First we talked about some of the best and worst jobs the kids have ever had to do. This got pretty gross actually....especially for those with younger siblings!!
Then we played "It's a Party!" This is where one person is the party host and stays inside the room. The other kids enter the party after having been given their occupations. They shake hands with the party host and give a clue as to their occupation and the host has to guess what they do for a living. For example, the pastor shook the host's hand and said, "Bless you for inviting me to your party. I am praying for you." Some of our "actors" had things they had to do once at the party as well that hinted at their occupation. We talked about how tough some of the jobs and their descriptions were and then transitioned into talking about one of the toughest jobs in the Old Testament....High Priest.
We started talking about Genesis and God's creations, specifically Adam and Eve. We explained that like priceless works of art, people are God's masterpieces. We talked about how this makes us feel. Then I used a black marker to deface a poster of the Mona Lisa. I gave her a mustache and fuzzy eye brows and marked her face all up. Why? Because this is what happens to God's masterpieces when they sin! Suddenly, we're not so valuable anymore, are we? The kids took turns cutting a piece of the poster off for themselves then and were encouraged to see that marked-up, cut-up art as themselves.
We read Leviticus 5:5-10 then and asked the kids what all of the blood and death signifies about sin and how the passage made them feel. Then we talked about the role of the High Priest in Israel. We read Leviticus 16:5, 15-17, and 20-22. We asked the kids to summarize the high priest's job in their own words. What did he do and what was he trying to achieve? How did he represent Israel before God and how did God use him to address Israel's sin problem? We talked about the animals that were sacrificed.
Next we talked New Testament and read Hebrews 9:11-15. We talked about how Jesus is similar to the OT high priests and how He is different. We talked about the Messiah's bloody sacrifice to once and for all take away our sins and how this makes us feel. We showed the clip from The Chronicles of Narnia then....the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe...where Aslan sacrifices himself to the White Witch for Edmund's law-breaking ways. Lucy and Susan watch on in horror and with tears...only to see Aslan rise again after he has been confirmed dead. This wasn't actually part of the curriculum, but it was the one aspect of our lessons the kids said they would miss most with doing an actual curriculum...so I figured I'd oblige them! And it fit!
Lastly, while quietly listening to School of Worship's rendition of "Nothing But the Blood", the kids were given paintbrushes and different shades of red paint and asked to write Jesus all over a large scroll of paper. The kids were asked to really think about the sacrifice Jesus made for them while they did this project.
We challenged the kids to really think about their own sin over the next week...their own part in the big human problem. We asked them to consider their need for forgiveness and their dependence on a High Priest as the only true way.
That's not it until next week however. The kids were each given a notebook and a "5 for 5 World Tour" sheet for the week. They are life application and devotional challenges for them to do each day. They can answer each day's question in their journal and we encouraged them to Facebook about their responses on our page or e-mail or text someone else about it. The devotions only take 5 minutes a day and so we really encouraged the kids that, to get the most out of this study, they need to work on all five challenges before next week.
Please remind them to bring their notebooks with them weekly, as we will be adding to them with all we learn in class, as well as at home.
All of this is preparing their hearts for the ATF event in April whose theme focuses on God's relentless pursuit of each of them.
