Parents: Kids Grade 2-5
This Month’s Theme
Every once in awhile there’s a statement so simple and so true that you can’t believe you took it for granted. As leaders, we wear so many hats and have such a long to-do list that if we’re not careful, we can forget this:
HOPE is the one thing the church has always had to offer the world.
So this month, we’re focused on how we can have hope because of all that God has done. We have a chance every day to respond with hope to show that we trust God and His plan for the world. And the people around us are watching to see where, and what, and whom we put our hope in.
Our theme this month is Puzzled: Believing There’s a Bigger Picture. In all of our lives, there are times when we can only see one piece of what’s going on, and it can be hard to picture something good coming out of it.
As we get ready to celebrate Easter, we’ll define HOPE as believing that something good can come out of something bad. We’ll look at five different Bible stories focusing on Jesus and some of the people who knew Him best.
Week 1, in our Bible story (John 14:1-14, 18-19, 27-29), we’ll lean in to listen as Jesus talks to His closest friends with whom He’s done ministry for the last few years. These were some of the last words they’d hear Him say and they were about heaven and being together again someday. Bottom Line: Whatever happens, remember what Jesus promised.
In Week 2, we focus on the best story in all of history to show why we can have hope when Jesus, our Savior, comes back to life three days after dying on the cross and being buried in the tomb (John 20:1-18). Jesus is all the evidence that we need. Bottom Line: Whatever happens, God is stronger than anything.
In Week 3, we see that some of the disciples and other people that knew Jesus were still confused by all that had happened—by the way things turned out. We read about how Jesus joins two guys walking on the road to Emmaus. And later at dinner as Jesus breaks bread, they realize who He is and what’s really happening (Luke 24:13-35, Romans 15:4). Bottom Line: Whatever happens, remember God has a bigger story.
These men had a lot of their facts straight, but Jesus helps them to connect the dots. They’d lost hope. They were so focused on the fact that Jesus died, that they couldn’t see what God was doing through and because of it. We do this too in dark and confusing moments—we focus so much on the negative things that have happened, that we stop having hope.
But when we remember and believe that this month’s memory verse is true—“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” John 16:33b—we’re not so caught off guard when things go wrong. We’re more able to see what God might be up to and believe that He wants what’s best for us in the end.
In Week 4, we learn more about what Jesus said to His loyal disciples before He returns to His Father in heaven (Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 1:3, 8-11). It’s easy to imagine that the disciples felt a little desperate and were hanging on every word and second left, wondering what would happen to them after He leaves. Bottom Line: Whatever happens, remember Jesus is always with you.
We can relate to this when negative things happen in our lives and we feel alone or powerless. That’s when it’s most important to remember that Jesus promises that He’s leaving something better—the Holy Spirit—so we’re never really alone. God never promised that if we love Him that we won’t ever have any problems. But Jesus promises to be with us.
In Week 5, we’ll see how after Jesus left (and sent the Holy Spirit), His closest friends, the disciples, continued the ministry He started while He was on earth. They were busy living like He taught them and sharing with others this big story—the gospel—that they had experienced for themselves, so the people of the world could know about God and be part of the story themselves.
So, we fast-forward to a Bible story of two of the better-known disciples, Peter and John. They were performing miracles and they got in trouble by people that were jealous and threatened. Things were changing and they didn’t like it. Some of the more powerful leaders of the day, called the Sanhedrin, really wanted to stop them (Acts 4:1-21, 1 Peter 3:15).
We’ll take time to talk about how, Bottom Line: Whatever happens, tell others what God has done. This is one of the five faith skills that we think is most important for children’s (and adults’) spiritual growth—being able to articulate their faith. But by the end of this month, after being reminded of all God has done and is doing in our lives, it will be natural for them to share the hope they have with others.
By Cara Martens. © 2011 Orange. All rights reserved. http://www.WhatIsOrange.org * All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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