Working to be a servant

Today in our 5th grade Grapple Sunday school class, we started a new unit of study called, “Why in the World?” Our first lesson was about, “What Difference Can I Make,” and today we discussed what it means to be a servant.

As Christians, we are called to be different and live differently than others in our culture. In our church bulletin today, there is a flyer ad for Financial Peace University with the headline, “Normal is Broke. Be Weird!” In some ways, we are called to “be weird” as Christians living in a world that does not believe in Jesus or follow him. The city of Austin, Texas, has a public relations campaign called, “Keep Austin Weird.” We are not called as Christians to be weird for the sake of weirdness, but instead to act differently according to the instructions of Jesus.

We are also called to not believe and follow the messages of the world, when it comes to “being great.” When we look at a current pop star, like Taylor Swift, we may get the wrong idea of what it means to be “great.” You don’t have to be a rock star, have a wonderful singing voice, wear Ugg boots, or do other things we see pop stars do to “be great.” Jesus tells us we need to be leaders, and lead is to serve.

Jesus came to earth not to be served, but to serve. Jesus was a revolutionary during his human life on earth, but did not advocate a violent revolution like others have. Sometimes when we hear the word “revolution” we might think of communist revolutionary leaders like Che Guevara or Mao. Some of the people who lived when Jesus walked the earth as a human were thinking their Messiah would be a military leader and help overthrow the Roman empire. Jesus did not lead a violent revolution, however, he lead a revolution in thinking about what it means to lead and to be great. The basis for leadership and commendable living is SERVICE.

We read and discussed three Bible verses today to explore what it means to serve and be a servant. The first verse was Mark 10:42-45. In it we read:

Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage."

These words of Jesus were the basis for a speech Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared on February 4, 1968, in Atlanta, Georgia, called “The Drum Major Instinct.” You can hear some of that speech, in Dr. King’s own words, by visiting the homepage of The King Center in Atlanta. We listened to these words today in class.  Dr. King is making the same point we read about in Mark: the definition of greatness needs to change. Jesus tells us that to be great, we must serve. This is what Jesus did and the example he set for us, and we need to become servants as well.

We also read Luke 10:38-42 and Romans 12:1-3 to discuss ideas and examples of being a servant. In Luke’s verses, we discussed how Mary and Martha were both serving. Serving does not just mean doing housework and chores, like Martha was. Mary was also serving Jesus, by sitting at his feet and listening to him. Today it is very easy to be distracted. It can be a big deal to give someone our full attention. We talked about how this is true in relationships. We can serve our parents and each other by giving others our full attention, and not being distracted by other things in our lives.

This week, please talk at home about what it means to be a servant and the ways we can serve others. We are going to create a 30 second video next week that can be a “public service announcement” for others about being a servant. Today at the end of class, we watched the PSA “Think Before You Post” and talked about how this video gets people who watch it thinking about changing their behavior. We are going to creatively try and create a similar video, with the theme of being a servant.

Please come to class next week with ideas for how we can make a video about being a servant.

Candy Canes and the real meaning of Christmas

Today in Sunday School, our last Sunday before Christmas, reviewed our theme for the past several weeks answering the question, “Why are we here?” Last week we discussed the “Fruits of the Spirit,” and to review today we played last week’s podcast. (5 minutes long) We discussed how the themes of each week in Advent (hope, peace, love, and joy) overlap / are the same as some of the fruits of the Spirit discussed by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23.

Our primary lesson today focused on the history of the candy cane and the symbolism it can have for us as Christians during the holiday season. We have several books in our church library about the history of the candy cane, including “The Candymaker’s Gift” by Helen Haidle and David Haidle as well as “The Legend of the Candy Cane” by Lori Walburg VandenBosch and James Bernardin. We discussed how both of these books are titled “the LEGEND,” because while they are based on historical facts, they are not entirely historically accurate. We also discussed how at holiday times, there are many traditions we may follow and stories we may hear which can be traced from non-religious sources. It is important to discuss these things, so we know why we do them and what they mean. The most critical lesson and idea of the Christmas season for us, as Christians, is that God sent his son Jesus to earth so we could learn how to live and be able to obtain forgiveness for our sins, thanks to God’s amazing grace. That IS A fact, and the reason for the Christmas season.

We referenced the “Origin of the Candy Cane” article on Snopes.com, which “debunks” a popular email circulated in 2007 which contended the candy cane was invented in Indiana as a Christian symbol. VandenBosch and Bernardin’s book, “The Legend of the Candy Cane,” does include an excellent historical overview of the candy cane, including some of the elements referenced in the Snopes article. These are referenced in the current WikiPedia article for “candy cane:”

The distinctive “hook” shape associated with candy canes is traditionally credited to a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany, who, legend has it, in 1670 bent straight candy sticks into canes to represent a shepherd’s crook, and gave them to children at church services. The shepherd’s staff is often used in Christianity as a metaphor for The Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. It is also possible that, as people decorated their Yule trees with food, the bent candy cane was invented as a functional solution.

and

In Europe candy canes were used to decorate Yule trees along with other items of food. In North America, the first documented example of the use of candy canes to celebrate Christmas occurred in 1847, when a German-Swedish immigrant by the name of August Imgard hung the candy canes from the branches of a Christmas tree. Christmas cards from the following decades show Christmas trees decorated with candy canes, first white canes, then striped ones in the 20th century. This then spread to the rest of the continent, where it continues to remain a popular Christmas tradition.

We discussed how remarkable it is that peppermint flavoring did not become commonly available until the early 20th century. We take peppermints for granted today, as well as many other things. It is important that as we are surrounded by the sights, sounds, smells, and activities of the Christmas holiday season, we remember the symbolism of things like our advent wreath and candy canes.

This past week I heard about a new book which argues Santa Claus is able to use a variety of technologies far more advanced than anything we have today. The book is “The Truth about Santa: Wormholes, Robots, and What Really Happens on Christmas Eve” by Gregory Mone. While this story and many others may be fun to read and share at Christmas time, it is critical remember what we know to be true about Christmas, God, and his son Jesus Christ. The story of Christ’s birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection is not “just a story” like many other books we may read at Christmas time. In many ways, this is THE STORY which should direct our thoughts and actions not only in December each year, but every day.

Note: Next week all students in grades K-5 will gather in “Miracle Movies” at the church for a pajama party and a “Happy Birthday Jesus Party.” Feel free to wear your PJs to church next week, and meet us in Miracle Movies.

May God bless you and your family this Christmas season. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Fruits of the Spirit

We continued our discussions about why God created us and how we are called to live by:

1. reading and discussing Galatians 5:22-23 today in class
2. listening to the song “Fruit of the Spirit” by Uncle Charlie (watching the lyrics too on DVD)
3. recording a five minute podcast about our thoughts on these fruits of the spirit.

As we continue to go to school, work, and home in this Christmas season, we want to remember that Jesus is the “reason for the season” and we should focus on the gifts he gives us, when we invite God’s Holy Spirit to enter into our lives and direct our actions.

We brainstormed some of the “Non-Christian Messages of Christmas” in class today. This is what we came up with:
1. Just give gifts
2. Santa Claus
3. Christmas Lights
4. Buy me / purchase stuff
5. Christmas Tree

We also discussed some of the “Christmas Messages / Symbols” of the season, including:
1. Christmas Star (Jesus)
2. Candy Cane

Next week we will talk more about candy canes, again in the context of “Why I am I here?” and “How am I supposed to live my life?”

We reviewed that the candles of the advent wreath represent:

1. Hope
2. Peace
3. Love
4. Joy

In reading, discussing, and listening to Galatians 5:22-23 (both in the NIV version and “The Message“) we discussed these fruits of the spirit and what they mean to us in greater depth. According to the Apostle Paul, writing to the Galatians, the “fruits of the spirit” are:

1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Faithfulness
7. Gentleness
8. Self-control

Just as we recognize a tree by its fruits, other should recognize we are Christians by seeing these “fruits of the spirit” in the way we act toward others every day. In addition to remembering and focusing on the meaning of the four candles of Advent, we also want to focus our minds and our efforts on demonstrating the fruits of the spirit this Christmas season.

We sent a parent letter home today, which you can also download in PDF format. (This online version does NOT include the password to join our new online learning community, however, the link to our iSHARE project spreadsheet or home/cell phone numbers. Alternate online contact information/methods for Wes are available.)

Please listen to our podcast this week and discuss these ideas with your family at home this week!

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Why are we not perfect?

(If you’re looking for our podcast recording from December 6th, this is it! Please be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our blog to receive email updates, using the form in the right sidebar.)

Today in our 5th grade Sunday School class we continued our unit of study focusing on the question, “What is the point?” We talked about how there are so many images and themes all around us at Christmastime, but often VERY few of these have to do with Jesus and his birth! We listened to the free Pandora Internet Radio Channel “Peaceful Holidays” and viewed some secular holiday images/themes represented in the Flickr Group, “A Very Flickr Christmas.” (There are over 50,000 shared Christmas photos in this group, and none of the ones we saw had anything to do with Jesus, his birth, the church, or Christianity!)

We discussed whether or not it is a sin to be “tempted,” and Matthew 4:1-11 (New International Version) when Jesus was tempted in the desert by the devil. We talked about how it is not a sin to be tempted, but our actions and choices determine whether or not we sin when we face temptation. While Jesus WAS tempted, he did not give in to temptation and always responded to temptation with the “sword of the spirit:” God’s word.

We next listened to our podcast recording from class two weeks ago, when we considered the question, “Why Did God Create Me?” We played images from the Flickr Creative Commons image search for “nativity Christmas” as we listened to our five minute podcast, and then discussed some of the “answers” we heard our classmates share during that audio recording.

We played a game of tag that proved to be very challenging because of the difficult rules we had to follow, and then talked about how that game connects to our theme today, “Why are we not perfect?” We then broke into three groups for a jigzaw activity. Each group read and discussed one of the following verses, discussing how it applied or related to our question, “Why are we not perfect?”

1. Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 1:31 (New International Version)
2. Psalm 139:13-16 (New International Version)
3. Romans 8:35-39 (New International Version)

Finally, we recorded a seven minute podcast, discussing these verses and how they apply to our theme, “Why are we not perfect?” Please listen to our podcast and share feedback as comments on this post.

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Why did God create me? (Lesson intro and class podcast)

This morning in our 5th grade Sunday school class we started a new unit with the theme, “Why did God Create Me?” We read and discussed the following verses:

Ephesians 2:10
Psalm 139: 1-12
Romans 5:8-11

We recorded a five minute podcast in class, sharing these versus and some of our own ideas about what they mean in the context of God’s purposes for our lives. It is important to think about these ideas as we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States this week, and as we move into the month of December to celebrate Christmas.

We started off our lesson today talking about the following advertisement I saw at Pier 1 this weekend, and what the advertisers might be saying “our purpose” is in the world.

God HAS made us to share our gifts with each other, but he has made us for so much more than to just buy things! He has made us to love him, to worship, and to be his hands and feet on earth. We are called to do his good works each day of our lives.

In December, we’ll be discussing questions like:

How Come I’m Not Perfect?
Why Didn’t God Make Us Like Robots?
What Does God Want from Me?

Next week (Sunday, November 29th) we will meet in Creation Station to make advent wreaths along with other elementary students. In December we’ll be back in our “normal” classroom for Sunday school.

If you have comments and feedback for our 5th graders on their podcast or on any of the ideas we’ve shared here, please leave a comment here on this post! Thanks for visiting our blog and listening to our podcast. We’d love to hear from you, and will share comments / feedback we receive here during class.

Here are some additional photos from our brainstorming, discussions, and prayer time today.

Why is Satan the enemy of God?

Today in our 5th grade Sunday School class, we grappled with the question, “Why is Satan the enemy of God?”

This was one of the questions we brainstormed last week, and asked parents as well as ministry staff to help us answer. Unfortunately, no one called in last week to share an answer to this question.

We used the concordance in the back of our Bibles (most of them have one) and looked up verses which address the topic of Satan. We started with Genesis 3, the story of “The Fall of Man” and the first time Satan is mentioned in the Bible. The first seven verses of Genesis 3 are:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ “

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

We talked about what the serpent (the Devil) was asking Eve to do: To question God. We talked about how in this first set of sentences we hear from Satan, he tells a lie. He says “You will not die,” yet that is exactly what will and does happen to people because of this decision.

We discussed what type of fruit is discussed in this passage, and realized that the verses do not tell us. Some people think of the fruit as an apple, others think of it as a pomegranate. As the sidebar in the Children’s Adventure Bible says (which we read aloud) it is not really as important to know what the type of fruit was in this story, as to know what happened: Adam and Eve chose to disobey God.

Next week we are going to continue discussing this question and hopefully create a shadow-puppet skit to illustrate both the question and the answer.

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Our Questions for Parents and Pastors

Today in our 5th grade Sunday school class, we brainstormed questions about the Bible, God, the world, and our faith that students have. We recorded this 2 min, 10 sec podcast of our questions. Please respond to one or more of our questions by calling the following phone number (long distance to New York, so use a cell phone) and entering our unique extension:

646-462-4031 x 08096

Here are our questions!

We wrote these questions on the SMARTboard and then made this recording. In addition to hearing us ask these questions, you can also view our written questions in this SlideShow.

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Choices and Listening for God’s Voice

These are notes and links for parents and students in our 5th grade “Grapple” Sunday School class at First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Last Sunday and this Sunday (Mother’s Day) we have focused on the themes of listening to God’s voice as we make choices. I’ve also used a few more interactive features of our SMARTboard, and created our lessons in SMART Notebook instead of PowerPoint. You can download these files below and use them if desired. Here’s a summary of what we’ve discussed and the verses we’ve studied.

Sunday, May 3, 2009
How Can I Hear God’s Voice
- download our SMART Notebook 10 lesson (6.8 MB)
- reviewing things that do NOT matter in life versus things that do
- Exodus 3: Story of Moses and the burning bush
- discussion of Egypt and where it is located in the Middle East relative to the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula
- Story of Gideon testing God: Judges 6:33-40
- Theme: We should not test God
- James 1:5-7

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.

Sunday, May 10, 2009
Choices, Choices! (Hearing God’s Voice Part 2)
- download our SMART Notebook 10 lesson (7.5 MB)
- Proverbs 2:6

For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

- vocabulary review: Gideon, Moses, Egypt, Sinai, Satan, Bible (as the sword of the Spirit,) dreams (as a way God can speak to us)
- Discussion prompt photo: The Fortune Teller
- Independent response questions:
– Whose voice do you know?
– How can you learn to recognize someone’s voice?
– What is the potential danger in listening to strangers?
– What is good about recognizing a voice?
– How can you recognize God’s voice?
- Discussion verse: 1 John 4:1-6
- Discussion focus: We must spend time in prayer and Bible study each week so we know God’s Word, his voice, and his will for our lives. Only by spending time with God regularly can we know his voice when he speaks to us. We should not put God to a test, as Gideon did, but we should put messages we hear in the world and from our friends to the “test” by comparing them to God’s will and what he says in his Word. God is here with us and speaks to us, but we must listen and spend time seeking him so we will know Him.

Thanks to Dave Debrowski for visiting us and participating in our lesson today! Dave told us about Chaos and invited both parents and students to come to the Chaos meeting this Wednesday, May 13th, in the Green Room at FPCE at 6:30 pm to discuss summer activities for middle school students.

We have just 3 more Sundays left in May, then 5th grade Grapple will be over!

Take some time this week to discuss some of the Bible verses and themes we’ve discussed in class together as a family. Have a great week!

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Things that don’t matter

Today we continued our study on things that matter in life from God’s perspective. We discussed how there are MANY messages in the media (on TV, on billboards, in movies, in games, on the Internet, in magazines, etc.) which try to distract us away from things which really matter in life. We mentioned Earth Day this past week, and showed a video which Alexander created about using electric cars rather than gasoline powered cars.

Just as most messages in the media do NOT encourage us to take environmentally friendly actions like using an electric car, we also see many messages that encourage us to have a focus which is not Godly. We brainstormed many of these distracting media messages today.

These were the results of our brainstorming:

What doesn’t matter
1. Tanning
2. Subway message to eat fresh
3. gambling your life away at a casino
4. get a prize for buying something you don’t need
5. Smoking is cool
6. what computer is best?
7. cool cleaning supplies
8. having an awesome cell phone
9. buying stuff

Eating fresh, healthy food matters because our bodies are God’s temple and we are to care for ourselves. Staying clean and keeping our surroundings clean also matters. There are many messages which encourage us to focus on things which do NOT matter, however. This ties closely to Pastor Mateen’s message this week in the service, “A Mind Worthy of the Gospel.” It also connects well with our prayer of confession from today’s service, including these words:

Today we confess in particular how we have misused our minds. We have pursued the lies of our culture as if they were true; we have lingered over dishonorable thoughts; we have justified injustices; impure and ugly images have clouded our vision.

Next week we will continue this series and focus on the things which DO matter. The words of the apostle Paul will be part of our focus in Philippians 4 :8-9.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me— put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

What Matters? Verses from our lesson today

Today in 5th grade Sunday School we started a series of lessons on the topic, “What Matters?” Our first lesson focused on whether the opinions of other people should matter to us as much as God’s opinion. These were some of the verses we read and discussed. (We actually just got to about three of these, but they all apply to the lesson and would be super to discuss at home as a family.)

Colossians 3:9-11 (The Message)

John 5:16-18 (The Message)

John 5:36-44 (New International Version)

Galatians 1:10 (New International Version)

Matthew 10:29-32 (New International Version)

Psalm 139:17-18 (New International Version)

2 Corinthians 10:12-18 (New International Version)

Our verse of the week this week, from our weekly devotional (with which we start each Sunday’s lesson, led by one of our class “shephards”) is 1 Corinthians 4:7. In the NIV it reads:

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

We need to remember where all our gifts, talents and skills come from: Our Lord! What matters most is God’s opinion. The opinions of our family and friends matter too, and we always need to remember the power of our words. Our words can build someone up or tear someone down. God calls us to serve Him first, and remember that HIS opinion is the one which should matter the most in our lives.

Have a GREAT week!

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