Good News
Scripture: Luke 24
Memory Verse:
"God will raise us from death by the same power that he used when
he raised our Lord to life.” 1
Corinthians 6:14 (CEV)
Offering: One
Great Hour of Sharing
Concepts:
v If we believe Christ rose from the dead, death is not the end for us (proclaiming and responding).
v Look for Jesus among the living (gathering, sealing, and bearing).
v Memory is an important element of faith (proclaiming, sealing, and bearing).
v Personal encounters with Jesus are what bring people to faith (proclaiming, responding, sealing, and bearing).
v Once we know Jesus is raised, we must understand our calling (responding, bearing and following).
Objectives:
The main objective of this
workshop is to show the connection between our worship service and the
resurrection story. First, the children
will focus on the Bible by reviewing the memory verse and hear the Luke
resurrection story. Then, the children
will look at the format of our worship service using a bulletin and see how
each part of the worship service is connected to something that happened in the
resurrection story. Lastly, they will
compare the scripture to the elements of how we worship.
Procedure:
Welcome, Introductions
and Overview:
1. Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your nametag.
2. Explain the purpose of this workshop: “Today we will hear the story of Jesus’ resurrection. This is the story of how Jesus was the 1st person to be raised by God from the dead to eternal life. The story includes what Jesus told his followers after he was raised from the dead and before he went to be with God the Father. Then we will look at the bulletin for today’s worship service and try to understand how the different parts of the service help us remember how Jesus was raised from the dead and is alive today.”
(Have the memory
verse posted somewhere in the room or hold up a poster of this verse.) “Let’s look at our memory verse. Would anyone like to say it from memory? If not, maybe we could all read it
together. God will raise us from
death by the same power that he used when he raised our Lord to life. (1 Corinthians 6:14) Who is the Lord who was raised? Jesus.
Isn’t it nice to know that after we die God will raise us from the
dead just like he did Jesus? That means
that death is not the end for us, doesn’t it?
God is powerful, isn’t he?”
Scripture/Bible
Story:
Ask the children
to open their Bibles to Luke 24 while you read the Scripture passage. During this time, you can offer a sticker
to those children that remembered to bring their Bibles to church. This is a long passage, so the first 2 weeks,
you can read the whole passage, and weeks 3-5 you can read or give a
summary. (See attached.)
Application:
1. Determining the Parts of Worship: Hand out bulletins to the children, show them where the worship service program is. Explain that each worship service at the Kirk has certain parts that are there every Sunday. Point out the first part, “Gathering Around the Word.” Ask someone to put up a sign for “Gathering” on the wall using Painter’s tape. Ask them what the “Word” means. “Word” can refer to the Bible, which is God’s Word, and it can also refer to Jesus, who was described by John as ‘The Word.’ Then ask them what things happen during this section when we “Gather around the Word.” They should see things, such as welcome, call to worship, maybe lighting the candles, confession, and the peace. Then ask them to point out the next main section. You can help them by telling them it will look like the “Gathering” title--have the same print size and color and be centered like “Gathering” was. They should find “Hearing the Word” next, have someone post the sign, then have them notice that this section includes reading from the Bible—so we are hearing God’s word, the Bible--and hearing the sermon, which is the Pastor’s explanation of what God’s Word, aka the Bible, is telling us. Let them find the next section, “Responding to the Word,” post the sign, notice that this includes a hymn, affirmation of faith (which is a way of saying exactly what we believe about our three part God), prayer (including the Lord’s Prayer) and the offering. Let them find the next section, “Bearing the Word,” post the sign and point out that it includes the Pastor giving us our charge and benediction—which is what we are supposed to do and a blessing. There may be a section, “Sealing the Word” on some Sundays which includes communion and baptism. It can be placed anywhere in the service, but is usually between Responding and Bearing. If it is in the bulletin, you can cover it when you reach it. If not, you can discuss it now. Put this sign up and point out that it can include communion and/or baptism.
2.
Aligning Sections of the Worship Service with
Verses in the Resurrection Story: The
children will look at each section of the worship service (posted on the walls)
and find verses from the passage that support why we do that activity in our
worship service. Posting these verses on
the wall under the worship section signs will reinforce the connection. If you have verses printed out, provide them
for the children to see at this time.
Start by pointing to “Gathering” and asking the children to think
about the Resurrection Bible story and list any things that were about
gathering around the word. The three or
four examples they can find are: 1.
After the women saw the empty tomb, they ran back to meet with the other
disciples, who were already gathered together. (vv 9-10) 2. After the two
disciples meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus, they return to
3.
Conclusion:
You can ask the children whether they understand a little more about
the different sections of the worship service—maybe they can follow the service
better today after seeing why we do all these parts.
Reflection Time:
Ask the shepherds to pass out the journal sheets and
pencils/markers. The completed worksheets can be added to the journal. Tell the older students to write down what
they thought was the most interesting part of the story today or anything they
learned for the first time. Tell the
younger students to draw a picture of something from the lesson today.
Prayer: Thank you God for raising Jesus from death so that we know that death is not the end for us. Please help us share this Good News in our world. We ask this in Jesus’ name.
Tidy and Dismissal: Ask
children to help tidy up. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.
Teacher preparation in advance:
1)
Pray
that God will guide you as you teach this workshop. Pray for a loving and patient attitude toward
the children.
2) Read
the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.
3)
Prepare
a closing prayer.
4)
Read and
re-read the Bible story that you will read to the children. Practice an abbreviated version for later
weeks.
5)
Make a
poster of the memory verse to hold up or hang on the wall.
6)
If you
want to, you can decorate the room like a sanctuary—entirely optional. You could prepare paper mats for the floor to
make the room similar to the sanctuary, such as several long pews, a choir
loft, altar table and pulpit. These
mats can be very basic with labels or more elaborate (depends on how crafty you
enjoy being.) You can use props to make
the “sanctuary more real,” such as battery or electric candles (like Christmas
window candles), a cross, a flower arrangement.
You can use a CD player playing hymns when the children come in. This is not necessary—only if you like doing
this sort of thing.
7)
Prepare
signs for the wall that correspond to the different parts of worship in the
bulletin. The Book of Order suggests
Gathering Around the Word, Proclaiming the Word, Responding to the Word, The
Sealing of the Word, and Bearing and Following the Word into the World, but
these should match what is in the bulletin, which at the Kirk is slightly
different. We use Hearing instead of
Proclaiming. This can be on any kind of
paper.
8)
Prepare
scripture verses that can be hung on the wall under the appropriate worship
part signs. Different methods could be
used:
a)
Probably
the easiest for the children would be a computer printout in large font or
handwritten copy of the text of the following verses: Luke 24:5b-7 (starting with “But the men...”),
9-10, 27, 30, 33, 34, 41, 44-46, 47-48, (49-probably won’t use), 50, 52,
52-53.
b)
Probably
the easiest for the workshop leader to prepare would be computer printout or
handwritten verse numbers.
c)
May take
too much time, but you could have blank flip-chart sheets on the wall under the
signs, and let children write keywords from these verses on the wall.
9)
The day
of teaching, pick up enough bulletins for the children to have one or share
one. This may help them be more
interested in the service that day. Alternatively,
you can use the same set of bulletins every week.
Suggested Supply List
·
Stickers
for Bible bringers
·
Poster
board or other paper for memory verse & signs
·
Flipchart
paper and markers or verse signs
·
Painters
tape for hanging signs
·
Props
and scenery if you choose to do this
·
Bulletins
References
Notes and ideas supplied by Lori Houck for curriculum writers' Bible study, October 2004.
The Luke Resurrection Story from the CEV
Luke 24
Jesus Is Alive
1Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying
the spices that they had prepared. 2When they found the stone rolled
away from the entrance, 3they went in. But they did not find the
body of the Lord Jesus, 4and they did not know what to think.
Suddenly two men in shining white clothes stood beside them. 5The
women were afraid and bowed to the ground. But the men said, "Why are you
looking in the place of the dead for someone who is alive? 6Jesus
isn't here! He has been raised from death. Remember that while he was still in
9-10Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other
women were the ones who had gone to the tomb. When they returned, they told the
eleven apostles and the others what had happened. 11The apostles
thought it was all nonsense, and they would not believe.
12But Peter ran to the tomb. And when he stooped down and looked in,
he saw only the burial clothes. Then he returned, wondering what had happened.
Jesus Appears to Two Disciples
13That same day two of Jesus' disciples were going to the
17Jesus asked them, "What were you talking about as you walked
along?"
The two of them stood there looking sad and gloomy. 18Then the one
named Cleopas asked Jesus, "Are you the only person from Jerusalem who
didn't know what was happening there these last few days?"
19"What do you mean?" Jesus asked.
They answered:
Those things that happened to Jesus from
22Some women in our group surprised us. They had gone to the tomb
early in the morning, 23but did not find the body of Jesus. They
came back, saying that they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he
is alive. 24Some men from our group went to the tomb and found it
just as the women had said. But they didn't see Jesus either.
25Then Jesus asked the two disciples, "Why can't you
understand? How can you be so slow to believe all that the prophets said? 26Didn't
you know that the Messiah would have to suffer before he was given his
glory?" 27Jesus then explained everything written about himself
in the Scriptures, beginning with the Law of Moses and the Books of the
Prophets.28When the two of them came near the village where they
were going, Jesus seemed to be going farther. 29They begged him,
"Stay with us! It's already late, and the sun is going down." So
Jesus went into the house to stay with them.
30After Jesus sat down to eat, he took some bread. He blessed it and
broke it. Then he gave it to them. 31At once they knew who he was,
but he disappeared. 32They said to each other, "When he talked
with us along the road and explained the Scriptures to us, didn't it warm our
hearts?" 33So they got right up and returned to
The two disciples found the eleven apostles and the others gathered together. 34And
they learned from the group that the Lord was really alive and had appeared to
Peter. 35Then the disciples from Emmaus told what happened on the
road and how they knew he was the Lord when he broke the bread.
What Jesus' Followers Must Do
36While Jesus' disciples were talking about what
had happened, Jesus appeared and greeted them. 37They were
frightened and terrified because they thought they were seeing a ghost.
38But Jesus said, "Why are you so frightened? Why do you doubt?
39Look at my hands and my feet and see who I am! Touch me and find
out for yourselves. Ghosts don't have flesh and bones as you see I have."
40After Jesus said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41The
disciples were so glad and amazed that they could not believe it. Jesus then
asked them, "Do you have something to eat?" 42They gave
him a piece of baked fish. 43He took it and ate it as they watched.
44Jesus said to them, "While I was still with you, I told you
that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Books of the
Prophets, and in the Psalms had to happen." 45Then he helped
them understand the Scriptures. 46He told them:
The Scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer, then three days later he will
rise from death. 47They also say that all people of every nation
must be told in my name to turn to God, in order to be forgiven. So beginning
in
Jesus Returns to Heaven
50Jesus led his disciples out to