I have been a lazy soul for a while...just couldn't get myself going on the blog, but my intentions are there. What do they say about good intentions??? I'm starting fresh and not trying to catch up! The month of December brings all the buzz in our communities about "the reason for the season" so why not take advantage of so many people talking about Jesus to teach children the truth. And all of the documentaries are appearing...I saw the one the renowned astronomer did (again) that he says proves Jesus would have been born April 16, 6 b.c. My point...it doesn't matter WHEN Jesus was born, but WHY. Since last year, we have added two little girls to our class. Sometimes that number is three AND we may be adding a little boy...I'm excited. That gives us at least five sometimes six in our class. We start off our winter series with the birth of Jesus, this week the angel Gabriel visited Mary to give her the good news! What good news you may ask...that Jesus is coming! My daughter gave me some puppets from Oriental Trading last year for Christmas and they are really good. In this particular set is one for Mary, Joseph, and an angel. The angel has some wild yellow yarn hair and a halo that flops around but the sweetest expression on his face. I used my felt board and felt board figures to tell the lesson first so I knew that they were listening...then I pulled out the puppets. They thought the angel had funny hair, too. This is sorta how the story went: "One day something wonderful happened to Mary. An angel came to her and said, God has a special plan for you. You will have a baby. He will be God's Son." We had already talked about how Mary must have been startled when the angel appeared because he tells her "Do not be afraid." So when the angel comes near Mary, she jumps in surprise...so do the kids. Amazing. At first Mary was reluctant because of her 'non marital' status but after the angel explained things to her Mary believed in God's plan for her. She would gladly do all that God wanted her to do for Jesus' coming. Now, who's going to be the mother of God's son...you got it..Mary. Now we switch to the Joseph puppet. Joseph is laying down sleeping. You see, the angel appeared to Joseph while he was asleep and gave him the good news. The angel said, "Take Mary as your wife. She will have a special baby. Name Him Jesus." The angel approaches Joseph while he sleeps..."Jooooseph, Joooooseph", the Joseph puppet lets out a snore...the girls giggle. BUT they get the point! "Joseph you will marry the woman named Mary and when the baby is born you will name him...JESUS!" Joseph believed the angel and after a little soul searching he took Mary as his wife. Joseph would name Mary's child Jesus. Now let's review...who gets some very good news? Mary. What is the good news? That's she is going to have a baby. Whose son will this be? God's. Who will help her raise this special baby? Joseph. What will be his name? Jesus. They did great!! Our little craft project today was to make an angel to hang on their Christmas trees to remind them about God's son. Some of these children are brought to church by grandparents only, so I always encourage them to relay the story when they get home. What's that Bible verse from Isaiah 11:6 "And a little child shall lead them"? I cut angels out of fun foam and put a cable tie hanger in them. I was brave today. We used GLITTER! I squeezed craft glue on the angel and let them spread it with a craft stick. We put the angel in a plastic shoe box and I let them "salt and pepper" the angel with the glitter. They were awesome! We talked about the angel Gabriel and that is what they wanted to name them. We left them in the classroom to dry during church services. As one little girl says, "If you put glitter on your angel, Santa can see your tree better." Maybe we need to put some glitter on us so when we do the things God wants US to do we can show the world God. I pray this week that you put some glitter on YOU so the world can see you better.
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