Here is another lesson option for your children’s church or Sunday school leading up to Christmas. Much of this lesson plan is built around a popular storybook, but you could also teach the main points without the book simply using your Bible. You may find the Poinsettias craft & game useful as stand-alone Christmas activities.

Bible Lesson: The Heart of Giving
Scriptures: Mark 12:41-44
Target Age Group: 1^st – 5^th grade
Time: 45-60 minutes

Learning Activity #1:  Bible Lesson “The Heart of Giving”

Supplies needed:  The Legend of the Poinsettia, by Tomie dePaola ; a Poinsettia flower

1. Ask: Does anyone know what a legend is?  (Answer:  A story or myth that has been told for several generations.)

What are some well known legends?  (Robin Hood, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the Fountain of Youth, Paul Bunyan, etc.)

Today we’re going to read a popular legend that originated in Mexico.  As we read this story, I want you to think about the meaning behind it.  What does it teach us about giving gifts?

2. Read: The Legend of the Poinsettia, retold and illustrated by Tomie dePaola (Check with your local library before purchasing a copy.  It is a popular book by a well-known author, so there should be multiple copies available.)

The Legend of the Poinsettia is a Mexican story about a little girl who gives armfuls of weeds to the Christ child, because it is all she has to offer.  She is embarrassed by her gift and wishes that she could give more.  However, when the weeds were presented to Jesus, they flowered at his manger and became what we know as the Poinsettia.  In Mexico, these flowers are called flor de fuego (fire flower), flor de Navidad (Christmas flower), and flor de la Nochebuena (flower of the Holy Night).

3. Ask the following questions:

What did Lucida want to give to Jesus?  (A beautiful blanket that her mom and her had made together)
Why wasn’t she able to give the blanket?  (Because her mom got sick and it wasn’t able to be finished)
Why did Lucida think that she ruined Christmas?  (Because she tangled up the blanket offering and didn’t have anything else to give.)
What did Lucida give to Jesus instead?  (Weeds)
Lucida was sad about this.  How do you think God felt and why?  (Happy because she was giving all she had, with a humble heart)
Do you think that the weeds really turned into Poinsettias right there at the manger?  (Probably not; that’s what makes this story a legend! But it is true that God often takes the tough times in our lives and turns them into something beautiful, as we follow Him.)

What is a widow?  (A woman whose husband has died)
How else is she described in these verses?  (We know that she is poor)
What did the rich people give to the temple?  (Large amounts of money)
What did the widow give?  (Two coins, worth less than one penny)
What did Jesus think about her gift?  (He loved how she gave from her heart, the best of what she had.)
How are these two stories similar?  (Both talk about giving your best, even if it doesn’t seem like a lot.  God was pleased with both of the gifts given.)

6. Conclude the lesson by saying: There is no question that God looks at our hearts when we give.  From God’s Word, it seems as though He looks for three things when we give:

a. Great Attitudes (Not being upset about giving)
b. Humility in Giving (Not giving so that others can see)
c. Our Best (Not giving Him leftovers)

This Christmas season and all year long, we can give God the gifts of our time, money, possessions, thanksgiving, talents, and most importantly, our lives.  Let’s try to give with great attitudes.  Let’s try to be humble and give what we have quietly.  Let’s try to give Him our best.  Even if all we have is weeds or two small coins; if given in love, these gifts would be as beautiful as the Poinsettia flower, in His eyes.

Learning Activity #2:  Art Project, as designed by BJ Russell (our resident artist)

Supplies needed (for each child):  6 petals traced on red construction paper, 2 leaves traced on green construction paper, green markers, one small yellow square cut-out, five small pieces of yellow tissue paper, glue sticks, scissors, 5 glue dots, and only 1 crimper. (Check with art teachers or scrap bookers for acquiring this tool instead of purchasing one.  The project can still be completed without one, but it does add a nice dimension!)

1. Write name on the yellow square.
2.  Draw veins on the leaves.
3.  Cut out petals and leaves.
4.  Have a teacher or assistant roll pieces through the crimper.
5.  Glue petals and leaves to the blank side of the yellow square and to each other, in the form of a Poinsettia flower.
6.  Crumple the yellow tissue paper and glue on the front side of the flower with glue dots.

Learning Activity #3:  Game “Poinsettia Word Find!”

Supplies needed:  chalk board or whiteboard, dry erase markers or chalk, scrap paper and utensils for students, if they are working in teams

1.  Post the word “Poinsettia” on a chalkboard or whiteboard.
2.  Have the students work collectively or in smaller teams to figure out how many words can be formed out of the letters in “Poinsettia.”

Here are some suggestions to get you started:  pen, set, it, at, pat, pet, in, sin, tea, pin, tin, ton, top, tip, pit, sit, sat, pot, not, sip, sap, past, paste, post, stain, paint, pain, neat, net, ten, tape, saint, on, noise, etc!

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Teaching Kids to Use Their Bibles (even before they can read)

by WAYNE STOCKS

Next to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, the most important thing we can give the kids who pass through our children’s ministries is an understanding of how to use their Bibles.  The Bible is critical to the continued spiritual development of kids. If there was any doubt, just read these verses where the Bible describes itself.

In my church, I work with Kindergarteners and First Graders every Sunday.  It’s a great age, but it does present some unique problems.  When it comes to using the Bible, the most pressing problems is that many of the kids in the room either don’t know how to read or are just learning how to read. That, however, is not an excuse for not teaching them how to use their Bibles.  So, what can you do with kids who can’t read to teach them how to use their Bibles.  I see three very important things that kids can learn at that age.

1. The Books of the Bible

There are 66 books of the Bible, and there is no reason your average kindergartener and first grader can’t learn them all.  In our classroom, we start with the Old Testament and introduce approximately five new books each week.  I don’t explain each book but do give the kids some broad classifications.  For example, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were written primarily by Moses and are called the Books of the Law.  They tell the story of how the world was created, how God picked and protected his special family, and the rules God gave his people to live by.

Each week, after we review all the books learned to date, we introduce a new set of books and this use what I think is the single most valuable tool in teach kids that age the books of the Bible – music.  There are a ton of great books of the Bible songs.  Check out two of my favorites on YouTube: here and here

A search of You Tube will reveal several more in a number of different genres.  The one I have been using is closest to the first video above.  We are currently working through the Old Testament so we do the Old Testament song every week and throw in the New Testament song from time to time.  As the kids get more and more familiar with the books, I invite them to the front of the class to help out the other kids.

2. Finding Specific Scriptures in the Bible

The second things young children, even those who can not read, can do is find specific books, chapters, and verses in the Bible.  The key for kids at this age is to teach them how to use the table of contents.  Even if they can’t read, they can find the right book in the table of contents and get to the appropriate page.  You can also explain that the “big numbers” are chapters and the “little numbers” are verse numbers.  Here are some tips to help kids find specific verses:

• Put the kids in groups of two.  They can help one another this way.  Anything larger tends to get unwieldy.
• Write the book, chapter and/or verse you want them to find in large letter on a board at the front of the room.  That way the kids can constantly refer back to it.  Even if they can’t read, they will be able to find the book name you’ve written in the table of contents and go from there.
• Have leaders ready to help children who are struggling.
• Have teams stand as they find the verse.  As the kids get more proficient have those who finish early help the kids who are struggling.
• Praise everyone for finding the verse.
• Start by giving plenty of time for everyone to find the verse then move towards time limits to encourage kids to always grow stronger in their skills.

Each month we have a new memory verse which I have the kids look up.  I usually also have them find the chapter in the Bible where the story we covering that day is located.  As kids learn their books of the Bible, searching for specific scriptures will get quicker and quicker.

3. Start to Give them a Sense of the Chronology of the Bible

The Bible is one big story.  It is God’s story, and it is critical that we teach kids the chronology of the Bible.  In the younger elementary ages, I am not suggesting the lay out an extensive timeline of human history alongside a biblical timeline.  I am suggesting that you put every Bible story in its appropriate chronological context.  Last week, I taught the story Gideon.  I explained to the children that Gideon came during the period of the Judges which was after Joshua conquered Jericho and before Israel demanded a King and God gave them David then Saul.  Continuing to do this with every story starts to pain the chronological picture for the kids.

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Practicing Our Faith at Home By Susan R. Briehl

Where does one begin teaching the Christian practices in the home?  How shall parents raise their children to practice lives marked by hospitality, forgiveness, healing, and Sabbath keeping?  When does a child learn to honor her body and to honor the bodies of others?  How can faith shape the daily tasks of living together in a household, as well as preparing the young to practice their faith as they move from the home into a wider world?  Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors, godparents and others ask these questions.  This section of the Guide helps such people move toward answers that fit their circumstances and households.  It shows how awareness of practices can help us to draw the connections, always present but often invisible, between the corporate worship of the Church, the rhythm of daily life, and faithful engagement with the world.  Your home.  Picture the place you live, whether it is an apartment or a house, modest or grand, on a farm, in the suburbs, or at the heart of a city.  Draw a simple floor plan of your home. Each person in the household could draw his or her own, or the family could make it a joint project.  Add the table at which  you eat, the bed in which you sleep, the sink at which you wash your face each morning and brush your teeth at night.  This is the place you practice your faith with your closest neighbors, the members of your family.  In the ordinary fabric of your life together–the food you buy, prepare, and share, the celebrations you keep, the stories you tell, the decisions you make about spending time and money, and the chores you do–God is present.  Look at your floor plan as you name where and when and how you already practice your faith in your home. Share with one another creative and concrete ways in which you might deepen and expand the ways you practice your faith.  You could move from room to room, practice by practice.  For instance, you could begin at the door with the practice of hospitality.  The door.  Picture the door to your dwelling, the threshold you cross when you come home and when you leave to enter the world of work or school, commerce or play.  What does your door say about you and your way of life?  Each door tells a different story.  Some doors swing open and shut all day long as children run out to play, run back for juice or mittens, run out again to meet friends, and back when supper time or sheer exhaustion draws them in.  Other doors are opened rarely, timidly, or fearfully.  Some seem to welcome all kinds of people for any number of reasons, and others receive only those people who live behind them.  During a time of persecution, early Christians marked their doors with a simple drawing of a fish.  Ichthus, the Greek word for fish, also bears the beginning letters of Jesus Christ.  Only those who knew its meaning recognized this sign.  To  every  follower of Jesus this sign said, “Welcome.  Here you will break bread with those who call you brother and sister.”  On the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th, many Christians mark their door posts in chalk with another sign.  They write the numbers of the new year (2001) and the initials of the traditional names for the three magi who followed the star to bear gifts to the Christ child:  Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.  It looks like this: 20+C+M+B+01.  To those who know its meaning, this sign says, “Welcome.  Those who live in this place will receive friend and stranger from near and far.”  The chalk mark above the door says  as much to those who live behind the door, as to those who come knocking.  Every time they enter the door they are reminded who they are:  people whose faith calls them to practice hospitality.  Even the small child can learn to “read” the message written in chalk and renewed each year in a family ritual:  “Our door opens to receive others.  This is who we are.  Jesus received us, just as he did the magi.  Now we extend to others the welcome we have received.”    During the Great Depression, men  without jobs, sometimes called “hobos,” traveled from town to town, knocking on doors, asking for food.  When a man was received and fed from the table at which the family ate, he would scrawl a form of graffiti on the porch as he departed.  Other hungry men knew what it meant:  “What this household has, it will share with you.”  This was a statement not only about the hospitality practiced in that home, but also about their household economics, the use to which they put what goods they had.  How do people in your neighborhood decorate their doorways?  In what ways might your door become an invitation to others?  How could it become a reminder to you about who you are and how you practice your faith?  How might a traveler mark your back porch?  Who is welcomed in your home?  What gifts do they bring?  How might you extend the hospitality you have received from God beyond the walls of your home?  Who, near or far, hungers for food, safety, or friendship?  Is your “door” open to them?   The table.  Picture the table in your home.  Where do you eat together?  When?  Many families live such hectic and divided lives that table times for shared meals and conversation are infrequent at best.  Yet the table can be a wonderful place to begin to focus the practices of the household.  Christians always have been a people of the Table.  Jesus ate not only with beloved friends but also with sinners and outcasts, creating a scandal among some people of his  day.  At table with others, Jesus practiced God’s hospitality.  Wherever Christians gather to break bread and share the cup in Jesus’ name, he promises to be present as host and feast.  At the Table of the Eucharist–also called Holy Communion and The Lord’s Supper–God’s gifts of hospitality, forgiveness, and healing are given and shared.  Everyone is fed and none go away hungry.  In this, God’s household economics are made visible.  At this meal, leadership is known in servanthood and the community is shaped accordingly.  Around this Table we share the stories of faith, bearing testimony to the marvelous acts of God throughout history and in our time.  Here we raise our voices in songs of thanksgiving, lament, and hope, singing our lives to God, even as we long for the promised day when all creation, united and whole, will sing God’s praises.  Finally, we are sent into the world to be to others the gifts we have received.  Think about how your family table is like the Table of the Lord.  Who is invited?  Do you give thanks for the food and those who labored to bring it to your table?  Who shops for groceries, cooks, serves, and washes dishes?  What does this say about how the community of your family is shaped?  Is there time to tell and hear one another’s stories from the day?  When might these become testimony?  What does the food you eat say about your household economics?  How might your table practices extend to a world where many are hungry?  Do your household economics reflect a longing for the healing of creation?  The bath.  Besides singing in the shower, you might wonder how this humble room becomes a place for practicing your faith.  Yet we are a people of the Bath as well as of the Table.  The great bath of Baptism is the source  of our identity and our entry into the Body of Christ.  Water is a sign of God’s presence and promises.  The sink, the tub, the shower are places of cleansing and renewal.  With a little help, children can make the connections between their daily washing and God’s refreshing and renewing promises.  Besides the mirror above the sink in one family’s bathroom is a sign:  Remember you are a child of God.  The morning ritual of washing their faces becomes for the members of this household a baptismal reminder, a declaration of their identity and a call to cherish themselves and one another because God has declared them to be precious.  What a powerful message.  It counters the other voices in a child’s life, voices that tell him that his worth is measured by how he looks, what he owns, and how he performs.  Perhaps in this room above all others a child learns to honor her body and to have her body honored by others.  How a baby is touched and bathed speaks of how his body is cherished and honored.  When bathing is a time for playfulness and joy, for the sensual feeling of warm water and soft towel, a child comes to know how precious is this body.  Here a child learns to care for her own body for the length of her life and to treat the bodies of others with care.  How we treat our own bodies as we age, as well as those who are frail and infirm among us, may find its root in how we were treated as children.   Later, privacy appropriate to the child’s age and needs honors the child’s body.  Rites of passage often are associated with the bathroom:  a boy’s first shave, a girl’s first menstrual period, the physical changes the mirror reflects back to each of us.  These changes can be celebrated simply and powerfully, when you connect such milestones with growth in faith, discernment, and responsibility.  The bathroom is also a place of healing.  Any parent who has knelt beside a sick child in the middle of the night knows this to be true.  Anyone who has locked the bathroom door to weep in private when her heart is pierced by grief or guilt or shame knows this to be true.  Washing the tears from your own eyes or wiping another’s feverish forehead with a cool cloth, cleansing the scrapes and scratches of childhood, anointing wounds with healing balm, removing slivers and bee stingers:  all of this happens in the bathroom.  Such common acts take on deeper significance when they are woven with prayer, the laying on of hands, and anointing with oil, for these are signs that healing is more than the body’s route to recovery, it is bringing the peace and power of our suffering and healing God to the whole person.  The bed.  “Now I lay me down to sleep.”  Many children learn this prayer at an early age.  It speaks a simple truth, not only to children, but to adults as well.  Falling asleep makes us vulnerable.  We need others to watch over us through the night. We sleep best, as we live best, embraced by God’s presence.  Inside this embrace, our beds become places of prayer, rest, and healing.  For the same reason, they often are places of struggle and discernment.  When the noises of the day are quieted, we can hear the deepest questions of our hearts.  Steeped in a lifetime of nighttime prayer, we learn to listen for the voice of God from the sanctuary of our beds.  Sometimes beneath the cover of night’s darkness we can speak of things to one another that seem impossible to say by day.  Siblings who share a room  and spouses often have their most intimate conversations after the lights are turned out.  Tucking a child into bed can become a time of testimony as the stories of the child’s day are met with the story of God at work through Jesus Christ.  Bedtime stories can be biblical stories, as well as historical, cultural, and familial stories of faith. These stories bear witness to God’s faithfulness in the past and God’s promises for the future, thus tucking the child inside the embrace of faithful love.  The bed is a place not only of intimate conversation, but physical intimacy, too.  Think of the loving and tender touches you share in your home.  How are rocking a baby to sleep, kissing a child good night, and snuggling on Saturday morning expressions of love?  Sexual intercourse between faithful partners can reveal the life-giving love of God.  In bed, when trustworthy touch honors our vulnerable bodies, we are reminded that God knows us in our nakedness and loves us still.  Nighttime also can be a time for confession, which is another kind of nakedness, the bearing of our wounded hearts.  And the forgiveness that follows is a powerful form of healing.  Making a space for apologies, reconciliation, and sharing Christ’s peace can be part of the regular rhythm of saying goodnight.  You can make a simple ritual woven of silence and word and gesture.  In this way, parent and child, sister and brother, husband and wife all are granted a time before sleep to let go of the hurts and angers of the day and to commit themselves and one another into God’s keeping.  Perhaps the practice of forgiveness at twilight could give us the courage in the light of day to create simple rituals for reconciliation in our relationships at school and at work.  How might a family that practices forgiveness in the home effect such healing in other places?  How has unresolved conflict with someone in your family spilled over into your other relationships?  When have you experienced forgiveness at home?   Forgiveness is one form of healing.  Often when we are sick and in need of other forms of healing, we long to be at home in our own beds.  Families and the community of faith gather around hospital beds to watch and pray during sickness and when death draws near.  Many of us hope that when death comes, we will be surrounded by the people, the practices, and the promises that spoke life to us throughout our days. The practices of our faith that help us make the twilight transition into sleep each night, help prepare us for death, the death of those we love and our own.  Dying well is learning to fear the grave as little as our bed as we let go, one last time, releasing our lives into the arms of God, saying “Now I lay me down to sleep.”

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GOD’S GROCERIES: A SUPER BIBLE SCHOOL ACTIVITY FOR MEMORIZING PSALM 119:103

What’s your favorite food? Chocolate chip cookies? Lasagna? Bacon and eggs? Now what’s really better? Your favorite food or God’s Word? I hope you said, “God’s Word.” The psalmist thought so in Psalm 119:103, which says: “How sweet are your promises to my taste! Sweeter than honey to my mouth!“ Every word in the Bible can nourish our souls. Here’s a fun Bible school activity that can be played much like Bingo. But this game will introduce your kids to foods listed in the Bible and the contexts in which they’re found. It’s called “God’s Groceries”.

Here’s what you do:
This game will take some preparation, but your kids will be blessed by your effort. Prepare 2 identical sets of 18 different picture cards of foods found in the Bible. (I have provided you with a list below.) Make your cards about 2”x 2”. Laminate them for long-term use. Place one set of the cards in a bucket out of which the kids will pick. Take the other set of cards and divide them into 2 sets of nine and place each set in a 3 x 3 grid on a table or in a pocket chart. Have the list of questions ready that are found below. You are now ready to play the game.

Here’s how you play:
Divide your class into 2 teams. Begin by saying much of the same that I said in the opening of this article. It’s a nice opener for the game. Each team will get a bingo grid that they are trying to get 3 in a row on. Let a child come forward and answer one of the Grocery List Questions. If he gets it correct, he gets to take out a card out of the bucket and match it to one of the cards on either grid. Hopefully, the card will match a card on his team’s grid, but it might match the other team’s grid. This is OK. In fact, it makes the game a little more fun and competitive. Play alternates between the two teams. The first team to get 3 in a row, wins.

List of Foods: (Just a sample)
Cinnamon, garlic, dates, olives, nuts, raisins, beans, cucumbers, onions, bread, corn, fish, quail, pigeon, goat, lamb, butter, cheese.

Grocery List Questions:
When asking the question, read the verse and say the word “blank” for the missing food.

We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the (________), and the garlic: Numbers 11:5 (onions)

This verse is talking about the Israelites when they were wandering in the desert. They were complaining about the food situation and were remembering back to days when they at least had this kind of food that looks like a ball and when people cut it, it often makes them cry.

What Bible food is it?

And it came to pass, (that) David…brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and (__________)…2 Samuel 17:28 (beans)

If you’ve ever gone camping, you know you must pack food for your journey. This verse shows a time when David was camping out in the wilderness in the land of Gilead. One of the foods they brought for their campout were these tiny little things that when cooked become kind of mushy and people love to put them in their burritos with cheese.

What Bible food is it?

Then Jacob gave Esau (________) and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright. Genesis 25:34 (bread)

Poor silly Esau! If only he had cared more about the things God had given him, such as his birthright, than thinking about his stomach, this Bible story might have turned out differently! Jacob gave his brother a pot of stew and this doughy food that is often used to make sandwiches.

What Bible food is it?

And he took the seven loaves and the (________), and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. Matthew 15:36 (fish)

How was Jesus going to feed all the people who came to hear him speak with only seven loaves of bread and this food that is often caught with a pole and a worm on a hook? He fed them by a miracle!

What Bible food is it?

These are the (animals) which ye shall eat: the ox, the (________), and the goat… Deuteronomy 14:4 (sheep)

In the Old Testament, being a child of the Lord meant that you could only eat certain things. This verse shows a partial food list of meats they were allowed to eat. The missing meat comes from an animal that is not known for its intelligence and likes to say, “Bah” a lot.

What Bible food is it?

Surely the churning of milk brings forth (________), and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood: so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife. Proverbs 30:33 (butter)

This Bible verse uses a yellowish food that is often added to popcorn at the movie theatre. This food is smooth, but wrath or anger is not. It’s better that you stir up this food rather than a bad temper.

What Bible food is it?

Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like (_________)?Job 10:10 (cheese)

Poor Job! God allowed him to go through a lot of hardships. No wonder he felt like God was poking him and forming him into this kind of food that is often served with crackers in many different varieties, such as cheddar and swiss.

What Bible food is it?

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an (________), will he offer him a scorpion? Luke 11:12 (egg)

This verse shows that God will always give His children what is best. He is our Father. Would a good father ever give his child a scorpion if he asked for this kind of food that is often scrambled in the morning and served with bacon?

What Bible food is it?

And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat (________) and wild honey… Mark 1:6 (locusts)

John the Baptist must have made an interesting dinner guest – especially if he ever requested this kind of food which is really just a green hopping insect that was also one of the plagues found in Exodus. Do you think they were crunchy?

What Bible food is it?

And thou shall not glean thy vineyard, neither shall thou gather every (________) of thy vineyard; thou shall leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:10 (grape)

After the Lord led Moses and the children of Israel out of Egypt, he had a long talk with Moses and gave him a list of do’s and don’ts. This Bible verse shows how God wanted his children to take care of the poor and stranger by leaving some of this food on the ground for them to take. This food is often found in clusters and grows on vines. They are usually green and purple.

What Bible food is it?

Moreover the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, “Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet (_________) half so much… Exodus 30:23 (cinnamon)

While the children of Israel were in the desert, God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle where God could dwell. God gave detailed instructions of how he wanted it built. He even wanted this sweet brown spice, which is often used with sugar to make ooey gooey rolls to be a part of His dwelling place.

What Bible food is it?

But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of (________). Genesis 19:26 (salt)

Lot’s wife had a difficult time trusting in God. Because of her lack of trust, she turned into this white food that is often a spice on every kitchen table. Be careful! Don’t put too much on and don’t look back when God tells you not to!

What Bible food is it?

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