Jesus Is Born. Large Group Openings. Jesus Is Born 151

Large Group Openings Jesus Is Born Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Jesus Is Born 151

LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus Is Born (Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-12 Luke 1:26-58; 2:1-20) Large Group Opening 1 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus Is Born 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 questions about the story 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. Go Tell It on the Mountain (Track 6, Songbook page 32): The news that the Messiah had been born was surprising news to all at the time, and it continues to be good news today! Sing the song with loud, happy voices. Invite kids to create actions or movement to go with the words of the song. I ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy (Track 10, Songbook page 55): This is the season of great joy! Sing the verses as written, and then try these Advent/Christmas-themed verses: Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player I ve got the little, tiny baby Jesus... I ve got the joy of Christmas, joy of Christmas... I ve got the peace of knowing my Messiah... Spark My World (Track 1, Songbook page 4): Sing the chorus and general verses as written. Then teach the following verse to the kids and invite them to sing it with you: Jesus is born, let s shout good news. Worship the king, go spread good news. Invite the kids to create more story-related verses. Introduce the Story Set Up: Wrap the box in Christmas wrapping paper. Attach a tag that says, Do Not Open until Christmas to the box. I have a present here today. Hold up the wrapped gift box. The tag says, Do Not Open until Christmas. Wow! We ve got a present, but the tag says we can t open it! I wonder what could be inside this big box? Raise your hand if you want to guess what is inside this box. Accept answers from a few kids. Those are all good guesses. When you get a present from someone it is usually a surprise as to what s inside, isn t it? We have to wait until we open it to find out what s inside. None Large box Christmas wrapping paper Scissors Clear tape Gift tag Marker Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Jesus Is Born 153

The time before Christmas is Advent. During Advent we prepare our hearts and homes to celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Advent is full of wonderful surprises. It s also a time of waiting. Before Jesus was born the people had been waiting for hundreds of years for God to send a messiah. Can you imagine waiting hundreds of years for something? The people were waiting for a new good king who would come and save them from being ruled by bad kings. God had promised that a new king, the Messiah, would come, and so they waited. We are in a time of waiting too. The difference is that we know the gift that we will receive very soon we are going to celebrate gift of the birth of Jesus the Messiah! Shepherd Questions Pose one or more of these questions to the large group and invite the Shepherds to discuss them with the kids in their small groups. If your group is already small, choose one of the questions and ask the whole group to discuss it together. What is the hardest thing about waiting for Christmas to come? What kinds of things do you think God wants us to do while we are waiting for Christmas? If you could give God a Christmas present, what would you give? Closing Prayer In the closing prayer you will have the opportunity to name the gift you would like to give to God. I will start the prayer, and invite you to share your ideas. Dear God, The time before Christmas is so exciting! There are presents everywhere and we are waiting to find out what is inside of them. If I could give you a gift this Christmas, God, I would give you (invite kids to say their gift idea out loud all at once with the large group). Thank you for all of the surprises during this fun time of year and help us to be patient while we wait. 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! 154 Large Group Openings Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009

LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus Is Born (Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-12 Luke 1:26-58; 2:1-20) Large Group Opening 2 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus Is Born 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 questions about the story 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. Go Tell It on the Mountain (Track 6, Songbook page 32): The news that the Messiah had been born was surprising news to all at the time, and it continues to be good news today! Sing the song with loud, happy voices. Invite kids to create actions or movement to go with the words of the song. The B-I-B-L-E (Track 5, Songbook page 28): The Bible is a great place to hear the story of Christmas! Sing the song as written first, then try this alternative verse: Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player The B-I-B-L-E, yes that s the book for me, it shares the joy of Jesus birth, the B-I-B-L-E! All Night, All Day (Track 13, Songbook page 70): The angels gave surprising news to many in the Christmas story. Teach the kids these two verses, inviting them to sing along: All night, all day, angels share surprising news with us. All night, all day, angels share surprising news. All night, all day, nothing is impossible for God. All night, all day, nothing is impossible. Introduce the Story Hold the angel figure behind your back. I have an important part of the Christmas story behind my back. Can you guess what it might be? Allow kids to share some of their guesses. Reveal the angel. Surprise! It s an angel! When we read about angels in the Bible it usually means that God has got surprising news to share. The angel appears many times in the story of Christmas and the angel always has something surprising to say. God sent angels to speak God s word directly to people. Getting information directly from someone is usually the best way to make sure it is accurate. None Angel figure from a nativity set Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Jesus Is Born 155

Let s play a game to demonstrate this. I m going to whisper a secret message into one person s ear in each Shepherd group. That person will whisper the message to the next person and so on. The last person will stand up and tell everyone aloud what he or she heard. I will tell everyone the same message at the beginning. Whisper, I bring good news of great joy to all the people to one person in each Shepherd group to get the game started. Let s hear what the last person in each group heard. Invite the last person to hear the message in each group to stand and share what they heard. Encourage all efforts. You all did very well! Would you like to know exactly what I said? Repeat the phrase for all to hear: I bring good news of great joy to all the people. Some of the groups kept the message going a bit better than others, didn t they? When we hear news from someone who heard it from someone else who heard it from someone else, it often gets changed a little bit, and sometimes it ends up not being very accurate. God had some very amazing news to share and God sent angels to share it. Shepherd Questions Pose one or more of these questions to the large group and invite the Shepherds to discuss them with the kids in their small groups. If your group is already small, choose one of the questions and ask the whole group to discuss it together. What is some good news you heard this week? How do you think God communicates exciting news to people today? What do you think it sounded like to hear angels sing? Closing Prayer The Lord s Prayer is a prayer of good news. Let s pray it together. Pray the shh to AHH version of the Lord s Prayer. Have everyone start out in a squatting position and begin whispering the first part of the prayer. As you pray the prayer together, have everyone slowly begin to rise and pray louder and louder until all are standing with arms stretched toward the sky and all are almost shouting at the 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! 156 Large Group Openings Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009

LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus Is Born (Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-12 Luke 1:26-58; 2:1-20) Large Group Opening 3 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus Is Born 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 questions about the story 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. Go Tell It on the Mountain (Track 6, Songbook page 32): The news that the Messiah had been born was surprising news to all at the time, and it continues to be good news today! Sing the song with loud, happy voices. Invite kids to create actions or movement to go with the words of the song. I ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy (Track 10, Songbook page 55): This is the season of great joy! Sing the verses as written, and then try these Advent/Christmas-themed verses: Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player I ve got the little, tiny baby Jesus... I ve got the joy of Christmas, joy of Christmas... I ve got the peace of knowing my Messiah... All Night, All Day (Track 13, Songbook page 70): The angels spoke surprising news to many in the Christmas story. Teach the kids these two verses, inviting them to sing along: All night, all day, angels share surprising news with us. All night, all day, angels share surprising news. All night, all day, nothing is impossible for God. All night, all day, nothing is impossible. Introduce the Story Set Up: Set the Mary figure and the baby supplies out in an area where all kids can see them. Look at the things I have set out today. What do you see? Allow time for kids to respond. Hold up the Mary figure. I have Mary. Point to the supplies. And I have some baby supplies. Mary was a young woman who was getting ready to get married. An angel came to Mary and said, Surprise! You re going to have a baby! And your baby will not be just any baby. Your baby will be a King and he will rule over people forever! None Mary figure from a nativity set Diaper Bottle Jar of baby food Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Jesus Is Born 157

I m sure this was very surprising news for Mary. Mary was probably a bit nervous about all the things that she would need to take care of a baby. These are just a few things that a mom or dad might need to take care of a new baby. Raise your hand to tell me what else new babies need. Accept as many answers as you like and as guided by time and interest. Babies need lots of things, don t they? Mary didn t have a lot of money, she didn t have a husband yet, and she was very young. I m sure she wondered how she was going to get ready for a baby. Mary s response to the angel is a surprising answer. She trusted God and said, Okay. I am God s servant and I ll do what God wants. Mary knew that she had a lot of work ahead of her, and that many people would probably be angry with her because she was not ready to have a baby, but Mary trusted God and said, Okay. Shepherd Questions Pose one or more of these questions to the large group and invite the Shepherds to discuss them with the kids in their small groups. If your group is already small, choose one of the questions and ask the whole group to discuss it together. Why do you think babies need so many things when they are so little? How do you respond when you get asked to do something really hard? Mary trusted God. What does it mean to trust someone? Closing Prayer Some of the words in our closing prayer are from the song Mary sang after the angel visited her. They are found in the book of Luke in the Bible. Repeat each line after I say it. My soul praises you, O God, and my spirit rejoices! You look with kindness upon your people. You are mighty and have done great things for me. Help me to trust you like Mary did even when you surprise me. 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! 158 Large Group Openings Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009

LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus Is Born (Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-12 Luke 1:26-58; 2:1-20) Large Group Opening 4 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus Is Born 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 questions about the story 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. Go Tell It on the Mountain (Track 6, Songbook page 32): The news that the Messiah had been born was surprising news to all at the time, and it continues to be good news today! Sing the song with loud, happy voices. Invite kids to create actions or movement to go with the words of the song. Hallelujah! Praise Ye the Lord! (Track 8, Songbook page 44): There is much to praise God for in this season of the church year! Invite the kids to substitute these phrases for Praise Ye the Lord: Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player God s son is born! Christmas is come! Jesus is here! Next, invite the kids to try creating their own phrases! All Night, All Day (Track 13, Songbook page 70): The angels spoke surprising news to many in the Christmas story. Teach the kids these two verses, inviting them to sing along: All night, all day, angels share surprising news with us. All night, all day, angels share surprising news. All night, all day, nothing is impossible for God. All night, all day, nothing is impossible. Introduce the Story Set Up: Write Nothing is impossible for God on the index card. Blow up the balloon. Set all of the supplies out in an area that they are visible to all kids. If you have time, practice putting the pin through another balloon to make sure you can do it! What things do you see in front of me today? Allow time for kids to name the items. Do you have any idea what these things are all about? Hmmm... let s figure that out. Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 None Index card Marker Non-latex balloon Straight pin Clear tape Jesus Is Born 159

Does anyone know who Elizabeth is? Allow time for kids to respond. Elizabeth was a relative of Mary. Elizabeth was much older than Mary and she was married but didn t have any children. People thought Elizabeth would never have children because she was getting too old. An angel came to Elizabeth s husband, Zechariah, and told him that his wife would have a baby. Zechariah did not believe it was possible for Elizabeth to have a baby in her old age. No one believed it was possible! But what seems impossible isn t always so. Do you believe it s possible for me to stick a pin in a balloon without popping the balloon? Allow time for kids to respond. It seems like an impossible thing. What usually happens when you stick a pin in a balloon? Let me show you how to do the impossible! Place a piece of tape on the balloon near the tied-off end. Stick the pin slowly through the tape and the balloon. It didn t pop! What seems impossible isn t always so. Hold up the index card. The card says, Nothing is impossible with God. Elizabeth and Zechariah learned that God is full of surprises and God can do impossible things. Elizabeth s baby was named John and later when he grew up he told people about Jesus. Shepherd Questions Pose one or more of these questions to the large group and invite the Shepherds to discuss them with the kids in their small groups. If your group is already small, choose one of the questions and ask the whole group to discuss it together. What feels impossible in your life? How can knowing that Nothing is impossible for God help you this week? Closing Prayer At the end of each phrase, invite kids to respond, Nothing is impossible with God. God, there are people who need to be fed. There are people who need a home. There are people who need to be healed from sickness. There are many problems in our world. We know that you are a God of surprises and that... 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! 160 Large Group Openings Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009

LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus Is Born (Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-12 Luke 1:26-58; 2:1-20) Large Group Opening 5 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus Is Born 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 questions about the story 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. Go Tell It on the Mountain (Track 6, Songbook page 32): The news that the Messiah had been born was surprising news to all at the time, and it continues to be good news today! Sing the song with loud, happy voices. Invite kids to create actions or movement to go with the words of the song. I ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy (Track 10, Songbook page 55): This is the season of great joy! Sing the verses as written, and then try these Advent/Christmas-themed verses: Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player I ve got the little, tiny baby Jesus... I ve got the joy of Christmas, joy of Christmas... I ve got the peace of knowing my Messiah... Spark My World (Track 1, Songbook page 4): Sing the chorus and general verses as written. Then teach the following verse to the kids and invite them to sing it with you: Jesus is born, let s shout good news. Worship the king, go spread good news. Invite the kids to create more story-related verses. Introduce the Story Hold up the Joseph figure. Who do you think this is? Allow time for kids to respond. This is Joseph. Who knows who Joseph is? Allow time for kids to respond. Joseph was Jesus earthly father. He got a big surprise when an angel came to visit him. Mary had told Joseph that she was going to have a baby. He was not very happy about this because they weren t married yet. Joseph planned to break their engagement and not get married to Mary. But one night when Joseph was sleeping, an angel spoke to him. The angel told Joseph that the baby was from God and that it was part of God s plan that Mary should have this baby. The None Joseph figure from a nativity set Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Jesus Is Born 161

angel told Joseph that God wanted him to take Mary as his wife and to be the father for her baby. When Joseph woke up, surprise! He changed his mind and decided that he would still marry Mary. Joseph obeyed God. Now I want you to obey me. Everybody stand up. Allow time for kids to stand. You need to obey me and do exactly what I tell you to do. Ready? Say the following commands and have kids do what you say. Stand on one foot. Put your hands on your head. Put your foot and hands down. Hug three people. Do five jumping jacks. Sit down. Stand up. Hop four times. Sit down. Allow kids to settle. Did all of you obey me and do exactly what I said? Sometimes we don t feel like obeying and doing what someone else tells us to do. Joseph wasn t sure he wanted to obey God at first. He knew that obeying God would be kind of hard, but Joseph loved God and wanted to please God so he obeyed and married Mary. Because Joseph obeyed, God was able to bless Joseph in many ways. Shepherd Questions Pose one or more of these questions to the large group and invite the Shepherds to discuss them with the kids in their small groups. If your group is already small, choose one of the questions and ask the whole group to discuss it together. During our game were there times you didn t want to obey? Why or why not? Joseph obeyed God. In what ways does God want you to obey? God spoke to Joseph through an angel in a dream. What other ways does God speak to people? Closing Prayer Have kids stand to repeat the words and actions after you. God, you re great (arms raised to ceiling) and full of surprises. (jump and raise hands on word surprises ) Sometimes I want to do my own thing. (turn and face back of room) But you call me to listen to your voice (turn back to front of room) and to obey. (hands in prayer position, head bowed) Help me to do that every day. 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! 162 Large Group Openings Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009

LARGE GROUP OPENINGS Jesus Is Born (Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-12 Luke 1:26-58; 2:1-20) Large Group Opening 6 Welcome to Large Group Openings for the Jesus Is Born 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 questions about the story 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. Go Tell It on the Mountain (Track 6, Songbook page 32): The news that the Messiah had been born was surprising news to all at the time, and it continues to be good news today! Sing the song with loud, happy voices. Invite kids to create actions or movement to go with the words of the song. I ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy (Track 10, Songbook page 55): This is the season of great joy! Sing the verses as written, and then try these Advent/Christmas-themed verses: Spark Song CD Spark Songbook Spark Song Lyrics Sheets or Slides CD player I ve got the little, tiny baby Jesus... I ve got the joy of Christmas... I ve got the peace of knowing my Messiah... Hallelujah! Praise Ye the Lord! (Track 8, Songbook page 44): There is much to praise God for in this season of the church year! Invite the kids to substitute these phrases for Praise Ye the Lord: God s son is born! Christmas is come! Jesus is here! Next, invite the kids to try creating their own phrases! Introduce the Story Set Up: Wrap the baby Jesus figure in the box. Invite the parents of a young baby to attend the Large Group Opening with their baby. But keep them out of sight until you tell them to come in. Hold up the box. What do you think is in this small box? Accept a few answers. Then ask a volunteer to unwrap the box. Surprise! It s the baby Jesus! Sometimes the best surprises come in the smallest boxes. But here s another surprise we ve got a real baby visiting us this morning! Invite the parents and baby into the gathering space. Introduce them to the kids. Let the parents bring the baby into None Baby Jesus figure from a nativity set Small box Christmas wrapping paper Scissors Clear tape Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Jesus Is Born 163

the large group so that the kids can look closely at the baby. Look at how little this baby is! When Jesus was born he was a baby who was just as tiny as this one. God s biggest surprise for all of us is that he sent Jesus to the world as a tiny helpless baby. The people were waiting for a new king, someone who would rescue them. They did not expect that the Messiah would come as a tiny little baby who looked and acted just like every other baby. Jesus was born as a tiny baby so that he would know what it was like to be human, and it was a really big surprise. Shepherd Questions Pose one or more of these questions to the large group and invite the Shepherds to discuss them with the kids in their small groups. If your group is already small, choose one of the questions and ask the whole group to discuss it together. How do you take care of a baby? How did Mary and Joseph take care of Jesus? The baby who visited us today probably cries sometimes. Jesus cried when he was a baby. What are some other challenging things that babies do? Do you think Jesus did those things when he was a baby? What are the most surprising things about Christmas for you? Closing Prayer Sing Away in a Manger as the closing prayer. It can serve as a lullaby to your baby guest and to the baby Jesus. 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! 164 Large Group Openings Large Group Openings, Jesus Is Born Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009