God Loves Me
One of the main gifts Jesus brings us is the teaching of God's love. We can’t measure God’s love it is infinite and forever! God’s love is unconditional and unchanging like the heart of a parent. At Christmas we are reminded of God’s love through Jesus. Wreaths and round ornaments remind us that God’s love is like a circle- never ending.
“God Loves Me” Unit: Unwrapping Christmas
LESSON PURPOSE: One of Jesus’ main teachings was that God loves us.
MATERIALS: Measuring tools- measuring tape, ruler, measuring cup, scale, stopwatch.
BOOKS: ”Guess How Much I Love You” or a book about God’s love or about Jesus.
SONG IDEAS: God’s Love is So Wonderful / Jesus Love the Little Children / God Made Me / Put a Little Love in Your Heart / Christmas Songs
AS CHILDREN ARRIVE: Choose 1 Sensory Activity:
Drawing- Have children draw a picture of something that makes them feel loved.
Measuring- Help measure each child’s height and record it. (Later reveal that God’s love is even taller and bigger than everyone’s height combined!)
Nativity Set- Let children play with a toy or craft made nativity set.
Nativity Mini Book- Have children color in the pictures, trace words in their mini book for the next few lessons to take home on Christmas Sunday!
SCRIPTURE: Display the weekly scripture reading, have an older child read it or use it in the lesson as you like.
We love because he first loved us. -1 John 4:19
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. -Mark 12:30
“God's love is the only unchanging and unique love.” -Rev. Sun Myung Moon
INTRODUCE the Lesson:
WELCOME: SONG, PRAYER, TP Greeting
SONG IDEAS: God’s Love is So Wonderful / Jesus Love the Little Children / God Made Me / Put a Little Love in Your Heart / Christmas Songs
REVIEW & TRANSITION:
Last week we learned all about St. Nicholas! Santa Claus enjoys helping us celebrate Christmas! So, what do we celebrate at Christmas? The birth of Jesus Christ! That’s right! What made Jesus special? Jesus was the first one who could really understand God’s heart. People had already learned all about God’s commandments and how to follow His rules and be obedient but Jesus brought a new teaching to people. Jesus taught us that God is a God of LOVE. And that the most important thing in life is to Love God & Love Others.
ATTENTION GRABBER: choose 1
Measuring God’s Love- Measure a variety of items with the children- height with a measuring tape, weight with a scale, time with a stopwatch, weight with a scale and amount with a measuring cup. Discuss how there are many ways to measure things!
INTRO: TODAY WE WILL LEARN ABOUT GOD’S LOVE.
CHOOSE 1 OR 2: READ A STORY, SING A SONG OR POEM, WATCH A VIDEO:
VIDEOS: click on the link for educational, sing along or dance videos
God Loves Me Veggie Tales Song
Guess How Much I Love You video channel
READ ALOUD STORY:
Guess How Much I Love You Read Aloud (or similar story)
SONG OR POEM:
God’s Love “God’s love is so wonderful. God’s love is so wonderful. Oh! Wonderful love! So high, you can’t get over it! So deep, you can’t get under it. So wide, you can’t around it. Oh! Wonderful love!”
*TEACH the Lesson:
TEACHING POINT 1: God’s Love Can’t be Measured!
We can measure lots of things! But just like the Momma bunny in the story loves her little bunny more than she can imagine- God loves us more than we can imagine! We can’t measure God’s love. God’s love is infinite and forever! God’s love is unconditional and unchanging like the heart of a parent which is why we call Him Heavenly Parent. God loves you THIS much! (Have children open up arms as far as they can!) God’s love is like a circle. (You can show your ring). It goes round and round and on and on forever- it never ends! At Christmas time, the round ball ornaments and the beautiful circle wreaths remind me of God’s amazing love!
Show children a Bible, explain that it’s full of God’s words. “We love because he first loved us.” -1 John 4:19 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. -Psalm 136:1
DISCUSSION:
What are some ways you can measure things? (scale, ruler, measuring tape, measuring cup…)
Jesus taught us that God is a God of _______. (Love!)
Can God’s love be measured? (No.) Why not? (It’s unconditional and goes on and on!)
TEACHING POINT 2: God Love is unconditional *optional EXTENSION
If you are playing with your mom’s necklace and you accidentally break it, does she get upset? She might. But she will forgive you because she loves you- just like God loves you. Jesus taught us that God is a loving God. Even if we sometimes make mistakes, we are learning and growing. God still loves us even when we misbehave. He also trusts us to learn from our mistakes and do better next time! God sees so much potential in us and wants us to grow up to be like Him.
DISCUSSION:
How is God’s love like a parent’s heart? He is our Heavenly Parent. He forgives us and loves us always.
If we make a mistake, does God still love us? Yes. He hopes we can grow and learn and do better next time.
CONCLUSION:
Today we learned about God’s love for us! It is everlasting like a circle and can’t be measured! God’s love is the heart of a Parent and is forgiving and full of grace. God wants us to learn and grow to be like Him! Jesus who was born on Christmas, taught us to love God and others. True Parents teach us about God’s heart as our Heavenly Parent.
TITHING & PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Parent, Thank you for your unconditional love that goes round and round like a circle and never ends! Thank you for Christmas and the chance to celebrate Jesus who reminds us of your love. We love you. Amen. Aju!
ADVENT: (Optional) Light a candle each week during prayer for the 4 weeks of Advent, leading up to Jesus’ birthday party!
APPLY the Lesson:
GROUP ACTIVITIES: choose 1
Role play: have children act out several different scenarios. Brother took my toy, friend cut in line... How do we want to react and how does God want us to respond with love?
Drawing God: Provide children with a paper & coloring utensils- ask children to “draw God!” To draw the first thing that comes to their mind. (This may be abstract for little ones) Or have children tell you what they think of and you draw a collage of all of their ideas put together. (family, nature, sunshine, hearts, Jesus, TP, circle...etc)
CRAFTS: choose 1
Wreath: Children make a wreath to represent that God’s love is circular- it goes on and on forever.
Round Christmas Ornament: Have children fill a clear plastic round ornament with pom poms, glitter etc. Remind them that the round circle represents God’s love.
Heart Ornament: Children will rip up pieces of tissue paper and glue them on a heart ornament. With the saying “God loves me to pieces”!
God’s hug Mobile: Have children color, cut & assemble the God’s hug printable mobile.
SNACK IDEAS:
Round snacks like clementines, oranges, melon, blueberries.
Enjoy the lesson! Feel free to submit photos to lgavin@unification.org Love seeing lessons come to life and each community