PK-2 nd. Living with Love Philippians 1:1-18a. Lesson #4-33. Sunday, May 6, I thank my God every time I remember you.

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1 Sunday, May 6, 2018 Lesson #4-33 Living with Love Philippians 1:1-18a PK-2 nd Key Verse: The Point: I thank my God every time I remember you. Philippians 1:3 The proclamation of the gospel of Christ brings joy and thanksgiving even in difficult circumstances. Making Connections: Living in Hope Bible Nuts & Bolts: Letters (Genre) Spiritual Practice: Prayer 1

2 Activities Supplies Pretend to send cards and letters. Box Paper Cards Envelopes Pencils or crayons Stickers God s love overflows. Show love to stuffed animals or dolls. Sand or rice table Small tubs, cups, bowls, etc. Optional: dish pans and sand or rice Stuffed animals or dolls Blankets Play food, bottles Paul writes a letter to the Philippians. Bible Envelope Paper Exploring the letters of Paul. Bible Envelope Paper Demonstrate the love that Paul describes. Sand or rice table Small tubs, cups, bowls, etc. Optional: dish pans and sand or rice 2

3 Make life a prayer. Activity Sheet #4-33.A Crayons or markers Sing a traditional children s song. Optional: music player Work as a team to spread love to others. Construction paper Scissors Optional: basket Decorate and serve cookies to one another. We are all saints. Students continue their own Bible storybook. Plain heart-shaped sugar cookies Frosting Plastic knives Small plates Napkins Optional: hand sanitizer Internet-connected devices Optional: projector Bible Book page (found at end of lesson) Cardstock or plain paper Pens Markers or crayons Optional: three-ring binders, hole punch None 3

4 Background for Teachers Story Connections Paul tells the Philippians that even though he is imprisoned, he is still full of hope and confidence that God is working among them. Despite his imprisonment, Paul lives in hope for the Philippians and rejoices as the gospel of Christ continues to spread. Story Summary: Living with Love When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, much of his ministry was taking place almost entirely among Gentiles as there was not a large Jewish population in the area. Yet Paul begins his letter to the church in Philippi by calling these non-jews saints. The original Greek word literally means holy ones. Paul is thankful for the work of the people in Philippi in spreading the story of Jesus. Paul is certain that this sharing of the gospel will also be fruitful for the church, and the Christians there will continue to learn and grow. As they continue to share and preach and teach, their own love overflows, leading them into even greater knowledge and joy. Although Paul writes this letter while imprisoned, the tone is full of joy and love as he praises the church in Philippi. Paul uses this as another opportunity to spread the gospel rather than a time to be silent. The Point The proclamation of the gospel of Christ brings joy and thanksgiving even in difficult circumstances. We all struggle through difficult times in our lives, and the men and women of the Bible were no different. As Paul writes his letter to the Philippians, he is in prison. Because Christianity was not a legal religion in the Roman Empire, the Philippian Christians were meeting in secret in small house churches. The lives of these early disciples was difficult, but Paul praises and encourages them for keeping the joy of the gospel of Christ with them always. Bible Nuts and Bolts: Letters This passage contains the opening of the letter to the Philippians. Letters in ancient times followed a formula, beginning with the sender, the addressee, and a greeting. The opening of the letter functions as a snapshot of the whole letter, helping the audience to get a feel for what Paul will say. This letter is written specifically for this community and its situation. It is meant to be read aloud, putting it in the same category as a sermon or speech. As the art of letter writing fades from our culture and the sound bite takes over, we find a teaching moment in which our children can learn the ancient arts of letter writing and storytelling. Spiritual Practice: Prayer Paul says that he is constantly praying in joy for the Philippians. It is easy to remember to pray while at church, or before a meal or at bedtime. What does it mean to pray constantly? How can we make our life itself a prayer? 4

5 Lesson #4-33 (PK-2nd) May 6, 2018 Lesson Plan Story Centers are mini-activities designed specifically for preschool and kindergarten students. Depending on the size of your class, you can set these up as centers for in-class rotations or do them as a whole class one after another. In most preschool and kindergarten classes, these centers along with a snack, the Learning the Story activity, and the Living the Story activity will fill the education time, but feel free to choose any activity you think would be fun and appropriate for your class. Post Office Provide paper and pencils or crayons for the students to write letters to people that they care about. Include envelopes and stickers to use as stamps. Use the box as a mailbox. Overflowing Love Use a sand or rice table (or bins filled with sand or rice) and small cups or other containers. The children can fill these containers until they are overflowing, just as God s love for us overflows. Caring for Others The early church in Philippi was doing good work in caring for others. Allow the children to care for stuffed animals and dolls as the Christians in Philippi cared for their neighbors. 5

6 Paul writes a letter to the Philippians. You will need: Bible Envelope Paper Before class: 1. Address the envelope, including a return address. 2. Place the paper in the envelope, and hide it in the Bible. During class: 1. Today we are going to hear from a man named Paul. Paul wrote a lot of the Bible. Let me open our Bible to the letter he wrote to some people in a town called Philippi open Bible, allowing letter to fall out. 2. What is this that fell out of my Bible? [A letter.] That is right, it is a letter. The Bible has a lot of letters, and a lot of them were written by Paul. We are going to take some time to look at these letters before we hear our story. 6

7 Exploring the letters of Paul. You will need: Bibles Envelope from Into the Story Paper from Into the Story During class: 1. How many of you have received a letter or card in the mail at home? Now we seem to get more s and text messages then mail, but people used to have to rely on letters to communicate with people who were far away. Our Bible story today is that kind of letter. 2. Show letter and envelope from Into the Story. Letters all have some things in common. Point to return address area on envelope. This part of the envelope tells who the letter is from. Have students turn in their Bibles to Philippians 1. Can you find the part in the Bible story that tells who wrote this letter? [Philippians 1:1a, Paul and Timothy.] 3. Turn attention back to the letter. Which part of the envelope shows to whom the letter is going? Allow students to point out the address. Can you find in our Bible passage where it tells who Paul is writing to? [Philippians 1:1b, the saints in Christ Jesus in Philippi.] 4. Remove the paper from the envelope. The rest of this Bible passage is like the letter inside the envelope. The first thing Paul does is to say Hi, but in different words than we use. What words does Paul use to greet the Philippians? [Philippians 1:2, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.] 5. That is a beautiful way to greet each other! Let s take turns greeting our neighbor by saying, Grace to you and peace. Allow students to greet one another. 6. Now we are going to see what Paul wrote in his letter to the Christians in the church in the city of Philippi. 7

8 Demonstrate the love that Paul describes. You will need: Sand or rice table Small tubs, cups, bowls, etc. Optional: dish pans and sand or rice During class: 1. Let s keep reading Paul s letter to the Philippians. If we look in verse 3, how does Paul feel about the Christians that he is writing to? [He is thankful for them.] What does verse 4 say that he is doing to show his thankfulness? [Constantly praying in joy.] Verse 5 tells us why is he so thankful. Can you find it? [Because they are telling other people about the gospel, the story of Jesus.] 2. Paul is certainly thankful for these friends! Listen to all the good things he says about them. Read through verse Then Paul says this: And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more. What does it mean when something overflows? [There is so much that it cannot be held in; it cannot be contained.] 4. Move to the sand table or bins. When something overflows, it looks like this. Demonstrate by filling a container to overflowing. Paul was so thankful for the faith of the Philippians that his heart overflowed. He wants their hearts to overflow with love for other people. And our hearts overflow with the love of God so that we can overflow with love for other people. Let s all come to the sand table (or bins) and make these containers overflow. 5. Move students to the sand table or bins. Allow some free playtime. 6. Conclude with a prayer. We are going to end our time at the sand table with a prayer. When I say a phrase, you to are going to fill your container to overflowing, and then empty it out again. Then I will go on and say the next phrase. That will be our prayer. 7. Let s pray: Paul was so thankful for the faith of the Philippians that his heart overflowed (fill, pour). He wants their hearts to overflow with love for other people (fill, pour). Our own hearts overflow with the love of God, (fill, pour). So that we can overflow with love for other people (fill, pour). Amen. 8

9 Make life a prayer. You will need: Activity Sheet #4-33.A Crayons or markers Before class: 1. Make a copy of Activity Sheet #4-33.A for each student. During class: 1. Paul writes that he is constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you. What does constantly mean? [All the time, never stopping.] So constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers means Paul was praying all the time! That is a lot of prayer. Paul was praying all day long. 2. Hand out Activity Sheet #4-33.A. 3. We are going to use this Activity Sheet to help us remember to pray all day long. We are going to think about different times of the day that we can pray, and write or draw some ideas on this clock. You do not need to be able to tell time; we will just talk about morning, afternoon, and nighttime. 4. What are some things that we can pray about in the morning? [A good day at school or at home, breakfast, our friends and family, etc.] Which of these prayer ideas sounds like a good idea to you? Write or draw that by the sun symbol on your clock. 5. Go through the same process for ideas for afternoon (heart symbol) and evening or nighttime (moon symbol) prayers. 6. Let s end by praying together: Dear Jesus, help us to pray all the time with joy. Amen. 9

10 Sing a traditional children s song. You will need: Optional: music player I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy Down in my heart (Where?) Down in my heart (Where?) Down in my heart I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy Down in my heart Down in my heart to stay And I'm so happy So very happy I ve got the love of Jesus in my heart. And I'm so happy So very happy I ve got the love of Jesus in my heart Other possible verses: I ve got the peace that passes understanding I ve got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus I ve got the wonderful love of my blessed Redeemer way down in the depths of my heart 10

11 Work as a team to spread love to others. You will need: Construction paper Scissors Optional: basket Before class: 1. Cut out enough construction paper hearts so each student will have three or four. 2. Place all the hearts in a basket or pile on the floor. During class: 1. Have students sit in a circle on the floor around the basket or pile of hearts. 2. Today we are going to play a game about spreading love. Paul was happy that his friends were spreading the love of Jesus by telling other people about him. We can spread Jesus love, too. 3. Choose one or two people to start the game, and give each of them one heart. In this game, if you have a heart in your hand, you can move. Our two friends are going to start our game by going into the center of the circle, picking up another heart, and giving it to any one of you in the circle. When you give someone a heart, say, Jesus loves you! 4. When someone gives you a heart, you can get up and get another heart from the center and give that one to someone else. As long as you have a heart in your hand, you can keep giving hearts to other people. 5. Our goal is to get all of the hearts out of the center of the circle and in to someone s hand. Bonus points if everyone has the same number of hearts at the end of the game! 6. Gather the hearts back in the center and play more rounds as time allows. 11

12 Decorate and serve cookies to one another. You will need: Plain heart-shaped sugar cookies Frosting Plastic knives Small plates Napkins Optional: hand sanitizer Before class: 1. Have students wash their hands before handling food. If you are not near a water source, you may wish to opt for using hand sanitizer. During class: 1. Paul was joyful that the Philippians were sharing the love of Jesus. We can share the love of Jesus with each other, too. 2. Each of you will get one cookie to decorate. But the cookie that you decorate will not be the one you will be eating. You will decorate your heart cookie, and then share it with someone else. When you share your cookie, be sure to remind the other person that Jesus loves them. 3. It may be hard for some students this age to give up something that they have worked on. If that is the case, let them keep their own cookie and invite them to simply tell a friend that Jesus loves them. 12

13 We are all saints. You will need: Internet-connected devices Optional: projector Before class 1. Provide tablets or other Internet-connected devices, or project search images for the group to see. 2. If you choose to project the search results, you may want to prepare images ahead of time. Be sure to include the football team and logo, Biblical iconography, statues, angels, a Saint Bernard dog, and Mount Saint Helens. 1. During What do you think of when you think of a saint? [Football team, church people, people who do good things.] 2. Let s see what happens when we do an image search online for the word saint. 3. Allow students to search, or project the results for them to see. You will find the football team and logo, Biblical iconography, statues, and angels. 4. We are missing some very important saints in our search. Have you found the picture of yourself yet? Allow students a moment of confusion. 5. YOU are a saint, too! Just like the people that Paul was writing to in Philippi, you are also a saint. A saint does not mean that you are perfect or super religious. A saint is simply someone who loves Jesus and tells others about him. Paul would be thankful for you, too. 13

14 Optional ongoing activity. You will need: Bible Book page (found at end of lesson) Cardstock or plain paper Pens Markers or crayons Optional: three-ring binders, hole punch Before class: 1. Make copies of this week s Bible Book page on cardstock or copy paper for each student. During class: 1. Pass out Bible Book pages. 2. Read the bottom of the Bible Book page aloud, reminding students of what they learned in the lesson. 3. Have them put their names on their pages, and draw a picture of something they particularly liked or remember from story in the middle of the page. 4. Optional: Collect and three-hole punch the pages, and put them in individual binders for each student to be kept at church until the end of the year. If you wish, you can investigate other options for binding the Bible books through a local print shop at the end of the year instead of using a three-ring binder. 14

15 Before ending class, make a point to come together to pray. Use the following or say your own prayer. Today we learned a lot about how important it is to spread the story of Jesus, and how important it is to pray. Let s look at our Living the Story clocks again. I want you to help me close with prayer by filling in the blanks with what you wrote or drew on your clock. Let s pray together: Dear Jesus, hear us as we pray in the morning for have students fill in their ideas. Dear Jesus, hear us as we pray in the afternoon for have students fill in their ideas. Dear Jesus, hear us as we pray in the evening for have students fill in their ideas. Help us make our lives a prayer. Amen. 15

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17 Activity Sheet #4-33.A Lesson #4-33 (PK-2nd) May 6, 2018 Constantly Praying with Joy Make life a prayer 17

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19 Bible Book Lesson #4-33 (PK-2nd) May 6, 2018 Living with Love Philippians 1:1-18a The Point: The proclamation of the gospel of Christ brings joy and thanksgiving even in difficult circumstances. 19

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21 The Home PK-2 nd Living the Word: Teaching Kids God s Story Narrative Lectionary, Year 4 ( ) Lesson #4-33 Philippians 1:1-18a Last Week This week, Paul challenges the religious leaders to put their faith in a God who cannot be contained or restrained in a simple idol. This Week Next week, we see Paul reflecting on his missionary journeys. Now imprisoned, he writes to the Philippians he visited in Acts 16, and shares words of encouragement. Story Summary Paul begins his letter to the church in Philippi by calling the Christians there saints. The original Greek word literally means holy ones. Paul is thankful for the work of the people in Philippi in spreading the story of Jesus. Paul is certain that this sharing of the gospel will also be fruitful for the Christian church, and they will continue to learn and grow. Although Paul writes this letter while imprisoned, the tone is full of joy and love as he praises the church in Philippi. Paul sees this as another opportunity to spread the gospel. Practice: Prayer Paul says that he is constantly praying in joy for the Philippians. It is easy to remember to pray while at church, or before a meal or at bedtime. What does it mean to pray constantly? How can we make our life itself a prayer? As a family, write a letter reaching out to a family member, neighbor, or friend who is isolated and would appreciate the personal touch of a letter. Tell them that you are praying for them. The Point The proclamation of the gospel of Christ brings joy and thanksgiving even in difficult circumstances. Bible Nuts & Bolts Letters This passage contains the opening of the letter to the Philippians. Letters in ancient times followed a formula, beginning with the sender, the addressee, and a greeting. The opening of the letter functions as a snapshot of the whole letter, helping the audience to get a feel for what Paul will say. This letter is written specifically for this community and its situation. It is meant to be read aloud, putting it in the same category as a sermon or speech. As the art of letter writing fades from our culture and the sound bite takes over, we find a teaching moment in which our children can learn the ancient arts of letter writing and storytelling. Next Week Next week, we continue the three-week series on Philippians. Paul continues to remind the Philippians of the example that Christ gave them.

22 @ HOME Lesson #4-33 Philippians 1:1-18a Family Discussions Use the questions below or other questions you think of to discuss today s Scripture reading (listed above) with your family. In what way does this text speak to our theme of Living in Hope? What does this scripture have to do with our lives today? What part of this scripture is the most interesting to you? Why? Family Devotions As you hear and study these stories each week, consider what God has to say to you and your family. What is God s message to us? How should we respond? Sunday Read Philippians 1:1-18a Living with love. Share what you are thankful for about each family member. Close with prayer for each person. Monday Read Philippians 1:19-26 Paul s reason for happiness. Share one thing about your faith that makes you happy. Tuesday Read Philippians 1:27-30 Fight for the faith. Stand shoulder to shoulder as you read this passage. Wednesday Read Galatians 1:11-24 Paul explains the gospel. Look at a map online to find the locations Paul mentions in this text. Thursday Read Galatians 2:1-10 Paul at Jerusalem. What is one way that you can help the poor this week? Friday Read Galatians 2:11-14 Paul and Peter. What is one thing that you do or do not do as a Christian that might look odd to nonbelievers? Saturday Read Galatians 2:15-21 Paul explains the gospel, part 2. It does not matter what you do or do not do: Jesus will always love you. Pray a prayer of thanksgiving for this amazing love.