Lesso 4 41 Jesus Talks With the Samarita Woma Joh 4:5-42 T hird- ad fourth-graders kow who s i ad who s out i their social circles. Sometimes they ca be quite cruel to the kids who are o the outside of the cool group. Use this lesso to help them develop a heart of compassio for everyoe, icludig the kids who experiece compassio the least. LESSON 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio WHAT CHILDREN DO Water Hut (about 10 mi.) Go o a scaveger hut to fid sources of water. A Brick i the Well (about 15 mi.) Act out the accout of Jesus meetig the Samarita woma at the well. SUPPLIES idex cards, paper, pes Bibles, Bible Truth Sleuth, pes Teacher Pack: Bible Timelie, 1 copy per child of A Brick i the Well Part 1 ad A Brick i the Well Part 2 scripts EASY PREP Thik of several clues for kids to follow to fid various sources of water i your church; the write the clues o idex cards. Here are some ideas: You ca get a cool drik of water from me. (water foutai) You wash your hads here. (a sik) Water shoots up ad comes back dow here. (a decorative foutai) Tear out the Lesso 4 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. Bible Poit Jesus loves everyoe. Key Verse He who has the So has life; he who does ot have the So of God does ot have life (1 Joh 5:12). Weavig Faith Ito Life Kids will gai a deeper uderstadig of the love ad forgiveess of God offered to everyoe. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Sprig Quarter
42 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Come to the Water (about 20 mi.) Give the thigs they ve doe wrog to Jesus at a well ad receive livig water, ad play a game to kow the differece betwee livig water ad plai water. Bible Truth Sleuth, markers, 4 water buckets (2 filled with water), 2 cups, several towels Teacher Pack: Come to the Water poster Make a small hole i the bottom of 1 of the cups. He Who Has the So (about 10 mi.) Lear the Key Verse, ad drik some cool water. Bibles, CD player, pitcher of ice water, 1 small paper cup per child, copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) Teacher Pack: CD 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Commit to showig the love of Jesus to someoe this week. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bible Truth Sleuth, markers Sprig Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4
43 Jesus Talks With the Samarita Woma Joh 4:5-42 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS The Outcast The Real Worship At the start of today s passage, we fid Jesus stoppig at a well to sit dow ad have a drik. It was i the heat of the day a good time for a drik of water, but ot the ormal time for someoe to come to draw water. The time of day idicates that the woma Jesus spoke with was t welcome whe other wome came i the morig or the eveig. She must have kow that Jesus realized her outcast status, addig to her astoishmet whe he asked her for a drik. As a woma ad a Samarita, she ever would have spoke to a Jewish ma. The Divisio The divisio betwee Jews ad Samaritas wet back to the time the Jews retured from captivity i Babylo. The Samaritas were the descedats of Jews who had stayed i Palestie ad had itermarried with people of other groups. Such marriages were forbidde by Hebrew law, ad thus the Jews chose to have o associatio with Samaritas. A key poit for us to take from this passage is the oe Jesus makes i Joh 4:21-24. Samaritas ad Jews disagreed about where God should be worshipped, but Jesus kew that God is ot cotaied by buildigs or locatios. It does t matter where oe worships God; what matters is that people worship God i spirit ad i truth. The Jesus Coectio Your coectio with Jesus is your livig water. As you cultivate your friedship with Jesus through prayer ad time i the Bible, you ll discover refreshmet eve durig parched times. The Samarita woma eeded to experiece Jesus love. I what ways do you feel thirsty for love? I what ways have you bee able to drik it up? With whom are you sharig livig water? Ask God to give you the ames of two people with whom you ca share Jesus. You ca write your prayer here. The Real Need Jesus seemed more cocered about the woma s relatioship with God tha about his ow thirst. He kew that the woma eeded the livig water he could offer more tha he eeded to quech his physical thirst. Although the woma clearly did t uderstad exactly what Jesus was talkig about, she cotiued the dialogue ad questioed him further. Evetually she uderstood. Because of the spiritual eed i that tow, Jesus prologed his trip by two days. Ad i additio to the woma, may others tured to him as well. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Sprig Quarter
44 GETTING STARTED Water Hut Supplies idex cards paper pes Water Hut Easy Prep Thik of several clues for kids to follow to fid various sources of water i your church; the write the clues o idex cards. Here are some ideas: You ca get a cool drik of water from me. (water foutai) You wash your hads here. (a sik) Water shoots up ad comes back dow here. (a decorative foutai) Water Hut Tip Be sure groups do t disturb other groups i church while doig this activity. If possible, have a adult leader go with each group. You could have kids make a list or draw pictures of the sources of water rather tha goig outside of your meetig room. What You ll Do Welcome kids warmly as they arrive, ad ask them how their week wet. Say: We re goig o a scaveger hut today! I ll give you a list of clues, ad you ll fid the aswers to those clues. The aswers all have somethig i commo. Whe you figure out what that is, write your aswer ad where you d fid it. Have kids form groups of four, ad give them pes ad their clues. Sed them out to fid the sources of water. Whe kids have retured with their lists, have them sit dow. Ask willig kids from each group to share what they discovered. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What was it like to search for the water with just those clues? What helped you fid the right water sources? What are some ways water is useful? Say: Today we re goig to lear about a woma who might ot have kow it, but was lookig for aswers. Ad we ll see what kid of water Jesus offered her ad what that meas for us. We ll lear that JESUS LOVES EVERYONE. Sprig Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4
45 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION A Brick i the Well Tip If you have a small group, have each willig child read more tha oe brick part. What You ll Do Say: Today we re goig to act out the Bible passage about a woma who met Jesus at a well. The passage is foud i the Gospel of Joh. Have kids ope their Bibles to Joh 4:5-42, ad show them the Jesus Talks With the Woma at the Well picture o the Bible Timelie. Say: The woma at the well was a Samarita. The Jews did t talk to Samaritas. But Jesus, who was a Jew, asked her for a drik of water. Give everyoe a copy of the A Brick i the Well Part 1 script. Ask for two willig childre to read the parts of Jesus ad the Samarita woma. The rest of the group will act as bricks ad will form the well. Have those kids take the parts of the 12 bricks ; assig the bricks umbers 1 through 12. If you have fewer tha 14 kids, assig multiple brick roles to each child. If you have more tha 14 kids, double up o some of the brick roles so they read their lies together. A Brick i the Well Supplies Bibles Bible Truth Sleuth pes Teacher Pack Bible Timelie 1 copy per child of A Brick i the Well Part 1 ad A Brick i the Well Part 2 scripts A Brick i the Well Easy Prep Tear out the Lesso 4 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. Have the kids who are bricks stad i a tight circle, facig iward. Kids playig Jesus ad the Samarita woma will stad outside the well. Have kids read from the script. To begi, have the child readig the part of Jesus getly lea o the child playig the part of Brick 1. Whe kids have fiished readig, applaud their efforts, ad have them sit dow. Distribute pes, ad have kids form groups of four ad tur to the Jesus Gives Livig Water! activity i their Bible Truth Sleuth pages. Say: Thik about some typical reactios people have to people like the woma at the well, people who have a poor reputatio. I your group, talk about what some of those reactios are, ad the write them i the talk bubbles o your Bible Truth Sleuth page. Whe kids have fiished, ask for willig kids to share what they ve writte with the whole group. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Sprig Quarter
46 Say: Now let s fid out what happeed ext i our passage about the Samarita woma at the well. Whe the disciples retured from the tow with food for Jesus, several thigs happeed that showed they were t all that differet from the Samarita woma i uderstadig who Jesus was ad where his stregth came from. Let s go back the well ad let our bricks brig us up to speed. Give everyoe a copy of the A Brick i the Well Part 2 script. Ask for four willig childre to read the parts of Jesus, the Samarita woma, Disciple 1 ad Disciple 2. The rest of the group will act as bricks ad will form the well. Assig the bricks umbers 1 through 9. If you have fewer tha 13 kids, assig multiple brick roles to each child. If you have more tha 13 kids, double up o some of the brick roles so they read their lies together. Have the kids who are bricks stad i a tight circle, facig iward. Kids playig Jesus, the Samarita woma, ad the Disciples will stad outside the well. The have kids read from the script. To begi, have the child readig the part of Jesus getly lea o the child playig the part of Brick 1. Whe kids have fiished readig, applaud their efforts, ad have them sit dow. Say: The bricks i the well have sure see a lot of activity today, ad apparetly there s more to come, based o what the bricks told us at the ed of our drama. Fid a parter, ad read Joh 4:39-42 to fid out what the Samaritas from the tow wated with Jesus. Give pairs a few miutes to read Joh 4:39-42, ad ask for willig kids to share how they saw lives chaged i these verses. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: How did Jesus show love to all the people i today s Bible passage? What are ways you ca show Jesus love to others, based o how Jesus showed love here? What are some barriers that get i the way of lovig others? Say: Jesus offered livig water to the woma at the well. He did t withhold his compassio for her just because of some poor choices she d made i her life. JESUS LOVES EVERYONE, o exceptios. But he wo t force his love o ayoe. We have to choose to drik of the livig water of Jesus love. Ad we eed to stay ope to learig more about Jesus just as the disciples leared about Jesus livig food ad the people i the tow listeed to the Samarita woma. Let s look at what Jesus livig water meas to us. Sprig Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4
47 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Come to the Water What You ll Do Lay the Come to the Water poster o a table. Say: The woma at the well was amazed that Jesus kew persoal thigs about her, because she d ever met him before. Thik about some of the thigs you ve doe that you would t wat ayoe to kow about. Pause to give kids time to thik. Say: Now thik about the fact that Jesus kows about all of those thigs, ad he wats to give you his livig water because he loves you ad wats you to have eteral life. Now we ll give to Jesus at this well all of those thigs we ve doe ad receive his love, his livig water, ad his eteral life. Have kids imagie they re placig the thigs they ve thought of i their hads. The have each child quietly come up to the well ad preted to place them iside. As each perso fiishes, say: Jesus loves you, [ame of child]. Oce they ve fiished, have the kids retur to their places ad sit dow. Come to the Water Supplies Bible Truth Sleuth markers 4 water buckets (2 filled with water) 2 cups several towels Teacher Pack Come to the Water poster Come to the Water Easy Prep Make a small hole i the bottom of 1 of the cups. Say: Jesus used the image of water to explai somethig very importat to the Samarita woma what life i him looks like. Let s do a little competitio to see the differece betwee actual water ad the livig water that Jesus told the Samarita woma about. Set two buckets of water side by side o the floor. Have a empty bucket ext to each full oe. Set a cup iside each bucket of water. Form two teams, ad have each team lie up behid a pair of buckets. Say: The goal of this game is simple: See how much water you ca get from the full bucket ito the empty bucket. Each of your team members will get three scoops to try to fill the bucket with water usig the cup provided i your bucket. Please go as fast as you ca, but also take care to avoid splashig the water o to the floor. Poits will be deducted for water spilled oto the floor. O go! oe child from each team will get three scoops to trasfer water to the empty bucket. This will obviously be easier for the team that has the cup without the hole. At the ed of each tur, kids will pass the cup to the ext perso i lie. Play for about five miutes. Have some towels o had to give to kids who might get wet. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Sprig Quarter
48 Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What was it like to give all of your wrog thigs to Jesus i our poster activity? Why might people choose to hold o to the wrog thigs they ve doe istead of givig them to Jesus? How is that like scoopig water with a hole i the cup? I what ways is the life Jesus offers like usig the cup without the hole? Say: Water is a key to our survival, but scoopig it with a defective cup was less tha satisfyig. Jesus tells us that his livig water satisfies 100 percet of the time like the cup that could scoop 100 percet of the water. Because JESUS LOVES EVERYONE, he s happy to exchage your wrog thigs for his livig water! He wats you to have eteral life all you have to do is believe i Jesus, ad you ca have it, too! He Who Has the So Supplies Bibles CD player pitcher of ice water 1 small paper cup per child copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) Teacher Pack CD: I Am the Way (Joh 14:6) (track 11) He Who Has the So What You ll Do Say: Let s sig a sog about how it s possible that JESUS LOVES EVERYONE. Pass out copies of the lyrics, ad play I Am the Way (Joh 14:6) (track 11 o the CD). After they liste oce, have kids sig alog ad do the motios. I am the way, (raise hads high o I ; the place palms i frot of you palms facig each other like a path) I am the way, (repeat motios) I am the way (repeat motios) Ad the truth (place poiter figers o mouth; the motio out) Ad the life. (place palms facig self; the move hads from low to high) I am the way (raise hads high; the place palms i frot of you palms facig each other like a path) Ad the truth (place poiter figers o mouth; the motio out) Ad the life. (place palms facig self; the move hads from low to high) No oe comes to the Father (shake head ad poiter figer o ) Except through me. (raise both hads high) I am the way to the Father; (raise hads high o I ; place palms i frot of you palms facig each other like a path; the raise hads high agai) I am the way to the throe of God. (raise hads high o I ; place palms i frot of you palms facig each other like a path; the raise hads high agai) I am the way (raise hads high o I ; the place palms i frot of you palms facig each other like a path) Sprig Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4
49 Ad the truth (place poiter figers o mouth; the motio out) Ad the life. (place palms facig self; the move hads from low to high) I am the way (raise hads high o I ; the place palms i frot of you palms facig each other like a path) (The oly way) (freestyle or twist to the beat) I am the way (raise hads high o I ; the place palms i frot of you palms facig each other like a path) (Not aother way), (freestyle or twist to the beat) I am the way (raise hads high o I : the place palms i frot of you palms facig each other like a path) (That s the way) (freestyle or twist to the beat) Ad the truth (place poiter figers o mouth; the motio out) Ad the life. (place palms facig self; the move hads from low to high) I am the way (raise hads high; the place palms i frot of you palms facig each other like a path) Ad the truth (place poiter figers o mouth; the motio out) Ad the life. (place palms facig self; the move hads from low to high) No oe comes to the Father (shake head ad poiter figer o ) Except through me. (raise both hads high) No oe comes by aother way, (shake head ad poiter figer o ) So come through me, (motio come here ) Ad we ll celebrate. (wave hads side to side overhead) I am the way ad the truth ad the life. (repeat motios) I am the way (the oly way), I am the way (ot aother way), I am the way (that s the way) Ad the truth Ad the life. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I Am the Way (Joh 14:6) by Dea-o. 2003 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved. Give a empty paper cup to each child. Say: Our Key Verse i the Bible tells us about the life we ca fid i Jesus. After we say our Key Verse, 1 Joh 5:12, we ll have a special prayer time i which you ll receive water that represets you beig filled with the love of Jesus livig water. Have kids ope their Bibles to 1 Joh 5:12 ad read the verse aloud together: He who has the So has life; he who does ot have the So of God does ot have life. Say: Brig your cup to me, ad I will pour water ito it to represet the livig water of Jesus. As I pour the water, we ll say together, He who has the So has life! Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Sprig Quarter
50 Have each child come to you to have his or her cup filled with water. Ivite the kids to drik the ice water as they receive it, ad say, Jesus loves you as they drik. If they choose ot to drik the water, say Jesus loves you all the same. Whe the last child has received water, gather everyoe s attetio. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What do our Key Verse ad the sog we sag tell us about Jesus love? How is Jesus love like a refreshig drik of water? What is so crucial about believig i Jesus love for us? Say: Whe Jesus said he s the way, he did t say it to tur away ayoe. He was simply statig the truth: Without belief i Jesus, we ca t experiece his love. But if we have him i our heart, mid, ad soul, we ll experiece the same livig-water love as the Samarita woma. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies Bible Truth Sleuth markers Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: Let s thik about how we ca share the love of Jesus this week. Here s our Daily Challege for the week: O your Bible Truth Sleuth page, draw someoe you kow who you re goig to share Jesus love with this week. Draw that perso sittig o the well ext to Jesus o the frot side of your Bible Truth Sleuth page. Thik about how you re goig to show the love of Jesus to that perso this week. Make sure you also commit to showig someoe the love of Jesus this week ad tell the kids what you pla to do. Kids will be more iclied to follow through o their commitmets whe they see you doig the same. Talk With Kids Ask: What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Share a time, a place, or other ideas. Allow time. Say: JESUS LOVES EVERYONE. The Samarita woma uexpectedly experieced that love whe she met Jesus at the well. Let s experiece that love, too, ad share it with others by followig through o our Daily Challege. Sprig Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4
51 Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about their commitmet to share Jesus love ad what they leared about Jesus love. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their Bible Truth Sleuth pages with their families. Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Take a couple of miutes to pray with your kids, thakig God for the livig water of Jesus love ad for daily refreshmet of that livig water i our lives. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 4 Sprig Quarter
52 Lyrics I Am the Way (Joh 14:6) I am the way, I am the way, I am the way Ad the truth Ad the life. I am the way ad the truth ad the life. No oe comes to the Father except through me. I am the way to the Father; I am the way to the throe of God. I am the way ad the truth ad the life. I am the way (the oly way), I am the way (ot aother way), I am the way (that s the way) Ad the truth Ad the life. I am the way ad the truth ad the life. No oe comes to the Father except through me. No oe comes by aother way, So come through me, ad we ll celebrate. I am the way ad the truth ad the life. I am the way (the oly way), I am the way (ot aother way), I am the way (that s the way) Ad the truth Ad the life. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I Am the Way (Joh 14:6) by Dea-o. 2003 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved.! OK TO COPY FaithWeaver NOW group.com Sprig Quarter Lesso 4 Grades 3 & 4