A Coronavirus Children’s Lesson

Jesus Calls Us to Have Faith Matt 8:23-27; Mark 4: 35-41; Luke 8: 22-25

Key Themes God is in charge of our world. When we are afraid he wants us to trust him, to have faith in him.  God is with us.

You may use hand motions, figures, flannel graph* or print pictures to go with the story. Avoid using stylized pictures; rather use pictures that depict real life. *Most children love flannel graph because it’s rather new to them.

Our story today comes from God’s true book, the Bible. It’s a beautiful story in the New Testament part of our Bible. Hold your Bible open to the story, The story is about Jesus and his special friends, the disciples. 

Some of you may have heard or read this story before. I’ve heard it many times, but it is such a beautiful, amazing story I want all of us to listen as if it’s the first time we’ve ever heard it. And if you listen closely, it may remind you of something that is happening right now in all of our lives. There are clues in this story showing all of us how God wants us to be.  I think that when this story happened and later was written down and included in our Bible it was written especially for times like now. Listen very closely.

It was the end of a long day in which Jesus had been teaching so many people about the kingdom of God.  Stretch your arm in front of you making a semi-circle to mimic a crowd. He decided that it was time to go to the other side of the lake where it was quiet. Point behind you. So he and his disciples climbed into a boat. Stretch out your hands in front of you and cup them to resemble the front of a boat. It wasn’t a big boat. It was probably a fishing boat that could hold a lot of fish and a couple of fishermen. It didn’t have a motor. It used a sail. Raise one hand, on one side of your body to mimic a sail. 

Soon Jesus fell asleep. Fold hands under your tilted head. I’m sure He was so tired from teaching people all day long. He had been telling them stories about the Kingdom of Heaven and he had healed a blind man. 

While Jesus was sleeping the weather changed. The wind grew strong and blew against the boat. Using your hands, create wave and wind motions. The waves got bigger and bigger and water came over the sides of the boat drenching the disciples. A few of Jesus’ disciples knew all about boats and the lake because they were fishermen. However, this storm was something that they did not expect. It was terrifying to them. They ran over to Jesus and shook him awake. Use your hands to mimic waking someone up. “Master, Master” they cried “Do you not care that we are going to drown!” Jesus stood up and said to the wind and the waves, “Peace, be still.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Where is your faith?” The disciples were astonished and afraid. Open your mouth and appear afraid. They said to one another, “Who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him?” 

Reflection: You may ask these as rhetorical questions or you may have children answer them. You don’t need to use every question. It is helpful if you tell children to pause for a bit before they answer allowing quiet children time to think of a response. 

I wonder how Jesus was able to calm the wind and the waves?

I wonder what lesson he wanted the disciples to learn?

I wonder what changed inside the disciples?

I wonder if they realized that Jesus was God?

I wonder if you are afraid of something right now?

I wonder if you know that God knows that you are worried and afraid?

I wonder if you know how to trust God instead of worrying?

Conclusion: All our lives we will have times when we must remember that God is with us and that his love for us will never change. There may be times when this is hard for each of us to believe, but God knows that too. The Bible says God knows that we are human and struggle with having faith. 

Yet He still wants us to trust him even if we don’t know what will happen next. Is this a hard thing? Yes, it is a hard thing. This is called faith. Faith comes from God and God grows it in us. One way He does this is through his Word. He gives us these stories (point to your Bible) for us to remember who He is and what He does. And because He is working in our lives, we can remember how He has given us faith and helped us in the past.

Other Activities

Music: Sandra McCraken’s albums Rain for Roots wrote the following beautiful song for young children.

https://rainforroots.bandcamp.com/track/jesus-stops-a-storm

Prayer

You may do a group popcorn prayer,

Draw or write a prayer request to God.

Draw a picture of the story.

Draw something that makes you anxious, worried, or upset. Then fold the picture and ask God for faith to trust him.

Draw a picture of what faith looks like to you. It may be a picture of how you will act and trust God. Prayer can be a picture of faith. Reading God’s Word is another way to express faith.

Make a poster, decorate a pillowcase etc. with words or a picture from this story such as “Fear Not,”

Songs

Do Not Fear, I am With You. Isaiah 41:10  by Seeds Family Worship, from the album Seeds of Courage  

Psalm 23: An Additional Option or Add/On

Psalm 23 is full of beautiful images of God’s constant protection and is familiar to most  children. 

For older children, you may want to tell the story of The Good Shepherd. The link below is well done and includes background information on shepherding. It is from the 2016 Good Shepherd Lessons by the Catholic Children’s Society Shrewsbury Diocese in the UK.