Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33
Memory Verse: “Christ gives me the strength to face
anything.” Philippians
Concepts:
Objectives:
The objectives of this
workshop are to teach the children the Matthew passage and to have the children
realize and have faith in the amazing power of Jesus. A fun cooking demonstration will help them to
remember this lesson.
Procedure:
Welcome and Introductions:
1.
Greet the
children and introduce yourself. Wear
your nametag. Make sure the children are wearing nametags. If not, ask the
shepherd to supply a temporary badge. Remember you are interacting with a
different group of students each week that may not know you.
2.
The children
should be seated outside the kitchen.
Explain the purpose of this workshop:
Today we will be reading the Bible and watching an adult prepare a very
special treat to help you understand the amazing power of Jesus. Before we prepare our treat, we’re going to
read the Bible story for today.
Scripture/Bible Story:
Ask the children
to open their Bibles, if they have them, to Matthew 14:22.
Warm-Up
Discussion and Questions: This passage is from the book of
Matthew. Does anyone know in what part
of the Bible we would find the book of Matthew?
New Testament What is the book of Matthew about? The life of Jesus. Why is the life of Jesus so important to
us? Jesus died so that our sins could
be forgiven. What do we have to do to have our sins
forgiven? Believe in the risen Jesus.
Read the
Scripture passage Matthew 14:22-33 from the CEV (see note about who should read
the Bible during class at the end of this lesson):
From
Matthew 14
Jesus Walks on the Water
22Right away, Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and start
back across the lake. But he stayed until he had sent the crowds away. 23Then
he went up on a mountain where he could be alone and pray. Later that evening,
he was still there. 24By this time the boat was a long way from the
shore. It was going against the wind and was being tossed around by the waves. 25A
little while before morning, Jesus came walking on the water toward his
disciples. 26When they saw him, they thought he was a ghost. They
were terrified and started screaming.
27At once, Jesus said to them, "Don't worry! I am Jesus. Don't
be afraid."
28Peter replied, "Lord, if it is really you, tell me to come to
you on the water."
29"Come on!" Jesus said. Peter then got out of the boat
and started walking on the water toward him.
30But when Peter saw how strong the wind was, he was afraid and started
sinking. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.
31Right away, Jesus reached out his hand. He helped Peter up and
said, "You surely don't have much faith. Why do you doubt?"
32When Jesus and Peter got into the boat, the wind died down. 33The
men in the boat worshiped Jesus and said, "You really are the Son of
God!"
Discussion
after the Passage:
What did Jesus do
near the beginning of the passage? He
prayed. Did you know that Jesus
prayed? Try to get some response from
children. Why do you think he prayed? To talk to God, to be with God, to get
direction… What do you think that tells us?
All of us should also pray regularly.
If Jesus needed prayer, we need prayer, too. What was the most amazing thing in the
story? Jesus and Peter walking on the
water. How did Jesus walk on the
water? Jesus was able to do this
because he was the Son of God. This gave him power over everything. How did Peter walk on the water? Peter needed Jesus to be with him and to
command him to do it. Peter also needed
faith. Why did Peter start to sink? He had faith at first, but then he
allowed himself to doubt, and he began to sink. What happened when Peter began to sink? He called out to Jesus, and Jesus saved
him. Is this something we can do
when we need help? YES! We can always
call out to Jesus to save us. Can we
walk on the water if we believe in Jesus?
Probably not. This was
just something that happened at this particular time in history.
From this passage,
we learned that Jesus, the Son of God, is powerful. He could walk on the water, and he could
allow other people to walk on the water.
He can give us the power to do things, especially things for God. Peter had faith when he believed that Jesus
was with him. When Peter was focused on
faith in Jesus, he was able to walk on the water.
Now we are going
to prepare a special treat to help us remember the ideas in the Matthew
passage.
Cooking Application:
Suggested Discussion:
If
we had put ice cream in the oven by itself, what would have happened? It would have melted. What kept the ice cream from
melting? The egg white meringue acted
like a thermos to protect the ice cream from the heat. It allowed the ice cream to do something it could
never do by itself. Think about
Jesus in our “Walk on the Water” story.
How do you think Jesus was like meringue in our Bible story? Let them attempt a few answers then summarize
by saying that Jesus allowed Peter to
walk on the water—something he could never have done by himself, someplace he
couldn’t go by himself, just like the meringue helped out the ice cream. Who is the meringue in our lives (who
helps us/protects us)? May think of
parents or friends, but if no one mentions Jesus say it yourself. You can summarize by saying that Jesus is the
meringue in our lives because he allows us to go to heaven—someplace we could
never go by ourselves.
The following is a bigger concept for
the children. They may have difficulty in “getting it”. You may want to save this for the third
through fifth graders. Did
you notice how the meringue had brown spots on it from the heat? Do these marks on the meringue remind anyone
of something about Jesus, maybe something that we think about at Easter? The scars on his hands and feet. Jesus bears the scars on his hands and
feet—all to save us from our own sins.
The meringue bears the marks of saving the ice cream from melting. If your parents ask you what Baked Ice Cream
has to do with Jesus, just tell them it is a memory device to help you remember
this day and this story.
· Jesus, as the Son of God, is powerful. Like the meringue, he is able to protect us.
· Jesus gives us the power to do God’s work in the world
just as the meringue gave the ice cream the power to stay frozen in the oven.
·
Faith is
believing God is with us. Unfortunately, we do not have something we can see
like meringue to cover ourselves, but we can cover ourselves with faith in
Jesus, and that is MORE powerful than the meringue even though it is invisible.
·
If we focus on
Jesus, our faith is strengthened. Each
day we live believing in Jesus’ power, the easier it gets to live that way.
Tidy and Dismissal: You can have the children to help tidy up by throwing away their
trash. You can also try to get help
washing and drying the cooking equipment and putting it away if there is
time.
Reflection Time:
If there is time, ask the
shepherds to pass out the pencils or markers. Tell the children to draw a
picture or write a sentence about Peter and Jesus walking on the water so they
can remember how the Baked Ice Cream was a fun activity to teach them the
concepts in this passage. The workshop
leader(s) and shepherd(s) can help parents by writing a caption on any
pictures. If time is limited, pass out
the journal pages for the children to take home with them.
At 10:45, close with prayer.
Prayer: Write you own or use this
example. Thank you Jesus for sharing
your power with us and for allowing us to go to heaven only because we have
faith in you.
Teacher preparation in advance:
1.
Pray
that God will guide you to teach what He wants taught during this workshop and
scripture passage. Pray for a loving and
patient attitude toward the children.
Pray for time management during the workshop.
2.
Read the
scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.
3.
Please
practice reading the scripture passage out loud several times. See Who Should Read section of this
lesson for encouragement.
4.
Check
out the kitchen before your first Sunday workshop so that you will know where
everything is located and how the oven works. You may need to bring equipment
from home, including a mixer.
5.
Purchase
the ingredients for the Baked Ice Cream—you can submit a form to be reimbursed.
6.
You will
probably want to make the Baked Ice Cream at home so you are familiar with the
process.
7.
Prepare
a closing prayer.
As the writer of this lesson
and also as a Faith Quest teacher, I strongly encourage you, the workshop
leader, to read the Bible passage yourself and only after practicing it before
your first Sunday.
Allergen Information
The Baked Ice Cream contains pound cake, ice cream,
and an egg product. If there is a child
allergic to any of these substances, they can still participate by watching,
and perhaps an alternate treat can be provided.
Supply List
Ingredients for
Baked Ice Cream (this will be enough to make one item each week for five weeks
and make one trial item):
3 pound cakes
3 quarts of ice cream, any favor
Just Whites Powder, 8 oz container
Vanilla
Powdered Sugar
Cream of Tartar
Equipment for
preparing and serving Baked Ice Cream (cookie sheet, plastic knives, mixer with
very clean bowl, large spoon, knife)
Paper plates and
spoons, maybe plastic knives
References
Notes supplied by
Baked Ice Cream recipe modified but based on “Baked
Alaska” from Epicurious.com and Just Whites Meringue Recipe modified from
recipe on container.
Baked
Ice Cream
Makes 2 items.
The key to this
dessert is keeping the cake and the ice cream as cold as possible, so be sure
not to thaw the cake or soften the ice cream before assembling. We recommend
using ice cream that comes in paper quarts, so it is easy to remove.
1 (10 3/4-oz)
frozen pound cake, not thawed
1 quart ice cream
2 recipes of Just Whites Meringue* (recipe below)
Ahead of time: Remove cake from container and turn on side. Cut frozen cake lengthwise into 2 pieces—one piece will have the entire top of the cake, one piece will have the entire bottom. Wrap in foil and refreeze individually. (You will only use one slice per Baked Ice Cream.) Remove paper container from block of ice cream. Place block on cutting board with bottom side as it was in the container down. Cut along the longest side in half lengthwise from top to bottom. (Your knife will be parallel with the longest side.) Wrap in plastic wrap and then in foil and refreeze separately. Each Baked Ice Cream will use only one ice cream piece.
When you are ready to prepare the Baked Ice Cream, preheat oven to 450°F.
If you are making both Baked Ice Cream items on the same day, double this
recipe for meringue.
Just Whites Meringue
¼ cup Just Whites powder
¾ cup water
½ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
In a mixer bowl, add Just Whites to the water
and break up slightly with a fork. Let
stand at least 2 minutes. Beat on medium
speed until the Just Whites have dissolved and the mixture is frothy. Add vanilla and cream of tartar. Increase
speed to high and beat, adding the sugar gradually until very stiff peaks form.
Remove one cake
slice from freezer and place on cookie sheet.
Remove one ice cream slice and place on frozen cake slice. Mound
meringue over ice cream/cake slice, spreading to cover crack between cookie
sheet and cake to seal ice cream/cake completely. Bake in middle of oven until meringue has golden brown peaks, about
5-10 minutes. Slice and serve immediately.
*Because egg whites in this recipe would not be fully cooked, we are using powdered egg whites. Liquid pasteurized egg whites do not whip.