Look again...
Upside down thinking!
Today we’re looking at the beatitudes.
The beatitudes are a group of beautiful attitudes that Jesus wants us to have!
The service starts at 9:30am on stwderby.online.church
But this button will go live about 11am on Sunday 9th May for you to watch the service again if you missed it live! You won’t want to miss out!
Hope you enjoyed our Werb’s Kids Service this morning!!
We love how everyone is getting involved so don’t miss out! Just email Amy (amy.farrar@stwderby.org) so that we can keep making it better and better and involving more and more people!
Today we are looking at a passage that is quite well known. You might have heard of it.
It’s called the beatitudes.
Here is a phrase that helps explain this: The beatitudes are a group of beautiful attitudes that Jesus wants us to have.
Whenever Jesus taught, He challenged people because He didn't say the things people expected to hear. This is just as true for the teaching we are going to look at today. Jesus wanted people to think differently and so we’re gonna look at some cool pictures that make our brains think differently!
We looked at some incredible pictures this morning which made our brains think in different ways.
HERE is a cool website where you can see more cool pictures that you’ll see look different one way and then different once turned upside down.
How amazing are they!? These are pretty cool aren’t they! Amazing images that look like one thing if you look one way and then look like something else if you flip it upside down! Now this is kind of what Jesus is doing in the passage we look at today. He wanted his followers to change their thinking and flip it upside down.
So the beatitudes can be found in Matthew 5 and we Puppet Joe helped us to read it but in more than one version to help us see this passage a different way. And see if we can learn anything different again from this same passage just written in a different way!
HERE IS VERSION ONE HERE IS VERSION TWO
You might want to look at them again or look a third version of the same passage to see if you again read something new from it.
We remembered again how the people of God were waiting for a rescuer. They were waiting for the Messiah, someone to come and save the day! They were imagining like a knight, a hero to come and overthrow the bad guys, those who were in power and in control of their country. But it was Jesus who came as we know, he came as a baby. The complete opposite to what they were thinking! It was upside down!
And Jesus’ teaching was the same! It was radical; it turned people’s expectations upside down. In this case, He told people that the things they thought were making them sad, God would use this to bless them, or bless others because of it. Jesus literally wanted to turn our frowns upside down!
Amy lead us this morning in a special prayer which might want to say again today:
“Stand up: Jesus help us this week
to stand up for what we believe.
Turn around: Help us Jesus to turn away from bad and go a different way if our friends are doing things we know we shouldn’t join in with.
Touch your eyes: Help us when we see something we can change to have the courage to make a difference. If we see someone in need, help us to help them God.
Touch your ears: Help us Lord to not listen and join in when we hear people mock others or say things that will hurt another persons feelings.
Touch your mouth: Help us to speak good words to others and use our words to build others up and not knock them down.
Put out your hands: Help us this week God to act differently following your way.
Amen”
GO DEEPER!
SPARKS (Preschool)
What did you think of our story today?
It’s a bit of weird one! But it is a passage that helps us think about how we can be more like Jesus.
Jesus wants us to be BLESSED!! He wants us to know that God will bless us through everything we face.
AND GOD WANTS US TO BLESS OTHERS TOO.
Have a little think about what makes you feel better if they are sad or afraid?
What about a cuddle or maybe some food like chocolate or sweets?
After you have had a cuddle, how do you feel?
Does it make you feel better?
When we are sad and feeling upset, a cuddle or some sort of food can comfort us.
A big cuddle or maybe some sweets or chocolate?
Jesus understood that. God wants to comfort us – to help us to feel better and to help us feel strong.
God tells us that when we’re sad that we are blessed because we will be comforted. We will feel better because we are loved by our families and by God.
Do you want God to comfort you today?
Tell your family and God now in prayer what you want help with today.
Now have a think about your friends, do any of them need help or need God to comfort them today?
Tell God their names and ask him to help you help them.
Finish now by saying this prayer.
“Dear God,
Thank you that you love us and our world.
Thank you that you look after me and want to care for me.
Thank you that you want our city to be full of love.
Help me to care for other this week and show beautiful attitudes to others.
Help me to do good things that can make the world a better place.
Amen.”
FLAMES (KS1)
Have you ever heard this passage before?
Is there one of these special beautiful attitudes that sticks out to you when we read the passage?
One that I think is really important is:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
What do you think of when you hear the word “peace”?
Make a poster using some magazines and some pens. Cut out pictures and make a collage of what peace is to you but also draw whatever you think about peace too or something that you think brings peace or is peaceful.
What did you put on there?
God calls us to be peacemakers. We are to bring peace to those around us to literally make situations peaceful.
Now think about when you see someone whose hurt or when there’s a bad situation. Most of us want to help but we don’t always know how.
Some people think that the best way to have peace is to ignore bad situations and hope that they will go away. But they won't.
If you want to have peace then you have to look at the problem and try to solve it. Being a peacemaker can be hard work!
You might want to look at Colossians 3:15-17.
Then think about these questions:
Why should we live together in peace?
What stops us from doing this?
How can God help us to live in peace with other people?
How can the things we think and talk about help us to live in peace with others?
You might want to think of a specific situation where you find it hard to live peacefully with someone else. It could be a problem you have with someone in your family or a friend, at home or at school.
Think about how God could help you live in peace in this situation – what could you pray? What could you try to think? Try to think of some ways God might want to to change and respond in this situation.
Finish by praying together that God will give us the strength to keep being peace and seeking after peace even when we don’t feel like it!
BLAZE (KS2)
In this passage we hear first hand from Jesus that following him will be hard.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Now take a little look at this story of the Widow's coin from Luke 21:1-4.
“Just then he looked up and saw the rich people dropping offerings in the collection plate. Then he saw a poor widow put in two pennies. He said, “The plain truth is that this widow has given by far the largest offering today. All these others made offerings that they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all!”
Then have a think about these questions:
The widow only put a small amount into the temple treasury – why did Jesus draw attention to her giving?
In what way was this sacrifice? What did it cost her?
Why do you think she gave all she had?
Jesus encouraged people to give all they had to God. He never pretended that following God would be easy and openly said that the decision to choose God's way would cost us. It cost the widow her coin. What might it cost us?
In our original passage from the beatitudes we hear how Jesus tells us that people might be mean to us or pick on us for following his way.
Being a follower of Jesus is hard but it’s worth it. He will always stick by us and will never let us down. .
Luke 9v24 says: whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
The cost of following God is not without reward. Many of our greatest dreams and ambitions can only happen through sacrifice. In the same way, making sacrifices for God bring positive results – most importantly, a deeper relationship with him.
And from experience those who have the best relationships with God are truly blessed and seem to live the happiest.
FUN ACTIVITIES + CRAFTS!
For those who LOVE colouring and activity sheets check these out:
THIS website has 2 cool crafts that you can do at home to help you remember the beatitudes. One is a ‘Beatitudes Garden’ and the other is a ‘Wheel of Beatitudes’!!
This week we have talked about what it means to be blessed and so we should also think about what it means to be a blessing.
Last year we did blessing cards so why not do some again or make your own?
Or this time bless someone through what you do whether that’s being kind or giving them a gift. Get creative…how could you bless someone this week?
What do you do best and how can you share it?
WORSHIP + PRAYER
This song is talking all about wanting God’s Kingdom to come and wanting our world to be better and more like what God wants our world to be.
Look at the bridge specifically. It talks about the beatitudes, those beautiful attitudes God wants us to have.
The way we live makes a difference and so the attitudes we have towards others matter. Look at the words of this song and ask God which attitude you might need to change?
Then pray for our city, your school, your favourite park or playground, your friends’ home and any other places that you love in Derby. Could you imagine if our world showed the beautiful attitudes Jesus wants us to have, pray that our city would become a better place.
“Earth is groaning and we are longing.
For Your kingdom to come
All creation and all of Heaven
Join their voices as one.
Singing:
God let your kingdom come
May your will be done
God let your kingdom come
Hope is stirring, joy arising
As we look to the day
When all injustice will bow
And every voice will cry out:
Holy is Your name.
God let your kingdom come
May your will be done
God let your kingdom come”
“Lift up your heads
all the weak and the poor
The Lord is at hand
and His Kingdom is yours
Lift up your hearts
all who suffer and mourn
The Lord is at hand
and His Kingdom is yours
Lift up your eyes
all who hunger for more
The Lord is at hand
and His Kingdom is yours
Lift up a shout
let the Earth hear your voice
The Lord is at hand
and His Kingdom is yours.
God let your kingdom come
May your will be done
God let your kingdom come”
Created by Amy Farrar using several different sources including energize.net
