Belle’s loud music really annoyed Button. What annoys you?
            • How do you react when people do those things?
            • Button made a false accusation just because he didn’t like Belle. How can our opinions of people change the way we see them?
           
​Sometimes when we decide we don’t like someone, all we see are bad things about that person. That’s what happened to Button! But in the end, Button realized Belle wasn’t as bad as he thought. God helps us love our enemies and look for the good in them.

Let’s begin our Bible time with a simple card game.
            Here's what you will need:

• Bible
• playing cards
• lots of books
• paper
• pens

Have family members pair up. Each person will get 10 playing cards to play this game.

• The goal is to get the most cards.
• Players will hold all 10 cards in their hands, and partners will take turns blindly choosing one from their opponents.
• Then the opponents will blindly take one back.
• This will continue at an even pace for several minutes.

           After a couple of minutes of play, stop the game.
           Ask: • How did the rules of this game make it hard to win?
           • In our game, when your opponent took one of your cards, you always took one of theirs. Sometimes we do that in life—when someone is mean to us, we’re mean back. What’s wrong with that approach to life?
            Say: This game was certainly fair—but kind of pointless! As soon as your opponent took one of your cards, you could take one back. Most people like things to be fair. In fact, Jesus quoted a law that talked about that.
           
Matthew 5:38:
You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'
           
The people Jesus was talking to thought this was a good law. It kept things fair. But when we’re talking about getting even with someone, there’s no end to the revenge!
           
Imagine that a friend does something mean, so you get back at that person. Then they get back at you. And you get back at them. What would happen to your friendship?
Like our game, the mean things could go on forever. So Jesus had a different way to live.
            Matthew 5:39-40:
But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.
 
Play a Card Game Unfairly
           Say: Let’s play again. This time, whichever partner is older won’t take cards. Instead, when your opponent takes a card, give that person another one! Instead of focusing on your cards, focus on being extra kind to your opponent.

            Allow time for the younger partner in each pair to obtain all 20 cards.

           Ask: • What did you think of this round of the game?
           • How could something being unfair actually end up being better?

            This game wasn’t fair at all. But it was loving, at least on the part of the older player. Jesus’ way won’t always be fair to us. But instead of focusing on getting even when someone hurts us, we can focus on showing love. That’s because God helps us love our enemies.

           I do want to clear up one thing: When Jesus said to let someone slap your other cheek, he wasn’t saying you should let a bully beat you up. Jesus was using something called hyperbole (hi-PER-buh-lee). Hyperbole is when you use extreme, exaggerated statements to make a point. If someone actually slaps your cheek, you don’t need to keep letting that person hit you. Jesus’ point was simply that we should do the unexpected, that we should go above and beyond to show love instead of getting revenge.

The problem with revenge is that it often just makes a bigger mess. And then the people who we got back at want to get back at us again…and it just keeps going. It ends up hurting us just as much as the other person.
            That’s why God helps us love our enemies. But what does that really look like? Does it mean letting bullies beat us up? Does it mean sitting there and taking it when someone is making fun of us? If not, what can we safely do to show love to our enemies? 
 
Walk an Extra Mile
            Let’s look at another way Jesus put this same idea.
          Have you ever heard the phrase “go the extra mile”? What does it mean to you?
         The phrase “go the extra mile” is used a lot today, and it started with Jesus. Check it out.

          Matthew 5:41 - If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.
         
In Jesus’ day, there was a law that said a Roman soldier could pick out anyone and force that person to carry all the soldier’s gear for a whole mile. Jews really didn’t like that rule, because not only did it interrupt their day, but the Roman soldiers were their enemies! But God helps us love our enemies, so Jesus said to walk twice as far for that Roman soldier.

           Let’s try it. I’ll be the Roman soldier!
            Demand that family members each carry an armload of books around the room for 30 seconds. Count down from 30, and then say: Keep carrying them for another 30 seconds! Let families decide if they want to do twice what you demanded.
           Ask: • Imagine I’m your enemy instead of your friend. How do you feel about carrying all my stuff so far?
           • Now that you’ve experienced that, what would you say it means to “go the extra mile”? What would it look like to go the extra mile for someone who’s mean to you?
            Say: God helps us love our enemies. Instead of getting revenge, we can go above and beyond to be generous and loving to our enemies. Here’s a summary of what Jesus had to say about getting even.

           Matthew 5:42 - Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.
 
Draw an Enemy
            That’s what Jesus said about taking revenge on our enemies. But Jesus went further than that in talking about how God helps us love our enemies! So as we read on, you’ll need an enemy.
            Have each person draw a simple stick figure to represent an enemy. (It’s okay if younger kids’ drawings look like scribbles.) Encourage people to draw a very simple figure and not try to draw someone specific who others might recognize. However, people can have a specific person in mind who is often mean to them.
          We all have things we’d like to say to our enemies. Here’s your chance to do that. With your finger (not your pen), “write” on your paper what you’d like to say to your enemy. What you write will be invisible.

Allow time. Since kids aren’t actually spelling, it’s okay for kids who don’t know how to write to do their own finger writing!

          Most people would expect us to say mean things to our enemies. But Jesus reminded us that God helps us love our enemies. Here’s what he said to do.
            Matthew 5:43-45 - You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.
 
Pray for an Enemy
           Let’s try praying for our enemies. Using your pen now, write a prayer all around the stick figure enemy. Don’t write a prayer about your enemy, asking God to change your enemy. Instead, pray for your enemy, for your enemy to see God’s love. If you can’t write, draw hearts and pray that the person would see God’s love. 

         God helps us love our enemies. He can help us see people the way he sees them. He can help us show love instead of getting even. And often, as we regularly pray for our enemies, he can help change our hearts so we see them as he does. Let’s close by silently reading the prayers you just wrote.
            

If you were Biscuit, what would you have done to make it easier to keep your promise?
Pedro said breaking promises hurts others. Can you think of an example of how that could happen?
           
How can you regain someone’s trust if you’ve broken a promise before?
           
Do you really think Biscuit will keep his new promise? Why or why not?
           
When we make a promise, even one that's really hard to keep, God wants us to do what we say. He wants our “yes” to mean yes and our “no” to mean no all the time.

Today we’re learning that God wants us to do what we say. Jesus said it’s important not to add qualifiers to our promises. A qualifier is saying something extra like, “I swear on my mother’s grave!” or “I swear on this chocolate bar!” or “I really mean it this time!” Listen to what Jesus said.
           
Matthew 5:33-36: You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black.
           
In Jesus’ time, people would often make vows, or promises, where they would swear by God, and sometimes they would add other things to swear by. But that’s not how Jesus said to do it. Let’s make some silly promises and add some silly qualifiers.
            An activity for families:
Have the oldest person in the family get a piece of paper and a pen. Getting input from everybody, they’ll make a list of 5 words in each of the following categories. They can make a different column for each category.

• verb (action word)
• noun (something you can physically touch)
• deadline
• qualifier (silly things people could swear by, such as “I swear by the tail of an elephant” or “I swear by the third spaghetti noodle I ate for dinner last night”)

            Preschoolers will have a hard time with parts of speech, but let them contribute words; the person writing can determine whether or not to use them.
           
Okay, ready to make some silly promises? Fill in the blanks using the first word in each column. For example, “I promise to clean my giraffe by midnight. I swear by the tail of an elephant!”
            Ready? I promise to...
            Families can do or pantomime their silly promises right there.

            • What was so silly about our promises?
            • Which one would you be least likely to promise to do?
       • What difference did it make to add the qualifier? Did it make your promises more believable?
           
Okay, so these promises weren’t ones we would really make. And we wouldn’t swear by those silly things, either. But in life we sometimes make promises or say we’ll do things, and we add extra words to show we really mean it. Have people raise their hands if they’ve ever said the following or something like it. Raise your hand, too, to show that you’ve done this!

• I really, really mean it this time!
• Cross my heart and hope to die!
• I promise!
• I pinky promise!

           
So we wouldn’t actually swear by the tail of an elephant, but it sounds like we do add words to some of our promises to demonstrate how sincere we are.
            Jesus had a different idea for how we can show we really mean we’ll keep a promise.
           Matthew 5:37: Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.
           
God wants us to do what we say. If we always do what we say, people can trust our yes and no. We don’t need to add extra words to show we really mean it; our actions show we mean it! By doing what we say, we show we’re faithful to our words. And it’s a reflection of God, who always does what he says. So let’s practice doing what we say.
 
            • When have you said you’d do something and then forgotten about it?  God wants us to do what we say. It’s easy for us to tell our parents, friends, or teachers we’ll do something and then get distracted. But when we don’t follow through with what we say we’ll do, we end up needing to add qualifiers to our promises because we’re not trustworthy! Instead let’s ask God to help us work on making sure our yes and no are words people can believe in.

Valentine’s Day Love Arrow Pencil Topper
Around Valentine’s Day, we hear all kinds of things about love. But did you know that God is love? God isn’t just great at loving us. He invented love, and his love for you goes on forever. Let’s make a craft to help us think about that.
Give each child a sharpened pencil and some felt. Have kids use their pencils to draw triangles on the felt with about 2-inch sides. Then have them overlap the felt to cut out two triangles each. Next, have children draw 2- x 1-inch rectangles on the felt, overlap the felt, and cut out two rectangles each. Have children cut several small slits in the rectangles—they’ll be parallel to the long side, but cut from each of the short sides.
Show each child how to glue only two sides of one triangle, then set the other triangle on top of it, matching the edges. This will leave an opening to put the end of the pencil in. Have them put glue along the center of both rectangles, parallel to the short ends. Have them match the rectangles with the eraser-end of the pencil along the glue lines. This will make the feather end of the arrow. Have kids keep the felt about a centimeter away from the end of the pencil so the eraser is still usable.

Loving God
Read aloud 1 John 4:16: We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
Now that we’ve made love arrows, let’s shoot some love back to God. Have kids use their love-arrow pencils to write to God. They can thank him for the ways he loves and takes care of them, they can ask him to help them love others, or they can write about why they love him.
Keep your love arrow as a reminder that God loves you so much. And whenever you want, you can shoot some love back to God using your love arrow!

We’re learning that God helps us calm our anger.         
Have you ever had a day where things just kept making you feel angry? Talk about that. 
Let’s see how our friend Carl handles it when one thing after another goes wrong.

Which of the things that happened to Carl would make you the angriest?
            • After everything that happened, what do you think Carl is going to do next?
            • What would be a healthy way for Carl to handle his anger?
            • How did Carl’s story show how anger can build up if we don’t ask God to help us calm down?
           
​When one thing after another happens to make us angry, anger can build up and make us feel like we’re going to explode. But when we feel anger starting to build up, we can ask God for help because God helps us calm our anger.

We’ll need some paper people. Everyone, draw a person that fills up a piece of paper. 

You'll need some paper and markers or crayons.
​

Based on what you just saw, are the angry words we wrote down that big of a deal? Explain.
            • What negative effects have angry words had on you?
           
You know, sometimes we think angry words are okay as long as we don’t physically hurt anyone. But here’s what Jesus said about that:

How can angry words be as serious as murder?
            The fact is, angry words may not physically hurt people, but they do hurt them. Our paper people showed us the kind of emotional hurt people can experience when we speak out of anger.
            Anger is a feeling we’ll all have sometimes. But we have a choice about how to act when we’re angry. Acting out in anger can really hurt people—and even hurt us! But God helps us calm our anger. So let’s see how well you can handle a situation where it’s easy to get angry.
 
Hold On to Anger
            Have everyone write the word “God” on a new piece of paper. Older family members can help younger kids.
           
How easy is it to see the word on your paper?
     Right now, it’s pretty easy to see the word “God.” But let’s see what happens when we get angry.
            Ask family members to share about events or circumstances that have made them angry. For each thing people share, they’ll twist their paper tighter and tighter.
How easy is it to see the word on your paper now?
            • How is that like the way we connect with God when we’re angry?
            • How could anger at a person hurt your friendship with God?

The more we got angry, the more the word “God” was hidden in the twisted paper. And that can happen in life, too! The more we hold on to anger, the more distant God feels. Our anger can hurt ourselves, our relationships with God, and our relationships with other people.
           
Calm Down
That’s why God wants us to let go of our anger, with his help. God helps us calm our anger. Here’s what Jesus said about letting go of our anger:

Since God helps us calm our anger, let’s think of ways he helps us calm down.

What are some things that help you calm down when you feel angry? Some ideas might be: taking deep breaths, counting to 10, praying, or exercising. What ideas do you have?  
God helps us calm our anger.​ With our poor torn up paper friends, we saw how angry words are a really big deal to God—as big as murder! And we saw how filling up with anger makes it harder to see God in our lives. But holding in our angry words and reaching peaceful agreements can be hard to do! That’s why we explored ways to tap into God’s strength and ask him to help us calm our anger. Let’s close with a prayer asking for God’s help.

Thanks for joining us for online Sunday School! See you next week!

Here's some activities for you to do at home:

We’re learning about a famous sermon Jesus preached on a mountainside. Today people call this the Sermon on the Mount. One of the things Jesus talked about is salt. Listen to this.

            Read Matthew 5:13: You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

            What's the big deal about salt?
            Try a snack without salt - maybe a rice cake or a cooked unsalted noodle
            
            Now let’s taste a salty snack instead.
            Maybe a pretzel or potato chip
           
            Why do you think the second snack tasted better?
            Why do you think Jesus told us to be like salt?
           
​Salt makes things taste better! And Christians can make the world around us better. In Jesus’ time, salt was also very important to preserve food because there were no refrigerators. We still use salt as a preservative today! That means the salt keeps food from rotting as quickly. We can be like salt to keep the world around us from going bad. And salt can help heal cuts and infections! We can bring Jesus’ healing to the world around us.

Jesus also said we’re like a light because God shines his light through us.
           
Read Matthew 5:14-15: You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

What if someone gave you a glow stick but you never cracked it?

It’s silly to have a glow stick and not crack it. It’s kind of like hiding a lamp under a basket. We don’t get any light from it!
           
When Jesus says to be like a light, what do you think he means?
         
What would it look like for Christians to hide their light?
           
God shines his light through us! We’re not uncracked glow sticks; we’re made to shine brightly for Jesus! 
         
     How is living out your faith like shining a light?
        
     Call out names of people who shine God’s light in your life.

    Now call out the names of people in your life who need God’s light in their lives.
           
Jesus had something to say about the purpose of letting our light shine.
           
Read Matthew 5:16: In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

      God shines his light through us, and we can use that light to show everyone who God is.

We’ve been talking about God shining his light through us. But sometimes living differently from everyone else can make us feel like we’re…well, weird. Does being a light mean people will think we’re weird? Let’s dig in to that.

Here’s one thing the Bible says about living differently from everyone else.
            Romans 12:2: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 

What would it look like to copy the behavior of the world?

What would it look like to let God transform the way you think?

• What’s the hardest thing about Fortune’s life?
            • What were good things about Fortune’s life?
            • Tell about some struggles you’ve faced. How did you see God’s blessings come out of those times? ​

Today we’re learning that God blesses those who struggle. That’s pretty cool! You know, life has its share of struggles, but it also has its share of happy times. Let’s see how we’d rank different situations if they happened to us.
            I’ll read some situations. If you think it’s a really exciting, happy situation, stand up as tall as you can. If you think it’s really, really sad, get down as low as you can. Or, you can be somewhere in the middle, like squatting for something that’s pretty sad.
            Read the following situations, pausing after each for everyone to adjust their position.

• You get a new puppy.
• You get grounded.
• You win a class election.
• You have to move to a new state.
• You break your arm.
• You lose a class election.
• Your grandma gives you $50.
• Your YouTube channel hits a million views.
• Your soccer team wins the championship.
• You get a D- on a test.
• Your best friend’s parents are getting a divorce.
• You stub your toe.

         
• How did you decide how to rank these situations?
          • Which situation did you think was the absolutely saddest one? the happiest?
        
We may not have evaluated everything exactly the same way, but one thing we all seemed to agree on which things were overall happier and which were sadder.
          We often say we’re “blessed” when things are happy. When a grown-up gets a new job, she might say she’s blessed. When a family moves into a new, bigger house, they’re blessed. So let’s stand tall like it’s a happy time, and shout, “blessed!”

          But we’re about to see how God blesses those who struggle. Those situations you didn’t mark…they don’t seem like blessings! But we’re about to see how God blesses us in all kinds of situations. Let’s evaluate some situations Jesus talked about.
 
Evaluate the Beatitudes
          Read the following situations from Jesus’ sermon, pausing after each for everyone to get tall or low.

• You’re poor.
• You hunger and thirst for justice.
• You work for peace.
• You mourn.
• You show mercy instead of taking revenge.
• You’re bullied for doing what’s right.
• You’re humble (not proud).
• You have a pure heart.
• You’re teased for loving Jesus.

         
Most of the things Jesus talked about here are not happy. Some of them are things we can choose to do, like being pure in heart and working for peace. But even those aren’t things the world around us always values.
         
But let’s see what Jesus had to say about these situations and how God blesses those who struggle.
          Read Matthew 5:3-12 one verse at a time to discover the blessing associated with the words they posed for. After each verse, they can strike the same pose as before and shout, “blessed!”

3 “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 God blesses those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
5 God blesses those who are humble,
    for they will inherit the whole earth.
6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
    for they will be satisfied.
7 God blesses those who are merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
    for they will see God.
9 God blesses those who work for peace,
    for they will be called the children of God.
10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

         • What do you think of the blessings Jesus promised?
          • How have you seen God’s blessings come through struggles?
        
We’ve spent a lot of time judging happier and sadder times. But in Jesus’ mind, one’s not better than the other. Not one of these situations has more or less of God’s blessing, because God is the same in all these situations. In some of them, you might have to wait longer to see God’s blessings. A lot of the things Jesus promised were future blessings. But no matter what’s going on, in good times or bad, God’s blessings are true. God blesses those who struggle.

            Have family members take turns sharing something that feels hard or like a struggle. Everyone will get down low as someone shares. Then everyone will try to think of blessings that are coming out of that struggle, getting a little higher for each blessing named.
            If kids need help, you can use examples like this:

• Homework is hard. Blessings are a good education, a nice teacher, parents who help me with my homework, and a brain to think and reason.
• My friend and I are fighting. Blessings are years of good friendship, the hope of making peace, and other friends to hang out with.

 
            • How did it help you to look for the good in the midst of your struggle?
           Jesus’ way seems upside down. Most people wouldn’t consider struggles a good thing. But God blesses those who struggle, and by shifting our perspective we can see things his way. We can become more joyful and thankful no matter what’s going on in our lives.

                                                                  Struggle Juggle

 
Supplies

• soft, no-break items such as rolled-up socks or rolls of toilet tissue (4 for every 3 kids)
• upbeat music (optional)
• music player (optional)

Tips

• This game will be especially hard for preschoolers, who struggle to catch. That’s okay, since struggling is the point of the game!
• If you used the Music Video block, consider repeating the songs from today’s lesson during the game. 

 
Juggle as a Group

• Form mixed-age teams of three, and have each trio stand in a triangle with about 5 feet between team members.
• Give each team four objects to juggle. Place all four by one team member’s feet.  
• Have trios pick one item and establish a pattern of one person tossing the object to a second person who’ll toss it to the third, repeating the pattern at least five times.
• When you give the signal, a second object will be introduced into the pattern, then a third, then a fourth. If an object is dropped, it’s to be picked up and reintroduced without breaking the flow of other objects.
• Start slowly, but encourage trios to speed up as you go until there’s controlled chaos.
• If you’d like, play fast-paced music while kids juggle.
• After about six minutes, gather kids in one large group for discussion.

 
Talk About It
            Ask: • What caused you to struggle as you juggled?
            • When you struggled, what helped?
            • When you’re struggling in life, what helps?
           
God blesses those who struggle. One way he blesses us is by being with us in those struggles. And another way is that he gives us one another to help each other!
            Ask: • Who is someone who’s helped you when you’ve struggled? Briefly share a story about someone in your own life who’s helped you.
         
​I love that God blesses those who struggle—because that’s all of us at one time or another. How wonderful that God stands with us as a friend when we need him!

Hey Kids!
How are you? How was your week?
This week in Sunday School we're going to be talking about how we need each other - we've missed you guys!! and each one of you are an important part of our church family.

Before we get started, let's sing some songs together!

Today we’re going to be talking about how we need each other. We’ll discover how each of us is a gift to God’s family. We all have special talents and skills we can use to help one another because each of you is unique! Unique means you’re special and different! That’s why we need each other. Each of us is a gift to one another!

How about we take some plain paper and draw something that is special about you!
 
The Bible helps us think about why we need each other by talking about our body parts, like hands, feet, eyes, and mouth. Each body part is important and does something different. I wonder what it would be like to have an extra body part.

Would you rather have an extra eye or an extra arm?

It would be pretty silly if we had an extra eye or an extra arm. Every body part is important, just like everyone in our church is important.

Being part of the church is kind of like being on a sports team.
If you play a sport or are part of a team or group, how do your teammates help you?

If you tried to be a whole hockey team or soccer team all alone, you’d definitely lose the game! But when you work as a team, you can win! Let’s see how some soccer-playing kids had to work together in a different way.​

Why did the kids in this video need each other?
Can you think about a time you worked together with other people.

These kids had a hard time tracking down their ball, even though they worked together. The ball kept getting moved to new places! But in the end, putting their heads together helped them solve their problem. When we work together in the church, we can do amazing things for God! But we can’t work alone; we need each other!

Can you think of a game that’s more fun if lots of kids play? How about tag? or duck, duck, goose?

How about we play a game together? You'll need to gather a few things, like a bed sheet or parachute, and some small balls.

Put the balls on the parachute, and try to keep the balls bouncing by shaking the sheet or parachute. If balls fly off, thats okay, just grab them and put them back on.

I don't know if you've played this type of game before, maybe this is your first time.. but it's a super fun game! I'm sure you guys are doing a great job keeping the balls moving. But I wonder what would happen if half the kids let go. What do you think would happen?

Well... It’s a lot harder to keep the balls bouncing when we don’t have all our friends. God’s family also needs all his friends to work together. We need each other! Okay, let's go back to playing all together again!

​Supplies

• “Body Outline” handout (1 per child) (download here)
• “Body Parts” handout (1 set for every 5 kids) (download here)
• scissors
• 
  

Today’s Bible passage uses a body as an example. So let’s make some figures that will help us learn the story.
(Give each child one “Body Outline” handout and just one page from the “Body Parts” handout, and a pair of scissors. Each child will have a page with only one kind of body part on it.)

Okay, time to get decorating! Using ONLY what’s on YOUR handout, cut out your body parts and place them in your body outline.
(Don’t provide glue at this point!!  kids will just be placing the body parts on the page.)

How much does your figure look like a real person?
What would it be like if that’s what your body really looked like?
Why is it a problem to have only your one body part?

The Bible says that the church is like a human body! We need each other, just like your body needs a bunch of different parts. Listen to this. Wiggle your ears, hands, and feet when I name them. If I say “eyes,” blink. If I say “body,” jump forward or backward.

Let's read 1 Corinthians 12:12-21 together....            

The Body of Christ

A person’s body is one thing, but it has many parts. Yes, there are many parts to a body, but all those parts make only one body. Christ is like that too. Some of us are Jews, and some of us are Greeks. Some of us are slaves, and some of us are free. But we were all baptized into one body through one Spirit. And we were all made to share in the one Spirit.

A person’s body has more than one part. It has many parts. The foot might say, “I am not a hand. So I am not part of the body.” But saying this would not stop the foot from being a part of the body. The ear might say, “I am not an eye. So I am not part of the body.” But saying this would not make the ear stop being a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, the body would not be able to hear. If the whole body were an ear, the body would not be able to smell anything.

If each part of the body were the same part, there would be no body. But truly God put the parts in the body as he wanted them. He made a place for each one of them. And so there are many parts, but only one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the foot, “I don’t need you!”
​

Sometimes you might wish everyone was more like you. After all, wouldn’t it be easier to get along if everyone was the same? 

What would happen if the church was made up of only people exactly like you?
What kinds of things wouldn’t get done?

We need each other! God gave us spiritual gifts, and we’re all good at different things. If the church was made up of only people just like you, there’s a lot that wouldn’t get done! It’d be like having a body that’s just eyes.

Since that doesn’t work very well, let’s try working together.

Swap and Glue
Now it's time to trade paper body parts so you end up with the correct amount of parts. Then you can glue the parts to your body outline in the appropriate places.

If the church is like a body, which part do you think you are?

We’re all good at different things, and together we work really well, just like all the parts of our body work together, and you know what’s cool? You are an important part of our church!

We're going to end our Bible time with a verse that will read as a blessing to you...

 "All of you together are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of that body."

1 Corinthians 12:27

​Supplies: Elementary-age puzzle(s) (Remove a central piece from each puzzle, and hide it somewhere in the room.)
​
Put Puzzles Together
God’s family is full of different people. Each of you is an important part of God’s family. We need each other. Without every person, something’s missing. Let’s think about that some more while we work together on these puzzles.
 
Find the Missing Piece
All our puzzles are missing something. Without the last piece, our puzzles won’t be the fun pictures they could be. Without every person, God’s family’s missing something, too.

Tell me about someone you miss when that person isn’t there.
God made his family to fit together, just like pieces of a puzzle. Listen to this verse from Psalm 133:1

"How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!"

​We need each other. When a puzzle piece is missing, the puzzle won’t look like it’s supposed to. When a part of God’s family isn’t there, we miss them, too. Let’s go find our missing pieces.

I’m so glad we found all the pieces for the puzzles. Each piece is important. Let’s pray and thank God that we’re all important parts of his family. 

Dear God, 

Thank you that you have made each of us special and unique. Help us to remember that each one of us is important, and that each of us is an important part of our church family.
As we become aware of the special gifts and talents that you have given us, help us to share those gifts with others.

In Jesus' name,
Amen

Supplies: “Friendly Puzzle” handout printed on card stock (1 per child) (download here)

Talk About Puzzles
Puzzles are fun. It’s fun to find just the right piece to fit in the right place.
Do you have a special puzzle that you like to do?

Let’s make our own puzzles today! Then we can remember the good friends God has given us here at church.
​
Make Puzzles​
Use markers to color the front of the puzzle,
Cut your paper into many pieces, try and create some uniquely shaped pieces.

When we put a puzzle together, each piece has a place. We need every one. God gives each of us special gifts. Every gift is important. We need each other in God’s family, just like we need every piece of a puzzle.

Thanksgiving weekend! Hands up who's excited?! A few extra days off from school, time with family, typically lots of food... Yum! - we're excited!

I hope that however you're spending Thanksgiving, you have a blessed weekend and are able to take a minute to think of something you are thankful for.

Before we get started in todays lesson, lets sing some songs together!

The Holy Spirit gives us gifts to serve God. When we think of serving, we might think of servers at a restaurant, but serving isn’t only about food, we can serve in many ways to help others.

In the Bible story we’ll read today, we’ll hear about someone who served God by sharing. God loves when we share with others, and it’s a way to use our gifts and talents to serve God.

That means there’s a big purpose to the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us! Let’s watch a family that uses their gifts to serve God.
​Pay attention to what gifts you see in each family member.

What gifts did you see in the different family members?
How were those gifts useful as they served?
What gifts have you seen in your own family members?
How could you all use your gifts together to serve God?

Cooper is good at making new friends! He makes people feel welcome and loved. The dad is a good leader who could lead the service. Emery has compassion and helped a man who didn’t smell good still feel loved.

They all have the gift of generosity, giving their time and resources to help people in need and when they put all their gifts together, they served God in a really cool way!

Using our gifts to serve God doesn’t have to be a grand production. We can use our gifts to serve God with what we have. I’ve gathered some simple things from around our room. Let’s play a game and see if we can come up with creative and practical ways to serve one another with what we have here. 

Supplies:
Select a variety of simple items, such as pencils, paper, , cup, paper towels, and tissues (at least 1 item per child)

Directions: 
Have kids sit in a circle, and have each child choose one item and use it to serve at least one other person in the circle. Watch to make sure everyone gets served. Ideas include using a pencil to drum a beat while singing “Happy Birthday,” making an origami toy for someone, using a paper towel to clean someone’s shoe, or the cup to get someone a drink of water.

Talk About It:
Describe what you were thinking as you served others.
What was it like to have other people serve you?

Serving in creative ways is fun! The Holy Spirit gives us gifts to serve God. Even if we aren’t sure how to serve, when we’re friends with God, the Holy Spirit helps us look for ways to help others. 

The Holy Spirit is God with us. God’s with us all the time, and he gives us special gifts and talents that he wants us to use to help others.

It’s great to be a good helper, and that’s why God gives us special talents. He gives us gifts to serve. And when we serve others who need help, we’re serving God.

The Bible says God’s family is like a body. Each body part is important and does something different. Like that, each person in God’s family can help in different ways. We all have different gifts from God, and all our gifts can serve God. 

Each one of us has a body, and that body has many parts. These parts all have different uses. In the same way, we are many, but in Christ we are all one body. Each one is a part of that body. And each part belongs to all the other parts.

Romans 12:4-5

Let’s use stuffed animals to help us think about how God's family is like a body.
​
Supplies: A stuffed animal

Pass the stuffed animal around the group and invite each child to choose one body part, such as an arm, leg, eye, nose, ear, neck, or mouth. Invite kids to talk about what the chosen body part does to help the rest of the body.
Have kids continue to pass the stuffed animal around the circles and talk about different body parts until all the kids have shared. It’s okay for kids to repeat body parts.

Talk about it:
Every body part helps the whole body and every one of you can help God and the people in God’s family.

Supplies: 6 different kitchen utensils that kids may not recognize such as a potato masher, turkey baster, loose-leaf tea ball infuser, coffee filter, meat thermometer, or garlic press., pens and paper.

We’ve been learning about the Holy Spirit and how he gives each of us gifts. Our gifts have a special job like a lot of other things around us, such as these things from the kitchen. Let’s have some fun exploring the tools and finding out what they do.

Which kitchen tool did you have the most fun with? Why? 

The kitchen tools look different and do different things, but they all help us make food or drinks. Like these tools, you can help others in different and unique ways. God gives you gifts, and you can use them to help others and serve God.

We heard about some friends today who served each other with the gifts God had given them. By serving the people God loves, they also served God. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts to serve God and others, too! Let’s each make a special gift we can use to serve a hungry friend.

Supplies: 

• resealable plastic sandwich bags (1 per child), 
• gift-wrap scraps (or a variety of different wrapping paper) 
• tape
• gift bows (1 per child)
• hand sanitizer or access to a sink
• snack
• scissors

Directions:

• Give each child a resealable plastic bag.  
• Set out tape to share, and spread the wrapping paper in front of the kids.
• Encourage kids to cut wrapping paper shapes and tape them to the bags.
• Give each child a bow to add a finishing touch to the bag.
• Have kids clean their hands using hand sanitizer or a sink.
• Help kids put some of the classroom snack into their bags and zip them closed.

Tell me about someone you know who gets really hungry....

The next time we’re around someone who’s really hungry, we can share a special snack. We can use this gift to serve God by serving others!

Today we learned the Holy Spirit gives us gifts to serve God. We found out we can serve God by sharing things we have with someone who needs food or money.  That gift of sharing is sometimes called generosity.

We found out we can serve God by saying kind words to people to make them feel strong and confident.That gift is called encouragement.

We found out we can serve God by telling others who Jesus is and that he loves them. That gift is called evangelism.

Sometimes helping someone who is sick or hurt is a way to serve God.That gift is called helping.

The Holy Spirit gave us gifts to serve God. That means God will help us serve him using our special gifts.​

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you that you have given each of us special gifts that we can use to worship and serve you, and help other people. Thank you that you chose those gifts and talents were especially for each one of us. Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to remind of us of the gifts that you have given to us to help other people.

Amen

Hey everyone! How has your week been? Have you started up any activities outside of school? What kind of activities are they? Hockey? Dance? Swimming? Piano?

This is the time of year that those activities start up so if you're in something, we hope that you're enjoying being back in them.

Before we jump into our lesson this week, lets sing a few songs together :)

This past week in church Pastor Darren was talking about serving, and that's what the last song was about too.

This week we're talking about what the different types of special gifts or talents that God gives to each of us. Serving is one of them! Kinda cool that we're all learning about the same things eh?

Everyone loves getting gifts. And God’s special gifts to us are wonderful gifts. He gave them to each of us which  means we have unique qualities that God can use to help us serve him and others better!

What’s something you’re good at? 
Let’s watch this short video to learn about a kid named Max who God made good at science!

How would you describe Max?
Max is definitely good at science. But what character qualities did you see in him?

Max is creative and curious. He likes to find solutions that help solve other people’s problems. The Holy Spirit gave each of us a special gift. That means there are parts of our characters and personalities that make us feel extra drawn to doing certain things and the Holy Spirit can guide us to use those gifts to serve God!

Today we’ve heard that that the Holy Spirit gives each of us special gifts.
The Holy Spirit is God with us, and because God is our friend, he gives us special gifts and talents that we can use to help others.

We don’t all have the same gifts and talents, and that’s okay! God’s special gifts can help all kinds of different people in all kinds of ways.

What are some gifts or talents that could help others? Maybe a person who has the gift of encouragement could cheer up someone who is sad or someone who has the gift of service might help a blind person cross the street.

The Bible tells about lots of gifts God’s given different people.

One time, God told Moses, “I gave a man named Bezalel (BEZ-ah-lel) special gifts so he can build things. I gave him these gifts so he can build a special house for me and all my friends.” Bezalel had special gifts to work with metal, stone, and wood. God also told Moses, “I gave someone else named Oholiab (oh-HO-lee-ab) special gifts to make things, too. He will help Bezalel build my special house.

Then God told Moses all the amazing things Bezalel and Oholiab would lead the other builders to make. He said they would build the place where all God’s friends would meet together, they would also make a special box called the Ark of the Covenant.  The Ark of the Covenant would hold a book that shared some of God’s special words to his friends.
The builders would make a pure gold lamp stand, the special clothes for the leader,  and many more things God asked them to make. God gave them the special gifts to make these things, and God’s spirit gives each of us special gifts, too.

​Our friends who have a special heart to encourage others might say “You can do it!” when a friend isn’t sure he or she can. Or they might give a hug to someone who is sad. They might also compliment others by telling them what’s great about them.

​Our friends who like to lead can lead their friends to do great things. People listen to them and do what they say. ​

These are all special gifts that God’s spirit gives us, but they’re not the only gifts.
What’s something you can do really well? 

Maybe you like to help others or you like to teach your little brothers or sisters how to do things. 

The Holy Spirit gives us special gifts so we can help others. God loves when we use the gifts he gives us to take care of his other friends.

It’s exciting to learn today that the Holy Spirit gave each of us a special gift. Our gifts from the Holy Spirit can be as different as we are. Let’s do something fun that’ll show us another way we’re different.

Supplies: Markers or crayons and a piece of paper per child.
Follow these directions:
1. Grab a piece of paper and something to draw with.
2. On your paper draw a big square.
3. Draw a smaller square inside the big square.
4. Draw one more small square inside the big square.
5. Draw a pointy triangle sitting on top of the big square.

Talk about it
You all had the same supplies to draw with and the same directions to follow to draw a house, but your pictures aren’t the same. Your brains all think differently, and you each understood the drawing directions in your own special way.
What things look different about your pictures?
What do you like about all the different pictures?

It’s great that our pictures are different and that we’re different! None of us are exactly the same, and neither are our gifts from the Holy Spirit.

Supplies : solid-color wrapping paper (two 6x6-inch squares per child), a pencil, a ruler, scissors, markers, tape, scrap paper, gift ribbon. 
Click the image below to print off the instructions

Here is another activity for you also. Next time you are out at night, see if you can see these star constellations...

Welcome back!

In church right now Pastor Darren is talking about community in church, how the church isn't a building but it is a community of believers. This is the kids video that being shown in church this week.

The church is the group of believers that gather together. Everyone that gathers together has a unique set of gifts and talents, did you know that? The gifts and talents that God gives us are also known as spiritual gifts and that is what we are going to be looking at today. Before we get started though, let's sing a couple of songs! Click the videos below and sing along.

God has given each of us special gifts through the Holy Spirit that can live in us. The Holy Spirit is God with us.  It’s a gift that God is with us and that he gives us special talents we can use to love him and others!

Since the Holy Spirit is living in us, lets take a couple of minutes to think about where, if we could choose anywhere, we might like to live... would you like to live in the mountains or beside the ocean? in a treehouse, in a castle, on a boat? Why would you pick to live there?

Each of these places could be fun to live. Today we’re learning that when we believe in God, his Spirit lives—he lives in us ! Now that might sound a bit weird, but don’t worry. We’ll learn more about what this means later.

What do you think it means to have the Holy Spirit living in us?

So....? Why do you think that the Holy Spirit isn't something you can see on an X-ray?
In this video Cammie explained that the Holy Spirit is “the presence of God that’s always with us.” 
Despite what Andy thought, you can’t see the Holy Spirit in an X-ray. But that doesn’t make him any less real! When we believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives in us. We can’t see him on an X-ray, but we can see him by how he helps us live right and comforts us in times when we might be upset or have choices to make.

Guide Line

​The Holy Spirit can live in us and guide us. That means he leads us and helps us know where to go and what to do. Let’s play a game where you’ll work together to guide a pen into a cup. 

Talk About It
What role did the fishing line play in this game?
How does the fishing line remind you of how the Holy Spirit is in our lives?

Even though we can’t see the Holy Spirit, he guides us and helps us know where to go and what to do. When we believe in God the Holy Spirit lives in us.

Hungry Fish (Easy Prep: Use the painter’s tape to make X’s on the floor. 1 X for every 5 or 6 kids.)

​Let’s play a game where our friends pretend to be hungry fish. But these fish are stuck to the bottom of the ocean right where they are. We can pretend we’re food trying to swim past them without getting touched. If they touch us, we go back to the start and try again.

Hungry Fish Get Help
Its hard for our hungry fish to catch their food! This time, our fish will have some help. 

Choose another child to join each child on the X, so there are two kids at each X. One child will keep his or her feet on the X. The second child can stand as far away as possible while holding the hand of the first child. The second child will also remain in one place.

Have the remaining kids line up along the wall. Play the game as before, having kids go back to the start and try again if they get tagged.

Remind tagger teams to keep their feet in place.

Talk About It
It was hard for the hungry fish to catch their food alone. It was much easier with help. There are lots of things that are harder to do alone. We all need help sometimes, like if we need to move heavy furniture, trying to understand math homework, or maybe finding our keys.
            
God knows we need help sometimes. Sometimes God sends people to help us. But God’s Spirit can help us, too. When we need help making good choices or knowing what to do, he’s there. The Holy Spirit can live in us and help us when we need it. 

As you know, today we’re learning about something called spiritual gifts.

Can you think about a person who has given you a really great gift? Maybe it was a Christmas or birthday gift, was it something you had waited a long time for? or was it something that was a complete surprise?

We’re going to learn more next week about what some spiritual gifts are. But this week, we’re going to focus on who gives them to us! They’re called spiritual gifts because the Holy Spirit gives them to us. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts when we believe in Jesus, because when we tell God that we believe in him the Holy Spirit can live in us. Listen to this... Romans 8:11 says....

"God raised Jesus from death. And if God’s Spirit is living in you, then he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from death. And he will give life through his Spirit that lives in you."

So the Holy Spirit can live in us when we belive in Jesus, and he gives us spiritual gifts, let's find out more about what the Holy Spirit does in our lives.

The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit is the giver of all spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:4 says "There are different kinds of gifts; but they are all from the same Spirit." and verse 11 says..  "One Spirit, the same Spirit, does all these things. The Spirit decides what to give each person."
​
What does a megaphone do?
A megaphone helps us to speak louder. The Holy Spirit is kind of like a megaphone because he speaks up for us! Listen to this...
"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper. He will give you this Helper to be with you forever. The Helper is the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it does not see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you and he will be in you."
'"But I tell you the truth. It is better for you that I go away. When I go away I will send the Helper to you. If I do not go away, then the Helper will not come."
     
When Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit, he said the Holy Spirit can live in us and be our advocate. An advocate is someone who speaks up on behalf of someone else. For example, if someone was a victim of a crime, an advocate would speak up to get the person the help he or she needs.

The Holy Spirit can live in us and be our advocate. This is how the Bible describes it in Romans 8:26....
           "Also, the Spirit helps us. We are very weak, but the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us. The Spirit speaks to God with deep feelings that words cannot explain."

Have you ever wanted to pray but didn’t know what to say? We are welcome to talk to God anytime. But sometimes we don’t know what to say! When that happens, the Holy Spirit can be our advocate who hears what’s in our hearts and puts it into words as a prayer to God.

Let's read John 14:26 together, listen for something else the Holy Spirit does...
"But the Helper will teach you everything. He will cause you to remember all the things I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name."

Can you think about your favourite teacher? What is it about them that makes them your favourite?
Jesus said the Holy Spirit will teach us and remind us what Jesus said. One way he does that is through the Bible. Sometimes when we’re reading the Bible, a verse seems to jump out at us. That’s the Holy Spirit making sure we pay attention to that verse! When the Holy Spirit lives in us, he teaches us.

Okay, let's see what's next... What does this sign make you think of?

When a driver sees a stop sign, he or she stops. Without that sign, the driver might crash into another car! The Holy Spirit does something similar. Let me show you what I mean.

"When the Helper comes, he will convict the people of the world of their sin, about being right with God, and about judgment."

This verse has some hard words, like convict. But basically this verse means that the Holy Spirit tells you when to stop doing something that’s bad for you or to start doing something that would be good for you to do. We don’t always know right and wrong. But the Holy Spirit does! Sometimes you’ll feel a little check in your heart that you’re doing something wrong. That’s because the Holy Spirit can live in us and give us that inside feeling that we need to stop. We won’t necessarily see a stop sign, but we’ll get a feeling.

Let’s see what else happens when the Holy Spirit lives in us.
​
 Some people who wear glasses can see a little bit without them. But some people would be walking into things without their glasses! The Holy Spirit is kind of like a pair of glasses because he guides us.

"But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words. He will speak only what he hears and will tell you what is to come. The Spirit of truth will bring glory to me. He will take what I have to say and tell it to you."

What’s one thing you know is true?
God is so big that there’s always more we can learn about him and the longer we know God, the more the Holy Spirit can guide us into truth about God!
These verses mentioned one thing the Holy Spirit will show us that’s actually another gift.

The verses we read said the Holy Spirit will tell us about the future. How cool?!

How do binoculars remind you about knowing the future?

Binoculars let us see farther in front of us than we could see on our own. And when the Holy Spirit lives in us, he can show us things about the future that we’d never know on our own!

So that brings us to our last and final gift today.... What could it be? The last thing we’re learning about the Holy Spirit is this... 1 Corinthians 12:5-6 says...

"There are different ways to serve; but all these ways are from the same Lord. And there are different ways that God works in people; but all these ways are from the same God. God works in us all in everything we do."

When the Holy Spirit lives in us, he gives us each a spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is something you’re good at, but it’s different from a talent. The Holy Spirit could make you good at kindness, giving, or being wise.

Next week we’ll learn more about what all those gifts are. For now, the important thing to know is that they don’t come from us. Every gift we learned about comes from the same source: the Holy Spirit. They may feel like they’re coming from us, because the Holy Spirit lives in us when we believe in Jesus, but they’re special gifts he gave us to serve God!

Dear Holy Spirit,

We thank you for all the gifts you give us. We thank you for being our advocate, teaching us, convicting us, guiding us and showing us about the future, and giving us spiritual gifts.
Help us use our gifts to serve God,
​
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Click on the image below to print of this activity sheet, or collect one from the church office.