Children’s Worship 5.24.20
Dear Parents,
Thanks for joining us again as we do Children’s Worship from home! Today we are reminded about how Jesus taught us to pray. One of our teachers, Kelli Boender, reads us a story about the Lord’s Prayer!
Note: Please let us know about how your family is enjoying Children’s Worship! Take some pictures of your family participating in Children’s Worship or share a story. You can post to the Gold Avenue Church Facebook page or send by email at goldavechurch@gmail.com
OVERVIEW:
Activity One: Watch the video
Activity Two: Discuss the story using provided questions as prompts
Worship
Activity Three: Respond to the story by doing the “Praying Hands” activity. Pray together.
Activity Four: Bless your children
EQUIP:
(It’s not an activity, but just a little background on the story for you, the parent, to read.)
Before looking at the account of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew chapter 6, we find in the preceding chapter Jesus teaching His disciples through the Beatitudes. He teaches them by laying out the foundation of the kingdom of God—contrasting it with the kingdom of this world. Jesus’ statements beginning with, “You have heard it said …” and ending with, “But I tell you …” paint the picture of what is required of all who choose to be in God’s kingdom.
“Lord, teach us to pray …” (Luke 11:1–13). Jesus answered this request by teaching the disciples—and us—how to pray. He begins to frame and model prayer for us by establishing how we’re to approach God the Father: “Our Father in heaven …” (Matthew 6:9). The word Jesus uses for Father in Aramaic is the informal word Abba —translated to mean “daddy.” “Hallowed be your name” establishes who God is and retains the authority of the I AM. “Your kingdom come, your will be done …” (verse 10). We’re to ask our heavenly Father to usher in His coming kingdom—which Jesus had just outlined with the Beatitudes. When we pray for His coming kingdom, our hearts can begin to desire the things that are important to Him—and get to know the heart of our Daddy. “Give us today our daily bread …” (verse 11). The Father cares for our needs, for He is our provider and will give us what we need in each day. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (verse 12). Jesus offers us forgiveness of sins. For as we’ve been forgiven, by the same measure we must forgive others who hurt or sin against us—in forgiveness is freedom. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (verse 13). As we journey through this world, we’ll be face to face with decisions that will affect our lives, and often, the lives of others. We need the guidance and covering of the Lord to go before us.
Jesus is the way to the kingdom of God. He came to fulfill the law, and His words bring hope. In light of this truth, as we pray, we can pray expectantly as we ask God to usher the ways of His kingdom into this world and our lives.
Activity 1: STORY
Watch video.
Activity 2: DISCUSSION
Today in The Big God Story, Jesus teaches us about praying to God His Father. No matter where we are, or what we’re doing, we can always talk with God. God loves us and He wants us to talk with Him.
I wonder … What did the disciples talk with God about?
I wonder … What do I want to talk with God about?
I wonder … How does it feel to know God always listens to me?
These questions can easily extend into the rest of the week. Look for opportunities to bring conversations about how God Saves into your everyday life as a family.
Worship Songs:
All three of these are Lord’s Prayer songs. Feel free to listen to them and pick one that your kids would like! You may even consider trying to memorize it as a family, so we picked ones that all have the exact words of the prayer to help!
And here is a children’s worship favorite (especially the motions!)
Activity 3: RESPONSE ACTIVITY
“Praying Hands”
Supplies
- Scissors
- Card stock (1 sheet per child)
- Yarn (2′ per child)
- Tape
- Clothespins (1 per child)
- Hole punch
Prepare Ahead
Print one Praying Hands template for each child and cut them out. Punch holes where indicated around the edge of the hands. Cut the yarn into two-foot lengths, and place tape around the end of one side of the yarn to make threading through the holes easier. Tie the non-taped end to one of the holes on the hands so children will have a starting point when threading the string through the other holes.
Relate
When Jesus taught His friends to pray to God, He explained that they could pray to Him about everything. God listens. Let’s take a moment to think about different things in our own lives that we can talk with God about. Pause for a moment. Hand our hand template. You can use the yarn to thread or weave through the holes. As you work your yarn through the holes in the hands, you may want to think about what we’ve learned about talking to God from The Big God Story today.
As the children weave, continue the conversation about prayer. God wants us to talk with Him. Does that surprise you? What would you like to talk with God about? What do you usually talk with God about? Are there hard things to talk with God about? When they finish threading, hang them up. Take some time and talk to God on your own, then feel free to hang yours also. We’ll leave our hands up to remind us that God listens when we talk to Him.
Activity 4: CLOSING BLESSING
Share the following words from Philippians 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
As a family, bless each other. Encourage your kids to speak blessing words over you or each other as you do the same for them.
(Child’s name , may you remember that God wants to hear from you this week.
End this time together with a blessing over your whole family:
May you know that God listens to you. May you remember to talk with Him about everything.
