Baptism and Temptation –
This year we are using Echo as our storytelling to help us relate to God’s story to discover meaning and develop fresh insights. It is our prayer that you can engage with your family using creative writing, drawing, and conversation.
Each student will need a journal to complete the weekly activities. If you need one at home, please contact Heather.
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Invocation
Find a Candle that you can light, and keep it with your Club 56 gear 🙂 Add to your space a few seashells.
Invocation: the act of inviting or welcoming or acknowledging that God is present in our space.
As you light your candle, say this invocation out loud: “I light this candle in the name of God, our Creator; Jesus, our Savior; and the Holy Spirit, our Inspirer. The three in one!”
Opening Question
Why do you think we added the seashells to our space? (Parents, don’t tell your kids what you think, give them space to think about it).
Review
The material we are using is called Echo, so let us echo the last section 🙂 Review the previous section with your student. Ask them to tell you about what they sketched, the questions they had, and their reflections.
Prepare
Each story has its own symbol, it will help us remember the story. Right now, turn to page 24 and students will draw their own version of Baptism & Temptation.
Parents and students, read together pages 26 and 27 from your journal. Talk through the questions that are listed and any that you might have. Feel free to talk about the questions, but no pressure to answer them!
Parents: It is OK not to know everything, even Pastors carry a lot of unanswered questions.
Read and Imagine
Students, open your journal to pages 28-29, pull out your pens or markers, and doodle or sketch what comes to your mind as you listen. Once you have completed sketching the images, share what you’ve done with a parent.
Parents, this week you will read to your student Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation, as you are reading they will be sketching.
Capture what you noticed
Use pages 30 and 31 in your journal. What stood out to you? What did you see or sense? What questions do you have about this story? ANYTHING (we mean anything) is okay to ask. A few that we had: Did Jesus get in trouble for staying at church for 3 days without his parents? Why did Jesus need to be baptized? Why was it John? Did Jesus and John KNOW each other? They were cousins. Was Jesus tempted to eat, to have riches, power? Write your list out too.
Keep these questions handy, every so often, we’re inviting a Pastor to discuss with us! Send your questions to Heather and she’ll get them on our list.
This story has A LOT to do with authority. Who has the authority to baptize? Did Jesus have the authority to change things like the tempter tried?
When you pray…
Maybe you’re inspired to write or speak your own, if so, please do so! If you’d rather, you can just read together with the following:
Creator God, thank you for these stories that shows us how Jesus lived. Help us explore, ask, and wonder about your creation, your story, and help us find our story too. AMEN
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Thank you for joining us today! If you have a student in Grade 5 or 6, sign them up for Club 56 today! If you have questions about this resource or would like additional information, please contact Heather or Pastor Ben.