FAITH QUEST

The Call of Abraham and Sarah

September 5 – October 3, 2004

Creation Station

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9

Key Scripture Verse: Genesis 12:1-2a The Lord said to Abram (we call him Abraham because God later changed his name): “Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation.” (Contemporary English Version)

Memory Verse: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15b NSRV

Concepts:

· We, like Abraham, are on a journey of faith with God.

· God chooses to work through people to fulfill God’s mission.

· Like Abraham, we should listen and obey when God leads us.

Objectives:

1. Understand that this story from Genesis is about the creation of order for mankind.

2. Learn that God made and kept a promise of land and a nation to Abraham.

3. Know that Abraham was obedient, faithful, and worshipped God.

4. Children will create a topographical map showing Abraham’s route.

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. Ask for volunteers, but plan on praying yourself. A short prayer thanking God for promising to bless us would be appropriate.

Bible Lesson:

1. Here is a map of the Holy Lands in Old Testament times. Who knows what a map is used for? When people travel without a map, how do they know where to go? This Bible lesson tells the story of Abraham who was called by God to settle in a new land. Abraham did not have a map to find this land but God promised him that if he went there, Abraham would become the father of a new nation. You will have a map to follow his journey and to show your families why the trip was so long.

2. Abraham was one member of a large family that originally lived in Ur (can you find Ur?). At that time, Ur was an important city located in what is now Iraq. God told this family that they should move to the land of Canaan. If you look at this map, you can find these two places and see that Canaan is directly west of Ur. They could not travel that way though because the land in between is hundreds of miles of desert and mountains – there would have been burning heat in the day, cold at night, blowing sand and no food or water. Instead Abraham, his father, wife, nephew and servants followed either the Tigris or Euphrates Rivers where there was water, food and people to help them. They probably traveled by foot and camel and carried the makings of tents. Leaving the city and real houses, they set up these tents where ever they stopped and traveled 900 miles to Haran (find Haran), which is in the present day country called Turkey.

3. Abraham’s family liked Haran and they forgot about going to Canaan. God spoke to Abraham and said: “Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you.” The promise that God made to Abraham is called a covenant and Abraham had to have the faith to accept it. He had to believe that leaving all that he knew, moving to an unknown land and having descendants would result in the blessing God said it would be.

4. Abraham was 75 years old when he was told by God to leave Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarah (originally called Sarai) and some other members of his household. They had no children and didn’t expect to have any since they were so old. It was a great risk to leave all that he was familiar with and people who would take care of him. They traveled about 700 miles to the land of Canaan (find Canaan again).

5. Canaan fulfilled God’s promise. It is a land of hills and valleys located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It has seasons and good land for growing food. Eventually Abraham and Sarah even had a son, Isaac and that son was followed by many generations all the way to Jesus. Canaan is the land that Jesus lived in and is part of present day Israel. Look, you can even see the Sea of Galilee where Jesus often preached. When Abraham arrived in Canaan he was very thankful. The Lord appeared to him and promised, “I will give this land to your family forever.” Abraham then built an altar to God. Later Abraham built other altars in other places. These altars for him are like churches to us. They are a place to go to honor the Lord. As Christians we have a new covenant through Jesus. With faith we accept him as our savior and follow his example. Jesus does not give us a map or step-by-step directions as to how we should do things but he does teach us what God wants. When we obey, we are blessed. In the same manner, Abraham was not told how to get to Canaan. He was told to go and when he arrived, he was blessed.

Application:

1. Create! Pass out cardstock with pre-printed map and have the big map taped to the wall. Show the map and atlas showing where Abraham lived. It would have more meaning if you also showed a globe (in library) to pinpoint the Holy Land and NC. Read the Bible story (1-5 above) with expression.

2. Show your sample and explain the technique of applying dough to indicate mountains, blue markers for water and green for Canaan. Highlighters can be used to define present day boundaries or to color the desert.

3. Steps: First color the seas and rivers with blue markers and then shade Canaan, Ur and Haran with green. Highlight present day nations’ borders and/or deserts. Give each child a walnut size piece of brown play dough. Press and shape small amounts of dough in the places where mountains exist. Abraham’s possible route may be indicated.

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 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 – Who knows what a covenant is? What did God promise? What did Abraham have to do? Did God keep his promise? Did God tell Abraham exactly how to go to Canaan? After Abraham arrived in Canaan, what did he do? How does Jesus serve as a covenant for us? How do you feel blessed?

2. At 10:40 ask the kids to close their journals and prepare for the closing prayer.

Closing:

1. Encourage them to think about how God chooses people to do his work.

2. Tell them that their offering will be given to the Peacemaking offering.

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 choosing us to help fulfill his mission. Help us to listen and obey when God leads us.

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. Experiment with what the children will be doing. Make enough copies of the map.

5. 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.

6. Mix an adequate quantity of play dough and tint it brown (mix in orange and green food coloring).

7. Make a sample.

8. Decide how you want to close the lesson. Prepare a prayer or ask for suggestions.

Materials:

Atlas

Tape and map showing the Old Testament Bible lands

Basic map outline of area printed on neutral tone cardstock

Blue and green Markers

Highlighters

Brown play dough (click here for the recipe)

Map, outline blanks and highlighters will be provided.