The three wisemen…in February? Okay, so I’m way behind in updating this blog. We actually did this story on December 30.
We started by reviewing our song
from the previous week with the bells.
We asked, who told the shepherds this good news? Angels.
So we all played at being Christmas angels and telling each other the
good news. Each kid got a turn to take
one cellphone and dial a number which caused a second cellphone to ring with a
“We Wish You a Merry Christmas” ringtone.
Each kid also had a turn being the one to answer that phone, upon which
the first kid was supposed to say: “Good News, Jesus is born!” Everyone did great at the dialing and answering;
not so well at the greeting part, but we tried!
Okay, besides sending angels to
announce Jesus’ birth, God made a huge star appear in the sky (post on board)
that was different from all the other stars in the sky. People could see it a long, long way from
where Jesus was born. Some of the people
who saw it were scientists from a faraway country (introduce three wise men who
look at the star through a telescope).
They thought it was especially strange that it didn’t seem to move like
the other stars, but seemed like it was hanging over one place. They decided they would go see if they could
find out where it was. They were sure
that it meant something special, like a great king had been born. So,
they figured they’d better bring gifts to give to this great king. (Each wise man gets a bag with a wrapped gift
inside).
They start out to follow the star. It was really a long way. How long do you think it took them? --one week?
--six months? --a year?
--two years!
Finally they
arrive in the country of Israel, and it’s obvious that this is the country the
star is hanging over. They think, okay,
since this is a king’s star, the new king must be in the palace, right? So they knock on the palace door, and tell
the servant who answers that they are here to see the new King who is so
special he has his own star. The servant
figures he better tell the King (in crown) about this! The King has not heard about any new
King. How do you think he takes the
news? He wants to know more. He welcomes the wisemen & asks them why
they think there is a new King. They
explain they saw this special star almost two years ago, and it seems to be
hanging over Israel. He tells them to
wait until he talks to his own wisemen.
He talks with some people who know the Bible and asks, isn’t there some
place where the Bible says exactly where the everlasting ruler of Israel is
going to be born? They open a Bible and
say, it says here that He will be born in Bethlehem. So the King tells them how to get to Bethlehem
from there. He tells them, when you find
out exactly where He is, please come back and tell me, so I can go see Him
too.
The wisemen go to Bethlehem, and
the star leads them right to Jesus
We
had the wisemen stay overnight with Jesus and His family. (Wisemen, Mary &
Joseph lay down on towels on the floor).
While they are sleeping, an angel with halo appears to the wisemen &
says, don’t go back to see the king; go back to your home another way. So they get up and go home. Then the angel goes over to where Joseph is
sleeping and says, get up, take Mary and Jesus and go to Egypt, quickly, before
it is too late! So they get up and
leave.
When the king realizes the
wisemen are not coming back, he gets angry and kills all the baby boys in
Bethlehem (a couple of kids assigned to be soldiers find the babies that were
posted around the walls, take them down and tear them up). Sad end to story!
Next, we reviewed how the
wisemen had come looking for a king, but how we had seen last week that Jesus
was also born to be a Savior. I had
prepared a simple visual to explain the plan of salvation; I think I should
have just used it as a visual instead of having the kids make their own as a
craft. It seemed to distract from it
actually having a meaning. Sigh—live and
learn.
Then we played a game where the
kids had to find different Chinese chess pieces in a bowl, labeled gold,
frankincense, and myrrh, and bring one of each to Jesus, in a relay race.
Finally, we harked back to how
the wisemen had brought gifts to Jesus, and made edible gifts made out of
stacked cookies tied up with licorice strings.
I’d hoped we’d have time to make extra so each kid could give one to
their parent, but we ran out of time. Oh
well. I’d rather run out of time than
run out of activities, any
Sunday!
