Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Olympia, WA This lesson was written by Jamie Senyard for River Community Church in Prairieville, Louisiana. Copyright 2003 Jamie Senyard. Adapted for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church by Jill Esbeck, 2004. Updated by Beth Tobin 2012. Permission granted to freely distribute and use, provided the copyright message is included. Joseph Rotation Living in a Land of Many Colors Moved by the Spirit: Games Workshop Bible Text: Genesis 37, and 39-50 Memory Verse: Romans 8:28 NIV We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. PURPOSE: The children will navigate through an obstacle course to remind them of some of the setbacks and victories of Joseph s life. If time allows they will also participate in an activity that will help them identify times in their own lives when they need God s help. (Adapted from Promiseland: Live the Adventure.) Objectives for the Rotation At the end of the rotation, the students will: be able to locate Genesis and identify it as the first book in the Bible and the place where the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph can be found. identify Joseph as one of Jacob s twelve sons and Jacob as the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham and Sarah. retell the story of how God saved Joseph through Joseph s interpretation of Pharaoh s dreams and how Joseph is reconciled with his brothers and reunited with his father. understand how God can use a deed intended for evil to fulfill his promise and purpose. begin to understand that God has a good plan for them. Know that God is sovereign over all, evil and good. be able to repeat the memory verse. Additional Objectives for the Games Workshop At the end of the session, the students will: be able to recall some of the times that God helped Joseph overcome difficult situations. be able to identify some of the times they need to call on God to help them overcome difficult situations. Games Lesson Plan 1
Teacher Preparation in Advance: Read the scripture passages and lesson plan and watch the video Bible study on our website: www.gloriadeikids.org Prepare a closing prayer. Learn the memory verse. Consider the age level adjustments needed each week (those included in the lesson plan and your own). The design of this workshop is very intentional. The activities and discussion questions for this workshop were designed to meet the goals of the entire rotation and the educational objectives of the Rotation Model (tm) at Gloria Dei. While we feel it is important to follow the serendipitous leading of the Holy Spirit, please do not change the lesson plan without consulting one of our Sunday School Design Team Members. Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located. The supplies will be in your Sunday School workshop location. Write the memory verse on a poster. Make poster board signs with the following sentences or pictures on them: 1 Joseph is given a colorful coat by his father (picture of colorful coat). 2 Joseph s jealous brothers cast him into a deep well, then sell him as a slave (picture of Joseph in deep hole). 3 Joseph is a hard worker and is put in charge of Potiphar s household (picture of Joseph talking to Potiphar). 4 Potiphar s wife accuses Joseph wrongly (picture of Potiphar s wife talking to Potiphar). 5 Joseph is put in jail where he gains a reputation for interpreting dreams (picture of Joseph in jail). 6 Joseph interprets Pharaoh s dream; Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of the palace (picture of Joseph talking to Pharaoh). 7 Joseph forgives his brothers and is reunited with his father (picture of Joseph hugging his father as his brothers look on). Room Set-up: Place each obstacle along the course as shown in the attached diagram. Post the signs as follows: #1-suitcase, #2-tunnel, #3-riser, #4-hula hoops, #5-appliance box jail, #6- throne, #7-balance beam. Label the Start and Finish of the course with masking tape on the floor and place directional arrows on the floor with masking tape wherever needed along the course. Post the memory verse poster in the room near where you will be conducting the memory verse activity. Games Lesson Plan 2
Supply List: Poster board signs for each station Markers Suitcase or trunk Colorful shirts or bathrobes - or costumes to represent Joseph s coat Tunnel or long table covered with a tablecloth or sheet Two platforms or risers or stable one-step-up step stools Four hula-hoops Large appliance box with a door cut in opposite corners of the appliance box; label one door in and the other door out. It also should have a window with bars cut into it so is looks like a jail. Or similar space to represent a jail. Platform Red throne chair Balance beam or 4x4 or 2x4 board Masking tape Memento: stickers - optional Faith Journal Sheet Lesson: Welcome and Introductions: Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your name-tag. (Remember, you are interacting with a different group of students each week who may not know you.) Make sure the children are wearing name-tags. Open with prayer. Explain the purpose of this workshop: Today you are going to walk through an obstacle course. Each of the stations in the course represent a setback or victory in Joseph s life. (Make sure the children understand the meaning of a setback and a victory---especially the K-1st grade class.) God worked everything for good in Joseph s life, even the setbacks, because Joseph loved God. Scripture/Bible Story: Instruct the children to open their Bibles to Genesis 40-47 and tell them that this is where the Bible story is located. As the children begin to look up the passage, tell them: that the Bible is divided into two parts, the Old and New Testaments. That Genesis is the first book of the Bible and the first book of the Old Testament. [We restate information about Bible organization in each workshop to be sensitive to visitors and new children in the class who may not have any knowledge of the Bible. We never want a child to feel like they do not belong because they do not know this information before they come to class.] After locating the passage, have the children close their Bibles and put them away. The passage is too long to read so you are going to tell the story in your own words as you walk through the obstacle course. Listed below are key points to include in your story. Games Lesson Plan 3
Actions to perform at each station are in parenthesis. Tell the children to listen for the times in Joseph s life when God helped him overcome difficult situations. Station #1: (put on the coat) Joseph was one of Jacob s 12 sons and his favorite son. Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat and the other brothers were very jealous. Joseph s brothers were so angry that one day they decided to kill Joseph, so they threw him in a deep pit. Station #2: (crawl through the tunnel (under a table covered with a blanket or tarp) and stand up on the other side and take off coat) Brothers changed their minds about killing Joseph and sold him as a slave to some traders going to Egypt. They smeared some animal blood on Joseph s beautiful coat and lied to their father, Jacob, by telling him that a wild animal had attacked Joseph and all they could find was the coat. Station #3: (step up on platform/step stool) In Egypt the traders sold Joseph to a man named Potiphar, who was the captain of the king s guard. God took care of Joseph and Potiphar saw that Joseph was a responsible person and a hard worker. Potiphar put Joseph in charge of his household and Potiphar didn t worry about anything because Joseph took such good care of everything. Station #4: (step from one hula hoop to another, one foot in each, as you speak, like you are trying to get away from something) Potiphar s wife saw that Joseph was very good looking and she starting acting like she was in love with Joseph even though she was married to Potiphar. Joseph would always tell Potiphar s wife to get away from him whenever she tried to hug or kiss him and Joseph tried not to be around her. One day when Joseph thought the house was empty, he went to do some work, but Potiphar s wife came in. She grabbed Joseph s coat and when he ran out of the house, he left his coat. The captain s wife showed Potiphar the coat and lied to him by telling him that Joseph had tried to kiss her. Potiphar had Joseph thrown into jail. Station #5: (stand in the jail and look out through the bars) God was still with Joseph, even while he was in jail. Joseph was responsible and hard working in jail and the jailer put Joseph in charge of other people in the jail. While Joseph was in jail, God gave Joseph the ability to be able to interpret dreams. The king s waiter and baker were in jail and Joseph interpreted their dreams. Later the waiter got out of jail and began serving the king or Pharaoh again. Games Lesson Plan 4
Station #6: (sit in throne chair) Two years later the pharaoh had a dream. Tell the details of pharaoh's dream. The waiter remembered Joseph and told the pharaoh about Joseph s ability to interpret dreams. Pharaoh sent for Joseph and asked Joseph to interpret his dream. Joseph told the pharaoh that he/joseph could not interpret dreams but God could. Tell the interpretation of the dream. The pharaoh liked Joseph s idea for storing up food for when the famine came so he put Joseph in charge of all the land of Egypt. Only the pharaoh was greater than Joseph. Things happened just as God had revealed to the pharaoh through Joseph. There were seven years of plenty and Joseph had the people store up food. Then there were seven years when no food would grow and Joseph was in charge of distributing the stored up food. Station #7 (walk across the balance beam) Meanwhile, back in Caanan, where Joseph s father and brothers still lived, there was also a famine. Joseph s family heard there was food in Egypt, so Jacob sent his son s to Egypt to buy some food. The brothers were brought before Joseph to ask to buy food and Joseph recognized them immediately, but they did not recognize him. Joseph did not sell them food immediately. He wanted to see if they were sorry for what they had done to him. He devised a plan to find out whether his brothers had changed since they had sold him into slavery. (You may decide how much of the story you want to tell at this point.) Joseph discovered that his brothers had changed and told them who he was. The brothers were afraid of what Joseph would do to them know that he was a powerful ruler in Egypt. Read Genesis 45:1-15 at this point. When the pharaoh heard what had happened he invited all of Joseph s family to come live in Egypt so they could all be together again. Ask the children if they can identify the times when God helped Joseph overcome difficult situations. Say: These situations were not fun for Joseph, but today we are going have fun remembering the times when God helped Joseph overcome difficult situations. Application: Now the children will navigate through the obstacle course one at a time. Games Lesson Plan 5
Reflect: Pulling it all together (closing discussion): This will be done during the memory verse time. Review the Memory Verse: This activity is adapted from Making Scripture Memory Fun from Group Publishing. Begin by asking the children: I wonder what Joseph was thinking when he was sitting in jail after Potiphar s wife lied about Joseph? I wonder if he thought he would be the second in command of Egypt one day? Have you ever been in a situation like Joseph where things seems really bad? Describe some situations that people your age think are awful. [Fighting with a friend, family being transferred to a different town, changing schools, flunking a test, not being invited to a party. List them on a white board or easel pad.] Say to the children: It doesn t matter who you are or where you live. At some point, something difficult or unpleasant will probably happen in your life. It s just as true that good and pleasant things will happen to everybody at some time. But God has promised us that no matter what happens he ll be working in our lives. The memory verse tells us what God will do with the good and bad situations of our lives. Let s read the verse together. Romans 8:28 NIV We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. Ask the children: * How can this verse be true? * In what ways does God work for good? * Who are the people this verse talks about? Let s say the verse together again. Now let s look back at some of the situations that we listed before. Use your imagination to consider and ponder how God might turn your difficult or unpleasant situations into good. For example, if you flunk a test you might learn that you need to study more the next time. Recite the verse together one more time. Games Lesson Plan 6
Faith Journals: Pass out the Faith Journal page and pencils/markers. Suggestion: You may wish to give the children a sticker or some memento to paste in their journal as a reminder of the story or activity. For younger children: Draw a picture of a time that God used some hard time in your life for good. If you cannot think of a situation you can draw a picture of something we talked about during the memory verse time. For older children: Describe a hard situation that you have been in during your life and what you learned because of the experience. This is meant to be a time of reflection and introspection. Writing about faith helps clarify lessons. In addition to the suggested activity, children may draw pictures relating to today s scripture or memory verse, list highlights of the day s activities, or rephrase the memory verse. Have the students clip their Faith Journal Sheet in their Faith Journal even if they did not get to finish working on their page. Closing prayer: Thank God for being in control of every circumstance and for taking care of us by working for our good. Pray about specific concerns listed on the board during the Memory Verse time. Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help tidy the room and prepare for Closing Time. Additional Suggestions: You will need to decide how best to adjust the lesson for older and younger students. Keep the children active and involved in activity. Do what works for you and the children. Some ideas are included in the lesson plan. Resources: Making Scripture Memory Fun. Loveland, Colorado: Group Publishing, 1998 Live The Adventure: Discovering God Is Everything I Need. Promiseland Summer Event. Willow Creek Association, PO Box 3188, Barrington, IL, 60011-3188. 1999 http://www.promiselandonline.c...livetheadventure.asp Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Games Lesson Plan 7