A Beautiful Breakfast
Hello Werb’s Kids and Werb’s Parents!
How are we all doing?
Life feels very strange at the moment and I think a lot of our relationships are really being put to the test. From mums and dads to brothers and sisters to long distance friends, right now we really need to be kind, have patience and loads of grace with each other.
We’re all struggling in our own way and we need to be SUPER kind to one another at this time. So today’s story fits in perfectly!
We’re looking at Peter once again - someone who messed up BIG time and yet gets restored, completely forgiven and he becomes one of the most important people in starting up God’s church.
Before we jump in a little reminder to keep checking out our instagram! (@werbskids) We’ve got everything you need on there as well as fun stuff to do throughout the week should you need a little inspiration! Remember to keep connected and stay positive. We love seeing what you’re doing so keep using the hashtags ⧣werbsathome and ⧣werbskids on social media.
We’ve been using the prayer room again this week so hope you joined us on Friday for the day of prayer and I’ve been LOVING seeing everyone’s prayers.
Keep sending them to me and I’ll add them to our blog post Werb’s Kids’ Prayers for everyone to see!
Have an amazing week.
Stay safe and stay connected,
Love Amy
A BEAUTIFUL BREAKFAST: Peter is forgiven
We all love food don’t we! I think in lock down I’ve eaten more than I have in a very long time!
One of the things I’ve missed most though is going round my friends’ houses for meals.
I love seeing people so not being able to do that at the moment has been hard for me.
Jesus too, LOVED having meals with his friends. There are lots of stories in the bible where Jesus met up with people and went over to their houses for dinner.
Can you remember any stories where Jesus ate or had food with friends?
I think we are all we missing seeing people a lot during this time.
So I have a special challenge for you!!
Pretend you are having a very special dinner. BUT you are only allowed to invite 5 people.
This could be absolutely ANYBODY! They can be real or a cartoon or someone from a TV show or your favourite Disney character or someone famous like the Queen or someone in your family or any friend you know! Remember though, you’ve only got 5 spaces!
So…who would you invite!? And why!?
Obviously we can’t invite anyone round our houses right now. But if you chose anyone who is real, why not write it down and then when we are able to see each other again invite them over for a special meal and tell them how much you missed them.
And whilst you wait why not have your own very special breakfast or meal at home with your family?
Maybe have a picnic in the living room? Or dress up for a fancy dinner together as a family?
Or maybe have a special meal outside in the garden if you can?
I think God wants to talk to us about forgiveness.
NO MATTER HOW BAD WE LET GOD DOWN HE ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS FORGIVES US!
In our story today we see Peter again.
How good is your memory….do you remember what happened to Peter on Good Friday?
Watch the video and remind yourself how Peter lets down Jesus and then see what happens next!
Peter was Jesus’ friend who let him down 3 times!
But look what happens in our story today when they are on the beach having breakfast together!
How many times does Jesus ask Peter if he loves him?
It’s 3 times! He forgives him for each time he let him down and then what is amazing is that Jesus then uses Peter to build his church!
When Peter let Jesus down, Peter said he didn’t even know Jesus and we remembered how hurtful that would have been. But Jesus completely forgives Peter!
I wonder if you have ever done something wrong. How does it feel? What’s the worst thing you can think of that you’ve done? Were you forgiven for it?
Often when we do wrong things or make mistakes we have to pay for it in some way. Sometimes this means friends won’t trust us for a while. Sometimes our Mummys and Daddys have to tell us off. It’s not fun being told off but when this happens it helps us remember not to do bad things again. We know when we make mistakes there is a consequence. A consequence is something that happens because of what you did. Think about what would happen if people did really bad things and never got told off for them.
What might happen? Would it be a good or a bad thing?
If no one ever got told off I think all the bad things would spiral out of control. So things would get worse and worse and worse and I think lots and lots of people would get hurt which is bad.
Although being told off isn’t fun, it helps us to learn and understand when we hurt someone or something and hopefully means we won’t do it again.
Usually we expect to have to pay for our mistakes. God doesn’t want us to do bad things but because of what Jesus did on the cross at Easter it means when we do mess up and do the wrong thing we can be forgiven! In our story today, Jesus forgave Peter for his rather enormous mistake of pretending he didn’t know him, he didn’t hold Peter’s mistakes against him. Instead, he put him in place as leader of the disciples - and of the church!
God forgives us unconditionally!
All ages:
Let’s recap Peter’s journey and his friendship with Jesus. Draw a picture for each part of his story - you could make it into little book!
Simon-Peter was a fisherman. He was fishing one day with his brothers when Jesus walked past and called him by name. Simon-Peter knew something was different about Jesus so he and his brothers dropped everything and followed Jesus.
Jesus asks his disciples who they thought he was. Simon-Peter said “You are Christ - the son of the living God!” Jesus smiled and said “You are now called Peter, which means stone. And on this rock I will build my church.”
At the Last Supper, Peter said to Jesus, “I will never run away from you. I will stay with you forever.” But Jesus said “tonight before the rooster crows, you will say 3 times that you don’t know me.”
After Jesus was arrested Peter was scared. He didn’t want to get into trouble so when someone asked if he was a follower of Jesus he said “NO!” This happened 3 times and then a rooster crowed. Peter felt awful, really unhappy and he thought God would never love him again.
After Jesus had died, Peter was hiding in an upper room when Mary came running in. Mary said that she had seen an angel who told her that Jesus was alive again! Peter didn’t know what to think but he ran to the tomb where Jesus had been buried and found it was empty.
One day Peter was fishing with his friends. They hadn’t got any fish all day and all night. Jesus was standing on the beach and said “throw the net on the other side of the boat” as soon as they did their net was full of fish! 153 in total!
When Peter realised Jesus was alive and standing on the beach, he jumped into the water and swam to shore. Jesus asked Peter the same question 3 times, “Do you love me?” and Peter said yes each time. Jesus gave Peter the job of feeding his sheep which meant that Peter had the job of teaching Jesus’ followers and starting up the church!
After Jesus had gone back to heaven, Peter became the head of the church. With God’s help he performed amazing miracles and gave talks to LOADS of people who then put their trust in God and became followers of Jesus.
All ages:
Do you know what GRACE is?
Sometimes when we forgive someone for something they have done, we treat them in a way that shows that we remember their mistakes or the things they did wrong. For example you might say, “Sarah can’t play. She always drops the ball,” or, “Last year Simon was silly at my party so I won’t invite him this year.” This is not showing grace.
Grace is showing someone love and kindness even if they don’t really deserve it or shouldn’t get it.
We should treat people with grace, the way God treats us.
Can you think of ideas about how you could show grace to people?
In which parts of the story did God show grace to Peter?
(By forgiving him and letting him be leader of the church)
When did the other disciples show grace to Peter?
(By allowing him to be the leader even though he’s made mistakes.)
If you have stickers put them on the pictures you drew of Peter’s story where grace was shown. If you don’t have stickers draw a big star on the pictures instead.
Do you remember why Jesus gave Simon the nick name “Peter”?
It means stone or rock. Even after Peter let Jesus down he still kept that name; God treated Peter with grace and didn’t give up on him.
CRAFT IDEAS!
Something to do during the talk
- Colouring Sheet ONE and TWO
- Maze
- Word Search
- How many different fish can you draw on one sheet of paper! In the story they caught 153 fish…that’s ALOT!
- Draw part of the storyFishing Mobile
HERE is a picture of what you’re aiming for!
You will need: Paper, pens, scissors, tape and string
- First you need to print out THIS sheet and colour all of them in!
- Next cut out your boat, Jesus’ friends and the fish. If you want to add more fish do this now!
- Stick your characters so it looks like they are sitting in the boat.
- Next tape string to the middle of your boat so that it hangs down - this will be your net. If you want you could spend more time on this and tie some together to make it look more like a proper net.
- Tie a longer piece of string to either side of the boat so that you can hang up your creation when it is finished.
- Now it’s time to add the fish! You can either cut holes in your fish and thread them onto the string (you may need to tie a knot after each fish to keep them on the string) OR tape them into place on the string.
- It is finished! Hang it up somewhere so you can see it.
HERE is a simpler picture version of the instructions if that helps!!Sensory Fishing Bag
You will need: a freezer bag, some shower gel, paper, pens and tape
- First of all you need to make some fish. Draw some and cut them out!
- These are going to be swimming in your bag so you need to put some cello tape round the fish to make them waterproof!
- Next you need to get your freezer bag and draw on a boat and a net on the outside. (This may need to be done with permanent marker so a grown up may need to do this part. If your pen doesn’t dry it will get messy.)
- Now quirt your shower gel into the bag. This will work best if it’s blue! You only need a little bit so don’t use too much.- Add in your fishes!!! And then close up the bag. I recommend taping it shut just to ensure it doesn’t go everywhere!
- Now play with your sensory bag. Try to get the fish in the net.Painting Stones
Do you remember why Jesus gave Simon the nick name “Peter”? Because it meas stone or rock and he promised to use Peter as the founding stone to build the church on. Even after Peter let Jesus down he still kept that name; God treated Peter with grace and didn’t give up on him.
You’ll need a stone or a few pebbles and some paint or felt tip pens.
You could paint or write the words “God’s grace” to remind you of the grace that God has for us – or make a pretty pattern instead.These stones can remind us that God doesn’t give up on us – he always treats us with grace.
NEW SONG!
This Sunday we are singing this song.
It’s all about God’s amazing grace which we’ve looked at today.
Below are my favourite lines in this song. What is your favourite part of this song?
“This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross
You lay down Your life
That I would be set free
Oh, Jesus, I sing for
All that You’ve done for me”
LET’S PRAY!
Hopefully you managed to make the fish mobile above in the crafts. We are now going to use this to thank God for his forgiveness.
You should have some fish on your mobile. Each person should write one word of something to say thank you to God for on a fish. On the fish that are left each write the word SORRY and tell God something you want to say sorry for or something you would like to be forgiven for.
Remember in our story that Jesus forgave Peter, and that he cared about his disciples.
PUT SOMETHING INTO ACTION: SAY SORRY
It’s hard being in isolation. It’s hard being in the same place with the same people all the time. Sometimes we can get annoyed or angry at those around us.
We’ve spent a long time already with our families and I’m sure at some point your brother or your sister or your mum or your dad has made you angry or sad. Maybe you weren’t very kind to them. Spend some time thinking about what has happened recently.
Do you need to say sorry to someone and give them a hug? Let’s do it now!
Edited and adapted by Amy Farrar from several sources including energize.com
