Pentecost. Focus on Acts 2:1 21. n PREPARING FOR THE SESSION. WHAT is important to know? WHERE is God in these words?

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1 May 27, 2012 Day of Pentecost Acts 2:1 21 Ps. 104:24 34, 35b Rom. 8:22 27 John 15:26 27; 16:4b 15 Pentecost Goal for the Session Children will learn, through the awe-filled story of Pentecost, about the beginnings of the church. n PREPARING FOR THE SESSION Focus on Acts 2:1 21 WHAT is important to know? From Exegetical Perspective, Michael H. Floyd This passage describes the impact of the Holy Spirit s coming in two phases, first on the assembled disciples (Acts 2:1 4) and then on the gathering crowd (Acts 2:5 21). The occasion for the assembly of the disciples is the festival of Pentecost or Weeks, celebrated fifty days following the festival of Passover. Pentecost, originally a harvest festival, eventually came to commemorate the giving of the law at Sinai. The Spirit s manifestation as wind and fire recalls similar images of God s presence and activity in creation, exodus, and covenant making. WHERE is God in these words? From Theological Perspective, Donald K. McKim Theologically, the Christian church begins to take shape when the Holy Spirit fills those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah, enabling them to proclaim the gospel and to witness to the Christ to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The church emerges by the Holy Spirit, who dramatically establishes a fellowship of faith, calling believers into the household of God to be witnesses to what God has done in Jesus Christ for the purposes of salvation. The church is the place where this new fellowship begins to take shape as it recognizes the gifts of the Spirit in and for all people. SO WHAT does this mean for our lives? From Pastoral Perspective, Kristin Emery Saldine The story of Pentecost is not meant to be a benchmark of what the church should look like on any given Sunday. Rather, it seeks to communicate how important the church is and how inseparable it is from Christ. Every year, on the Day of Pentecost, we are reminded of who we are as a church, what we proclaim, and the source of that proclamation. Pentecost sums up the gospel with simplicity and audacity: Jesus Christ offers salvation to all, and the church exists to proclaim it. NOW WHAT is God s word calling us to do? From Homiletical Perspective, G. Lee Ramsey Jr. Significant in this text is the radical social equality of those who receive the Holy Spirit. This becomes even clearer as the story in Acts unfolds. Old and young, women and men, slave and free all receive the power of God to prophesy, see visions, and dream. Occasionally God anoints big dreamers who with their lives and words paint upon a global canvas, renewing visions for human community. But God also anoints ordinary believers like the ones who sit in the pews. They too see visions and dream dreams that can move the church and its surrounding community a little closer to the Lord s great and glorious day (v. 20). 1

2 Pentecost FOCUS SCRIPTURE Acts 2:1 21 Focus on Your Teaching Children this age have varying degrees of knowledge about birth. They may have known a newborn a cousin, a sibling, a neighbor s child. They may have witnessed the birth of a pet or a farm animal. In school, they have learned about chicks hatching from eggs and butterflies emerging from cocoons. The story of the Day of Pentecost is a birth story. Like most births, it contains an element of surprise. With your learners, delight in the surprise of how the Spirit was at work in the beginnings of the church. YOU WILL NEED o red cloth o white candle, matches or electric candle o red, yellow, and orange paper streamers or ribbons o red yarn o newsprint o markers o kitchen timer or stopwatch o Singing the Feast, vol. 1; CD player o Bible o Color Pack 25, 26 o Resource Sheet 1 Dearest God, surround me with your Spirit and help me grow in appreciating your wondrous and surprising work in my life and in my church. Amen. n LEADING THE SESSION GATHERING Before the session, plan to wear something red. For Exploring, write different names for Jesus on slips of paper, including: Lord, Savior, Good Shepherd, Christ, and Son of God. Make one for each child. If you are using Responding option 3, ask your church office for the name and address of a missionary with a connection to your church or denomination. Greet each child by saying Happy Pentecost and tying a piece of red yarn around his or her wrist. Invite learners to help you arrange a red cloth in the center of your meeting space, place a candle on it, and lay red, orange, and yellow streamers or ribbons on the cloth in a lively design. For Responding o option 1: red, orange, and yellow acrylic paint or tempera paint and glue; paintbrushes; newspapers; small clay flowerpots o option 2: Singing the Feast, vol. 1; CD player o option 3: copies of Resource Sheet 2, colored pencils, newsprint, markers, large mailing envelope Gather in a circle around the candle. As you light it, say, Jesus Christ is the light of our world. Explain that today is Pentecost Sunday: Pentecost celebrates how God sent the Holy Spirit to Jesus followers. The Spirit gave them the power and energy to build the church and do God s work. Invite the children to guess the color for Pentecost (red). Ask the group to join in the following Pentecost echo prayer, repeating each line after you. Begin with quiet voices and gradually increase the volume. End with a bold Amen. Dear God, Energize us with your love, Energize us with your care, Energize us with your Spirit. Amen. Begin a conversation by asking: P What does your family do to celebrate an important event? What does your school do? What do we do at church? 2

3 Pentecost On the day of Pentecost described in Acts 2, Jesus followers and other Jews were gathered to celebrate the Harvest Festival or Shavuoth, which comes fifty days after Passover. This festival originally celebrated the wheat harvest, and then later the giving of the Law of Moses. Jews still observe this festival. EXPLORING Give each child a slip of paper with a name for Jesus on it. Help with pronunciation if necessary. Tell the children that, on the count of three, everyone will speak their words at the same time, repeating them over and over. Use a kitchen timer or stopwatch and do this for 30 seconds. Call for quiet, and then ask: P What did you hear? P What did it feel like to be all saying something different at the same time? Tell learners to listen for something like this that happened in today s Bible story. Open your Bible to Acts 2, saying that this is where today s story is found. Recall that the book of Acts tells about Jesus followers as they started the first churches. Read the story aloud from Resource Sheet 1 (The Coming of the Holy Spirit: Acts 2:1 2). After the story, discuss these questions: P Where were Jesus followers? P What did the Spirit sound like when it came upon Jesus followers? What did it look like? P What did Jesus followers do after the Holy Spirit came? P The people listening to all the languages were amazed. Why were they amazed? P Which of the twelve apostles spoke to the crowd? Show Color Pack 25. Invite the children to point out parts of the Pentecost story they recognize. Ask: P If you were the artist, what would you add to this picture of the Day of Pentecost? Ask everyone to stand up. Give each child a streamer from the red cloth. Have the children say Happy Pentecost over and over while twirling around like the heavenly Pentecost wind. What other words from today s story might they say while twirling? Try a few, and then be seated. Write today s memory verse on newsprint as you read each word aloud: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4). Ask a volunteer to point to each word as the group reads the verse. Then stand up and add these motions: All of them (Stretch arms out to the sides.) Were filled (Bring arms in, placing hands together and moving them and up toward face.) With the Holy Spirit (Dance fingers over top of head.) Repeat the verse several times. Wrap up Exploring by asking: P What have you learned about Pentecost today? 3

4 Pentecost Listen to the many responses. Tell the children about any special Pentecost celebrations in your church, and then ask for some ideas of how they might celebrate Pentecost at home with their families. If you do not have acrylic paint, mix two parts tempera paint with one part white glue. RESPONDING Mark the activities you will use. 1. Pentecost Pots Children can make a take-home reminder of the role of the Spirit in the growing church and in our lives today. Cover a work table with newspapers. Set out red, yellow, and orange acrylic paint and paintbrushes. Show Color Pack 25 and tell how Christians consider a flame to be a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Demonstrate how to paint a flame on a small clay flowerpot, then allow time for the children to paint their clay pots with a Pentecost flame. Allow the clay pots to dry before sending them home to hold a growing plant. 2. Pentecost Song To help children visualize how the Spirit is still at work in the church today, work together to create a Pentecost song. Gather in a circle. Play We Are Dancing in the Light of God (track 21 on Singing the Feast, vol. 1), inviting the children to sing along. Then ask the children to think up some other action words that describe different things the Spirit helps Jesus followers do in the world today, such as praying, building, teaching, farming, and cooking. Sing the song with each verb your group names, adding appropriate actions. You might offer these additional verses to your worship leader to include in worship some Sunday. EASY PREP You Are My Beloved Child You are my beloved child, hallelujah, You are my beloved child, hallelujah. And my face has smiled on you, hallelujah, And my face has smiled on you, hallelujah. Then says God to everyone, hallelujah, Then says God to everyone, hallelujah. You re God s daughter, you re God s son, hallelujah! You re God s daughter, you re God s son, hallelujah! 3. Pentecost Greetings The Spirit continues to guide Jesus followers in helping the church to grow. Tell the children about a missionary supported by your church or denomination. Talk about the kinds of things that this individual does to teach about Jesus and help the church grow. Distribute copies of Resource Sheet 2 (Pentecost Card) and colored pencils. Help the children fold the card and have them color the flame on the front. Together, talk about what you might say in the card to thank or encourage this person. Write these sentences or phrases on newsprint so the children can choose one to copy inside the card. Have each child sign her or his card. Place all the cards in a large envelope for mailing. CLOSING Gather the group. Show Color Pack 26 and invite the children to position their bodies to look as if they are part of this group. Wonder together how the Spirit might help this group teach about Jesus and do God s work in the world. Encourage imaginative thinking. Stand in a circle. Invite learners to be quiet for a moment, then pray in a whisper: Dear God, fill our voices and our actions with your Spirit. Amen. Sing You Are My Beloved Child (track 19 on Singing the Feast, vol. 1). Say good-bye to each child by name, offering this blessing: (Name), may the Spirit of God and the love of Jesus Christ be your strength and your guide. Amen. 4

5 May 27, 2012 Grades (K)1 2 Resource Sheet 1 The Coming of the Holy Spirit: Acts 2: On the day of Pentecost all the Lord s followers were together in one place. 2 Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. 3 Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. 4 The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak. 5 Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. 6 And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. 7 They were excited and amazed, and said: Don t all these who are speaking come from Galilee? 8 Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? 9 Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, 11 Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done. 12 Everyone was excited and confused. Some of them even kept asking each other, What does all this mean? 13 Others made fun of the Lord s followers and said, They are drunk. 14 Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd: Friends and everyone else living in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I have to say! 15 You are wrong to think that these people are drunk. After all, it is only nine o clock in the morning. 16 But this is what God had the prophet Joel say, 17 When the last days come, I will give my Spirit to everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams. 18 In those days I will give my Spirit to my servants, both men and women, and they will prophesy. 19 I will work miracles in the sky above and wonders on the earth below. There will be blood and fire and clouds of smoke. 20 The sun will turn dark, and the moon will be as red as blood before the great and wonderful day of the Lord appears. 21 Then the Lord will save everyone who asks for his help. Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.

6 May 27, 2012 Grades (K)1 2 Resource Sheet 2 Pentecost Card God bless you on this Day of Pentecost!

7 Grades (K)1 2: Color Pack 25

8 Grades (K)1 2: Color Pack 26

9 You Are My Beloved Child You are my beloved child, hallelujah, You are my beloved child, hallelujah. Grades (K)1 2: Color Pack 32 And my face has smiled on you, hallelujah, And my face has smiled on you, hallelujah. Then says God to everyone, hallelujah, Then says God to everyone, hallelujah. You re God s daughter, you re God s son, hallelujah! You re God s daughter, you re God s son, hallelujah!