December 10, 2017 Second Sunday of Advent Isa. 40:1 11 Ps. 85:1 2, 8 13 2 Pet. 3:8 15a Mark 1:1 8 Prepare the Way Goal for the Session Children will investigate what John the baptizer said in the wilderness. n PREPARING FOR THE SESSION Focus on Mark 1:1 8 WHAT is important to know? From Exegetical Perspective, Judy Yates Siker What the audience is about to hear/read is good news! It is the good news of God through Jesus, Jesus who is God s anointed, the Christ. This first-century audience of Jesus followers could use good news as they struggled to survive in the years during or just after the Jewish War with Rome (about 66 70 CE). Clearly, this is not the birth story of Matthew or Luke. No manger scenes derive from this Gospel. Yet, here in the opening lines of Mark we have a birth story of sorts. It is good to tell of new beginnings, to tell about a God who breaks into our time with good news. WHERE is God in these words? From Theological Perspective, Christopher R. Hutson Mark teaches us to see God by looking to Jesus. But to understand Jesus correctly, Mark looks way back to the prophets of Israel. He sees them looking forward in anticipation of God s intervention. When he stands with them and looks as they look, he sees John the Baptist in line with them and looking in the same direction. We are like the crowds listening to the prophet John, seeking direction for our future. John points us to Jesus, who came so long ago and who for us is yet coming. As in the past, Jesus may shock us when he comes and shows us who we really are before God. SO WHAT does this mean for our lives? From Pastoral Perspective, Lillian Daniel The second Sunday of Advent is a time to remember the humility that comes with honoring our antecedents. We all have ancestors in our callings, people who prepared the way. Waiting for the savior is humbling. I have baptized you with water, John says, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Thank God, is our advent prayer. Thank God we get to prepare, but Christ gets to do the rest. Thank God we can wait, and trust that he will get here in the end. NOW WHAT is God s word calling us to do? From Homiletical Perspective, Martin B. Copenhaver The text is replete with the Advent themes of anticipation and preparation. John draws people from the countryside and from the city, and from whatever occupies them, to consider for a time what it might mean to prepare for the one who is to come. John the baptizer proclaims that preparation involves repentance and confession... facing the truth about ourselves and changing the direction of our lives. This bracing look back that John insists upon is so very different from the kind of nostalgia that always threatens to take center stage during the Advent season in the culture and sometimes in our churches as well. 1
Prepare the Way FOCUS SCRIPTURE Mark 1:1 8 Focus on Your Teaching Young children learn best through their senses and usually enjoy exploring textures and tastes, and they love to think about things that adults may think are disgusting or unpleasant. The details about John the baptizer in this session including eating locusts will intrigue children. When you bring John the baptizer alive in the imaginations of the children in your class, they will always remember him. YOU WILL NEED blue or purple fabric 4 battery-powered votive candles basket of small stones textured scraps, such as sandpaper, burlap, flannel, and carpet Bible honey, spoons Color Pack 2, 3, 4, 27, 28 copies of Resource Sheet 1, materials listed there Singing the Feast, 2017 2018; CD player For Responding option 1: items for obstacle course; optional: stopwatch option 2: bowls of water, muddy rocks, towels option 3: copies of Resource Sheet 2, crayons God of time, open my heart this Advent. Let your Word help me straighten the crooked places in my life for the coming birth of Christ, my redeemer. Make me ready to be gathered into your arms as a shepherd gathers his lambs. Amen. n LEADING THE SESSION GATHERING Welcome learners as they arrive. Invite them to help you arrange blue or purple fabric according to the color your church uses in worship during Advent place Color Pack 2 on it, and arrange the votive candles on top of the wreath. Gather around the Advent wreath. Pass the basket of stones around, asking each child to take one stone to hold. Light two candles. Invite learners to tell what they remember about Advent and the four candles. Tell the children that during Advent we think about God s love given to us through Jesus. Tell the children that the second candle stands for love. Take a stone and set it on the cloth as you name someone you love. Invite children to take turns doing the same. Sing the first two verses of God, We Sing (Color Pack 27; track 8 on Singing the Feast, 2017 2018). Place the textured scraps on the table. Take one scrap at a time and pass it around the group. Invite children to tell how it feels. Then ask them to describe the textures of the clothes they are wearing today. Ask them to pay attention to the kind of clothes that the man in today s Bible story is wearing. 2
Prepare the Way EXPLORING Open your Bible to Mark 1:1 8, and tell learners that they are going to hear a Bible story about a man who came to give people an important message. He wore clothes that were made out of camel s hair. Wonder together if camel s hair would be soft or scratchy. Tell this version of the story: Long ago, one of God s prophets, Isaiah, said: God is sending a messenger who will cry out in the wilderness: Get everything ready for the Lord. Prepare the way! Many years later, there was a man named John. John lived in the wilderness. Now, John wore clothes made out of camel s hair, and he had a big belt. (Pass around a scratchy texture sample.) God, We Sing 1. God, we sing with praise Light the flame of hope anew; Light this candle, light the way, Bring hope into our hearts today. Jesus, near us as we pray, Let hope be in our hearts today. 2. God, we sing with praise Light the flame of peace anew;... 3. God, we sing with praise Light the flame of love anew;... 4. God, we sing with praise Light the flame of joy anew;... 5. God, we sing with praise Light the flame of Christ anew; Light this candle, light the way, We celebrate new life today. Christ, be near us as we pray And celebrate new life today. John ate things he found in the wilderness. Sometimes he ate locusts. (Show Color Pack 3. Ask for a show of hands of how many children would like to taste a locust.) Sometimes he ate berries or nuts that grew on the plants in the wilderness. Sometimes he ate honey made by bees in the wilderness. (Being mindful of allergies, give each child a spoon with a taste of honey on it. Ask for a show of hands of how many children like honey.) John told people to get ready for the Lord. Many people came from small towns to listen to John. Many people from the big city of Jerusalem came to listen to John. John led the people to the Jordan River. (Show Color Pack 4.) John baptized them in the river to help them prepare to meet God s Son, Jesus. This kind of washing in the water was a way that people showed they wanted to live in God s ways. They told God they were sorry for the wrong things they had said and done, and they asked God to forgive them and help them try to do better. John told everyone to get ready to meet the special savior that God was sending to the world. This savior is Jesus, God s Son. John helped people get ready to meet Jesus. During Advent, we get ready for Jesus, too. We get ready to celebrate Jesus birthday at Christmas. To help learners review the story, guide them in making puppets using Resource Sheet 1 (John the Baptizer Puppet) and the supplies listed there. Glue yarn on the coat before you put it on the cup to remind children of John s camel-hair clothes. Invite children to use their puppets to repeat after you: Get ready for God s Savior! Get ready for Jesus! Then discuss: P What are you and your family doing to get ready to celebrate Jesus birthday on Christmas? 3
Prepare the Way If your group enjoys competition, form teams and use a stopwatch to see which group can make it through the obstacle course (without knocking anything down) the fastest. RESPONDING Mark the activities you will use: 1. Obstacle Course John the baptizer said, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight (Mark 1:3). Help children explore what it means to make a straight path by observing the difference between a cluttered path and a clear path. Work together to use furniture, empty boxes, and sheets to build an obstacle course in your learning space. Take turns finding a path through the obstacles. When John told people to make a straight path, he was telling them to follow God s ways. What might it mean for us to follow God s ways as if we re on a straight path? 2. Rock-Washing Prayer One of John s messages was to repent. Explain that this means to stop doing things that are not following in God s ways and to try to do better. Comment that when people do not love God or other people, they can feel angry and mean. Give each child a muddy rock. Invite them to imagine that the mud caked on the rocks is all of the things that make us feel bad. The mud might be fighting with a brother or sister, not listening to parents or teachers, lying, or teasing a friend. Allow a moment for children to silently consider their muddy rocks. Reassure them that all people have muddy rocks from time to time. Everyone sins. God forgives us when we say we re sorry. God s Spirit helps us try to do better. Form pairs and give each a bowl of water. Invite them to wash the mud off their rocks as they offer a silent prayer to God, asking for forgiveness. After the rocks are washed, together say, Amen. EASY PREP This Little Light of Mine This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine, Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Everywhere I go... 3. In the River John s baptism prepared people to meet Jesus. Today, God claims us as God s children in baptism. Give each child a copy of Resource Sheet 2 (In the River) and crayons. Invite the children to color in John and the Jordan River and to draw themselves in the river with him. Invite them to draw friends and family members on the river bank. Invite children to tell stories about their own baptisms and baptisms they have witnessed. Assure them that God claims us as God s very own children in baptism. CLOSING Gather around the Advent wreath. Ask children to use their John the baptizer puppets to say Prepare the way! in response to your line. Repeat it three times: Teacher: A voice cries out in the wilderness. Children: Prepare the way! Sing This Little Light of Mine (Color Pack 28; track 22 on Singing the Feast, 2017 2018). Invite children to tell what they will remember about John the baptizer. Say good-bye to each child by name: God bless you, (name), as you prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jesus gave it to me... 4
December 10, 2017 Prepare the Way Grades (K)1 2 Resource Sheet 1 John the Baptizer Puppet You Will Need craft sticks scissors glue sticks markers tan yarn paper or foam cups 2017 Westminster John Knox Press
December 10, 2017 Prepare the Way Grades (K)1 2 Resource Sheet 2 In the River Draw yourself in the river with John the baptizer. Draw your friends and family members on the river bank. 2017 Westminster John Knox Press