Sacrifice

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the service module is to teach the children how to implement service in our lives. In second grade, we will go over the meaning of sacrifice, commitment, dedication, and giving back to the church. Week 5 is the capstone week to review and serve together.

In this lesson, children will understand that sacrifice can come in many forms: our time, our effort, or just being kind to others. As followers of Christ, being a Christian is not always the most comfortable and easy route to take.

INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 10 Minutes

Option 1

Ask the students: Raise your hand if you like giving up stuff. What if I asked you to give up your favorite toy, video games, or watching tv? Is there a problem with having stuff or wanting stuff? Of course not
But what if we spent all day, every day playing with this stuff and not paying attention to anything else? (Show pictures of athletes, doctors, parents, priests, - people who have sacrificed) Do you think these people succeeded and reached their goals playing all day and watching tv? Or do you think they had to give something up or sacrifice to be successful?
1. What would an athlete need to give up?
2. How about a doctor?
3. What would your parents or a priest need to give up?
Each of these people have achieved great things, but they needed to give something up or a lot of things to give up to be great and succeed. This is called sacrifice.
Sacrifice means to give something up for other people and to help another person. When you give something up, you make time to help someone else. For example, someone might give up extra play time to help their friend with homework. Or maybe someone might give up their favorite snack to give to a friend who is hungry.
Why should we sacrifice? We should sacrifice to help others because sometimes people need our help or kindness.

Option 2

I want you to close your eyes and imagine something with me. Imagine it is Christmas morning, the day you have been waiting for since Thanksgiving, since the first Christmas decorations went up in your house. You have been giving hints to your parents for the last few weeks for the toy you want, but you know it's expensive or hard to find.
Everyone is going through their gifts and now it's your turn to unwrap your gifts. The size looks familiar, you do a quick shake and it feels about right. It is the toy you have been waiting for. Your little sibling starts to get curious and wants to play with your new toy as well. He starts to cry, you feel bad.
Your mom said you can only play with your new toys for 30 minutes today, and you want to make sure you use all the time you have. You see your sibling who wants to play with your toy, and you sacrifice some of your time and give them a turn to play. Sacrifice means to give something up for other people and to help them. Though you did not necessarily help your sibling directly, in this scenario, you sacrificed something you love, to see them happy.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 10 Minutes

Memory Verse
"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" (John 15:13)

Matthew 8:18-20: "And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 10 Minutes

What did Jesus give up in these verses? (A home. He came to earth and didn't have a place to lay His head).
What He is really telling this man is that if you want to follow Jesus, it's not going to be comfortable. It's not going to be easy and it probably won't go your way.
Sometimes we make excuses when we don't want to do things, but the hardest things to do or the most uncomfortable things to do are usually the most worthwhile (Name some excuses here that they would say, i.e. setting the table because too busy, not doing homework because too tired, not helping a sibling because too lazy).

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 5 Minutes

What are some practical things we can sacrifice or use less of?

Post pictures around the room of people sacrificing in some way. Children can walk around in groups and talk about what they see in the picture and how the person in the picture is sacrificing something. Then talk about it as a whole group.

LIFE APPLICATION (Action) - 5 Minutes

Ask children what they can sacrifice this week to either help someone or work on improving something in their lives. They can help others by helping their parents with chores, helping their siblings with homework, or helping a friend do something. They can work on improving something in their lives such as giving up tv to read more or decreasing play time to practice a hobby.

ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes

Helping Hands Wreath Craft

Pull out their "Helping Hands" craft, crayons, black or dark marker, scissors, and stapler or glue
On each hand write how they can help at home (ie: help with chores, play with their siblings, clean their room, etc.)
Color each hand with one color crayon. One different color per hand.
Cut each hand separately
Staple or glue hands together to form a circle like a wreath
Assign them to finish these tasks this week at home

PARENTS CORNER

Talk with your children about what it means to sacrifice. Talk about how that looks in your own household and daily lives. Make some sandwich lunch bags at your home with your kids and find someone less fortunate to hand them to.