“You are the Light of the world”

INTRO:  This lesson was used on February 5, 2017.

Scripture

Matthew 5:13-20  (Salt and Light)

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Welcome:  Got our hot chocolate and some cookies to dunk!

Open with conversation:  Everyone shared something. We got to talking about the movies they want to see. Everyone agreed that we want to see Trolls 2!

Scripture search: Use the table of contents or use the Gospel trick. (We split the Bible pages in half, and then split the right hand side into half. You should end up on or close to the Gospels. We chant “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John!” while we are searching.) Older kids helped younger kids find chapter and verse.  Volunteer reads; others followed along.

Activity: This is such an amazing scripture full of images and ideas. All of them can be used, but I like simple! We read the whole thing, and we end with Jesus’ imperative “…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

As far as deciding on an activity on which to base the whole lesson, I chose “You are the Light of the world.”  I can think of many artsy activities that would illustrate this message, but this week I wanted to make it very literal. I darkened our classroom. (lights out, window covered) I asked the kids to find a small candle in the dark. They couldn’t find it. We discussed the difficulty and what makes it so hard. Next, I lit the tiny candle. Now try to find it. It’s easy!

Discussion time:

What made it difficult in the dark?

What made it easier?

What are “dark times” in our lives?

(When people are acting crummy toward us. When we’re sick. When we are angry. When our friends want us to do something we shouldn’t do. When we have the urge to go against the rules.)

Now, what makes it easier to make good choices on those bad days?

(Knowing what Jesus wants us to do. Knowing what our parents would want us to do. Remembering how we will feel after we do naughty things.)  

We want to walk toward Jesus’ light. We want to follow His lead when we make our decisions. In this story, Jesus is empowering His followers (yes, that means us, too!) to BE that light TODAY, for ourselves and for other people who also need direction in making decisions and following God.

One of my students, said, “Hey, that’s just like the song we sang in church—‘Hide it under a bushel, NO! I’m gonna let it shine!’” Yep! It sure is like that song! Did I mention I love my Sunday School kids? And, yes, we sang the song!

Closing Prayer

 Dear God, we thank you for being our light when we are in the dark. Thank you for giving us Jesus to be our light. Help us to remember that we are also the light for others when they are having a dark time. Give us the courage to let our light shine so that it might show the way to you, oh God. Amen.

More Activities:

Arts and Crafts:

Stained glass craft: trace a color page image of a candle onto Plastic wrap. Move the wrap to a aluminum-foil-covered piece of cardboard. Once wrap is secured, color the image with sharpie markers, outline in black sharpie. The foil will reflect light, the colors are transparent. Looks pretty cool!

Mosaic of torn paper: draw a candle or lantern. Fill the spaces of the candle with paper. Fill all the surrounding area with dark colors, starting with black on the border of the paper, working inward to purple, red, orange, yellow, then the white/yellow surrounding the flame. That should be pretty stunning!

Make a real, rustic lantern: Canning jar, wire, votive candle: wrap the lip of jar with wire, creating a bail from which to hang the lantern. Add any decorative elements. Place candle inside. Cute and they give off a lot of light!

Decorate a small glass votive candle holder with just about anything. Use the upcoming holiday, the season, a gift for a friend who might need a little pick-me-up, or maybe someone in church who is older than their parents who doesn’t have a grandkid in this church.

Any craft that includes:  Lamps, candles, glow-in-the-dark items, fire, flashlights, torches, the sun and moon. The list can go on and on!

Any activity that includes trying to do something in the dark vs. in the light. Finding, following, reading, small tasks, etc., with and without light.

Skits about showing the difficulty between doing things well with and without light and how that relates to making choices with and without God’s (or Jesus’, parents’, good friends’, or teachers’) guidance.

Songs that talk about shining our light:

“This Little Light of Mine,”

“We Are Marching in the Light of God,”

“Let Your Light Shine”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXkxRNEy8XA&ab_channel=TracyJ001

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