I don't think this is one of my best, but I wanted the kids to have a chance to give a lot of feedback and time to think about what Jesus is calling us to here in the gospel lesson.
Be-Attitudes—what does it mean to be blessed by Jesus?
When you talk in school about
character plus traits in your school, what do you talk about? What is your trait this month? (If they can’t think of any) Some
I’ve seen are:
Respect, Responsibility. Peace, Caring, Integrity, Courage
Did you know that Jesus has a similar list of character traits
for us? It’s not what you expect!
In our story for today, we talked about something we call “Jesus’
Beattitudes.” Some times it’s
easiest to think about them as the be-attitudes—ways we should act towards
others. Here, he blesses: the poor
in spirit—what do you think that means?
Those who mourn—what does that mean? Can you act it out for me? Those who are meek—this one may be a little hard, but what
do you think it means? Those who
are merciful—how can you show mercy to others? In other words, God blesses: whose you are humble, without
hope, those who are sad, those who are gentle and don’t hurt others, those who
give up some of what they have to help others, and those who tell the truth and
other people hurt them because of it!
Some of these are not too hard—being gentle and helping others—but some
are scary.
I don’t like to be sad or hurt, do you? But you see, God is an amazing and
powerful God—in those times when we are scared and sad and hurt, he reminds us
that he’s with us and when we get to heaven, these difficult things will
disappear! If we are sad now, he
will make us happy! If we show
kindness to others now, when we are in Heaven, our kindness will be
noticed. God loves us very much
but things are not always easy, and he asks us to consider the needs of others
over our own here. What are some
ways you can demonstrate these attitudes?
