Lesson 17: The First Blessing
Aim
* to learn that the first blessing is about mind and body centred on God
* to learn about thinking, feeling and doing centered on God
Materials
* Picture storybook- The Good Samaritan,
* Material to make bookmarks – bookmark patterns, felt tip pens, coloured pencils, scissors laminating plastic and laminator / or sticky-back plastic
* Picture cards showing mind-body unity and mind-body disunity
* Worksheets
* Keys words: know what is good, love what is good, do what is good,
Lesson Outline
1. The first blessing – perfection means mind body united centred on God
2. Think, Feel Do
3. Parable of the Good Samaritan
4. Pictures to Discuss
5. Activities – worksheet, bookmarks
6. Conclusion
7. End with a Prayer
1) The First Blessing
Fruitful means to bear fruit as on an apple tree. But the tree must grow first before it can bear fruit. It also needs to be ripe before we can eat it. We are like a tree that is growing. We
cannot stay small our whole lives. God wants us to grow up and bear good fruit. This means to grow in goodness. A good person is good inside. He is caring, honest and respectful. A
bad person on the other hand is like rotten fruit. He’s bad inside. He doesn’t care, tells lies and is disrespectful.
How can we grow to become good people? The first blessing is about becoming an ideal person, a person who grows to be like God. It means our mind and body should unite
centered on God.
Our mind has two parts, our thinking part and our feeling part. Depending on how we think and feel we do something with our body. To be like God means we think, feel and do as God
would.
Another way to say it is to know what is good, love what is good and do what is good.
When we do all three them we are truly good.
2) Think, Feel, Do
Picture of traffic lights. Red stands for FEEL, yellow for THINK and green for DO
Talk about feelings. Ask the children about situations when they have different feelings, such as anger, surprise and happiness.
Example – ANGER
– You get angry when you a play a game, because someone cheats.
– Cover the green and yellow lights to show “FEEL”. Point out that when you have a strong impulsive response to a situation, it’s wise to take a minute to think before acting.
– Next, cover red and green to show “THINK” Ask the children to think of ways to react to the situation. How many ideas do they have? Here are some possible ideas:
* Explain calmly that he broke the rules, so he can’t claim victory.
* Say you won’t play again if he is doesn’t play by the rules
* Let him win if it makes him happy
– Finally cover the red and yellow to show “ACT”. Let the students choose the best response to the situation. Talk about the likely consequences of the action.
3) The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26″What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]”
28″You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other
side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36″Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.
……………..
The parable of the Good Samaritan shows how people react to different situations. For example, the priest knows it is good to help the wounded man, but he feels afraid that he might be attacked also.
So he thinks it better to keep walking. And that’s what he decides to do. If the priest knows what is good, loves what is good and does what is good, he would have stopped and helped the man.
Discuss the other characters and how they think, feel and do
4) Pictures to Discuss
Talk about pairs of pictures. In the good picture what does the boy feel, think and do. What is different in the bad picture?
5) Activities
Complete the worksheets. Write the missing words
Colour the traffic light
Make a bookmark with the words know what is good, love what is good and do what is good.
Colour the pattern, cut it out and laminate it.
6) Conclusion
Ask each child what they could learn from today’s lesson. Refer to the lesson aims:
* to learn that the first blessing is about mind and body centred on God
* to learn about thinking, feeling and doing centered on God
7) Prayer
