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Aim: To teach the children about being sorry/forgiveness Introduction: This topic looks at the concept of forgiveness and being sorry. In Jeremiah 31:34 God says. I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” God never fails to offer His forgiveness to His children when they come to Him and are sorry. God is faithful. He is the example that we should follow and show forgiveness to others. Taken from the BB Anchors Pro Pack S-2-3

Resources

Activity 1
Bible

Activity 2
• Dirty silver or brass object
• Clean silver or brass object
• Cleaner — silver or brass polish
• Cloth
• Gloves

Activity 3
• Masking tape
• Cardboard or paper cross that reaches from one side to the other

Instructions

Activity 1 - the Lord's Prayer

Aim: To understand the Lord’s prayer and why we need to ask for forgiveness and forgive others. This is also a great opportunity to get the children to memorize the prayer. Luke 11:13.

Preparation:
Read Luke 11

Instructions:
In Luke the disciples ask Jesus ‘How should we pray?’ Jesus answers by saying. ‘When you pray, say.....

So we have direction from Jesus, Part of the Lord’s prayer is about saying sorry to others and accepting others when they say sorry to us. We want the children to understand that God forgives us when we say we’re sorry and He also wants us to forgive others when they say sorry to us,

Do we remember to say sorry’ when we’ve done something wrong? Do we say sorry to God?

The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that children can learn at a young age. It is important to teach the Lord’s Prayer to children in a meaningful way, so that children’s prayer is more than reciting words.

Jesus begins The Lord’s Prayer by speaking to God who is the Father of all people — the people we like and those we don’t like; people who look like us and people that don’t look like us; people who believe in God and people who don’t believe in Him.

‘Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us’. We all make mistakes and we sometimes hurt people’s feelings and do things that we shouldn’t, Jesus names these things as sins, Doing things that make God unhappy, and that go against what He tells us what is right to do, means that we need to say sorry — we need to ask for forgiveness. This means that we can see that we have done wrong and we can ask God if we can straighten up that wrong. If you forgive other people, then they are more likely to forgive you. It is wrong to stay upset with someone. It doesn’t feel good to be upset does it?

Can you think of a time when you needed to say sorry to someone?
Can you think of a time when someone said sorry to you?
How did that make you feel?

Lets pray together and say the Lords prayer.

Extension Tasks/Adaptations:
It may be useful to start teaching at this age that Amen means that I agree, that what has been said is the truth - so that when they say Amen it is not just a word that they do not understand but a word that they can say with enthusiasm and energy.

Activity 2 - Shining As God Intended !!

Aim: To think about how God cleans us when we say sorry and how he works from inside us, from our hearts.

Preparation:
Have one of the objects cleaned and shining and put that away hidden. Prepare a table with materials away from the cleaner, cloth and dirty object.

Instructions:
Ask the children what they do when they get really dirty in the garden or when they have come back from a walk with their family or when they come back from football or rugby practice.

They have to get clean. So they might have a bath or a shower, they would wash their hands and face and then that would wash of all the dirt.

Well I have something that is really dirty here. You can’t really tell that it is dirty because you don’t know what it is supposed to look like. Well the Bible says that we are a little bit like this. God intended for us to be with Him and to live together in harmony — where we do not do things that hurt each other, where we do not get cross or angry, where there is no pain or hurt. But something happened that stopped that.

Does anyone know what happened?

Well, Adam and Eve did something that God told them not to do. They ate an apple from the tree that God had said, Do not eat from this tree. Then something called sin came into the world. That means when we do what we want even though we know that God has told us not to do these things.

God has told us what we are supposed to be like and how we are supposed to behave in the Bible. And He tells us that if we are truly sorry for the bad things that we have done, for the sin that we have committed and we love Jesus then He will forgive us.

So what do we have to do so that God will forgive us?

We must trust in Jesus, because he died on the cross so that God could forgive our sins, and say sorry. When we say sorry, (take some of the cleaner and put it on the cloth and then rub the brass or silver and it will be shining like new) God forgives us and we become clean again and shiny to other people.

But each day this will get dirty again just like we do and so we need to pray to God everyday and say sorry for all the wrong things that we do and thank you for all that He gives us each day.

That way we will really get to know God and he will listen to us as we pray to Him.

Let’s Pray:
Dear God,
Thank you that you can make us clean
and forgive us our sin, through Jesus,
when we say sorry to you.
Help us to be shiny to other people.
Amen

Activity 3 - Canyon Crossing

Aim: To get the children to understand the power of the cross and how Jesus bridges the gap between God and us.

Preparation:
Tape two lines creating a wide space on the floor — creating a un-passable, un-jumpable space that needs to be crossed.

Instructions:
• Start the session with all the children on one side of the canyon.
• Then ask the children if anyone can jump or make their way across the gap using their own strength.
• Give the children a good chance to get across — this may be safer if you get them to have a go one at a time.
• When they have exhausted their ideas say you actually have an amazing way that they can get across.
• Tell them that on the other side of the canyon is God and that they have shown you that by using their own strength they are unable to get to Him.
• Why is it that we cannot get to God in our own strength?
• Because we are sinful. What does sinful mean? It means that we have done things that make God unhappy with us and mean that because God is perfect and Holy, we cannot have a relationship with Him.
• Can you think of things you have done that are sins?
• So our sins are stopping up from getting to God and having a relationship with Him. stopping us spending time with Him and having a future together.
• Does anyone have any idea what we can do to get across this gap to be with God?
• Nothing !!!
• But there is someone who has done everything that needs to be done for us to be with God in a relationship with our heavenly Father.
• Any guesses?
• Yes Jesus!!! Jesus has done all that needs to be done for us to be in right relationship with God. Jesus went to die on the cross in our place. He was sinless but so that we could have a relationship with God and be His children Jesus took our place, a place we deserved and died in our place.
• Wow — so that if we trust in Jesus and we say sorry for all of our sins we can join God on the other side of this Canyon.
• So if we lay down this cross,( open up and lay down the paper cross) it will fill the gap between our side and God and because of what Jesus did, not what we have done we can cross over and be with God.
• Let all the children cross over the cross and get to the other side.

Let’s say a prayer of thanks:
Dear God,
Thank you so much that Jesus died
for our sins so that we can be in
relationship with You!!
Amen

Tips/Advice:
Make this whole session dynamic — talk as the children cross and pray with them once they are standing on the other side.

For full details see the BB Anchors Pro Pack S2-3

Tags

• anchors
• Forgivness
• lords prayer
• Sorry
• spirit

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