Large Group Openings Jesus and John the Baptist Jesus and John the Baptist 175
LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus and John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-18; Matthew 3:13-17) Large Group Opening 1 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus and John the Baptist Rotation. Enjoy your time (about 10 minutes) with kids as you sing, learn, and pray together. Choose a song or two to get things started, move into the object lesson that introduces kids to the story, invite kids to discuss a question with their Shepherds, and finish up your time with a prayer. Spark Songs Use one or more of the following Spark Songs during your Large Group Opening. Use them in the order that suits your group s size, format, and time frame. Deep and Wide (Songbook page 66, Track 12) The waters of our baptism flow deep and wide. Deep enough to reach God s well of love and forgiveness, wide enough to connect us to God s people from every time and place. Try singing the word baptism in place of fountain in this song. I Am a C (H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N) (Songbook page 50, Track 9) When the dove appeared and God said, This is my beloved Son, everyone knew Jesus really was God s Son. Baptism marks us all as God s children, cleansed and called. After singing the song through once, try singing it in new ways. Try singing very quickly, very slowly, or with a mouth full of locusts, like John the Baptist. Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player This Little Light of Mine (Songbook page 90, Track 16) Being baptized means saying yes to what God calls us to do. In baptism, we are called to be God s people, working for good in this world. God uses every one of our little lights. Sing this song to celebrate that God uses everyone s light to spread love. Introduce the Story Hi, everyone! When I say H2O, what am I talking about? (water) What does H2O mean? Allow kids to respond. H is hydrogen; O is oxygen. Every teeny, tiny molecule of water is made up of 1 oxygen atom and 2 hydrogen atoms. These three atoms bond together like little magnets. Let me show you what I mean with some water balloons. Oops! I mean water molecule balloons. Pick three kids to hold the three balloons close together and show what a water molecule looks like. Instruct the kids to hold the balloons in a triangle shape, with the light blue balloon in the center at the bottom, and the dark blue balloons on the top. The water molecule looks sort of like Mickey Mouse, with big ears. Here s a water molecule. But I thought this was Sunday School, not science school. Why are we talking about water molecules? Allow kids to respond. We re talking about water because today we re going to learn all about baptism, and baptism uses God s promise and water! I noticed something that s the same about baptism and this water molecule. Can you guess what that is? Here s a 1 light blue and 2 dark blue balloons (any colors will do, as long as there are 2 balloons of one color and 1 balloon of the other color) Marker Jesus and John the Baptist 177
clue for you. Using a marker, carefully write an F on one balloon, an S on another balloon, and an HS on the third balloon. Pause for guesses. The F stands for Father and the S stands for Son. What does the HS stand for? (Holy Spirit) When we re baptized, the pastor uses three names for God. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three names for God all stick together, like hydrogen and oxygen. Talk about these questions: What does the pastor say when we are baptized? What does H stand for and O stand for in a molecule of water? How does God join us together? Closing Prayer We re going to use our water molecule balloons for our prayer. When someone tosses the balloon to you, catch it and thank God for something. (There s no water in the balloons.) You can just say something like, Thank you, God, for water. When you hear me say Amen, the prayer will be finished. Use one balloon per circle of 5 6 kids. Continue the process for a couple minutes before saying Amen. Visit www.sparksundayschool.org for more Spark content. Watch a short Lesson Prep Video that will prepare you and give you confidence to introduce this Bible story to the kids you are leading. You will also find downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets and Slides for all the Spark Songs! 178 Large Group Openings
LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus and John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-18; Matthew 3:13-17) Large Group Opening 2 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus and John the Baptist Rotation. Enjoy your time (about 10 minutes) with kids as you sing, learn, and pray together. Choose a song or two to get things started, move into the object lesson that introduces kids to the story, invite kids to discuss a question with their Shepherds, and finish up your time with a prayer. Spark Songs Use one or more of the following Spark Songs during your Large Group Opening. Use them in the order that suits your group s size, format, and time frame. Deep and Wide (Songbook page 66, Track 12) The waters of our baptism flow deep and wide. Deep enough to reach God s well of love and forgiveness, wide enough to connect us to God s people from every time and place. Try singing the word baptism in place of fountain in this song. I Am a C (H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N) (Songbook page 50, Track 9) When the dove appeared and God said, This is my beloved Son, everyone knew Jesus really was God s Son. Baptism marks us all as God s children, cleansed and called. After singing the song through once, try singing it in new ways. Try singing very quickly, very slowly, or with a mouth full of locusts, like John the Baptist. Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player This Little Light of Mine (Songbook page 90, Track 16) Being baptized means saying yes to what God calls us to do. In baptism, we are called to be God s people, working for good in this world. God uses every one of our little lights. Sing this song to celebrate that God uses everyone s light to spread love. Introduce the Story Take a field trip to the baptismal font in your sanctuary. Ask your pastor to explain baptism in a kid-friendly way. Be sensitive to kids who are not baptized. OR invite an adult who was recently baptized to talk to kids briefly (about 3 5 minutes) about what baptism means to them. Encourage the guest to share pictures. Invite kids to ask questions of the pastor or recently baptized adult. Talk about these questions: What is baptism? What is a sponsor? (Godparent) Where is the baptismal font in our church? Jesus and John the Baptist 179
Closing Prayer We give you thanks, O God, that through water and the Holy Spirit you give your daughters and sons new birth, cleanse them, and raise them. Amen. Visit www.sparksundayschool.org for more Spark content. Watch a short Lesson Prep Video that will prepare you and give you confidence to introduce this Bible story to the kids you are leading. You will also find downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets and Slides for all the Spark Songs! 180 Large Group Openings
LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus and John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-18; Matthew 3:13-17) Large Group Opening 3 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus and John the Baptist Rotation. Enjoy your time (about 10 minutes) with kids as you sing, learn, and pray together. Choose a song or two to get things started, move into the object lesson that introduces kids to the story, invite kids to discuss a question with their Shepherds, and finish up your time with a prayer. Spark Songs Use one or more of the following Spark Songs during your Large Group Opening. Use them in the order that suits your group s size, format, and time frame. Deep and Wide (Songbook page 66, Track 12) The waters of our baptism flow deep and wide. Deep enough to reach God s well of love and forgiveness, wide enough to connect us to God s people from every time and place. Try singing the word baptism in place of fountain in this song. I Am a C (H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N) (Songbook page 50, Track 9) When the dove appeared and God said, This is my beloved Son, everyone knew Jesus really was God s Son. Baptism marks us all as God s children, cleansed and called. After singing the song through once, try singing it in new ways. Try singing very quickly, very slowly, or with a mouth full of locusts, like John the Baptist. Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player This Little Light of Mine (Songbook page 90, Track 16) Being baptized means saying yes to what God calls us to do. In baptism, we are called to be God s people, working for good in this world. God uses every one of our little lights. Sing this song to celebrate that God uses everyone s light to spread love. Introduce the Story Hi, everyone! Boy, I sure am tired. I ve started running a lot. Running is fun, but gosh does it wear me out! Raise your foot if you like to run very fast. Raise your hand if you know the names of some of the world s fastest runners. (Usain Bolt from Jamaica; Sanya Richards from the United States) Let s pretend we re one of the world s fastest runners at the Olympics. How will we get ready to run? Invite kids to stand up, get down in an imaginary starter block, and then get into the ready position. Show me how you will take off running at the start of the race. Ready, set, go! You really are fast. Let s sit down and rest. Another great racing sport is swimming. Is anyone in our group a swimmer? Invite a volunteer to demonstrate how a swimmer looks on the starting block when he or she is getting ready to race. Have you ever noticed that when these great racers are getting ready for something they love to do, they look straight ahead at the track or the pool? Today we re going to hear from John the Baptist. John the Baptist is an expert on Jesus and John the Baptist 181
getting ready. He teaches crowds of people how to get ready for Jesus. But John the Baptist s advice for getting ready is totally opposite from ready, set, go. John the Baptist tells the people to get ready by turning around. The people John the Baptist taught needed to turn around because they didn t know where they were going. They were mixed up! They acted in ways that did not show love or caring. They made bad choices. John the Baptist knew that Jesus would help the people make good choices. So John told the people, Stop going in the wrong direction. Turn and find Jesus. Here s how John the Baptist helped the people get ready. He said, Ready, set, turn to Jesus! Talk about these questions: What does God want us to be ready to do? Why do we have to get ready for things? How can we get ready to listen to God? Closing Prayer Let s share a Ready-Set-Turn-to-Jesus prayer. When I say Ready, kneel on your knees; when I say Set, look like you re ready to run, when I say Turn to Jesus, jump up, spin around, and say Amen. Dear God, Thanks for sending John the Baptist to get people ready for Jesus. Help us to set our feet on the right path. Thanks for inviting us to turn to Jesus. Amen. Visit www.sparksundayschool.org for more Spark content. Watch a short Lesson Prep Video that will prepare you and give you confidence to introduce this Bible story to the kids you are leading. You will also find downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets and Slides for all the Spark Songs! 182 Large Group Openings
LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus and John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-18; Matthew 3:13-17) Large Group Opening 4 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus and John the Baptist Rotation. Enjoy your time (about 10 minutes) with kids as you sing, learn, and pray together. Choose a song or two to get things started, move into the object lesson that introduces kids to the story, invite kids to discuss a question with their Shepherds, and finish up your time with a prayer. Spark Songs Use one or more of the following Spark Songs during your Large Group Opening. Use them in the order that suits your group s size, format, and time frame. Deep and Wide (Songbook page 66, Track 12) The waters of our baptism flow deep and wide. Deep enough to reach God s well of love and forgiveness, wide enough to connect us to God s people from every time and place. Try singing the word baptism in place of fountain in this song. I Am a C (H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N) (Songbook page 50, Track 9) When the dove appeared and God said, This is my beloved Son, everyone knew Jesus really was God s Son. Baptism marks us all as God s children, cleansed and called. After singing the song through once, try singing it in new ways. Try singing very quickly, very slowly, or with a mouth full of locusts, like John the Baptist. Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player This Little Light of Mine (Songbook page 90, Track 16) Being baptized means saying yes to what God calls us to do. In baptism, we are called to be God s people, working for good in this world. God uses every one of our little lights. Sing this song to celebrate that God uses everyone s light to spread love. Introduce the Story Make a masking tape line on the floor at least 6 feet (2 m) from a wall. Hi, everyone! I have a question for you this morning. What is a sign? (A sign points us to something; a sign tells us something.) God loves signs. God used a star to guide the shepherds and wise men to Jesus. God used another sign when Jesus was baptized. The baptism sign was a dove. When Jesus came up out of the water, God s Spirit floated down to land on him, like a dove. God said, This is my Son! Divide the class into teams of 3 4 kids. Spread a blue plastic tablecloth next to the wall. Give each team two sheets of a different color of paper. Have the teams fold paper airplanes with their paper, and then get in line behind the piece of tape and fly their dove toward the river. Give each team two chances per round. Whose dove landed closest to the baptismal water? Brightly-colored paper Blue plastic tablecloth Masking tape MP3 player with speakers or laptop computer loaded with the song Down to the River to Pray by Alison Krauss from O Brother, Where Art Thou (available on I-Tunes) Jesus and John the Baptist 183
Talk about these questions: What did God say at Jesus baptism? Why is the dove a good symbol for baptism? What would you want to see if you could go to Jesus baptism? Closing Prayer Loving God, You sent your son Jesus to love us and guide us. Help us to be Jesus disciples and follow him. Amen. Visit www.sparksundayschool.org for more Spark content. Watch a short Lesson Prep Video that will prepare you and give you confidence to introduce this Bible story to the kids you are leading. You will also find downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets and Slides for all the Spark Songs! 184 Large Group Openings
LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus and John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-18; Matthew 3:13-17) Large Group Opening 5 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus and John the Baptist Rotation. Enjoy your time (about 10 minutes) with kids as you sing, learn, and pray together. Choose a song or two to get things started, move into the object lesson that introduces kids to the story, invite kids to discuss a question with their Shepherds, and finish up your time with a prayer. Spark Songs Use one or more of the following Spark Songs during your Large Group Opening. Use them in the order that suits your group s size, format, and time frame. Deep and Wide (Songbook page 66, Track 12) The waters of our baptism flow deep and wide. Deep enough to reach God s well of love and forgiveness, wide enough to connect us to God s people from every time and place. Try singing the word baptism in place of fountain in this song. I Am a C (H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N) (Songbook page 50, Track 9) When the dove appeared and God said, This is my beloved Son, everyone knew Jesus really was God s Son. Baptism marks us all as God s children, cleansed and called. After singing the song through once, try singing it in new ways. Try singing very quickly, very slowly, or with a mouth full of locusts, like John the Baptist. Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player This Little Light of Mine (Songbook page 90, Track 16) Being baptized means saying yes to what God calls us to do. In baptism, we are called to be God s people, working for good in this world. God uses every one of our little lights. Sing this song to celebrate that God uses everyone s light to spread love. Introduce the Story Before class, spread the world map in the center of the floor and cover it completely with a transparent drop cloth. Secure the drop cloth to the floor with tape. Fill paper cups 1/4 full with water and set them on a table with the small paintbrushes. Hi, everyone! I d like to talk about baptism today. What happens in baptism? Allow kids to respond. In baptism, God washes us. Make a washing motion for kids to imitate. In baptism, our sponsors (Godparents) and parents promise to pray for us. Make a praying motion for kids to imitate. In baptism, God gives us a job to do. Begin to do a motion, and then shrug your shoulders or scratch your head. What s our job from God? Allow kids to respond. God wants us to care for the world and tell other people about Jesus. God wants us to spread the good news of baptism everywhere. Since God gave us a job to do, we better get busy and do it. Here s what we re going to do. Each of us is going to get a paper cup with water and a paintbrush. Large world map Transparent plastic drop cloth Water in cups Small paintbrushes, 1 per kid Clear packing tape Jesus and John the Baptist 185
An adult will hand these two things to each of you at the table. Bring your water and paintbrush to the map and start to paint the world with the waters of baptism. We ll have to work together to spread God s good news over the whole world. When kids are finished, invite them to return their brushes and water to the table. Talk about these questions: Does God love me even if I m not baptized? (YES!) What was it like to spread baptismal waters all over the world? How could God make such a big world? Closing Prayer Gather near the map and pray for places in the news that especially need God s love. Point out these locations on the map to kids. Dear God, Bless your whole world. Help us spread your good news to everyone. And help us feel the love of baptism our whole lives long. Amen. Visit www.sparksundayschool.org for more Spark content. Watch a short Lesson Prep Video that will prepare you and give you confidence to introduce this Bible story to the kids you are leading. You will also find downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets and Slides for all the Spark Songs! 186 Large Group Openings
LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus and John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-18; Matthew 3:13-17) Large Group Opening 6 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus and John the Baptist Rotation. Enjoy your time (about 10 minutes) with kids as you sing, learn, and pray together. Choose a song or two to get things started, move into the object lesson that introduces kids to the story, invite kids to discuss a question with their Shepherds, and finish up your time with a prayer. Spark Songs Use one or more of the following Spark Songs during your Large Group Opening. Use them in the order that suits your group s size, format, and time frame. Deep and Wide (Songbook page 66, Track 12) The waters of our baptism flow deep and wide. Deep enough to reach God s well of love and forgiveness, wide enough to connect us to God s people from every time and place. Try singing the word baptism in place of fountain in this song. I Am a C (H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N) (Songbook page 50, Track 9) When the dove appeared and God said, This is my beloved Son, everyone knew Jesus really was God s Son. Baptism marks us all as God s children, cleansed and called. After singing the song through once, try singing it in new ways. Try singing very quickly, very slowly, or with a mouth full of locusts, like John the Baptist. Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player This Little Light of Mine (Songbook page 90, Track 16) Being baptized means saying yes to what God calls us to do. In baptism, we are called to be God s people, working for good in this world. God uses every one of our little lights. Sing this song to celebrate that God uses everyone s light to spread love. Introduce the Story Before class, pull out several yards of yarn from the skein, cut the end, and gather the yarn into a messy pile. Welcome, welcome! I m so glad you re here! I d like a brave volunteer to come up and help me introduce a character from our story. The rest of you can help guess who the character is. Place the pile of yarn on the volunteer s head. Our Bible character didn t comb his hair too much. He was too busy telling people to turn their lives around and get ready for Jesus. Place the towel around the volunteer s shoulders. Our Bible character wore some itchy clothes made of camel s hair. He didn t have time to go shopping for comfortable clothes. He was too busy shouting at people, Jesus is coming! He is the Messiah! Jesus will save us! Brown or black skein of yarn Plastic bugs Brown bath towel Jesus and John the Baptist 187
Hand the volunteer some plastic bugs to pretend to eat. Our Bible character ate an unusual diet of bugs. But his mouth was never too full to tell people, Jesus will bring truth and grace to everyone on earth. Who is this unusual Bible character? (John the Baptist) God didn t care that John the Baptist was an unusual man. God gave John the Baptist a really important job. God told John the Baptist, Help people get ready for Jesus! Talk about these questions: Can you think of any other unusual characters in the Bible? Why would you like to be or not like to be John the Baptist? Does Jesus care more about how we look or what we do? Closing Prayer Ask John the Baptist to remain in costume and read the prayer. O God, You can use every one of us to spread the good news. Please help me to tell others about Jesus. Help our class to hope together and pray together and learn together. Amen. Visit www.sparksundayschool.org for more Spark content. Watch a short Lesson Prep Video that will prepare you and give you confidence to introduce this Bible story to the kids you are leading. You will also find downloadable Spark Song Lyrics Sheets and Slides for all the Spark Songs! 188 Large Group Openings