QUEST
REDEMPTION
CREATION
STATION
Scripture: John 1:1-18
Key
Scripture Verse: John1:14 The Word became a
human being and lived here with us. We
saw his true glory, the glory of the only son of the Father. From him all the kindness and all the truth
of God have come down to us. (Contemporary English Version)
Memory Verse:
“God loves us so much that he lets us be
called His children, as we truly are.”
1
John 3:1 (CEV)
Concepts:
· God came to live among us as
a person named Jesus.
· Jesus is God.
Objectives:
1.
Students will remember that in Genesis God spoke and then each creation
happened. It was God’s creation that
brought light to the world and Jesus as a light to all of us.
2.
Students will learn that God sent John the Baptist to tell people that a light
that could give life to all people was coming to earth in the form of God’s
son, Jesus.
3.
Children will use color and form to create their own depictions of Jesus as the
living example of God’s word.
Procedure:
Welcome and Introductions:
1. Welcome the children and introduce yourself.
Wear your nametag.
2.
Start the “lesson time” with prayer. Ask for volunteers, but plan on praying
yourself. A short prayer thanking God for being a part of our lives would be
appropriate. Ask God to help us to be aware of his presence so that we may do
good things as Jesus has taught us.
Bible Story:
1. Discuss the background to today’s story.
Have the children use their Bibles to locate the story in John 1:1-18. The word
“redemption” means a release from sin.
Redemption is a second chance.
In the Old Testament, Samuel said God doesn’t want your (animal)
sacrifices. He wants you to obey him. (1 Samuel 15:22) We cannot determine what we will do to be
accepted by God but must listen to Jesus as God’s word. Jesus came to help us understand that God
created all life and his Word is a light, shining to guide us.
2. God sent John the Baptist to tell people that Jesus was coming as a light to lead people to have faith in God. (John 1:6-12) He said “Because of all that the Son is, we have been given one blessing after another...Jesus brought us undeserved kindness and truth. No one has ever seen God. The only Son who was closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like.” (John 1:16-18)
3. Jesus’ life and death as the true light
redeems believers by making them “children of God.” (John 1:9-12) When we studied the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus we
learned that Jesus died and rose from the dead to save our souls and give us
everlasting life. Jesus’ life and death
was God’s way of reminding us of how to live.
4. It is because Jesus and the message he
taught was such a light that many artists show Jesus with a halo or ring of
light about his head. We don’t know if Jesus
wore white clothing, but he is usually shown wearing white because people think
of him as a “light in the dark” – a path to be followed to find the right way.
5. Take a minute to talk to the children about
the creation they are going to be doing in this workshop. Tell them that they
can choose any story about Jesus to depict in a picture of cut shapes. Remind them of lessons during the past two
years: Jesus teaching God’s message to Mary and Martha, helping the man who was
let down through the roof, sharing God’s message with his disciples at the Last
Supper, foretelling and suffering the betrayal, denial, trial and crucifixion
and returning from the dead to remind his disciples of God’s wishes. Remind them of the banner that they helped
assemble showing some of these stories (it may be good to visit the banner for
a moment but do not keep the banner on display to be copied). Tell them that they can make a picture of
any of these stories by cutting and pasting simple shapes.
Application:
1. Create!
Pass out materials. Every child should choose a sheet of background
paper in a color that will serve as a major part of the picture – blue for sky,
tan for walls or brown for earth. Have
them write their names on the back of the paper.
2. Using pencils and scissors, they can draw
and cut separate shapes from scraps for Jesus’ robe, hair, skin and all the
rest of the parts and the surrounding event.
Have them start with the largest shapes. For example, if they cut out Jesus’ robe first, they can then
hold it against other pieces of paper and draw and cut out hair, feet, etc. The
picture should be all shape and color, no lines or details like eyes, mouths,
etc. In places the shapes can be cut
through or pierced to allow a contrasting color to show through.
3. When they have all the parts cut and
arranged on the background, the pieces can be pasted down.
4. Clean up! Involve all kids in this so that
you will have time to share together in the closing. You may want to have a
prearranged signal or sound for clean up and tell them at 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. Save any large scraps of paper for future
weeks.
6. Turn out lights and lock the classroom door
when leaving.
Reflection Time:
1.
Shepherds
will pass out the Journals and pencils/markers. The children should spend a few minutes reflecting upon the morning's
lesson – Where does Jesus come from?
What makes us children of God?
2.
Encourage
the children to think about what it means when we hear “the Word became flesh”
at Christmastime
Closing:
1.
Say
the Key Memory Verse together (see above). 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.
2.
Pray!
Ask the children if they have any prayer requests. Thank God for giving us this
marvelous world to be a part of.
Teacher preparation in
advance:
1.
Read
the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Workshop Bible study.
2.
Check
the art room to see what supplies exist. Make a sample so you will understand
the process and pitfalls.
3.
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.
4.
Decide
how you want to close the lesson. Prepare a prayer or use one of the group
suggestions.
Materials:
Pencils
Scissors
Construction
paper 9” X 12” assorted colors including gray, brown and tan
Scraps
of construction paper in assorted colors plus white
Paste
or glue sticks