session 47 aim

Session 47 God comes to the shepherdsAs you enjoy the story of the angels and the shepherds together, encourage the children to think about what the angel’s good news was. At Christmas, are we getting excited about the birth of a baby or the arrival of a Saviour?

To plan your session... Choose a selection of Opening, Into the Bible and Living the life activities to make your session fun and memorable.

Options to open your session...Ready to use

activity

Sharing newsActivity time: 5 minutes Aim: to come with good news 1 Ask the children (and leaders) to

think of one piece of good news. This could be something that has happened or is going to happen. It could be about them, their family or someone they know, or it could be something they’ve seen on the news.

2 Choose one child who wants to share their good news. They should knock on a (real or imaginary) door, open it and everyone says, ‘Hello [name]’. The child responds with, ‘I have come with good news that…’ and tells their news. Continue until everyone who wants to has shared some good news with the group.

Aim To explore how God comes

with good news

Bible passage Luke 2:8–21

Percussion praiseActivity time: 5–10 minutes Aim: to praise God together You will need: percussion instruments1 Give out the instruments and say

that everyone is going to say their own name while beating or shaking an instrument to the rhythm of the words. Encourage the children to practise and then listen to everyone in turn.

2 Explain that they are going to do the same thing but, this time, they are going to use phrases that praise God (for example, ‘Glory to God’ or ‘Praise to God in heaven’). Help everyone to think of a phrase, then go round the circle with each child saying and beating their praise and everyone else then copying them.

3 If you don’t have any percussion the children could clap or stamp the rhythms.

Running gameActivity time: 5 minutes Aim: to introduce the idea of good news You will need: signs and ideas from page 3301 Put up a sign saying ‘good news’ at

one end of your room and at the other a sign saying ‘bad news’; signs are available on page 330.

2 Read out the different news items from page 330 and challenge the children to run to whichever end of the room they think indicates the type of news. If you don’t have a lot of space they can do thumbs up or thumbs down.

3 After each piece of news ask different children why they think it is good or bad. Be aware that answers may vary depending on the children’s perspectives.

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Into the Bible – options to explore the Bible passage...

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Session 47 | God comes to the shepherds | Luke 2:8–21 | Into the Bible 327

Ready to useactivity

Bible story with sound effectsActivity time: 20 minutes Aim: to explore how God comes with good news You will need: percussion instruments (can be home-made), two copies of name cards from page 331

1 Prepare Give out the percussion instruments, if you have them, and explain that you need sound effects to help tell today’s story. If you don’t have instruments, you could use hands, feet, pens or voices to make suitable sounds. Ask the children for ideas of sound effects for the story and then practise making the sounds in the appropriate way. Some suggestions are listed below but, of course, it depends on what instruments you have:night-time (Swanee whistle; snoring)angel (bells or maracas; shout ‘Hallelujah’)glory (triangle or chime bar)fear (guiro/scraper or maracas)good news and happy (shaking bells or tambourine; clapping hands)baby (rain stick; fi ngers tapping)suddenly/surprise (cymbals or triangle)praising God (banging tambourine; rapidly slapping hands on table)talking (castanets)footsteps (coconut shells or claves; stamping feet)Mary thinking (Swanee whistle; saying ‘tick, tock, tick, tock’)

2 Bible story After deciding how to make sounds for the story, read or tell the account of the angels visiting the shepherds from Luke 2:8–21 while the children accompany you. You might like to tell the story twice – fi rst as a practice and then ‘for real’.

3 Good news Remind the children that the Opening activities focused on good news. What was the good news brought by the angels? Can they remember the three different names used to describe the baby? (Saviour, Christ and Lord.) Each one tells us more about why Jesus is good news.

Show the children one of the ‘Saviour’ name cards or write the name on six sticky notes. Explain that ‘Saviour’ means to save people from their sin (ie Jesus can forgive them and help them not to do it again). That’s good news! This name has the symbol of the cross next to it. Look at the New Testament section of the SU Bible Timeline and ask the children which pictures show the good news that Jesus is a ‘Saviour’ (these are: ‘God becomes human’, ‘Jesus teaches and heals’, ‘Jesus dies in our place’, ‘Jesus is alive again!’, ‘The Holy Spirit comes’, ‘Jesus will return again’). Invite the children to stick the word ‘Saviour’ to the appropriate panels.Next show the name ‘Christ’, which means ‘the anointed one’ or the person God chose to do a special job, or write it on six sticky notes. The symbol is a ram’s horn full of oil because that was how people were anointed (or chosen) in Bible times. Ask the children which pictures show the good news that Jesus came to do a special job and then stick ‘Christ’ to those panels (‘God becomes human’, ‘Jesus teaches and heals’, ‘Jesus dies in our place’, ‘Jesus is alive again!’, ‘Jesus returns to heaven’, ‘Jesus will return again’).Finally, talk about the name ‘Lord’, which means being a ruler (like a king – the symbol is a crown). Ask which pictures show the good news that Jesus is Lord or people obeying him and stick the word (or four sticky notes) to the appropriate panels (‘Jesus is alive again!’, ‘Jesus returns to heaven’ ‘The Holy Spirit sends’, ‘Jesus will return again’).

4 Think and pray Ask the children to think about the different names and encourage them to think about whether Jesus is their Saviour. Has he forgiven them? Do they obey him? Do they believe he is the Christ who God sent into the world? Allow the children to respond quietly before saying a summary prayer thanking Jesus for being good news.An MP3 of this story is available in the zip folder.


But the angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day in King David’s home town a Saviour was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay.’ (Second leader repeats the words, phrase by phrase, after you.)Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said, ‘Praise God in heaven! Peace on earth to everyone who pleases God.’ (Children repeat words after you.)After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.’ (Shepherds look at one another; children repeat words.)They hurried off (children take shepherds to the tableau) and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay.When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him (shepherds ‘tell’ Mary and Joseph what happened). Everyone listened and was surprised. But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant.As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him (children return to the circle). Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said. (Shepherds nod to one another.)Eight days later, Jesus’ parents did for him what the Law of Moses commands. And they named him Jesus, just as the angel had told Mary when he promised she would have a baby.

3 Look, think and pray Ask the children what the angel’s ‘good news’ was. It was Jesus being born! Look together at the New Testament pictures on the SU Bible Timeline and talk about how they show that Jesus is good news. Using these ideas encourage every child to pray by taking turns around the circle to say, ‘Thank you, God, that Jesus is good news because… Amen’.

Bible story with puppetsActivity time: 20 minutes Aim: to explore how God comes with good news You will need: copies of the Splash! sheet from page 332, copies of the Splash! sheets from pages 316 and 323 (optional)

1 Make and chat In advance, if you don’t already have Mary, an angel, Joseph and Jesus puppets, make them using the Splash! sheets from pages 316 and 323.Help the children make the shepherds and sheep from the Splash! sheet from page 332 and, while doing so, chat about what life was like for shepherds in Bible times (for example, they were poor, weren’t trusted, had to travel to find food and water). In a normal day, what would be bad news for a shepherd? What might be good news?

2 Bible storyShow the children the puppets for Mary, Gabriel, Joseph and Jesus. Ask who each character is and what has happened to them in the story so far. Place the figures of Mary, Joseph and Jesus in a tableau and leave on display. Invite each child to bring their sheep and one of their shepherds as they sit with you in a circle to find out what happened next. Have the angel puppet hidden from view as he will be needed later – if possible, ask a second leader to ‘work’ him.Tell the story from Luke 2:8–21 while the children ‘work’ their shepherd puppets. This account, with stage directions, is based on the Contemporary English Version.Story: That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep (shepherds in a circle but looking around as if on guard). All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord (second leader produces angel puppet), and the brightness of the Lord’s glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened (shepherds shake with fear or hide).

Into the Bible – options (continued)...

328 Session 47 | God comes to the shepherds | Luke 2:8–21 | Into the Bible

If you want to do a short series with your group, other sessions that work well with this one are:

Session 43 Obedient Joseph, Matthew 1:18–25

Session 44 God comes to the wise men, Matthew 2:1–23

Session 45 God comes to Mary, Luke 1:26–56

Session 46 God comes to Bethlehem, Luke 2:1–7

Session 48 The best present, Revelation 22:12–21

Session 49 Happy birthday, Jesus! Christmas narratives; John 3:16

More on this theme


Play songs based on this story while the children are doing their different craft activities. For example ‘Tonight’ from Graham Kendrick’s The Gift or ‘Glory to God in the highest’ from Handel’s Messiah.

Extra ideas for the session, and beyond...There’s an audio version of this story in the zip folder; encourage the children to sit quietly and listen to it, imagining what happened.All Resource Christmas (ISBN 978 1 78506 559 0) has lots of ideas, prayers, dramas and craft activities to supplement any of your Christmas sessions and events.

Living the life – options to help live God’s way...Ready to use

activity

Spread the good newsActivity time: 5–10 minutes Aim: to tell others God’s good news You will need: copies of the Splash! sheet from page 3321 If they haven’t already made

them, help the children to make the shepherd puppets from the Splash! sheet from page 332.

2 Remind the children that, if the angels hadn’t come, the shepherds might never have known the good news about Jesus.

3 Ask the children if they have any friends or family members who, like the shepherds, don’t yet know Jesus. Give each child three sticky notes and help them write down the names of three such friends – one on each note – and stick them to the shepherds.

4 Suggest that the children, like the angels, could bring the good news to their friends. What might they say? Write their ideas on sticky notes and stick these to their shepherds.

5 Pray specifi cally that, this week, the children will speak about Jesus to the people they have named.

Sorting gameActivity time: 5–10 minutes Aim: to think about and tell God’s good news You will need: a large selection of both religious and secular Christmas cards (new or used)1 Show a selection of Christmas cards

and explain that you’d like them to be sorted into two piles. One pile should have pictures showing the good news about Jesus (ie biblical images) and the other pile is for what people who don’t know Jesus think is important about Christmas (for example, Christmas trees, robins, snow, Santa).

2 The card sorting can either be done as a large group or in pairs or small groups, or as a relay race with a chair or hoop at each end of the room for the different piles.

3 When the cards are sorted, ask each child to choose one from the Jesus pile and then tell a partner (or the whole group) about the good news in the picture.

Iced biscuitsActivity time: 10 minutes Aim: to think about and tell God’s good news You will need: plain biscuits, royal icing, tubes of coloured icing, small sweets, paper plates, small plastic bags1 Prepare your area by disinfecting or

covering tables and washing hands.2 Tell the children that they are going

to decorate some biscuits to tell the good news about Jesus. Ask them for key words from the story (for example, joy, peace, angel, baby, Jesus, glory).

3 Give each child one or more biscuits and a plate, and invite them to write one of the key words on each biscuit in coloured icing or sweets. Help them to put their plate and biscuits carefully in a small plastic bag to take home.

4 Encourage the children to share the good news with people at home by talking about the words before eating the biscuits together (be aware of hygiene and allergies).

Session 47 | God comes to the shepherds | Luke 2:8–21 | Living the life 329

Blue Compendium


Copyright © Scripture Union 2018

Photocopiable resource... Session 47

330 Session 47 | God comes to the shepherds | Luke 2:8–21 | Photocopiable resource

Blue Compendium

News for ‘Running game’

Sam has lost his favourite T-shirt

Ravi has bought Christmas presents for all his family

Molly has learned to swim

Ben has joined the Beavers

Faith has got chickenpox

Hannah is going to help decorate the Christmas tree

Shalini has fallen out with her best friend

Grace has a spelling test at school tomorrow

Mark has been chosen to be ‘Joseph’ in the school play

Carys failed her dancing exam

Dexter is having a sleepover at his friend’s house

Seth has finished his school project

Good news

Bad news


Copyright © Scripture Union 2018

Photocopiable resource... Session 47

Session 47 | God comes to the shepherds | Luke 2:8–21 | Photocopiable resource 331

Blue Compendium

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session 47 aim

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