A Tale of Two Prayers

This week's lesson is the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. I was surprised to find quite a few resources on this subject.

Presentation
The presentation for this parable is like many, very simple. Two figures, some cynlinder-shaped blocks and a background. I tweaked my simple figures to have chenille stem (aka pipe cleaner) arms, so that the Pharisee has arms raised, as noted in the parable, and the publican has hands folded or near to his heart, also as noted by Jesus.

Song
I taught them Humble Yourselves in the Sight of the Lord and used simple hand motions. They were willing, quick learners and have enjoyed this new element to our class time.

Object Lesson
It's been months since I used a good object lesson, but a good one is always memorable. This uses only a balloon, or maybe two, if you want to really expand on it. The concept is to re-tell the parable (either exactly or using examples of thinking relevant to children in your class age group. Blow each balloon only part way up, like a normal "head". You can also draw a simple face if you have a Sharpie marker, but it's not necesssary.

As the pharisee or proud character develops add increasing breaths of air to the balloon so it is puffed up and huge, but keep the second ballon as-is (if you use it). Talk about what's inside the big ballon (alot of air, nothing) and what will eventually happen to it (burst, self-destruct). Ask about the second ballon (less likely to pop at all, even with a pin, since it is not "puffed up with pride"). Then make the application.

There is a fabulous example of this ready for you to use from Christianity Cove here.





Craft
I chose paper bag puppets, because they are utilitarian, the children can retell the parable to each other in class and possibly at home, and it is a visual reminder of the lesson, if the presentation is handled well (esp. in drawing out the questions at the end).

I found this example that I will modify. (The monk will have a full hat and be the tax collector and the "mother Theresa" will have a dark blue or black body and be the Pharisee.) Supplies are bags, construction paper, glue, scissors and bobble eyes.

Coloring/Activity Sheet
You have probably noticed that I make a point to include at least one sheet per week. Some people think of coloring/activity sheets as "busy work", in a negative sense. They are more than just time-fillers, though they do fulfill that role; however, I believe it is secondary to re-enforcing the message of the lesson, especially if the sheets are well-produced.

The coloring sheet I chose for this week is below. It so clearly depicts the postures of pride and humility.

There are many activity sheets for older children such as crosswords, word scrambles, word searches, etc. at Sermons4Kids.com.

Snack
For our snack, I had a few ideas. "Resurrection rolls" from the Easter lesson would serve as a nice object lesson, since they are empty though they are all puffed up, like the pride of the Pharisee. In the "Little House" books, Ma bakes vanity cakes; same idea.

I also found a nice, seemingly child-friendly recipe for humble pie at Cooks.com, but the weather is on the warm side and I chose not to heat up our house any extra. So, I settled for jello, a very tummy friendly option. The idea is to have jello cups, lids on. Then, while they start to eat, you ask:

What's on the inside of your snack?
How do you know it's there?
Why doesn't what is on the outside hide it?

Then talk about how sometimes we try to hide what is going on in our hearts by showing something different on the outside. When we do that with God and pretend that there is nothing wrong, it doesn't fool God because He sees our hearts and knows what is there.

You can use commercially prepared Jell-O, which I don't think is the best for anyone, especially young children, or prepare your own. There is a fabulous recipe (including flavor variations) at Out of the Box Food which works very well and takes less than 10 minutes to get into the refrigerator. I made some strawberry gelatin last summer using the same principle, but from this recipe.

Extra Materials
If I ever have a permanent classroom and get to teach through these again as a full curriculum, I want to have other materials also on the shelves that deal with each parable and further the point. This book, Fool Moon Rising, is definitely one that interests me on this topic.