Remember
Breath Prayer
Breath in: God is love
Breath out: And He loves me
Song Themes: Love One Another
Remember one another
Is anyone celebrating something that happened this week? Let’s share so we can all thank God together.
Is anyone struggling, feeling sad, lonely or scared? How can we pray for one another?
Remember what we learned last week
Practice the Following Jesus Liturgy (With our youngest kids only focus on the portion that we’re currently learning)
Leader: Who remembers what we learned last week?
Persevere in worship
What does persevere mean and how can we lean in to worship to help us get through hard times?
Reflect: Love
Before reading the scripture ask the kids to tell you what they think "love" means.
What is love?
What makes you feel loved?
How do you show love to someone else?
Let's see what the scripture has to say about love.
Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Optional: Watch the short video below, "God is Love"
Discuss:
When God put His Spirit in us He marked us with His love. He filled us up with His love so that we could pour it out to others. Now that Jesus is seated on His throne people can't see Him walking around Earth like they could when He was with His disciples. But people can see us! The Church is meant to show the world what love looks like! How do we do that? By treating others the way Jesus treats us.
He is kind to us
He is patient with us
He isn't rude or dishonoring
He's always looking out for our best
He isn't easily angered, but full of peace
He doesn't keep track of every bad thing we do and hold it against us. He is forgiving!
That is who we are meant to be! But we can't do it on our own. We need God to help us and teach us. And hopefully, as we grow up and learn to follow Him we get better at loving God and loving others all the days of our lives!
Respond: Charades
Have some fun identifying the different characteristics of love
If you have older kids you can have them be the ones to act. Otherwise an adult will take the lead and have the kids guess.
Instructions: Make a list of the qualities of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. You may want to do this beforehand on a large sheet of paper or poster board that everyone can see. For younger kids you will need to define words like "boast" and "envy".
Have 2 people volunteer. They will choose what quality and how to act it out for the group. The group will then guess which words from the scripture they're acting out. Some examples are negative or show the opposite of love, that ok! For example, love DOES NOT boast. The kids may choose to act out what boasting looks and sounds like. Have fun and encourage everyone to be creative!
Act out:
Being patient with someone
Being kind to another person
Being envious and whining for what someone else has
Being dishonoring to a friend/honoring a friend
Refusing to do what's best for the other person/putting someone else first
Being easily angered/slow to anger
Erasing wrongs or being forgiving
Rejoicing in the Truth
Protecting, trusting, persevering, etc!
The goal of the activity is to see that love is an action. It impacts our relationships. You may get creative and act out various type of relationships (A child and parent, a teacher and child, two peers, siblings, etc). Help the kids who are acting to come up with a short scenario and watch as they bring it to life. If the adult is acting make sure to involve the kids as much as possible.
When the game is over and everyone has had a chance to participate, ask questions.
Could you relate to any of the examples that were acted out?
Which characteristic of love is the hardest for you?
Which characteristic comes more naturally?
Experience: Receive God's Love
Read the scripture again over the kids. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Now, read it again, but replace the word "love" with "God."
Because God is love, we know that He is all of these things. He is patient and kind and forgiving.
Take 2-5 minutes to pray with the kids. Pray that God would fill us with His love so that we could love others well. Invite the kids to pray too. They may want to ask for God's help or invite His love to live more deeply in their hearts.
Optional: End with a short video that rehearses what we've learned.