FAITH QUEST
Resurrection
March 13 – April 10, 2005
Creation Station
Scripture: Luke 24
Key Scripture Verse: Luke
24:7. “The Son of Man will be handed
over to sinners who will nail him to a cross.
But three days later he will rise to life.” (Contemporary English Version)
Memory Verse:
“God will raise us from death
by the same power that he used when he raised our Lord to life.” Corinthians 6:14 (CEV)
Offering: One Great Hour of Sharing
Concept:
1. Memory is an important element of faith (proclaiming,
sealing, and bearing).
Objectives:
1. Learn that symbols are
words in picture form and a means of sharing information and carrying a
message.
2. Understand that Christian
people agree upon establishing particular symbols for church use.
3. Recognize that there are
many types of crosses.
4. Children will create fabric bookmarks with a
Christian symbol.
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 sending your son Jesus, who died
and came back to life again. Amen.
Bible Lesson:
1. On a Friday Jesus was crucified, died and was
buried. Saturday was the Sabbath and
people worshipped. On Sunday morning
Jesus’ followers went to visit his tomb.
It was empty. What Jesus said was
going to happen, actually happened. He
had told his disciples that “The nation’s leaders, the chief priests, and the
teachers of the Law of Moses will make the Son of Man suffer terribly. They will reject him and kill him, but three
days later he will rise to life.” (Luke 9:22)
Later that Sunday, two of Jesus’ disciples met Jesus on a road near
2. What do we call this season in the church
year we are talking about? (Easter) What was the most special event that occurred
on Easter morning? (Tomb was empty) What happened later that day and what did it
prove? (Jesus met his followers – he was
alive!)
3. Today’s story is about Jesus’ resurrection –
returning to life. This proved the he
was not only the Son of Man, but also the Son of God. The Christian Church is built on the
resurrection of Jesus. Believers started
to meet and remember what Jesus had taught.
These gatherings were the beginnings of the church. The Romans did not like the idea of a church
that believed in something more powerful than their rulers and often jailed and
killed Christians. Christians had to
develop secret signs or symbols to identify themselves and their places of
worship. (Please turn over the papers that you have in front of you.) Sometimes drawings of a lamb, fish, or crown
were marked on a wall. (Can you find
these symbols?) Other times they drew
Greek initials. The XP are the first
letters of the word Christ. IHS spells
Jesus. AO (alpha and omega) means the
beginning and the end and are often combined with Jesus’ cross. INRI was the sign in Latin on Jesus’
cross. (Look for these.) Almost 2000 years later, some of these
symbols can still be found on walls in caves and tombs where Christians first
gathered. Today you can see these
symbols in our sanctuary, on our ministers’ stoles, and on the communion cloth.
4. At first, crosses were not used very
often. People wanted to forget about the
horrible way that Jesus had died on the cross.
Then they gradually began to think that we should not forget that he
died on a cross because that was not the end – he came alive again. About 400 years after Jesus’ resurrection,
the cross was approved as a symbol of Christ Jesus. Crosses were accepted and used in many
variations. Some crosses were even
designed to remind people of how some of the disciples had died. The ugliness of these deaths turned into
beautiful crosses as reminders of Jesus’ ministry. (Look at all the different crosses on your
papers and on the walls. Can you find
the Presbyterian cross? Do you see that
it is made of combined symbols – a dove, cup, book and flames)? Other symbols represent the Trinity. A
triangle with three points or three overlapped circles reminds us of God as
Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
Application:
1. Create!
READ the lesson (1-4 above) with expression.
2. Tell the children that they are going to make
their own symbols to remind them of Jesus’ resurrection. The designs will be turned into
bookmarks. Ask them to look carefully at
the designs posted about the room. They
may be interested in the history of some of the crosses. Of course they may instead choose to make a
symbol that uses something other than a cross.
3. Steps:
Pass out bookmark size pieces of paper, pencils and scissors. When a child has drawn a satisfactory design,
they may cut it out. Next they should
select precut backing fabric and iron-on fabric for the design. Have them place their pattern on the iron-on
fabric and trace around it. Cut it out
and take both pieces to a Shepherd who has an iron. If any child knows how to sew and wishes to
add some stitching to their bookmark, tell them that needles and floss are
available from another Shepherd.
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 prearranged signal 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. Turn out lights and lock the classroom door
when leaving.
Reflection Time:
1. Ask the shepherds to pass out Journals and
pencils/markers. The children should
spend a few minutes reflecting upon the morning's lesson – Why are symbols
important in the church? Where have you
seen symbols in our church? What symbols
are special to Easter? What should the cross
remind us of?
2. At 10:40 ask the kids to close their journals
and prepare for the closing prayer.
Closing:
1. Encourage them to remember that the tomb was
empty and Jesus was alive. Tell them to
remember to look for symbols whenever they are in a church.
2. Tell them that their offering will be given
to One Great Hour of Sharing.
3. 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.
4. Pray! Ask the children if they have any
prayer requests. Thank God for the wonderful gift of the risen Jesus who is
part of our lives everyday.
Teacher preparation in advance:
1. Read the scripture passage
and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Workshop.
2. Practice reading the Bible story (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 or ask for suggestions.
Materials:
Bookmark size scraps of paper
Pencils, Scissors, Tape
Iron
Floss and needles
Fabric with iron on backing
(Pre-iron backing or purchase iron on tape)
Precut, bookmark size
non-raveling fabric or rice paper
Printouts of symbols (click here for page of symbols)
Posters of crosses
References:
Crosses of Many Cultures Joyce Mori - Morehouse Publishing,
The NEW BANNER BOOK Betty Wolfe - Morehouse Publishing,
Please call Carole Rhodes
(363-1980) if you have any questions about this lesson plan.
