Matthew 1, Luke 1 (January 7-13)

Be it Unto Me According to Thy Word

Russel M. Nelson explained that the atonement of Jesus Christ,

"Required a personal sacrifice by an immortal being not subject to death. Yet, He must die and take up his own body again. The Savior was the only one who could accomplish this. From His mother He inherited the power to die. From His Father He obtained power over death." 

The object of this lesson is to show the children that with help from God, anything is possible.

Invite Sharing

Ask the children to sit in a circle. Have one child start by telling everyone one thing they learned from the scriptures this week. Then have them point to someone else and so on until everyone has had a turn.

Teach the doctrine

Brian and I are at an advantage this year that we are teaching children 7-8 year olds which means that we can really pick and choose activities from both the "younger children" and the "older children" sections.

Some activities we plan to do:

Beforehand, bring some articles of clothing that will help me to look a little like Mary and Brian to look a little like Joseph. We will review the 2 videos included in the online lesson manual, "Mary and the Angel" and "Joseph and the Angel" From those videos we will come up with sort of our own monologue on how we will explain our role in the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. We will also tell the story of Elisabeth and Zacharias (using the videos in the online manual to come up with a monologue), with the same outfits but will make our voices seem a bit more frail so they will be able to distinguish that Elisabeth and Zacharias were much older. 

Before the children enter the classroom, write Luke 1:37 on the board, "For with God, Nothing shall be impossible." Also, draw stick figure people to represent Mary and God on the board (higher up) and Jesus below and in the middle with arrows, like an upside down triangle/ family tree.

1. We will tell the children that we will be telling them two stories about two different couples. Anytime they hear something that may seem impossible, they should quietly raise their hands. We will then "recite" the monologues we have independently created retelling the experiences of "Mary & Joseph" and "Elisabeth and Zacharias." We may also give them a piece of paper so that perhaps instead of raising their hand anytime they hear something impossible, they can write it instead so they can share it with the class afterwards.

2. Have them recite the scripture that was written on the board. Attempt to have them memorize it by reciting it several times and erasing one word until all the words are gone.

3. Refer to your picture of Mary, God and Jesus. Ask,

"Who is the mother of Jesus?"

Mary.

"Who is the father of Jesus?"

Heavenly Father/ God.

"Yes. He is the father of our spirits, every person who has ever lived, you and me, as well as every person who will ever live. So we all have 2 fathers, a heavenly one and an earthly one. However, when it comes to Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father is not only the father of his spirit, but also the father of his physical body. So he has one father. Why do you think Jesus needed to have an Earthly mother but a Heavenly Father? 

They might not know as this maybe a difficult, abstract or new concept to them.

"Heavenly father knew that only a Godly being would be able to perform the atonement in order for it to work. However, it required a sacrifice- which in this context means a death. However, Heavenly Father is a God which means he cannot die. So any son he had would be unable to die also. So, he found a righteous and good human woman to have the child. Because unlike God, people can die. So Jesus inherited the ability to die from his mother, Mary. But, he also inherited the ability to come back to life after being dead from his Heavenly Father. This is the only way it could possibly work!"

We will probably pause here and ask the children if this makes sense to them and address any questions or confusion they may have. Another way to gauge their ability to understand this concept is to ask them to repeat back to you what they understand from what you have just taught them. 

4. "This is just one example of the many different ways that God has made things that seemed impossible, possible. Do you know any stories from the scriptures of something that seemed impossible that the Lord made possible? Perhaps a story you learned last year from the Old Testament?" 

Examples: 

Tree of Knowledge, Plagues of Israel, Parting of the Red Sea, The three being saved from the fire, Daniel and the Lions Den, David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale, Christ walking on water etc.

5. Have the children draw a picture of a time when Heavenly Father answered a prayer of theirs. Invite the children to share their picture and the story behind it with their family members after church or during their respective Family Home Evenings.

6. Share my testimony with them.

Hopefully this will be helpful to you.