Week 3: Jan 19

Our theme for January is "Who is Jesus and Why Does it Matter?" 

*Since we got off track this is actually Week 3

Week 2- John the Baptist: Who is He and Why Did He Baptize Jesus? (Mark 1:1-11)

Our church practices baptizing by submersion, so this is something students already know a bit about. The goal for this lesson is for kids to see Jesus' friend/cousin, John, to baptize Jesus and let them see that Jesus sometimes did things as an example of what we should do, and baptizing is one of them. If we love Jesus, we should be proud to stand in front of our family and friends and let them know. 

For this lesson, I'll start by asking kids what is a baptism, and try to pull out a basic definition from their responses. It should be something like, "It's when the pastor dips you in the water to show everyone that you have Jesus in your heart." I like to keep the words simple, so kids will have a basic knowledge to grow on when they get older. Sometimes the kids have specific questions about it, but I don't go into too much detail. 

Then, I'm going to read the text (paraphrased and stuck in my Bible):
John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin. He lived in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. Everyone wanted to see John. He wore clothes made of camel hair and he ate locusts and wild honey. When they came to him and listened to him speak, they realized that what he said was true: if you have God in your heart, you should show everyone! Lots of people confessed their sins, and John baptized them in the Jordan River. 

Who was John? (Jesus' cousin)
Why did people want to see him? (He lived in the wild and wore weird things.)
When people listened to John, what did they do? (Understand the need of baptism; many were baptized)

One day Jesus came to visit John, and told him that He wanted to be baptized, to be an example for others. When John brought Jesus' head out of the water, he saw the heavens opening and the Holy Spirit came to Jesus, like a dove. And Jesus heard a voice from heaven. It said, "You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy." 

What did Jesus ask John to do? (baptize Him)
Did Jesus need to be baptized? (No, He had no sins to repent)
Why do you think Jesus asked to be baptized? (to be an example for us)
What happened when Jesus was baptized? (The heavens opened and the Holy Spirit came down on Jesus like a dove)

Jesus was first beginning His ministry at this point. He hadn't even picked out His apostles. 

Did John make the right choice by baptizing Jesus? 
Why do you think God wanted the Holy Spirit to be with Jesus?

As a craftivity, I'm going to have my kids make a 3-D dove. I'll start by letting them draw the outline of a bird on half-sheet of white card stock. Then they'll cut them out, and also cut a little slit horizontal on the birds back. Then we'll take a sheet of white copy paper and fold it like a fan. I'll show them how to stick the fan through the slit and their bird will have wings. Then they can draw an eye on each side.

I'll tell my students that this bird should remind them that God is always watching us, and just like He was proud of Jesus for being baptized, He wants us to repent of our sins and ask Him into our hearts. 

*Edit to Add- After thinking about this, I think I'm just going to have students watercolor the bottom half of a sheet of card stock, then draw John and Jesus standing in the water. Students can add a dove above Jesus' head if desired. This puts the emphasis back on Jesus, where it should be! 

Here are some of the results: (I did go back and write "Jesus was Baptized by John" at the top of each child's paper with a black marker after taking pictures. I thought the plain white needed a little something)