Loving God Through Faith

OBJECTIVE

The theme of this module is God is Love. God is our Father and loves us so much. He shows us His love by creating the world and all nature for us, sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins, and His Resurrection to give us joy in salvation. In this lesson, we will focus on our love in return to God. Our goal is to teach the kindergarteners ways to express their love for God through faithful practices.

INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 5 Minutes

Please review the previous week's lesson. (5 minutes)

Bring out a telephone and ask the kindergarteners what it is. Next ask:

What do we use a phone for? (To make calls, etc.)

We use a phone to talk to people: to tell them things and to listen to them

Whom do you like to call on the phone? (Parents, grandparents, cousins, friends...)
What are other ways that I can talk to people that I love? (write letters, email, skype)
But how do I talk to God?

We can talk to God without a phone All we need is prayer. He loves us so much and is always in tune with our feelings and thoughts. We can love God back. Prayer is just one way to express our love to God. Let's talk about other ways we can show God that we love Him.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

Memory Verse- "You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." Saint Matthew 22:37

Have the children memorize and use the sign language motions as they say their verse. See descriptions and image below for sign language.

Love: cross your arms over your chest
Lord God: point toward Heaven with your index finger, then move your hand towards your chin with all fingers up
With All: start with your palms facing each other, then turn your hand closest to your body over the other hand and slap it into your other palm
Heart: using your index fingers, draw a heart shape over your chest
Soul: start with one fist closed, then with your other hand pretend to pinch and pull something out of your fist
Mind: point to your forehead with your index finger

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 10 Minutes

God loves us so much Remember our Bible verse from a couple weeks ago, "We love Him because He first loved us." It's God's love inside of us that allows us to love, too, because God is love.

And we get to show God that we love Him He is big enough to take all of our love, from all of us, all of the time. He asks us to love Him, with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.

Write the words heart, soul, and mind on the board. Have the children tell you ideas that fulfill each category. For example:

Give lots of praise and encouragement to all the answers in order to inspire more discussion from the kindergarteners. Guide them into fruitful answers by writing down your own ideas and those of the other adults in the room.

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 5 Minutes

Review the story of Saint Bishoy with the kindergarteners, show them the icon in the lesson activities at the bottom. When a stranger came to visit him, he wanted to show love. So he washed the stranger's feet, just like our Lord washed His disciples' feet. That stranger ended up being our Lord God returned Saint Bishoy's love with even more love from God Have you ever done something in kindness and were surprised to get blessings from it?

LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes

God loves us so much And we love God too, because He shows us how. We must try to always keep His love tight in our hearts, souls, and minds. By acting in a way that would please Him and make Him proud of us, shows God that we love Him back.

ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes

Option 1: Coloring Page

Choose one of the two coloring pages in the activities links to share with the kindergartners. Make sure they write their name on their paper to take home and share with their family.

Option 2: Verse Necklace

Materials: construction paper, makers, string, safety scissors, hole puncher

Have each child choose one piece of construction paper and fold it into fourths.
Using a marker, have them draw a heart as large as they can on one side of their folded paper.
Cut out the heart with safety scissors. Each child should end up with four hearts, since the paper was folded in fourths when they cut out the heart.
On the first heart, write "Love the Lord your God". On the second heart, write "with all your heart". On the third heart, write "with all your soul". On the fourth heart, write "with all your mind."
While the students are writing the verse on their hearts, the adults should go around and punch a hole into all four hearts for each student.
When the verse is across the four hearts, have the students put their string through the holes in the hearts to make a necklace.
Tell the students that we can wear this verse and keep it close to our hearts as a reminder of God's love for us and our love for Him.

SERVANT RESOURCES

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Remind the children that the Lord loves them When they get hurt, assure them that God loves them and will help them feel better. Before they go to school or to sleep, remind them that God loves them and sends His guardian angel to watch over them. By thanking God in prayer is our way of showing God that we love Him, too.