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See below for resources to use for your family worship time, including a song, coloring page, learning activities, teaching materials and ideas for ongoing family fun. SING TOGETHERSing these songs together with your kids. There is a playlist with several songs to listen to throughout the day or spend an extended time of worship this Easter morning. Hallelujah! PARENT PREPLike the women who expected to find Jesus’ body still in the tomb that Sunday morning (Luke 24:1-5), these two followers of Jesus, traveling on the road to Emmaus, thought all their hopes about Jesus were wrong. A visit from a “stranger” would soon change that. It was quite common for people who didn’t know each other to band together while traveling to and from Jerusalem. However, the two disciples did know the person who joined them- it was Jesus. He was now risen just as he had promised. But, the Lord did not allow them to recognize him right away. He had a lesson to teach them first. THE POINTJesus helps us follow Him even if we don’t always understand. KEY VERSE“ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him...” Luke 24:31a FAMILY ACTIVITIESChoose the activities that work best for your family or the amount of time you have. Do some activities to introduce the point at the beginning and some at the end to reinforce to point. "SEEING" our Bible Verse
Write the Bible verse, "Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him." (Luke 24:31a) in very small print on several pieces of paper on the wall of the classroom. Give each child a turn at using binoculars from across the room to find and read the Bible verse on one of those small pieces of paper. (If children are too young to read, they can use the binoculars to find the word JESUS written in tiny print somewhere on the classroom wall.) OR write the verse very small on a single sheet of paper and use a magnifying glass or eye glasses to magnify. Scavenger Hunt
Have kids find each item and bring them to parents. Parents can share the thoughts associated with each item. Post some pictures of your collections on the church’s Facebook page! Rock - God is our rock. Psalm 18:2 Silverware - We are to feed ourselves on God’s Word. Job 23:12 Flashlight - Jesus is the light of the world. John 8:12 Band-aids - God is our healer. Psalm 147:3 Key - Prayer is the key to knowing God. Matthew 7:7-8 Salt - Christ followers are the salt of the earth. Matthew 15:13 Baby Picture - We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14 Hand Sanitizer - God can give us clean hands and pure hearts. James 4:8 Stuffed Animal - God loves animals, but he loves us more! Matthew 6:26 Fruit - Be filled with the fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 Build a Tower of Blocks - God is our strong tower. Proverbs 18:10 Flower - God will take care of us just like the flowers. Luke 12:27 Solve a Puzzle
Items: 3 sets of 3 objects (ex. 3 apples, 3 books, 3 blocks)
Set out all 9 items. Have students work together (or take turns) so that in each row and column there are no more than 1 of each item. As they work, ask : “Is this puzzle difficult to understand?”. “What can you do to understand something?”. If children are still struggling, show them an example: TEACHRead LUKE 24:13-35 OR Watch this video: On the day that Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to different people. Towards the end of the day, He appeared to two of His disciples who were walking from Jerusalem towards Emmaus, which was a 2-3 hour walk. The Bible tells us that the eyes of the men were made to not know that it was Jesus who joined them on their walk. SHOW:  SAY: I have a picture of an unfinished puzzle, here…in fact, the puzzle is barely started. What picture do you think this puzzle is going to show? [Hold up first picture - let the kids make guesses] Those were good guesses! But it's tough to tell what the picture is going to be when so many pieces of the puzzle are missing, don't you think? SHOW:  SAY: Here's a picture of the puzzle with more pieces of the puzzle having been added. Now, what picture do you think the puzzle is going to show? [Let the kids make guesses - most will probably say "elephant"] You say "elephant" with such confidence. Are you sure? (yes!) Share this photo:  SAY: Now that all the pieces of the puzzle are in place, what do you see? [a mouse, a cat, a dog, a horse, a gorilla AND an elephant] POINT OUT: So every time more pieces of the puzzle were added, the better you were at seeing the picture that the puzzle was supposed to show, right? In today's story, the same thing is true for the two disciples walking to Emmaus. But instead of seeing more and more animals, the two disciples were finally able to see that it was Resurrected Jesus who was with them. So the story starts with the two disciples walking and then Resurrected Jesus joins them in their walk. BUT, they don't know that the person who joins them is Resurrected Jesus – and, that’s because they don't have all the pieces of the puzzle in place, yet. So Jesus helps them put the pieces of the puzzle in place. And those pieces of the puzzle were: 1. Talking with each other about stories about Jesus (that's what they did at first) 2. Talking with each other about other stories from the Bible (that's what Jesus did with them) 3. Praying together. Once all three of these pieces of the puzzle were put in place, then the two disciples were FINALLY able to see that the person who was with them was Resurrected Jesus. And once they saw Resurrected Jesus, did you hear what they did? They went back to Jerusalem to help put those same three puzzle pieces together for the other disciples (to talk about the Jesus stories together, to talk about the Bible stories together and then to pray together).
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It Takes a VillageFaith formation in children is a massive undertaking. While parents are the primary disciple-makers of their kiddos, we're here to let you know you're not alone. Archives
September 2020
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