The Bible is so big.  There are so many pages and so many different authors. Did you know that it began as a bunch of books and then during the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. the delegates combined the stories into one big book?  Today that is the book we call the Bible.  Our Protestant bible has 66 books. These books share history, poetry, law, prophecy, gospels, parables, letters of the prophets and Revelation.
 
We can separate the Bible into the Old Testament (stories before Jesus and the stories from the Torah) and New Testament (stories about Jesus and his followers). We can also examine the different writing styles and authors. These steps can help enlighten us to the wonderful messages in the Bible.
 
When we are in our Godly Play atriums at NSUMC, we show the relationship to the stories on the shelves and their location in the Bible.  The Godly Play manipulatives offer a great visual representation of the Bible scriptures.  NSUMC was blessed to have so many members create these supplies for our children!
 
As Christians we have a rich history that teaches us how to offer extravagant hospitality, extend grace, and share compassion.  This week’s Sunday School lesson will share many ways that students can learn about the different books of the Bible through game!  We have Jenga, Legos, Duplos, golf balls, hopscotch, clothes pins, bingo cards, Jeopardy, Minute-to-Win-It and cups!  Come play games and learn about the B.I.B.L.E.!

Imagine that you are 70 years old (your grandparents age) and God tells you that you have to move (and carry your house with you), will soon have a new born son and will have to lead a nation to safety.  How many of you think that you could make all of that happen?
 
That’s what God told Abram.  At first Abram showed great faith by leaving his home without knowing where God would lead him, but he was not a perfect person. At times he took matters into his own hands instead of trusting God.
 
This story teaches us that God is willing to work with less than perfect people that come to him in faith.  We have to keep the confidence that God is always faithful and he will keep his promises. We must learn to be patient and wait on God. It was nearly 800 years before Abram’s descendants owned the Promised Land and many more years before it became the great nation of Israel. But the greatest blessing we have from Abram is that eventually one of his descendants was Jesus, who brought the gift of grace and peace to the world (Galatians 3:14).
 
God promised Abram that he would have descendants more than the number of stars. God told Abram this before he ever had a child and God kept his promise. God had a plan!

Sometimes we wonder why we have certain things slow us down on our faith journey or the road takes a different turn that we didn’t expect.  One thing we can always hold onto is that we are not alone and God’s plan is better than we can ever imagine. Start counting the stars in the heavens, that’s how many promises await you!    This week’s Sunday School lesson your children and grandchildren can make your family tree, string art stars, constellation images with flashlights, thaumatropes and veggie stars!

Jonah was a prophet of God; he would listen to God and tell the people what God said. One day, God said to Jonah, "Go to the city of Nineveh and tell the people who live there that they are not showing good manners and that they need to change their ways." Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. He didn’t like the people in that city, and maybe he was afraid of them. So Jonah decided to run away and hide from God. He caught the first ship out of town and headed in the opposite direction from where God told him to go.

Jonah got on that ship and hid way down deep inside. Then the boat began to be tossed in the waves because of a great storm.  Because Jonah was a prophet, the sailors asked him, "What should we do to stop this terrible storm?"

"Throw me overboard into the sea," Jonah answered, "and the sea will become calm."  The sailors picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea and the storm stopped at once.

Did Jonah drown in the sea? No! God sent a great fish to save him. He prayed to the Lord and decided that it had been wrong to run from the Lord and promised to fulfill his promises to God.

This week our Sunday School lesson includes ocean science experiments, creating an origami ocean animals and ocean snacks.  Just as God had a task for Jonah, he has a plan for you and me. When it comes to doing what God wants us to do, we might run, but we cannot hide!

​Has anyone ever broken a promise they made to you? How did that make you feel? You were probably very disappointed and said something like, "But you promised!" Sometimes we aren't very good at keeping our promises.

Our Sunday School lesson today is about a promise that God made to Noah. Noah built an ark and made sure that there were two of every kind of bird and animal on that ark. He kept all the animals safe on that boat for 40 days.  

As  the flood waters receded Noah sent out a dove to find dry land.  When the dove came back with a leaf Noah knew that they could all leave the ark safely.  God made a promise to Noah that he would never again destroy the whole earth with a flood. Then he did something to remind Noah of that promise. He placed a rainbow in the sky and he said to Noah, "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the promise between me and all life on the earth." God said that every time he saw the rainbow, he would remember the promise that he made.
 
This is our second week learning about Noah and this week we will learn about God’s Rainbow Promise.  Your children and grandchildren can make a walking rainbow and recreate rainbow experiments. They can pretend that they are a chef and make fruit salads, veggie kabobs, waffles, and popcorn, all in rainbow colors!  The next time you see a rainbow; remember God’s promise to us.  We may not be able to see the road ahead but He promises that there’s something better ahead, we just have to trust Him.  No, we are not in control but we are deeply loved by the one who is! 

Do you like to construct things?  Puzzles?  Legos?  Recipes?  What if I gave you a set of instructions and told you I wanted you to build a boat that was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Do you think you could do it? You would probably say, "No way! That is bigger than a football field! I can't build a boat that big!"

Well, that is exactly what happened to a man named Noah. One day God looked down on the world that he had created and he saw how unkind the people had become. It broke his heart to see the way people were acting.

But God saw that Noah was different. God saw that Noah was a good man, so he decided that he would spare Noah and his family. God told Noah about his plan to send a great flood to destroy everything on the earth. He told Noah to build a big boat called an ark and to fill it with animals -- two of every kind. Noah obeyed God. He built the boat and then he put two of every kind of animal into it.

Soon the rain began to fall. The raindrops made little puddles, then bigger puddles. The big puddles became streams and rivers, then mighty seas. Soon the whole earth was covered with water. The ark tossed up and down on the waves, but Noah, his family and all the animals were safe and dry inside the ark.

It rained for forty days and nights until finally, the rain stopped. It took many days for the flood waters to go down. When it finally did, Noah, his family, and all of the animals left the ark. Noah thanked God for keeping them safe.

God had a plan for Noah's life. Because he was faithful and obeyed God, Noah and his entire family were saved. God has a plan for your life too. God has told us about his plan for us in the Bible. Listen to what he said, "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
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Sometimes it seems that there are challenges are too big for us. But when we remember to put our trust in God, anything is possible!
 
We will be studying Noah and his Ark for two weeks.  This week’s Sunday School lesson we will focus on the animals.  We can use our COVID toilet paper tubes to create two hedgehogs, foxes, frogs and roosters to add to the ark!  

​The liturgical year, also known as the church year, consists of the cycle of holy days.  It determines when feast days are to be observed, and which portions of scripture are to be read either in an annual cycle or in a cycle of several years.

The liturgical cycle divides the year into a series of seasons, each with their own mood, theological emphases, and modes of prayer which can be signified by different ways of decorating churches, colors of paraments and vestments for clergy, scripture readings, themes for preaching and even different traditions and practices often observed personally or in the home. The colors change from the green-growing, pure-white, red-hot and purple (the color of kings).
 
The Church/Liturgical Calendar is part of both of our Godly Play atrium. Each of our classrooms has a Church Calendar banner that is approximately two feet by four feet displayed on the atrium wall.  Every Sunday, during our Godly Play time, one of our students will move the arrow to match the liturgical calendar date.  The storytellers use this wooden Church Calendar puzzle to teach the liturgical colors and seasons of the church. This story is found in the Godly Play volume two.  It is also found in Young Children and Worship book but it is called "How the church tells time."  The story is based on Leviticus 23:1-3.


Our denomination follows this calendar using different colored paraments on our altar.  The explanation of these colors can be found in our Godly Play Sunday School lesson online.  This week we are sharing Liturgical coloring books, beaded church year necklaces, and paper plate calendar models so your child can practice learning about the color of our church seasons.

​There was once someone who said such amazing things and did such wonderful things that people followed him. They couldn’t help it. They wanted to know who he was, so they just had to ask him. 

So begins the beloved Parable of the Good Shepherd in the Godly Play repertoire.    As we learn about the Good Shepherd, this story invites the children to come closer. Children are invited to lean into the circle as the lid comes off the Godly Play parable box, so they can  wonder and learn about the parable inside.

A parable is a story that Jesus told to explain a concept.  It may reveal multiple lessons to a person over their lifetime.   The different stages of one’s life help put a spot light on the different outlook that is possible from parables.

In the story of the Good Shepherd, the storyteller explains about the cool clear waters of life that nurture growth, dark moments shadowed by rocks and how the Good Shepherd is with us in both of those times.  Sometimes when the storyteller asks the children about this story, a child may say, “I wonder if I’m the sheep who was lost in the dangerous place. And the good shepherd is God, coming to find me.”  Its meaning is also found in the 23rd Psalm.

Good news, the Good Shepherd includes everyone at the table of the great banquet! No one is ever left out and all are invited to experience His grace!

We invite Sunday School students to remember the love and grace that is offered to each of them ALWAYS!    No matter where they are, what they are doing or how they feel at that moment, God loves them.  NSUMC is sharing multiple sheep activities this Sunday; some include puzzle and accordion crafts, minute to win it shepherd games, videos and snacks.

,​Can you name the parts & elements of a Methodist Worship service?
 
At NSUMC, we open our worship services with a hymn, participate in the call to worship and then invite the children to the chancel area for a short children’s sermon.  Next our choir shares the anthem song; our pastor reads scripture and presents the sermon.  The sermon is followed the offertory prayer and singing praise to God after we have offered our gifts (the Doxology) The service closes with a hymn, prayer and then an invitation to be in community with each other.
 
There are also items on the chancel area that we teach the children about during Sunday school.  These are items that are used prior-to or during the worship service.  Altar is a word that the children generally know but they think that the entire “stage” is the altar.  Actually, the entire “stage” area is called the Chancel area and the table in the middle is the altar.  We point out to the students that the Adult Chancel choir sits in our choir loft.  There is also a door at the northwest corner of our Chancel area.  That door leads to our sacristy.  A sacristy can include the items needed for communion and the vestments that the pastors wear.  The kneeling rail is a place that we may go to after we have taken communion.  We may kneel there and offer our personal prayers to God.  We also have a pulpit.  It is located in front of the organ and it is where pastors and the liturgist can stand to present the scriptures and sermons.
 
This week we invite our Sunday school children to make a diorama and recreate our sanctuary setting.  They can also make a chalice, quill some grapes or make “bread in a bag” as their communion bread.  Remembering our tradition, even when we are not in the building, is heart-warming.

Do you remember your last birthday party?  Did you have candles to light your cake?  Those candles can shine so brightly that they can light up the room.  We get to share the light of those candles with all of our friends and family at the party!
 
God calls us to be the light. This means that God wants us to tell people about Him, and share His grace with others. In the Bible verse for today, Jesus tells us to let our light shine so that more people can also experience His great light.

The good news of Jesus is so amazing that we don’t want to hide it. We want to share it with other people. We want to light up the whole world with God’s love!  But the “light” does not come from our own power.  We are not called to shine our own light; we are called to reflect His!
 
So how can we stay “lit,” like that joyous birthday candle, to reflect His light?  We can read the Bible.  We can discuss this verse with our family.  We can watch ONLINE church.  We can share our gifts and be a good example for our brothers, sisters and friends. 

We can also pray.  God always wants to hear from us.  When we pray we can ask Him to help us reflect His grace in all we do so we can be THAT sparkly birthday candle to everyone we meet!

Today’s Sunday School lesson includes light and salt experiments, shadow puppets, salt paintings, salt circuits, kaleidoscope and lantern DIY’s!  Your children can make one and share one!  Yes! You are invited to be THAT light!