Christmas is an exciting time for most third- and fourth-graders. Taking a vacation

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Kristina Hodges
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1 The So of God Is Bor! Luke 1:26-45; 2:1-20 Lesso 4 37 Christmas is a excitig time for most third- ad fourth-graders. Takig a vacatio from school, visitig relatives, shoppig, decoratig, ad eatig more goodies tha usual are just some of the activities that may cause disruptios i the ormal routie. Use this lesso to help kids see that Jesus is the oe ad oly reaso for all the celebratio, joy, ad excitemet. Lesso What Childre Do Supplies easy prep 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Favorite Celebratios (about 10 mi.) Try to sell party decoratios to each other. Missio Impossible (about 15 mi.) Discuss impossible missios, ad discover that oly God could help Mary accomplish her impossible missio. The Best Birthday (about 15 mi.) Sig a sog, ad talk about what happeed the ight Jesus was bor. paper, markers Bibles, CD player, paper, pes Teacher Pack: CD, Missio Impossible cards, Bible Timelie Bibles, CD player, copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) Teacher Pack: CD Separate the Missio Impossible cards. Bible Poit Celebrate Jesus birth. Key Verse For to us a child is bor, to us a so is give, ad the govermet will be o his shoulders. Ad he will be called Woderful Couselor, Mighty God, Everlastig Father, Price of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Weavig Faith Ito Life Childre will thak God for sedig a Savior ad will remember why we celebrate Christmas. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Witer Quarter

2 38 Lesso What Childre Do Supplies Easy Prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Names of Jesus (about 20 mi.) Explore the Key Verse, ad make oramets to help them remember that they ca celebrate Jesus all year log. Bibles, Bible Truth Sleuth, CD player, colored pecils or markers, scissors (several pairs), ribbo, tape Teacher Pack: CD Tear out the Lesso 4 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bible Truth Sleuth Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Witer Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4

3 39 The So of God Is Bor! Luke 1:26-45; 2:1-20 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Mary ad Joseph s Egagemet Is Disrupted Mary ad Joseph s betrothal was quite differet from egagemets today. I fact, i Jewish culture at that time, a betrothed couple had already take public vows ad was legally boud as i a marriage, except that the couple was ot to live together or have itercourse util the appoited time. Furthermore, it is made clear i Luke 1:27 ad 34 that Mary was ideed a virgi. Mary s iitial respose to the agel (Luke 1:34) does t idicate ay hesitatio i watig the agel s message to be true. To be the mother of the Messiah was the dream of every Jewish woma. However, Mary had ot yet lived with Joseph, ad she kew the humiliatio she would experiece if it became kow that she was pregat. She also questioed the physical possibility of such a pregacy. The Jesus Coectio Mary was a willig servat of God. Her life provides a great example of the attitude we ca brig to our relatioship with Jesus. Read aloud Luke 1: Reflect o how scary ad excitig it was for Mary to declare her service to the Lord by givig birth to the Savior. How have you reacted to God whe he has give you a scary assigmet to serve him? Pray to God, askig him to give you the stregth to serve him o matter what he has called you to do. You ca write your prayer here. Mary Respods to God i Faith Whe Mary was told how the child would be coceived ad was remided that God ca do aythig, she respoded i humble obediece. She was God s servat, ad she wated God s pla to be fulfilled i her life. We do t kow if Mary wet aloe to visit Elizabeth, but it seems she left i a hurry, though the trip must have take five days. Elizabeth s proclamatio that Mary would bear the child of God was a fial cofirmatio to Mary of all that she had likely bee thikig durig those five days of travel. With that realizatio, Mary burst ito the poem we kow as the Magificat as she gave glory to God for sedig Jesus to earth through her. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Witer Quarter

4 40 gettig started Favorite Celebratios Supplies paper markers Favorite Celebratios What You ll Do Welcome kids warmly as they arrive, ad ask them how their week wet. Have kids form groups of four. Say: Each group will thik of party decoratios for a favorite holiday or celebratio, such as the Fourth of July, Valetie s Day, Thaksgivig, or a birthday. The oly holiday you ca t use is Christmas. Allow a few miutes for groups to choose a holiday ad use the paper ad markers provided to make decoratios to go with that holiday. Say: There s a holiday that we re all actually celebratig right ow. Sice you ve chose holidays i your groups, it s goig to be your job to come up with a way to sell decoratios for your holiday to people who are buyig Christmas decoratios. You ll have to be creative! Allow groups a few miutes to come up with a way to covice someoe to buy their holiday s decoratios for Christmas. Whe kids are ready, allow a miute for a spokesperso from each group to preset to everyoe else why they should buy decoratios for a holiday other tha Christmas at Christmastime. After everyoe has preseted, have kids vote for which holiday s supplies they d buy for Christmas. They ca t choose their ow holiday. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What helped you figure out ways to celebrate Christmas with decoratios from aother holiday? What s your favorite holiday, ad why? Share some differet ways that you celebrate Christmas i your family. Say: Today we ll discover that we ca all celebrate Jesus birth. Jesus came for everyoe, ad he s celebrated all over the world i may differet ways. Jesus does t care whether we use fireworks, presets, or sigig to celebrate his birth. Let s get ready to hear today s Bible passage i which we ll meet a youg girl who was preseted with a impossible missio. Witer Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4

5 41 2 Bible Exploratio Missio Impossible What You ll Do Poit out The So of God Is Bor picture o the Bible Timelie. Have kids form up to seve groups. Say: Let s take a look at some missios for each of your groups. First, though, you ll eed to liste carefully to the followig perso. Play Missio Impossible (track 4 o the CD). Give each group oe of the Missio Impossible cards. It s okay if you have a smaller umber of kids ad do t use all the cards. Have groups discuss how they thik they might be able to accomplish their missios. After a few miutes, have each group share its missio, ad have the rest of the group help decide whether each missio is possible. Ask: are you goig to accept your missio? Why or why ot? What could make you decide to accept your missio? Missio Impossible Supplies Bibles CD player paper pes Teacher Pack CD: Missio Impossible (track 4) Missio Impossible cards Bible Timelie Missio Impossible Easy Prep Separate the Missio Impossible cards. Say: Most of you decided ot to accept your missios because they seemed impossible. A youg girl amed Mary had to decide what to do whe she was give a impossible missio. Let s take a look at today s Bible passage to see what impossible missio Mary was give. Give each group paper ad a pe, ad make sure each group has a Bible. Have kids tur to Luke 1: Have each group choose someoe who s willig to be the Reader. The Reader will read the passage aloud to the group. Everyoe else will be the Naysayers. As kids read, have the Naysayers liste ad stop the readig whe they hear somethig that souds impossible. Ecourage groups to talk about those impossible-soudig thigs, ad have someoe i each group write dow a list of impossible-soudig thigs they heard. Allow time. Whe kids have fiished readig, have them take turs sharig with the etire group the lists of impossible-soudig thigs they read about i the Bible passage. Say: Mary was probably very surprised at what Gabriel told her. After all, she was just a girl from Galilee. She was t married, she was very youg, ad she was also poor. It must have bee hard for her to uderstad why she would be chose to have God s So. Ad much of the time, it all probably felt more difficult tha special. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Witer Quarter

6 42 Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: Explai how Mary s respose shows that her heart was followig God. What was your respose the last time someoe asked you to do a hard task? What would it take for you to have a joyful respose the ext time someoe asks you to do somethig hard? What about this passage helps you see a differet perspective about celebratig Jesus birth? Say: Ulike our missios, which we would t accept because they were impossible, Mary accepted her missio because she kew it was very importat. She was willig to accept God s missio, ad she trusted God. Because she said yes to what God wated her to do, Jesus was bor ad we ca be forgive of our sis. Ad Christias celebrate Jesus birth at Christmas! Let s take a look at our Key Verse for today ad lear more about who Jesus is. The Best Birthday Supplies Bibles CD player copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) Teacher Pack CD: Joy to the World! (track 6) The Best Birthday What You ll Do Say: We saw how Mary reacted whe she foud out she was goig to have a baby God s So. Whe it fially came time for Jesus to be bor, Mary ad Joseph had traveled a log way. Let s fid out why. Have kids form pairs, ad make sure each pair has a Bible. Say: Ope your Bibles to Luke 2, ad i your pairs read Luke 2:1-3. Allow time. Say: All the people had to take a trip to their hometows, eve if they did t wat to or did t feel well eough to travel. Tell your parter about a time you had to do somethig that was t your idea. Maybe you had to clea your room or do your homework whe you wated to do somethig else. Allow time. Say: Talk with your parter about what you kow about where you were bor ad aythig you kow about the people who help ew moms take care of their babies. Allow time. Have pairs read Luke 2:4-7. Say: Talk to your parter about some of the differeces betwee Jesus birthday ad your birthday or the birthdays of other babies you kow. Allow time. Say: The Bible also tells us that there were shepherds livig i the fields ear where Jesus was bor. Shepherds were t importat people i Jesus culture. Agels appeared to the shepherds to tell them about Jesus beig bor. Whe the agels were doe praisig Jesus, the shepherds foud Jesus ad praised him, too. Let s sig a sog to help us remember the ways the shepherds ad agels praised Jesus whe he was bor. Witer Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4

7 43 Distribute copies of the lyrics page. Play Joy to the World! (track 6 o the CD) oe time; the play the sog agai, ad lead kids i sigig alog. The Lord is come! Let earth receive her Kig! Let every heart prepare him room, Ad heave ad ature sig, Ad heave ad ature sig, Ad heave, ad heave, ad ature sig. (Repeat from the begiig.) Joy to the World! by George F. Hadel. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: Explai what it meas that Jesus birth was aouced to shepherds ad ot to kigs ad prices. i what way do these details about Jesus birth help you praise him differetly? What s your favorite way to celebrate Jesus birth? Say: Mary ad Joseph had a log jourey that was t their idea, ad the Mary had their baby i a bar. But it was all part of God s big, amazig pla for Jesus birthday. The shepherds ad agels celebrated Jesus birth, ad we ca all celebrate Jesus birth, too. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Witer Quarter

8 44 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Names of Jesus Supplies Bibles Bible Truth Sleuth CD player colored pecils or markers scissors (several pairs) ribbo tape Teacher Pack CD: For to Us a Child Is Bor (Isaiah 9:6) (track 5) Names of Jesus Easy Prep Tear out the Lesso 4 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. Names of Jesus What You ll Do Say: Mary ad others kew that her baby would be special. He would be God s So. Hudreds of years before, prophets had told about this special baby who would save the people. Let s look at oe of those verses from the Old Testamet. Make sure each child has a Bible. Say: Our Key Verse today is Isaiah 9:6. Have kids fid the verse i their Bibles, ad ask a willig child to read aloud Isaiah 9:6: For to us a child is bor, to us a so is give, ad the govermet will be o his shoulders. Ad he will be called Woderful Couselor, Mighty God, Everlastig Father, Price of Peace. Say: This verse tells us several ames Jesus would be called. We ca use these ames to celebrate Jesus. As we make oramets, let s thik about how we ca celebrate Jesus birth all year because of these ames. Distribute the Bible Truth Sleuth pages, ad set out the supplies. Have kids tur to the Names of Jesus activity. Play For to Us a Child Is Bor (Isaiah 9:6) (track 5 o the CD) while kids write the ames of Jesus iside the stars. The have kids decorate their stars ad cut them out. As kids decorate their oramets, ecourage them to thik about each of the seasos that happe i a year, icludig the holidays ad special evets i those seasos. Say: Let s thik of ways we ca celebrate Jesus durig each of these seasos. Allow kids to discuss the differet ways they ca celebrate durig each seaso, ad ecourage them to write their ideas o their oramets. Help kids tape a loop of ribbo to the top of their stars, beig careful ot to cover ay words o the back. Whe kids have fiished creatig their Christmas oramets, have them form pairs ad discuss what each of the ames of Jesus meas to them. Say: Jesus was the child the prophet Isaiah spoke of. Isaiah said this child would be the Woderful Couselor to the people. Jesus would be Mighty God i huma form. Jesus would be the Everlastig Father ad would help people uderstad their heavely Father. Jesus would be the Price of Peace ad give people peace i their hearts. Witer Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4

9 45 Have kids circle o their stars which of Jesus ames meas the most to them ad talk about this with their parter. For example, maybe the ame Price of Peace meas the most to them because Jesus helps them remember ot to fight with their little brothers or sisters but to be at peace with them. Remid kids to hag the oramets aywhere they wish at home so they ca remember to celebrate Jesus birth all year log. Make sure kids also take home the rest of their Bible Truth Sleuth page, which has additioal take-home activities ad iformatio. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What does it mea to you that Jesus has so may ames? Does your ame describe who you are or have a special meaig? Explai. Explai whether it seems strage to thik of celebratig Christmas all year. What about these ames for Jesus helps you wat to celebrate him all year? Say: Mary ad Joseph kew that Jesus was a special baby. Jesus came to earth as a baby, but he had lots of special ames already because God set him for such a great purpose. We ca use these ames to help us celebrate Jesus birth. Kowig Jesus ames meas we ca celebrate the thigs Jesus came to earth to do. These star oramets ca help us remember Jesus ames as we celebrate him this Christmas. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: Let s cosider this week how we ca celebrate Jesus birth as we do our Daily Challeges. Daily Challeges Supplies Bible Truth Sleuth Have kids fid this week s Daily Challeges o their Bible Truth Sleuth pages ad choose oe to do this week. They ca choose oe or more of these three optios: Give a gift to your brother or sister o a day besides Christmas Day. Tell your siblig that you ca celebrate Jesus all year log. ask your parets about sedig Christmas cards, ad sed a card to oe of your frieds to celebrate Jesus birth. Sig praise sogs to Jesus to celebrate him beig bor. Make sure you choose a Daily Challege as well, ad tell the kids what you chose. Kids will be more iclied to follow through o their commitmets whe they see you doig the same. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Witer Quarter

10 46 Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Mary kew that Jesus was bor to save us. Everythig about Jesus is special, ad we ca celebrate Jesus birth all the time. Let s celebrate Jesus by followig through o our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about celebratig Jesus. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their Bible Truth Sleuth pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Say: Today let s thak God for sedig a Savior to us. Let s thak him for the birth of Jesus ad for that first Christmas celebratio, ad let s ask Jesus to help us remember the ways we committed to celebratig his birth this week. Have kids form pairs, ad ask pairs to pray ad thak God for sedig Jesus ad for givig us a reaso to celebrate. Close the prayer time. Witer Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4

11 47 Lyrics Joy to the World! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her Kig! Let every heart prepare him room, Ad heave ad ature sig, Ad heave ad ature sig, Ad heave, ad heave, ad ature sig. (Repeat from the begiig.) Joy to the World! by George F. Hadel.! ok to copy Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Witer Quarter

If raised to believe in Santa Claus, children this age are becoming skeptical. They often

If raised to believe in Santa Claus, children this age are becoming skeptical. They often Lesso 4 41 The So of God Is Bor! Luke 1:26-45; 2:1-20 If raised to believe i Sata Claus, childre this age are becomig skeptical. They ofte see the holes i the story but preted they do t. They wat to grow