Emmanuel Lutheran Church at Saint Luke's Anglican Church
Family Lectionary Study;
Alternate Sundays from 9:30 to 10:15 in the Gym
Opening Music
Review of Previous Lessons
As this was the first lesson, we didn't review an actual previous lesson. However, the children present had memorized John 1:1-14 over Christmas. Also, last week, the priest and pastor had pointed out to the children the green vestments and hangings. They had explained how different colours show different Church seasons, and that the season we are in now is Epiphany.
When we finished the song, I asked the children what they thought of when they thought of the “Sun and Stars, the Earth and Moon and Jupiter and Mars”. I reminded them that “all things were made by Him, and without him was not anything made that was made”. Not only did God create the Sun, it's light reminds us that “in Him was Life, and that life was the Light of Men”. The children then (voluntarily and eagerly) recited John 1:1-14 together.
Craft
I showed the children a piece of hardboard, on which I had drawn a circle as big as the hardboard would accommodate, with a hole drilled in the centre. I gave one child a yellow circle to cut out from a sheet of paper, while the other cut out a circle of yellow flames, sized to fit well inside the hardboard circle. Other children could have cut out four-to-eight small blue disks and tiny green continental land masses, but since I only had two children, I cut them out myself.
We talked about how when God created the Sun and the Earth, God also created the seasons. As the earth moves around the sun, the seasons pass in succession. Christmas comes at the darkest time of the year. We glued the yellow paper disk centred on the hardboard circle, glued its ring of flames around it, and glued a little blue disk at the bottom of the hardboard circle with the northern half of its continental landmass pointing away from the sun. We lightly marked on the circle where Saint-Jean-Baptiste day would be, then Lady Day and Michaelmas, then Candlemas (which happened to be this Sunday). Over that we sketched in the season of Epiphany.
Epiphany means “discovery”. During Epiphany, we remember how people discovered who Jesus was. The wise men discovered Him by following a star. Anna and Simeon discovered Him prophetically, when He was brought to the temple by His parents. While He was going about His ministry, people discovered Him by the things He taught and did.
Bible Passage
Mark 1:21-28
Pew-work Hand-outs
“Pew-work” is like Home-work, except that it is done in the pews, instead of being done at home. Because it is focussed on the readings (as the sermon, presumably, also is) it can be done during the sermon to help the listener concentrate. Or, it can be done while waiting for everyone else to finish their communion. It isn't done during prayers, or hymns, or the readings, because
During Prayers, we pray
During Hymns, we sing
During the Readings, we listen
Middle-school Students' Pew-work
Elementary-School Students' Pew-work