2nd Spark:  Catastrophic crack (balloons) 

"...whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for Me....What you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for Me. Matthew 25:40-45"

Gather together  three helium quality balloons, scotch tape and a few stick pins. Have only three balloons visible or  children will want the left-over balloons at the end of your lesson and you will have a dilemma because you might not have one for everyone...and you really do not want to have balloons on hand for everyone.  Why? Because they can be a little bit dangerous and also after you do the lesson they will want to make their balloons squeak and that will be worse than listening to the blow-out birthday horns that have a squeaker in them. You will be sorry.  Go ahead and buy a couple bags of the helium quality balloons though because we will use them in another lesson. (There is also a chance that one of your balloons will break while you are blowing it up and you will need to have another on hand...just not readily visible.)

When the children are all seated show them the balloons and tell them you are going to show them a trick with them.  Blow up one of the balloons and in the middle of blowing up the balloon pull on the neck of the balloon and show them how loudly it squeaks. You might tell them that sometimes we sound a bit like that when we whine and yell for things.  You might even let a balloon loose after you blow it up just to get them excited.  They do love that! Someone will run to get it for you. Now you have their attention. 

Blow a balloon up again and this time tie a knot in it and ask them if they know what will happen if you stick a pin into the balloon. This is not the time to act brave while you pop the balloon but cringe and cower while you hold the balloon away from you and pop it. They will scramble for the pieces. Make sure you gather all the pieces and then tell them you are going to stick a pin in another balloon and it won't pop.  Blow up the balloon and tell them that we are going to pretend that the balloon is us.  Tell them there is an easy way to make yourself strong.  Tell them that life with Jesus makes us super strong.  Take a piece of tape and put it on the balloon. Say that this piece of tape represents Baptism; when we acknowledge that we are a child of God and ask for His grace in our life.  Ask if they can think of any other ways that we can become stronger with God.  Along with their suggestions, you can suggest that reading the Bible, or going to church, or praying will make us stronger. Put a piece of tape over the other piece making a cross shape.  Someone will most likely notice that it is a cross shape and you can say something about how much Jesus loved us...so much that He died on the cross to save us.  

With these pieces of tape on the balloon mention to them that sometimes we all do bad things.  Oftentimes we are not very nice to others even though Jesus said that whatever we do to others we do to Him. Ask if they can think of anything they might do that would hurt someone else.  You will get answers across the spectrum from hitting someone to running over someone with a car!  That one surprised me! Yikes! With each of the "sins" they mention put a stick pin into the thick piece of the tape. 

(You may not want to do this next section...but it is particularly effective with older children.)

After just a few pins are placed tell them that there is such a thing as a catastrophic crack...a crack so strong that it does severe damage no matter how strong we are.  That crack is the sin of turning our backs on Jesus and believing we can live without him. Put a pin in the balloon not on the tape. Of course it will pop. Look very sad and gather the pieces slowly. Ask if that kind of sin can be fixed.  Wait for a few answers.  Blow up the other balloon.  Tell them that what we would need to do is to remember that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins.  Put the cross of tape back on the balloon.  We would have to tell Jesus we are sorry; ask Him to forgive us and ask Him for His Holy Spirit.  Now tell them we will pretend they are the balloon and the air in the balloon is the Holy Spirit. (I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13) Even young children seem to be able to take it into their understanding that with Jesus in them they can easily do nice things, give in to others, forgive others when it is not easy, and feel better about "offering things up to God" instead of holding grudges. Remind them of ways to keep themselves strong; going to church, reading the Bible, praying, and listening to God and trying to obey Him.  Then, again,  ask for ways that we hurt God. Remind them that what we do to others we do to Jesus.  

When they mention hitting, pushing, not letting someone play, not doing what Mom and Dad or the teacher says, calling someone names, whining when we are asked to do something...all these things are sin...and with each one mentioned put a stick pin into the thick part of the tape.  I have never put in so many that it bursts so I don't know just how many you can stick into it but I have put in at least ten with no effect. 

Mention to them that just as doing something bad to someone is the same as doing something bad to Jesus, so doing something good for someone is the same as doing something good for Jesus.  You can finish the lesson by listening to all the good things they come up with that they can do for others. 

Tell them that at the next lesson you will poke a stick all the way through a balloon!

The Apple of God's Eye; 1st spark

1st Spark:  The Apple of His Eye

“He shielded them and cared for them, guarding them as the apple of His eye. Deuteronomy 32:10”

“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8”

“Keep my commands and live, my teaching as the apple of your eye. Proverbs 7:2”

“Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye. Zechariah 2:12”

Show the children a freshly polished apple and tell them that you know God has hidden something in the apple; He has hidden something in every apple! Tell them you know it is there as well as you know that the sun gives us daylight. Tell them that there are lots of things like that; things that we know and believe but we really can’t see: air, love, electricity, gravity, the pull of the moon and knowing that the sun is still shining even though we don’t see it at night. You can think of many other examples I’m sure. We see the effects of these things even though we can’t see the forces. Tell them God is like that; God is love and we experience God and His love through others, in ourselves, and in our world.

Cut the apple crosswise. Be amazed at the star. Show the star around to everyone. God said we are the apple of His eye and that whoever touches us, touches the apple of His eye. What did He mean? First let’s think about what the “apple of one’s eye” means. The black spot of our eye is called the pupil. When we are students we are also called pupils. The word pupil comes from the Latin word pupus or pupa meaning boy or girl, or pupillus- orphan. It really means “little doll” which refers to the tiny reflection that you can see in a person’s pupil. And that reflection is referred to as the “apple of one’s eye.”

Can you see my reflection in my grandson's eyes?

◊ The next paragraph is more information for you; you may or may not want to use it in your lesson. It would depend on the ages of the children and/or the time available.

What is the apple of an eye? I have heard that when the term was first used, the pupil, the black opening in the center of the iris through which light passes to the retina, was thought to be a solid, round object. It was called an “apple” because apples were common spherical objects. Sight, being very precious, made it logically the one thing referred to as a metaphor for something or someone most precious. Therefore if someone was extremely precious to another, they might say the person was “the apple of their eye.” But God, having made us and being omniscient, knew that the pupil was a hole for letting in light. If He used this analogy for us it was, I believe, for this moment; for children to be amazed at His choice of words for us and His great care for us.

Tell the children some little bit about how protected our eyes are. There are bones around our eyes, eyelashes to help protect our eyes and involuntary (and voluntary) reflexes for blinking and shielding our eyes. If something comes at us, or we fall, our eyes automatically close and the bones will be hit first while our eyes are protected and most of the time kept safe.

If we are the apple of God’s eye, that means He is going to protect us, , care for us and keep things from damaging us even when we are hit with awful things because He shield’s us.

I have a question for you to think about. When God looks at us, does He see His reflection in our eyes, and do we look at Jesus so intently that we are able to see ourselves in His eyes?

One more question; why did God put the star in the apple for us to find? What is the connection between the star in the apple and us being the apple of God’s eye? There was another star that we all know about...that star that lead the wise men to baby Jesus.  Perhaps the star in the apple was put there for us to find in order to tell the story of our being the apple of God's eye and thereby leading someone to Jesus.  Honestly though, I believe God put the star in the apple to remind us that He is starry-eyed over us!