Lesson 3: Learning from Jealousy and Anger
Aims
* To learn about jealousy and the consequences of anger
* To learn that when we do wrong we get punished
Materials
* Bible story of Cain and Abel
* Large pictures of Cain and Abel
* children’s worksheet
Lesson Outline
1. Review the previous lesson.
2. Story & Discussion
3. Discussion About Ourselves
4. Activities – worksheets
5. Review the aims
6. Prayer
1) Review the previous lesson.
* What did God tell Adam & Eve they could do? – Eat from every tree in the garden, except the tree of knowledge
* What happened? – Eve listened to the snake & ate the fruit. She gave it to Adam, who ate it
* What happened to them? – God sent them out of the Garden
* What can we learn from this story? – We should obey God and our parents, otherwise we will be punished
2) Story & Discussion
* Tell the children that today’s story is about Adam and Eve’s two children. Ask if anybody knows their names. Show the picture of Cain & Abel. Their first son Cain was a farmer who worked in the fields. Their second son Abel was a shepherd and took care of flocks and herds.
* Tell the story together with the children
* Get the children to retell the story using the pictures
* Ask questions to check understanding
1. Who was older? Who was younger? – Cain -older, Abel-younger
2. What was their offering to God? – Abel had brought an animal for an offering, but Cain had brought plants.
3. What happened? – God accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s
4. Why ? – Cain didn’t offer it with the right heart
5. Why was Cain angry? – He was jealous that his brother’s offering was accepted and his wasn’t. He thought it was unfair and he couldn’t understand why his offering wasn’t accepted
6. What did Cain do? He couldn’t control his anger and killed Abel
7. What did God do? – God punished Cain. He sent him away. He would have to wander with no home to stay in
3) Discussion About Ourselves
* Cain became angry because he felt jealous towards his brother. Do you ever get angry at your brothers and sisters? Do you ever feel jealous? Think of some example from home.
– your brother gets a bigger piece of cake than you, or more pocket money and you get upset, or your sister can play on the computer first.
* It’s very hard for some people to control their anger, especially when they feel jealous. But then they can do bad things. What bad things happen when people are angry?
– They hit others, take things, shout, say bad things etc…
* What happens when you do bad things?
You can make people sad, it can lead to a fight, someone can get hurt
You will be punished by your parents.
Whenever, you do wrong you have to do something to put it right again. This is God’s way. This is how we learn .
If we didn’t get punished we would do more and more wrong things
e.g. if you break someone’s toy, you can’t play with their toys again
e.g. if you say something bad, you have to say sorry
4) Activities
* Find the hidden objects in the picture
* Fill in the missing words
* Colour the picture
5) Review the aims
Remind the children about two things they could learn today:
* To learn about jealousy and the consequences of anger
* To learn that when we do wrong we get punished
6) End with a prayer
Pray about the story and the two things we can learn
