Dry Bones
Hi Werb’s Kids and Werb’s Parents!
How are we all?
You might think the picture this week is a it strange but as always it links to the story we will be learning about later on!
I really hope you managed to have spent some time this week and last week thinking about putting yourself in other people’s shoes. It is so important that we continue to learn from those who are different from us and how their experiences have effected them. This is one of the best ways to be a loving neighbour and friend to everyone around us!
As I mentioned in our last session God wants us to be people of compassion who love and care for others so please don’t stop showing kindness as our world needs it.
Just like this skeleton, get listening to worship this week! As mentioned many times before we have created some playlists to get you worshipping God and dancing at this time! You can access these playlists on Spotify (Adults and Kids) and the same on Youtube (Adults and Kids).
Never forget that worship is an amazing weapon we can use against the enemy! It can help us remember who God is when facing had times and remind us of how he fights for us and just like the lyrics of the song we were shown a few weeks ago called ‘The Blessing’ remind us:
God goes before you, beside you, all around you, he is with you ALWAYS.
Stay safe and stay connected!
Love Amy
DRY BONES
This weeks story sounds a bit weird if you’ve never heard of it before. It does involve dry bones but has an amazing end which I won’t spoil yet!
The main person in our story is a man called Ezekiel.
You’ve probably never heard of Ezekiel before so here’s a little background on him to help you understand today’s story EVEN better!
This video below helps explain what a prophet is, who they are in the bible and why they are important!
As the video said prophets are people who hear from God. They then share what they have heard with God’s people. Sometimes it’s good news and sometimes it’s bad news.
But as the video told us the message is pretty much always the same: people mess up and this deserves a consequence or punishment cause God can’t ignore when we do bad things. But God loves us SO MUCH and so he always wants to restore and make new his relationship with his people. He promises MERCY which means showing love and compassion even if we doesn’t really deserve it.
Ezekiel was a prophet and he told God’s people lots of amazing things to help them turn back to God when they had gone wrong. Today we are gonna look at one of the amazing visions God gave to Ezekiel to share with God’s people.
BUT FIRST LET’S PLAY A GAME!
This weeks story as the title shows you is all about dry bones! So play this fun version of statues:
Run or move around in a designated area until the leader says, “FREEZE DRY BONES!“
IMMEDIATELY you must stop and freeze until the leader says “DRY BONES COME TO LIFE”
Only once this has been said can you move around again!
How good are you at staying still? FREEZE DRY BONES!!
I think God wants to talk to us about restoration.
RESTORATION means making something like new again and returning it to how it should be. But when God restores he often makes THINGs even better than new!
The vision we are looking at today is a special one. God’s people were very sad as they were living far away from their home. They had turned away from God and so this meant that an army had come, defeated them and then taken many of God’s people to place far, far, far away called Babylon.
They were very sad and just wanted to go home and this is when Ezekiel had his visions. His visions were to help God’s people get back in relationship with him and give them hope for the future.
Watch the video below of some children reenacting the bible passage for us!
Think for a second about some dry pasta…or maybe pop to the kitchen and grab a handful.
Most of us probably LOVE pasta! But would you like to eat uncooked pasta…NO! That would be gross! YUCK! We all know it tastes way better once it has been boiled in some water and I love it with some pasta sauce and cheese on top! For me that’s what makes pasta really come to life!
This is a bit like our story today.
God took Ezekiel and showed him a valley that was filled with dry bones. They were scattered all around and there was no life in them. God spoke to Ezekiel and asked him, "Can these bones live again?"
Well, Ezekiel didn't know what to say. So he said "O LORD, only you know the answer to that!"
Then God spoke to Ezekiel and said, "Speak to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: Look! I am going to put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you and you will come to life.'"
So Ezekiel spoke the message just as God told him. As he spoke, there was a rattling noise across the valley and the bones came together and formed complete skeletons! Then muscles and flesh formed over the bones and skin covered their bodies.
The bodies were made and now looked like people but they were not alive, they had no breath in them so God told Ezekiel to prophesy that breath would fill their lungs. The winds came and filled the bodies with breath and they came alive!
Look at or think about the pasta again -- it is dry and hard and not very good at all. It looks like nothing can help it. It looks like nothing good can come of it. But we know better, don't we? We know that if we boil it in some water in a pan and add sauce or maybe some cheese (or maybe both!), we will have something very VERY good indeed.
That's the way it is when we face something that is very hard in our lives. Sometimes it is hard to think that anything good can happen -- that everything is like it was in the valley of dry bones.
But just as we know that this pasta can become very good, we know that the hard things in our life can become a lot better. Just as God brought life to the valley of dry bones with the breath of his Holy Spirit , God can make bad things better in our lives too. And he will - when we trust him. That is what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about.
Let’s pray:
“Heavenly Father, sometimes we face hard things and life seems hopeless. Help us to remember the lesson of the dry bones. If you can make dry bones live again, you can make something good out of the hard things in our life. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.”
For those aged 0-6:
We all do things at times that we know we shouldn’t. We can make bad choices and we know when we do that we will need to say sorry and there might be a consequence or punishment for the bad thing we’ve done.
God’s people had done lots of bad things. They had turned away from God and didn’t love him like they should. They didn’t listen to God and as you’ll remember this meant a big army came and took them away.
God’s people were super sad and felt hopeless like nothing would get better. But that is why Ezekiel told them the vision he had! He was telling them that things would get better and life would return. It was a vision of HOPE!
When things are hard, people need to know that things will get better. So like our time now we need to remind people that things will get better. We will beat the virus and life will return.
Spend some time making a Hope Banner.
You’ll need a long piece of paper or a few A4 pieces taped together. Write the word HOPE and then decorate it. In this story the hope is for a better future and trusting God in hard times. Think about this as you decorate your banner. Stick it up somewhere to remind you and others of God’s hope.
For those aged 7 and above:
Being conquered and taken over by the Babylonians was punishment for the people of Israel’s disobedience and for turning away from God. Despite their evil ways, God still loved them and had a plan to bring them back to their homes and to restore their hope. Think about the following big ideas and make some posters that help explain them:
Restoration: Even though God allowed the Israelites to be conquered by the Babylonians, it did not mean that He had given up on them and no longer loved His people. Their punishment would bring them back to Him, restoring their relationship with their God. Do you remember what restoration means? How would you describe it?
Resurrection: In this story, resurrection is used as a metaphor. Do you know what a metaphor is? What do you think God wants to tell his people by showing Ezekiel this image of dry bones coming to life?
A metaphor is a special image, word or story that helps explain something. So the metaphor here is that resurrection helps explain Israel’s return from captivity and new life back in their home country. But it also speaks of a future bodily resurrection where the dead shall live in Jesus. The resurrection from the dead and the promise of eternal life are foundational in our Christian hope.New Covenant: Do you know what the word ‘covenant’ means? A covenant is a promise. And God makes a new covenant between Him and His people, the Israelites, in which He will give them a new heart and a new spirit. He promised to put His spirit in them like the breath in the bones that brings them to life. The Israelites are not the only ones who benefit from this new covenant with God: all who believe in Jesus can be forgiven of their sins and have a relationship with God.
CRAFT IDEAS
Something to do during the talk
- Story colouring sheets ONE and TWO
- HOPE colouring sheet
- Crossword
- Maze
- Draw what you think the Valley of Dry Bones looked like. Don’t forget to draw the prophet Ezekiel and think about how he might have felt when seeing this vision.Make a skeleton - you’ll need THIS print out, scissors and some split pins or string
Amy shows you how to make this in Sundays video!Dig for bones! (DIY Excavation Kit)
In our story we talk about God bringing bones coming back to life but this story reminds me a bit of those who dig for dinosaur bones and fossils!
Of course these bones won’t come back to life but it is fun making your own bones and then digging them up at home!
HERE is a great website to help you. But you’ll basically need to make your bones out of salt dough and cook them so they go hard and then use sand or soil to bury them. Then you’ll need a small shovel and a brush to find them! Be sure not to make too much mess and get soil and sand all over the house!!!Make a pasta picture!
There are 2 ways of doing this - you could paint dry pasta lots of different colours and then use them to make pretty pictures with but don’t stick them down so you can use them all over again to make more pictures and images. OR you could stick the pasta on pieces of cardboard to make a 3D image.
You could make a valley of bones picture to remind you of the story or think of other images you could make.
NEW SONG
This song is called Rattle and it is based on the passage. As that’s the sound Ezekiel heard when the bones began to move and form bodies. Whilst you listen to the song complete THIS journal page together.
This song however doesn’t only talk about Ezekiel…underneath the video I’ll write out the lyrics.
Look at them and see what lyrics point to Jesus and what other stories you can remember that are linked to the lyrics!
“Saturday was silent
Surely it was through
But since when has impossible
Ever stopped You
Friday’s disappointment
Is Sunday’s empty tomb
Since when has impossible
Ever stopped You
This is the sound of dry bones rattling
This is the praise make a dead man walk again
Open the grave, I’m coming out
I’m gonna live, gonna live again
This is the sound of dry bones rattling
Pentecostal fire stirring something new
You’re not gonna run out of miracles anytime soon
Yeah, resurrection power runs in my veins too
I believe there’s another miracle here in this room”
“Do you hear it?
Do you hear it?
Do you hear it?
My God is able to save and deliver and heal
And restore anything that He wants to
Just ask the man who was thrown
On the bones of Elisha
If there’s anything that He can’t do
Just ask the stone that was rolled
At the tomb in the garden
What happens when God says to move
And the bones began to rattle
Rattle, rattle,Rattle
God said live, God said live
Hear the Word
And this is what He said
Live, live
Dry bones hear the Word of the Lord
Live (live), live (live)”
Did you notice in the first verse hints at Easter? What do you remember about that story?
Did you notice the part about Pentecost? What do you remember about that story?
What miracles can you remember happening in the bible?
You can refresh your memory if you’ve forgotten by looking over our Pentecost session or our Easter session for a refresher!
PUT SOMETHING INTO ACTION THROUGH PRAYER: ASK GOD FOR VISIONS
Ezekiel was given special messages from God to encourage God’s people and help them through hard times. As you learnt in the very first video in this session about Prophets, God now speaks to ALL of us!
Spend some time in prayer now and ask God to give you pictures and words that will give people hope and help others through the hard times that they face.
Write or draw what God says to you.
Listening to God is something we have to practice. I know that I am not always the best at listening and can get distracted by other stuff around me so I find it helpful to close my eyes and try not to say anything for a little while. In my head I ask God to speak to me and then I just wait. This might feel weird at first but the more you wait for God to speak the more likely you are to hear him.
I look forward to hearing about what God has said to you!
Edited and adapted by Amy Farrar from several sources including sermons4kids.com
