Who Are the People of God?

September 30, 2018 The Wondering Church Who Are the People of God? Primary (Grade 2 & 3) Focus Scripture Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22 PURPOSE To explore the cost of belonging to God s community. Lesson Preparation q Read Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22, and biblical background for September 30. q Set worship table with a green cloth, votive candle, Unit 1 logo (#3), a Bible, and offering basket. q Bring CD player and Sunshine CDs. q Cut out people shapes from different colored construction paper using the pattern found on the Hidden People resource sheet. Label one with a name for each of the children in your group and have several extra blank shapes. Hide them around your classroom space. Bring a small basket and a marker. q Bring Bible marked at the Book of Esther. q Bring The Brave Queen story puppets (see teaching pictures #7 & #8) mounted on toilet paper tubes. Mount picture of palace on the front of a small box. Glue feast table on front of tiny box. Bring crown and Scotch tape. q Choose the option(s) you would like to use for Integrating the Theme. Prepare and bring the necessary materials. q Check the birthday list. q Pray that the children will know the strength and love that comes from belonging to God s community. 1 Green Opening Welcome everyone, especially any new children. Light a small taper and invite a child to light the candle on your worship table saying We light this candle to remind us that God is with us. We can t see God but we know God is here. Sing We Are Here (Sunshine Songbook p. 53 and also track #2 on Sunshine Sing-Along CD 2.) Birthdays, Offering Invite a child to pass the offering basket. Ask why we bring an offering each week (to say thanks for all the good things God has given us, and to help others who have very little.) Prayer: (Ask children to repeat each line after you, with actions.) O God, Help our lips to praise you, (fingers of both hands touch lips) Help our hands to serve you, (hands out, palms up) Help our hearts to love you, (hands folded over heart) Amen. (hands in front and up, palms together) 2 Introducing the Theme Activity: Hidden People Search The word community means a group of people who live together or who have the same interests and like to be together. Hidden around this room are people who belong to a community. Let s see if we can find all of them. (Encourage the children to find the hidden people and place them in the basket on the floor. If there are any new children this week write their names on the blank shapes. Read aloud all the names.) What community do these people belong to? (our church school class, our church) All of us belong to lots of different groups or communities. Can you think of some? (e.g. family, school, choir, Brownies/Cubs, sports teams, etc.) When we are part of a group we usually enjoy being with them, working with them, helping them. If we move away we usually remember those people we left behind. Today I m going to tell you the story of a September 30, 2018 The Whole People of God 1

September 30, 2018 Primary continued brave queen who belonged to a community of Jewish people. These Jewish people had been taken from their own country to another country to live during a war. The story is found in the first part of the Bible in a book named after her. (Open the Bible to the book of Esther. See if any of the children can tell you her name.) 3 Exploring the Theme Story: The Brave Queen (Tell the story from the resource sheet using the toilet tube puppets and props that you have prepared.) A Time for Wondering n I wonder what your favourite part of that story was? n I wonder what questions you have about this story? n I wonder if you have ever felt like Esther, or had a time when you had to be very brave? Courage to Make a Difference Because Esther was willing to do something brave she was able to help God and make a difference. There is a difference between doing something just to show off (like being a dare-devil) and doing something brave to help yourself or someone else. Can you think of some situations where a person might feel afraid but are able to do something brave? (Encourage the children to talk about some of the ways they have overcome their fears, e.g. protecting someone from a bully at school, defending someone who was being teased because they were from a different ethnic background, comforting a younger sibling during a storm at night, being lost in a store and finding someone to help, etc.) Just like God helped Esther, God can help us have courage, too, to help make a difference in our community. God is always with us, ready to help us. Sing: That s How We Walk (Sunshine Songbook p. 48 and also track #39 Sunshine Sing-Along CD 1.) Unit 1 Logo and Activity (Attach Unit 1 logo to wall or bulletin board if possible. Gather around it and look at it together.) Invite the children to take their hidden person from the basket and attach it around the edge of the logo to symbolize the community of Jesus followers that we are all part of. 4 Integrating the Theme Option A: Brave Queen Esther Materials: white paper, liquid Tempra paint, brushes, coloured markers, googly eyes, Q-tips In advance: Bring soapy water and towels or hand wipes for clean up. Write I can be brave and help God just like Queen Esther at the top of each sheet of paper. Give each child a prepared piece of paper. Read the words together. Invite them to make a handprint as shown by painting their hand with a brush (paint fingers a different colour than the palm of the hand) and pressing this firmly (not too much paint fingers and thumb spread apart) onto their paper. Use Q-tip dabbed in paint to add jewels to fingers for the crown (see illustration). Add details such as hair, googly eyes, a smile. Option B: Making a Difference Activity Sheet Materials: crayons, copies of activity sheet Making a Difference In advance: Make copies of the activity sheet. Give each child four different colours of crayons and a copy of the activity sheet. Have them use one colour of crayon to trace the line from the box on the left to the box on the right that tells the rest of the story. Discuss the question at the bottom of the page. Then continue with the rest of the boxes, using a different coloured crayon each time to trace the line. Colour the pictures. 5 Closing Gather in a circle and join hands. Prayer: Thank you God for the church. Help us to be faithful followers of Jesus. Amen. Sing Wherever You Go (Sunshine Songbook p. 60 and also track #6 Sunshine Sing-Along CD 2) 2 The Whole People of God September 30, 2018

Story: The Brave Queen (Set Esther, Mordecai and king puppets in front of you. Have Haman, palace, table, crown and tape nearby.) September 30, 2018 Primary Resource Sheet Long ago and far away, there lived a king named Xerxes (Zerk sees). (Invite a child to pick up the king puppet.) What do we call the house where a king lives? (Invite a child to place the palace in the center of the story circle and have child with the king puppet set the king beside it.) King Xerxes wanted a queen for his country. Many women came to meet him. One woman, named Esther, came with her uncle Mordecai to see if she might be chosen queen. (Have children walk Esther and Mordecai puppets to the palace and King Xerxes.) The king took a long time to decide who the new queen would be, but finally he chose Esther. (Have a child tape the crown to Esther.) So Esther went to live in the king s palace, and Mordecai lived nearby. (Leave King Xerxes and Queen Esther together by palace. Move Mordecai slightly away.) One day Queen Esther looked out the palace window and saw her uncle sitting by the palace gates looking very sad. Quickly she went out to see him to find out what was wrong. (Move Esther to Mordecai.) He told her the king s advisor Haman had a plan to kill all of the Jewish people. Esther knew she had to help somehow but she felt very frightened. She asked Mordecai to have the Jewish people pray for her. (Take Mordecai away.) Esther prayed and prayed, asking God to help her know what to do. At last she had a plan. King Xerxes was so powerful that not even the queen was allowed to see him unless she had been summoned by him. But God helped Esther feel brave enough to go to him uninvited. The king loved her very much and was not angry. He asked what she wanted. Esther invited him to a special dinner and to bring his friend Haman, too. (Hand out Haman and set up table. Have all 3 go to the table.) King Xerxes enjoyed the meal so much that he wanted to give Esther a special gift. He told her she could have anything she wished. Then Esther told him that she was Jewish and how frightened she was because someone was planning to kill the Jewish people. The king was very upset and asked who this person was who had made the plan. Then Esther told him it was Haman. King Xerxes was so angry that he had Haman punished right away. (Take Haman away.) When the Jewish people heard the news that their lives had been saved they celebrated with feasts and dancing. Jewish people today still have a feast or party every year called Purim, to remember brave Queen Esther and how God saved the people from death. It is a time when everyone gets dressed up in costumes, retells the story of Esther and God s people, plays games and gives each other gifts of food. It is a lot of fun. September 30, 2018 Whole People of God 3

Making A Difference September 30, 2018 Primary Activity Sheet Use a crayon to trace over the line connecting a box on the left with the box on the right that helps tell the story. Use a different colour for each line. Can you describe what is happening in each situation? What made the difference? 4 Whole People of God September 30, 2018

Teacher s Resource Sheet September 30, 2018 Hidden People Pattern September 30, 2018 Whole People of God 5