| Linda Carroll |
| May 2006 |
Materials: Baby naming book; List of names of Jesus; prepared blank books with about 8 pages – one/child; large picture of candle; large picture of shepherd; large picture of bread.
This time of year in Children’s Chapel, the lessons are parables. These parables usually say something like, “He said such amazing things and did such wonderful things that people began to follow him. But they did not know who he was.”
Today in church the gospel reading will be very much like that. The people will listen to Jesus teaching in the synagogue and watch him heal a man. They will be amazed. Jesus isn’t like any other teacher they have ever heard. They realize that Jesus is someone special so they ask, “Who is this?”
Let’s say a new student was in your class and came up to you and asked, “Who are you?” What would you say?…. [children answer using their names] Of course, because that’s your name.
Do you know why your parents gave you your name? [children share stories. Speaker shares stories]
How did Jesus get his name?… The angel came to Mary and Joseph saying that they were going to have God’s special son. Then the angel said, “And you will name him Jesus.”
Quite often in the bible, when a child is born, the name is given and then the meaning of the name. The meaning often helps to describe that person. Do you know what your name means?
[Look names up in baby book. After each ask:] Is that a good description of you?
Do you know what “Jesus” means?…. “Jesus” means – “God Saves”. When the angel said that the baby was to be named Jesus, the angel said that was because, “he will save his people from their sins.” What a perfect description of Jesus.
But the bible also gives Jesus other names—kind of like nicknames. All these names together can help us understand who Jesus is.
One website I found, listed 600 names for Jesus. We’ll talk about just three of them.
[Show Candle] In chapel you are asked, “What do the candles mean?” And you answer, “Jesus is the light of the world.” “Light of the World” is a name for Jesus. In Advent, we talked about the prophet Isaiah saying that the messiah would be coming. He said that the messiah would be like a light shining in the darkness. If you’ve ever been in the dark, you know how comforting and helpful a light is. Isn’t that just like Jesus—comforting and helpful? What a perfect name for Jesus!
[Show Good Shepherd] This is the Good Shepherd just like our stained glass window. If Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who are the sheep? [us] What is a shepherd’s job? A shepherd guides and protects his sheep. And isn’t that what Jesus does for us? He guides us with his teaching, and he protects us from death because he died for our sins. So “The Good Shepherd” is a perfect name for Jesus.
[Show Bread] This is the Bread of Life. We eat bread here in church when we come up to the communion rail. Just before we come up, we hear the words Jesus spoke during the Last Supper about the bread. He said the bread is his body which was broken for us (meaning he died on the cross) so that we could live forever. Isn’t “Bread of Life” a perfect name for Jesus?
Your job is to go with [teen helpers] to make a book of names for Jesus. When you read over your book, it will give you a better idea of who Jesus is. [Children leave with teen helpers to make books.]