It's all about...Loving one another!

Verse to memorize

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Objective of the lesson

Explain to the children what Love really means,  when you love you care about that person and if she is upset or passing by a problem you will help her.  God is Love, and when we love we show God.

Jesus tell us a story

Did you know that Jesus loved telling stories? So today we are going to learn one!

Once upon a time, a man asked Jesus: "Teacher, what should I do so I can go to Heaven and live forever?"

And  Jesus answer him “What do you think?" and the man said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength, and love your neighbour as yourself."

"That is right!"  Jesus said.  "Do this and you will live forever in Heaven."  But the man wanted to know more so he asked , "And who is my neighbour?"

So Jesus decided to tell him a story  saying:  There was once a Jewish man walking along a road.  He was going from Jerusalem  to Jericho, which was very far.

The road was rocky and there were small hills all around.  The man was just humming to himself and enjoying the nice day when suddenly a group of men jumped out from behind a hill.  They took all his belongings and tore off most of his clothes.  They didn't want him to follow them so they beat him up really badly, and left him bleeding, lying on the ground.

A few minutes later a priest was walking down the same path and noticed the man lying on the side of the road.  Do you know what he did?  You'd think he would run over and help the man.  Instead he crossed the road to the other side and acted like he didn't see the man.

About an hour or so later another man called a Levite was walking down the road.  Levites were people that assisted priests with their work.  He would probably help the man.  But you know what he did?  He slowed down and walked a little closer to the man, but then kept walking without helping him at all.

You might be thinking that maybe the man lying by the side of the road looked like he was resting or something, that's why the priest and the Levite didn't stop to help.  You could tell that he was badly hurt....  The man was bleeding, had most of his clothes ripped off him, and he was bruised and hardly breathing.

Just a few minutes later another man came walking.  He was a Samaritan.  One thing you should know about Samaritans is that Jews didn't like them.  Jews usually didn't treat Samaritans very well, so they never got along.  The man who was dying on the road was a Jew.  So what do you think the Samaritan did?  You'd think he would walk by and maybe even laugh at the man.

But as soon as he saw the man he went over to him and felt compassion for him.  He put bandages on his sores and poured oil and wine (which were quite expensive) on the sores to prevent them from getting worse.  Then he carried the man on his own donkey and took him to a hotel to take care of him. 

The next day the Samaritan took out enough money so the man could stay at the hotel until he was well enough to leave.  He paid the man at the front desk and asked him to take care of the man.  If he wasn't better after about  two months the Samaritan would come back and pay for any extra cost.

After Jesus finished the story he asked, "Which of the three men do you think was a neighbour to the man who was left beaten on the side of the road?"

The man who asked him the question at the beginning replied, "The one who had compassion and helped him."  Jesus told him, "Go and do the same."

Activities

1-Get the class together and create a big sign for your notice board, with children holding hands. Each child could make a character.

Then, ask each child to make a card for someone they would like to be closer to. See below and have fun!

2-  The Biblical Educator will cut up some papers and write each child's name on each piece. If they choose their own name they have to hand it back to the B Educator, but if they choose another name they will have to decorate the heart to hand it to another friend, and they can both hold unto the heart and make a prayer of agreement/prayer of love for one another. :)

 
You will need: 

• Coloured paper
• Plastic sticks
• Sticky tape
• Coloured pencil

Instructions:

• Cut the shape of an heart
• Decorate the heart any way you like
• Pepare the plastic stick/a firm straw to be placed behind the heart
• Place stick/firm straw behind the heart and put sticky tape to hold it in place