New Testament

Rotation workshops for December 2010

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Carol Hulbert

During the school year, on Sunday mornings each Rotation for our Cool Disciples (our 1st – 6th graders at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI) includes six workshops. In December 2010, spilling into January 2011, we’ll be studying about Jesus’ birth from the viewpoint of his mother, Mary.

Read about our story in Luke. (If you click on words that are bold and red on this blog, you’ll go to various internet sites; in this case a site where you can read our passage. Pretty cool, yes?)

Here is the schedule of workshops for the next few weeks…

Date	Art	Video	Movement	Cooking	Games	Storytelling
	Room 212	Pine Room	Room 211	Social Hall	Room 215	Room 204
12/12	2nd grade	5th grade	3rd grade	6th grade	4th grade	1st grade
12/19	1st grade	4th grade	2nd grade	5th grade	6th grade	3rd grade

Then of course, comes Christmas! For a schedule of service times check out the church web site. (May need to scroll down on that page). On Sunday, December 26th there will not be any Cool Disciples workshops. Everyone will worship together at the 9:30 service! (There will not be a service at 11:15.) The same thing will happen on January 2nd, 2011. Then on January 9th we’ll finish up our “December” Rotation.

Date	Art	Video	Movement	Cooking	Games	Storytelling
	Room 212	Pine Room	Room 211	Social Hall	Room 215	Room 204
1/9	3rd grade	6th grade	1st grade	4th grade	5th grade	2nd grade

What’s happening in each workshop?

In the Art Workshop students will listen to melodic music while using colored pencils to create a mandala. Mandalas are circular designs. Coloring a mandala clears the mind and focuses attention. We’ll use the process of working on a mandala to peacefully ponder the story of Jesus’ birth.
In the Video Workshop students will watch portions of the live-action video The Nativity Story. Enjoy popcorn (can’t have a movie without popcorn!) and explore Mary’s emotions as the story progresses.
In the Movement Workshop students will use music and expressive movement with Body Sox to interpret Mary’s experience. We’ll use music from the Magnificat, Mary’s song of magnifying (praising) God.
In the Cooking Workshop students will re-tell the story by voting from a selection of snacks that they think match the emotions felt by Mary in the story. This is sure to be interesting! What will marshmallows represent? Parsley? Pickles?? After the voting, enjoy some of these snacks.
In the Games Workshop students will participate in an obstacle course that is sure to cement story details. I wonder how they’ll do?
In the Storytelling Workshop parents with a newborn will visit and help the students explore Mary’s emotions. Then we’ll ponder what Mary’s scrapbook would have looked like. (With a very cool resource.)

I wish that Sunday school could have been this much fun when I was growing up. Maybe that’s why I enjoy what I do – it gives me an excuse to have fun learning!

Wednesday’s Weekly Blessing – a resource for getting started

Posted on December 1, 2010November 29, 2010 by Carol Hulbert

Here is a resource to use, a book to read with your child, to introduce them to the idea of receiving a blessing from you.

Why is this such a good book, especially right now, at this time of year?
Because it tells the Christmas story.

It’s not a complete telling and the details aren’t even in order. It’s just the highlights, as told by Mary to her young son, Jesus, who asks his mother to tell him his birth story. I like this part…

Joseph put down his tools… He loved these moments when Mary talked to Jesus about his birth, telling her son all the thoughts and plans God had just for him.

You can do that.

This week, let this be your blessing – your gift – to your child. Tell them about the day they arrived in your household. Tell them how glad you are to be their parent, or how much they are loved, or how they were uniquely created by God, and how God has a specific purpose for them in this life.

Here’s another quote from the book (on a page for parents, grandparents and caregivers). Take this as encouragement to regularly bless your child…

You have all you need to impart to your child the sense of identity and destiny that comes from the heart of God.

Blessings on your acts of blessing your child!

View other blessings here.

Photo credits:
Banner photo (not visible in readers or email) – Pink Sherbert Photography on Flickr, licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Other photo – from my archives: my copy of this great little book.

Four Friends: Family Talk Time… and an activity!

Posted on November 23, 2010January 26, 2017 by Carol Hulbert

Here’s an activity to do with your family, and questions to discuss, about our current Rotation on four friends who bring a lame man to Jesus.

Make cups of hot cocoa but leave out the sugar. Don’t say anything about your omission but allow everyone a chance to sample their cocoa.

Ask: What do you suppose is missing?
I am wondering if cocoa without sugar is sort of like our lives without Jesus?
I wonder what our lives would be like without Jesus’ love?

Pass around a sugar bowl and allow everyone to stir in to their cup, perhaps two tablespoons of sugar. After everyone has tasted their adjusted cocoa…
Ask: How does it taste now?

a boy shows his approval over hot cocoa

Ask: I wonder how adding sugar to your cocoa, is like adding Jesus’ love to your life?
How does having Jesus as your friend make life sweeter?
Say: Let’s read about a time when a man who was paralyzed (he couldn’t walk) had a sweetened life because he met Jesus.

Read Mark 2:1-12. Alternately, ask your kids to help you tell the story. Check the Bible for accuracy.

Ask: Would the man likely have been able to see Jesus without his friends help?
How has someone helped you recently and made your life sweeter?
What are ways that our helping other people is like bringing them to Jesus?
Are there other ways that we can “bring” people to Jesus by helping them?

Say: Those four friends had a lot of faith in Jesus. Jesus wants us to use our own faith to help spread Jesus’ sweet love.

Photo credits:
Wonderful cocoa by woodleywonderworks on Flickr, licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

It’s a miracle, but who is the real hero?

Posted on November 18, 2010February 3, 2017 by Carol Hulbert

A man who was lame (i.e., couldn’t walk) was taken by four of his friends on a little ride on his mat. Can you see it? Four men, each holding a corner, struggling to carry their friend.

A statue of 4 men holding up a stretcher; located in the National Memorial Arboretum in the UK

It probably wasn’t the sort of ride that the man expected. If he’d have known his friends would lower him to see Jesus from a roof top, would he have consented to be carried?

I doubt it.

The Bible doesn’t tell us, but I think that he’d likely say, “All that work to see Jesus? Don’t waste your time friends. Jesus probably won’t have anything to do with me!

Why such a negative view of himself?

In Bible times it was believed that if you were sick, it was because somewhere in the past, you (or perhaps your relatives!) had sinned. This lame man felt guilty – he had been taught that he must have done something to deserve his fate!

But, his friends were persistent. They didn’t let anything stop them in their quest to get their friend an audience with Jesus! They just knew that Jesus could heal their friend.

It’s a miracle!

“Wait,” you say. I’ve jumped ahead in the story. I’ve skipped the part where Jesus tells the man to get up and walk.

And then we could say that it was a miracle.

I didn’t mean that miracle. I meant a different miracle. Did you know there is more than one miracle in this story?

How about the one where the real heros of this story shine? We all know that Jesus will perform a miraculous healing. So, who are the unidentified super stars? (Cue the Superman music?)

a child in a Superman costume That’s right, it’s the four friends! It’s a miracle that the paralyzed man had four friends who persisted in carrying him to Jesus!

The friends needed courage and creativity. They needed the right equipment! They gave 110%. Taking your friends to Jesus is worth it, and these four friends were sure of that.

How about you? What would you risk to take a friend to Jesus?

But I don’t feel comfortable inviting people to church, you say.

But there are other ways to “bring” someone to Jesus. Discuss it with your family. Here are a couple of ideas:

Pray for someone. Let them know that you are praying for them.
Share ways that you have perceived God at work in your life.
Train yourself and family members, to be sensitive of the needs of others. (It requires us to take notice!) Are they lonely, tired, afraid? What are ways that you can help? (Because being Jesus’ hands and feet brings people to Jesus!)

What will you do to take a friend to Jesus?

a blue line

Photo credits:
Stretcher bearers by Sjwells53, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
“Superman” by Hiperterminal, who licensed this photo on Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. (A cropped version of this photo.)

What is up for the four friends?

Posted on November 13, 2010September 29, 2019 by Carol Hulbert

During the school year, each Rotation for our Cool Disciples (our 1st – 6th graders at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI) includes several workshops that each teach the story using the concept of Multiple Intelligences. (True Rotation Model goodness!) In November 2010, (and in January 2017 — we repeat stories every six or so years) we studied about four friends who worked really hard to bring a paralyzed man to Jesus. Read the story in Mark 2:1-12.

For prosperity, here is what we did in each workshop, for the Faith Through the Roof Rotation:

In the Art Workshop in 2010, students created blankets to donate to Project Linus. In 2017, they each created a scarf using fleece material, to give to someone (a friend or otherwise) in need.
In the Cooking Workshop students create an edible storytelling kit for sharing the story. Have your kids share the story using their kit twice before eating it!
In the Drama Workshop (2010) students will enact the story after identifying story characters and their feelings.
In the Games Workshop students will play a unique relay game to explore the faith and commitment of the four friends.
In the Newsroom Workshop (2010) students will participate in a Talk Show to hear the characters in the story describe their experiences. They’ll get to watch their taped show!
In the Video Workshop students will watch two different animated videos (video #1 and video #2) that tell our story. Watching the 2nd video muted will allow us to play a game by trying to provide the narration!

I wonder what your favorite workshop ~~will be~~ was?

Edited to add pictures… in the Cooking Workshop students built houses, complete with Teddy Graham people – to use as a storytelling kit. Before they could eat their creation they had to tell the story!

Building a graham cracker house - part of a storytelling kit for the Four Friends

four friends house storytelling kit

And in the Art Workshop (in 2017) we created Rainbow Scarfs to give away to someone we felt needed some extra love. Here the circles are prepared…

Four Friends - scarf project

Check out the growing list of opportunities to foster faith learning at home using this story.

Photo credits:
A painting of our story by James Tissot, in the Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Other photos are from my archives and are copyright.

Family Talk Time: The Beatitudes, part 2

Posted on September 30, 2010June 2, 2017 by Carol Hulbert

Stone stairs with the Beatitudes carved on the risers

Ready for more questions to discuss the Beatitudes? Catch up if you need to, at part one. Remember, I’m not saying you should try to do these all at once! Bookmark this page and come back. OK?

open bible Open up a Bible to the New Testament, Matthew, chapter 5. Read verses 3-10. Or, read them a verse at a time and discuss using the questions below.

Verse 6: hunger and thirst for righteousness

That seems obvious. Those who put working for justice before their own hunger and thirst… they will be filled. But what can kids do? How about bringing some canned food to the First Sunday Food Drive? Overcoming poverty is a justice issue.
Here’s another way to think of this one: It is hard for us to relate to hunger and thirst. (Food and water are always available!) What about other thirsts – social and emotional? If Jesus promises that we will be filled, are we looking for gratification in the wrong places?
Not to say that you always have to be pursuing justice….but if you aren’t working on matters of equity, where are you focusing your energy?

God blesses those people who want to obey him, more than to eat or drink.

Stop if you want to or… carry on.

Verse 7: Blessed are the merciful

Webster’s dictionary defines mercy as “kindness in excess of what is expected; kind or compassionate treatment; the power to forgive.” Have you ever received mercy from someone? How did you respond
How about forgiveness, ever been forgiven by someone?
How can we show mercy to those in our family? (By being patient and kindhearted.)
To show us how to acquire this Beatitude, God sent Jesus who lived among us, saw things with his own eyes, and felt the things we do. If Jesus can forgive his tormentors from the cross should we do less?
(I know, these questions are hard!)

Verse 8: Pure in heart

Unblemished, perfect, flawless – these are the words that come to mind when one thinks of “pure.” Heart means “the center of a person’s being, where thoughts, intentions, and motivation find their origin.” (A quote from the book Become What You Are by William W. Klein).
How do you strive to be pure at heart? (Trying to focus on following God would be one way; which could take a lifetime of work!) Where is your focus? Is it on computer games or having “stuff?”
How does our culture work against trying to be pure at heart?
How about seeing God… Jesus didn’t just mean “in heaven!” When we are focused on God, we catch glimpses of God at work in this world. Think of a time when you have been focused on God. How did you see God at work?
(Decide that everyone will record their God sightings and share them the next time you are together.)

Verse 9: Blessed are the peacemakers

How have you been a peacemaker?
Are there any family conflicts that need your efforts? How about at school? Or at church? What about struggles you may have within yourself – do you need peace?
What is a first step you could take to being a bridge builder?

Simple choices in our daily lives can allow us to practice peacemaking: Smiling, offering assistance, or letting someone else get ahead of you in line.

Verse 10: Persecuted because of righteousness

Have you ever been teased for doing the right thing, or for not going along with the crowd?

Don’t panic if you feel that you can’t live up to what Jesus expects of us! We are blessed because Jesus wants to be our friend and wants us to commit to living as his disciples.

Photo credits:
Stone steps with the Beatitudes by James Emery, who licensed this photo on Flickr under Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0).
Clip art from wpclipart.com is in the Public Domain.

Next Sunday, go on a “field trip”

Posted on September 29, 2010April 26, 2017 by Carol Hulbert

students self-potraits

Now when he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him. Matthew 5:1

6th graders tack up people at the Sermon on the Mount This Sunday you are invited to have your children escort you to the bulletin board outside of the nursery, where they will proudly show you their self-portrait (in the crowd) at our rendition of the Sermon on the Mount.

(Okay, so since this was published 7 years ago, don’t be looking for anything this Sunday!)

Kids in grades one through six have been using their imaginations on Sunday mornings at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI. The students have all visited the Art Workshop, creating pictures for our mural.

The unique feature?

They have climbed the mountain and have placed themselves in attendance, hearing Jesus speak.

Ask them what they’ve learned about the Beatitudes.

What about you?
What are you learning as you hear Jesus’ words?

I told the sixth graders (pictured, above right) as they helped to put up the self-portraits, that there was something wrong with this mural. And they knew what it was!

Do you? (Hint: Look at the top photo and read Matthew 5:1)

Photo credits:
Photos are from my archives.

Family Talk: The Beatitudes

Posted on September 23, 2010June 2, 2017 by Carol Hulbert

Students hold signs with the Beatitudes written on them

Dinner Plate It is time once again for a little “table talk.” You know, questions that you can ask with your family, around the dinner table or in the car on the way to sports practice. Don’t try to do these all at once. And don’t think that only older kids can answer these types of questions!

Here’s the way to start this off…

We say that being compassionate or responsible makes a “good person.” What other characteristics do you suppose it would be good to have?
What about contentment – being truly happy, would that be a good quality to have? (there are no right or wrong answers to some of these questions!)
How about being determined – you want to get something done!
What if what you want to get done, or what makes you happy, hurts other people?

Wow, we really have to pay attention to our character!

Jesus taught us in the Beatitudes, some qualities that God wants to see in us. Let’s take a look.

open bible Open up a Bible to the New Testament, Matthew, chapter 5. Read verses 3-10. Or, read them a verse at a time and discuss using the questions below.

Beatitude #1 (verse 3): Blessed are the poor in spirt…

What does “Poor in Spirit” mean? (How lost you are without God! It may help to think of what the opposite of poor in spirit looks like: proud, an “I can do it all by myself” attitude.)
Someone with this Beatitude in their make-up is dependant on God and puts their whole trust in God. How do we put our whole trust in God?
Do you suppose that means we accept that sometimes bad things will happen to us but that God will help us and comfort us?
What makes you aware that you depend on God?
How have you been blessed by recognizing your spiritual bankruptcy?

Without God, our life would be empty!

This would be a good place to stop for one day. Come back to finish up. (But please continue on if conversation is going good.)

Beatitude #2 (verse 4): Blessed are those who mourn…

What does mourn mean? (Someone who is mourning is very sad. The opposite: happy at any cost.)
People who mourn, find comfort? Do we honestly see ourselves as “blessed” when bad things happen? (Maybe we need to mourn to find God’s comfort.)
What does God’s comfort feel/look like?
When he talked about those who mourn, Jesus also meant those who are sad about unhappiness in the world. Do you suppose God’s comfort could be God guiding sad people to help others?

Sometimes it is not until a hard time in our lives is over, that we can see that God was with us, that we were blessed by God.

This would be another good place to stop. (You get the idea.)

Beatitude #3 (verse 5): Blessed are the meek…

Blessed are the meek… is Jesus telling us to allow people to walk all over us? Don’t meek people get bullied? Don’t the strong get everything they go for? (See this post for more on what Jesus meant by meek.)
What if you “gave in” to someone else, do you suppose you’d gain or loose by acting meekly?
How would it feel to be labeled by your friends as “meek?”
The meekness that Jesus is describing is like a powerful horse who by it’s training is able to be ridden. (This is the way the Greek word for meek – praus – was used.) So in a sense, the horse is being meek! A meek person isn’t weak; they are strong! What are other examples of power under control? How does this change your feelings about being meek?

Being meek is hard work! It goes against what the world around us tells us we should do. I’ll bet that we need to pray to God for his help to be meek.

To be continued… here!

Photo credits:
Blessed are… by Joe Cavazos, used with permission from from CreationSwap.
Clip art in the Public Domain from wpclipart.com.