SUNDAY SCHOOL @ HOME – First Sunday in Advent (November 29, 2020)

Bible Passage (for parents)
Hope (Isaiah 64:1-9)

Today is the first Sunday in Advent.  Advent is a special time in the church year.  It is a time when we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus.  We prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus born as a baby in Bethlehem.  We prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus among us here and now.  We prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus in glory at the end of time.  There are four Sundays in Advent and that means there are four Sundays before Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, born as a baby in Bethlehem.  Advent is a time of waiting, but it isn’t a boring, sitting around kind of waiting.  We are waiting in an active way.  We are looking and preparing for Jesus to come.

 

Watch this video together:

https://youtu.be/CVukGlAeoKU

 

Read:

The people of Judah were so discouraged when they were in exile and then they were discouraged when they returned to Jerusalem because it was a pile of rubble.  They asked God for forgiveness and remembered that they were still God’s people and that God was still their God.  That gave them hope.  We put our hope in God even when things seem bad.  God has worked in our lives before and God will work in our lives again.  We have hope because of who God is.  God is our God and we are God’s people.  We have hope because we are created by God, loved by God, sealed by God, and marked with the cross of Christ forever, and we are God’s children.  That is what we are.  Our hope is in the Lord.

Discuss

  • What is something you are hoping for?
  • How have you seen God at work in your life?
  • What does hope feel like?

 

Song

My Hope Is in the Lord.  Group Publishing Cave Quest VBS Music Video.  Life Tree Kids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJePCzTaQo4

 

Activity

If your family uses an Advent wreath, light the first candle today and use this litany as you do so:

One:  When the world seems scary or uncertain,

Others:  Our hope is in the Lord.

 

One:  When things aren’t as they should be,

Others:  Our hope is in the Lord.

 

One:  When people mess up,

Others:  Our hope is in the Lord.

 

One:  When things are good,

Others:  Our hope is in the Lord.

 

One:  Today we light the candle of hope.

Others:  Our hope is in the Lord.

 

Pray:  Thank you, God, that you are with us.  Thank you for your faithfulness to your children.  May the candle of hope be a reminder today and throughout the Advent season that our hope is in you.  Amen.

 

If you don’t have an Advent wreath, download this page and color the first candle either blue or purple:

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Activity

Use some playdough, model magic, or clay to create something.  God is like a potter creating wonderful things.  Isaiah 64:8 says, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are clay, and you are our potter; we are all the works of your hand.”  Create a way you see God or something that God has done.  Consider how God is like a potter and how we are like clay.

 

Prayer

God, our hope is in you.  You love us and are always with us.  Help us watch for the coming of Jesus, born as a baby in Bethlehem, coming among us here and now and coming again in glory at the end of time.  Amen.

 

Pastor Dan Fugate, Assistant to the Bishop for Discipleship in the Indiana-Kentucky Synod, ELCA, put this lesson together for Sunday School @ Home.  There will be a new one for each Sunday while we are unable to gather together physically in our congregational buildings.  Contact him at [email protected].

 

Portions of this lesson adapted from Let Earth Receive Her King by The Foundry Publishing.  Used with permission.