SESSION 12 Jesus Calms the Storm Bible Verse Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him! (Mark 4:41) Did You Know? Jesus had spent the day teaching the crowds with parables. Then he had privately explained to the disciples the meaning of the parables. By evening Jesus was tired and suggested to the disciples that they cross over to the other side of the lake. Several times when Jesus wanted to get away from the crowd, he would cross to the other side of the lake looking for some time alone. The disciples left the crowd and took Jesus in the boat to cross the lake. Jesus went to the rear of the boat and fell asleep. A storm arose with gale-force winds and large waves were crashing against the boat. The boat took on so much water, the disciples were afraid they were going to sink. When the disciples were desperate, they woke Jesus and cried out to him, Teacher, don t you care that we re drowning? Jesus stood up and gave the order, Silence! Be still! Immediately there was a great calm. Without question or comment, Jesus dealt with the problem. But the cowardly response of the disciples was opposite of what Jesus expected of their faith. Jesus asked them, Why are you frightened? Don t you have faith yet? The disciples, who had heard Jesus teaching, had everything explained to them, and had just witnessed Jesus miraculously control nature, still responded in fear, not faith. The disciples, speaking to each other, asked, Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him! They still wondered who Jesus was and how he could do miracles. Their doubt and confusion continued through Jesus ministry, trial, and crucifixion. They were encouraged when they saw Jesus resurrected, but the fear was still there. When the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost and indwelled them, only then did their faith become unmovable. Bible Story Mark 4:35-41 Anchor Point Jesus shows God s power. Your Lesson JUMP IN: q Assemble the Crew q Napping q Calming the Storm q Shaving Cream Rain Clouds q Move with the Weather q Stormy-Sea Pudding DIVE DEEPER: q Deep Blue Bible Adventure q Learn and Serve q Read the Bible Story q Jesus Calms the Storm GROW STRONGER: q Mission Project q Jesus Calms the Storm, the Musical WORSHIP: q Praise and Prayer q Talk About Everyone Older Children Younger Children Requires preparation. Winter 2017 18 Session 12 deepbluekids.com 83
JUMP IN! The following activities may be done in learning centers as the children arrive or with the entire group. ASSEMBLE THE CREW Supplies: Attendance Chart (Resource Pak p. 2), Adventure DVD, DVD player, offering basket Greet each parent and child as they arrive. Display the attendance chart (Resource Pak p. 2). Show the children where to place their offerings on the worship table. Play Let s Go Deep Blue on the Adventure DVD. NAPPING Supplies: Reproducible 12b, crayons Photocopy Napping (Reproducible 12b) for each younger child. Give each younger child a copy of Napping. SAY: Jesus had been teaching all day, and he was tired. Jesus and the disciples got in a boat to cross the lake. Connect the dot-to-dot numbers on your page to see who was in the back of the boat. Then color your page. Allow the younger children time to finish their pages. ASK: Who was in the back of the boat? What was he doing? CALMING THE STORM Supplies: Bibles, Reproducible 12c, pencils, markers, colored pencils Photocopy Calming the Storm (Reproducible 12c) for each older child. Give each older child a copy of Calming the Storm. SAY: The dialogue for the scenes is at the bottom of the page. Unscramble the words, then decide which scenes they go with. Write in the dialogue. Color your scenes if you would like to. Look at Mark 4:35-41 in your Bibles for help with the dialogue. Allow the older children to finish putting in the dialogue and color the scenes if they want to. Read through the scenes together. ASK: Have you ever been on a boat in a storm? How did you feel? What did you do? How do you think the disciples were feeling? 84 Deep Blue One Room Sunday School Leader Guide
SHAVING CREAM RAIN CLOUDS Supplies: glass, water, eye dropper, shaving cream, food coloring SAY: The storm came up quickly, and the disciples didn t have time to row the boat to shore. ASK: What do you think causes rain? (Rain forms when droplets in the cloud grow and combine to become so heavy they fall out of the cloud.) What do you think creates a storm? (The basic ingredients used to make a thunderstorm are moisture, unstable air, and lift. The rain begins, and then the lightning and thunder are produced by cumulonimbus clouds. You will have gusty winds, heavy rain, and sometimes hail.) SAY: Let s see if we can create rain. Fill the glass with water, leaving about an inch from the rim. Add a layer of shaving cream on the top of the water. Don t make it too thick. SAY: The shaving cream is our cloud, and the water is our atmosphere. Add a few drops of blue food coloring. SAY: The weight of the food coloring will push through the shaving cream and fall down through the water. It will look like streaks of rain. ASK: What do clouds look like before it starts raining? MOVE WITH THE WEATHER Supplies: Reproducible 12d, masking tape Create room for the children to spread out far enough not to touch each either. Invite the children to spread out in the room to learn some movements to go with the weather. Give them these instructions. Sunny: Stand tall. Inhale. Look up. Take your arms straight up to the sky, and say hello to the sun. Windy: Stand on one leg. Bend the knee of the leg you are not standing on. Place the sole of your foot on the opposite inner thigh or calf and balance. (Avoid placing it against your knee.) Sway like a tree in the wind. Switch sides and repeat the steps. Lightning: Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart. Bend your knees while keeping your spine straight. Hold your hands up in front of you with straight arms and pretend to be a lightning bolt. Rain: Bend your upper body while keeping your spine straight. Reach for your toes. Pretend your arms are falling raindrops. Cloudy: Sit cross-legged and rest your palms on your knees. Practice the movements a few times to use with the story later. SAY: Practice these movements in the mornings when you get up based on what the weather is outside. It s a good way to stretch and get your body going. Winter 2017 18 Session 12 deepbluekids.com 85
STORMY-SEA PUDDING Supplies: Reproducible 12e, vanilla pudding, blue food coloring, whipped topping, spoons, small clear plastic cups, paper towels, table coverings Photocopy Stormy-Sea Pudding (Reproducible 12e) for each child. Mix up the vanilla pudding before Sunday school. Allow the children to wash their hands before handling food. Place some vanilla pudding in a cup. Add a few drops of blue food coloring, and stir it until the pudding looks blue. Smooth the top of the pudding with the back of your spoon. Put a large spoonful of whipped topping on top of your pudding. Use your spoon to create big waves with the whipped topping. Enjoy your stormy-sea pudding! DIVE DEEPER DEEP BLUE BIBLE ADVENTURE Supplies: Adventure DVD and player SAY: Mercy and the Deep Blue Kids are in Mercy s house because it s storming outside. Kat tells them a story about a storm, the disciples, and Jesus. Watch today s episode from the Adventure DVD. ASK: Why do you think the disciples were amazed when Jesus stopped the storm? LEARN AND SERVE WITH THE DEEP BLUE KIDS MANCALA GAME Supplies: Reproducible 12f, empty egg carton, marbles Photocopy Mancala Game (Reproducible 12f) for each child. SAY: Mancala is one of the favorite games people of Kenya like to play. It is a game played in many countries in our world. You can make the game using a clean, empty egg carton. Place four marbles in each of the twelve holes in the egg carton. Use the top of the egg carton to make two containers to use as the players stores. Look at the directions for playing the game. Two players play at one time. One player picks up all of the pieces in any one of the holes on his or her side. Moving counterclockwise, the player puts one marble in each hole until the marbles run out. 86 Deep Blue One Room Sunday School Leader Guide
If you pass your store, put in one marble. If you pass your opponent s store, skip it. If the last marble you place is in your own store, you get a free turn. If the last marble you place is in an empty hole on your side, you capture that piece and any pieces in the hole directly opposite. When you capture marbles, place them in your store. The game ends when all six spaces on one side of the board are empty. The player who still has marbles in the holes captures all of those marbles. Count all the marbles in each store. The player with the most marbles in her or his store wins the game. ASK: Did you learn anything from your game that will help you play better? SAY: Mercy likes to play Mancala, and she taught the Deep Blue Kids how to play. READ THE BIBLE STORY Supplies: CEB Kids Bibles Ask an older child who is a confident reader to read the Scripture from the Bible or a teacher or helper can read it. You may also ask a younger child to read the story from the Deep Blue Bible Storybook. Ask the children to find Mark 4:35-41. The older children can help the younger children find the Scripture in their own Bibles. Even if they can t read the Scripture, they can learn to find books of the Bible and follow along. Encourage them to bring their own Bibles and learn how to use them. Read the story aloud from the Bible. When you mention weather, allow the children to make the movements they learned earlier in your group. JESUS CALMS THE STORM Supplies: Reproducible 12a Photocopy Jesus Calms the Storm (Reproducible 12a) for each child. Give each child a copy of Jesus Calms the Storm. Ask for volunteers for the different parts: News Anchor, Reporter #1, Reporter #2, Reporter #3, Disciple #1, Disciple #2, Disciple #3. Allow the group to read through the parts. SAY: You are part of the Capernaum News crew, and you are going to report an amazing event that occurred near Capernaum. We interrupt our broadcast to bring you some breaking news: Jesus calms the storm! Allow the children to act out the news report. If time allows, have them go through it a couple of times and add more action to the story each time. ASK: If you were reporting about Jesus, what would you say about him? What do you say about Jesus to your friends and family? Winter 2017 18 Session 12 deepbluekids.com 87
GROW STRONGER MISSION PROJECT SAY: Our mission for this quarter is the ZOE Project which prepares children to help themselves. Children begin their journey to empowerment by joining a supportive ZOE working group of 60 100 of their peers. For three years, ZOE empowers each group with skills training and resources. Once-vulnerable children then graduate as self-reliant young men and women able to provide for themselves and their siblings. Through ZOE, these children will find hope, become empowered, and prepare to lead. Next week is the last Sunday your family will have an opportunity to support this great project. They can donate online, mail a check, or send their donation with you to contribute to your Sunday school offering. If you haven t received a letter about the mission project, you can get one today to take home and share with your family. JESUS CALMS THE STORM, THE MUSICAL Supplies: any musical instruments you have available Set the instruments out to be used. If you don t have instruments, gather some things that make noise. Make cards with the story on one side and the instruments to play on the back side. Some sample instruments to use will be given, but you can use the instruments of your choice. Have the children choose the instrument they want to play. SAY: As I read the story from the cards, you will see what instruments need to be played written on the back of the card. Jesus and the disciples took a boat to cross the lake. (One drum plays softly.) A terrible storm arose. (Rain stick and all drums play gradually getting louder.) Jesus was asleep in the boat. (Add tambourines to the instruments listed above.) The disciples shouted, Master, we re drowning. Don t you care. (Add sistrums.) Jesus woke up and said, Silence! Be still! (all instruments silent at Jesus words) A great calm came over the sea. (all instruments silent) Jesus asked the disciples, Why are you afraid? Don t you trust me? (Silence) The disciples said, Who is this Jesus? (One drum plays softly.) As time allows, let the children change instruments and go through it again. 88 Deep Blue One Room Sunday School Leader Guide
WORSHIP PRAISE AND PRAYER Supplies: Resource Pak pp. 3 & 10, Reproducible 10f, CD-ROM or DVD and player Learn the signs from the Unit 3 Sign Language Poster (Resource Pak p. 3) so you can teach them to the children. Display the Unit 3 Bible Verse Poster and Unit 3 Sign Language Poster (Resource Pak pp. 3 & 10) in your worship area. Photocopy Power (Reproducible 10f) for each child. Punch holes in the copies and place them in notebooks to be used as songbooks during worship time. SAY: Our song this month is Power. Hand out the songbooks and have the children find the song. Play this month s song and encourage children to sing and dance with the music. Show the children the Bible verse poster. Encourage readers to read the verse. NOTE.Photocopy Talk About Jesus Calms the Sea (Reproducible 12g). Give out the Talk About pages for the children to take home and share with their families. Teach children the Sign Language for the Bible verse. Encourage all children to sign and say the Bible verse with you. ASK: How can we learn to be calm like Jesus was? PRAY: Dear God, we thank you for your calming spirit. Help us learn to be calm like Jesus was; in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. ANSWERS ACTIVITY 12B NAPPING 12C CALMING THE STORM Winter 2017 18 Session 12 deepbluekids.com 89