Opening Check-Ins
We support each other no matter what. Invite everyone to share a new year's resolution or something they did over the Christmas holiday. They don't have to share if they are not comfortable. We are here to support each other in prayer and presence.Centering in Silence and Song
If you have a household altar, I recommend using it. If not, a sense of ritual and sacred time can be initiated by lighting a candle and ringing a bell. Share a few minutes of silence together. You may sound the bell again when silence is over. Children often enjoy the responsibility of these tasks (and should be supervised and assisted as appropriate).You may also listen to this song and discuss what it brings up for each of you:
Prayer of Jesus
If you have a particular version of the prayer that you use, you are encouraged to use it.This is the "children's translation" that I wrote and use with my students:
God all around us with many sacred names
We roll up our sleeves to create a beautiful world with you
Please care for us and our needs and forgive us when we don’t do our best
Please help us to be forgiving of others, too.
Help us to be good, loving, and safe so we can help create a loving and safe world for everyone.
Amen.
Sacred Story
Background:
Today we’re learning about the Gospel of John. Who knows what a gospel is?The gospels are the stories about the life of Jesus. There are 4 gospels in the Christian Bible. Does anyone know what they are called? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Does anyone know where the word “gospel” came from? Have you ever heard someone talk about the “good news”? Gospel means, “good news” or “good story.” So the gospels in our scripture are the good stories of Jesus.
Today we’re reading from the very beginning of the Gospel of John. That means from the very beginning of the story. Some people think that maybe this beginning part of the gospel was from a song, like a hymn we sing in church— kind of like the Psalms. The psalms were songs, but we don’t know what they sounded like anymore. So maybe this part of the story was a song, but we don’t know how it goes. Kind of like opening credits! Sometimes when we watch a movie or a TV show, it starts with a song.
How else do we start stories? We might start a story by saying, “Once upon a time…”
or “A long time ago…”
or “A long time ago in a land far, far away…”
How else do we sometimes start stories?
So today we read how the writer of the Gospel of John started his story about Jesus. Jesus was the most important person in the world to him, so he probably wanted to make sure he started his story in a good way, so people would listen and understand him.
Bible Story:
Story: Read together John 1:1-18.
Contemporary Story:
We tell stories about Jesus because we feel like stories about Jesus teach us important things. We read stories together in Sunday School because we know we learn from stories. The stories we tell teach us lessons about how to treat each other, how to treat our planet, and how much God loves us. Stories are important.
Today, we’re going to share a story about stories. I think it can help us think about the ways we tell stories and why stories are important.
Story: Read together “Cory and the Seventh Story”
Conversation:
Read together "God is the Word" in Images of God for Young Children (p. 16-17).What is different about the horse’s story?
The animals still get together and tell their special story, kind of like how we do in church. We know that the stories we tell are important.
When people first started writing these gospel stories down a long, long time ago, they didn’t have books like we have today. How did people write things back then?
That’s right. They wrote on tablets or scrolls. So most of our gospels would have been on scrolls. Does anyone know what scrolls look like? Scrolls are like rolled up paper.
Craft:
"Old" Scrolls
Closing Prayer
“Dear God, thank you for the stories that our gospel writers helped to save for us by writing them down and keeping them. Thank you for Jesus and his beautiful stories that teach us so many important things. We ask that we would continue to learn and grow with your stories and with each other. Amen.”
Curriculum texts used:
Special Texts used:
- Cory and the Seventh Story by Brian McLaren
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