P-U-S-H
Hi Werb’s Kids and Werb’s Parents!
How are you feeling this week?
It’s been a little bit sunnier this week which has definitely brightened my mood and I’ve loved being able to go on social distancing walks with my friends.
We need to more than ever be looking after each other and this is what our session today is all about this week.
As well as this I hope you are still listening the playlists we’ve created to encourage you and to get you dancing at this time!
You can access these playlists on Spotify (Adults and Kids) and the same
on Youtube (Adults and Kids).
Don’t forget that during May half term we are running our holiday club
‘I SPY HALF TERM’
It is going to be so much fun! There will be an instagram live (@werbskids) at 10am each weekday followed by content uploaded by 11am on the session on our website for you to do at home.
We hope you have lots of fun with us and can’t wait to see you all!
I’ve tried to keep everyone in the loop by sending the odd email but if you aren’t receiving these and would like to, do email me (amy.farrar@stwderby.org) and I’ll be able to take your details and connect you in.
Stay safe and stay connected,
Love Amy
P-U-S-H!
Some of you might be wondering why I have titled this weeks session P-U-S-H!
Well, let me explain!
Today we are going to talk once again about the topic of prayer because it is super important.
It is something we should do every day not because we have to but because we want to talk to God and he wants to talk to us.
Praying is just talking to God, it is incredibly special and amazing that we can talk to him and he will listen.
God always hears us and sometimes because of our prayers things can change for the better.
When I was younger I had some bracelets that I bought from a Christian holiday camp, similar to Focus which we unfortunately can’t go to this year. On these bracelets there were 2 words. For each word, every letter stood for a word which then spelt out a phrase.
One said F.R.O.G which may seem silly but this was to remind me to
Fully Rely On God! And the other said P.U.S.H to remind me to
Pray Until Something Happens.
Our prayers make a big difference and can really help people.
In today’s story we see how 2 friends help Moses to win a battle. They also PUSH up Moses hands in order to help him. This is a bit like when we pray, we can lift up people in our prayers and ask God to help them.
BUT FIRST LET’S PLAY A GAME!
How long can you keep your arms up in the air?
You will see in our story later that Moses struggled to hold up his staff so he needed his friend’s help.
BUT how good are you at holding up your arms? You will need to hold a book and see how long you can keep it up for before your arms get tired. How long do you think you can last for? If you think it is going to be easy try holding a heavier book and see if that affects how long you can keep your arms up for!!
I think God wants to talk to us about how we support each other through prayer.
WHEN WE PRAY FOR OTHERS IT IS LIKE WE ARE WITH THEM THROUGH WHAT THEY ARE FACING.
Right now it’s hard to be with people as we are used to. Although we can now meet up with each other staying 2 metres apart, we still can’t hug like we would like to or comfort people we know are finding this hard. But we can pray. And when we pray stuff happens!
When you know someone is praying for you, we can often find that their prayers help us. Sometimes it can be as simple as feeling calm or just simply know that someone cares.
Watch the story for this week and see how Moses needed his friends, Aaron and Hur, to help win a battle.
Moses couldn’t have done it without his friends. He needed them!
Hopefully you have heard about Moses before. Spend some time now thinking about the stories that you know about Moses - grab a piece of paper and see how many stories of Moses you can name!
How many could you think of?
There are LOADS of stories about Moses from when he was a baby in a basket heading down the river Nile to when Moses saw the burning bush to when he set the Israelite’s free. You probably remember the plagues that came to Egypt when Pharaoh said no. Can you list any of them?
Maybe you remember when God used Moses to part the red sea?
You might even remember that God gave Moses the 10 commandments! Can you remember any of these?
But the story we have today you might not have heard before. So why not read it again!? Or act it out as you read it?
If you have a bible you might want to turn to Exodus 17v8-13 OR read the version below.
It all began after Moses had led God’s people through the Red Sea and across the desert to a place called Rephidim. When they got there some people called the Amalekites started to attack God's people, the Israelites.
When Moses heard what was happening he spoke to a young man called Joshua and told him to pick some men to go and fight. Moses told Joshua that he would stand on the hill with God’s staff in his hands.
Instantly Joshua went and got some men and went to battle the Amalekites.
Meanwhile Moses, his brother Aaron and Hur (an Israelite leader), climbed to the top of a hill.
There Moses lifted God’s staff high above his head, as he did, at the bottom of the hill, Joshua and the all of God’s people started to win their fight against the Amalekites.
But, Moses' arms grew tired and the staff began to drop. As soon as the staff dropped Joshua and the Israelites started to lose.
Aaron and Hur could see that Moses’ was getting tired. They had an idea. On the hill top they found a big rock. They put it next to Moses and Moses sat on it.
Then Aaron stood on one side and Hur on the other. They each held up one of Moses' arms.
Together they held God’s staff steady until it started to get dark. After many hours the battle came to an end. Joshua and the Israelites had fought hard and won the battle - they had beaten the Amalekites!
And Moses, Aaron and Hur had together held up God’s staff to help them win!
What an amazing story about how important friendship is.
All ages:
Friendship is so important. Moses needed his friends. Moses could not win the battle alone and needed Aaron and Hur to hold his arms up to ensure they won.
It’s hard at the moment when we can’t always play with our friends or see them face to face. But you are being a great friend by staying home. You are keeping them safe.
You can still write them letters and the best way you can be a great friends right now is to pray for them!
Think of a friend who you want to pray for. What do you want to ask God to help your friend with this week?
They might need help with their work or maybe they might be feeling down or maybe you just want to pray they have a really good week and know God loves them.
Get some paper and felt-tip pens or pencils.
Draw a picture of yourself helping your friend.
You may want to draw yourself and your friend holding hands or you might want to draw a picture of you holding up their arms like Moses’ friends did in our story today.
Stick the picture somewhere visible at home to help you remember to pray for your friend during the week.
CRAFT IDEAS!
Something to do during the talk
- Colouring Sheet ONE and TWO
- Dot to dot
- Prayer Dice
- Activity SheetLord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer is the special prayer that Jesus taught his followers. This craft will help you to learn it if you don’t know it and understand more about what each phrase means.
You will need THIS document, some glue, scissors and pens or pencils
The document itself contains the instructions of where to glue and fold etc.
PARENTS: This is an older version of the Lord’s Prayer. You may want to explain to your child that the word THY means YOUR. Also instead of SINS this version uses the words DEBTS and DEBTORS. Feel free to edit this version should you want to.Make your own Prayer Pot
Follow the instructions on THIS website.
You can use pieces of card instead of lollipop sticks! You can also use any form of decoration that you want on your pot or pail!Digital Family Prayer Adventure Map
This is an amazing completely FREE prayer resource put together by Thy Kingdom Come! Worth checking out HERE
NEW SONG!
This awesome song is all about praying. And it sounds very similar to a very well known prayer that we say often in church and looked at earlier. Can you guess what it is?
That’s right! It sounds like the words to the Lord’s Prayer. The famous prayer that Jesus teaches us in the bible.
LET’S PRAY!
Use your craft to pray the Lord’s Prayer together now.
PUT SOMETHING INTO ACTION: USE THE PRAYER ROOM!
Prayer is soooo important that all churches across the Derby are getting together to pray for our city. Our challenge as churches is to pray 24hours a day for 10 days! To do this we all need to play our part.
If we each give up a bit of time we can do it together and fill the whole 10 days!! You could book an hour that works best for you and your family and pray for our city.
We are hosting an online 24/7 prayer room and we are asking you to sign up for an hour (or more!) of prayer as we join with churches all across the city. As you sign up you will receive information and guides to help lead you through an hour of prayer (link below). Let's pray!
Don’t forget there are loads of creative prayer activities on the session: Be A Dreamer that you could use in your hour in the prayer room.
Edited and adapted by Amy Farrar from several sources including energize.com
