What do the words "lost" and "found" really mean?
The Synonym and Situation (Life Application) Game
For grades 3 to 12
Learning about "synonyms" and "metaphors" is an important Bible Skill
A synonym is a word that's similar in meaning to another word. "Lost and Wandering," for example. A metaphor is very similar, but points to something deeper. "Sheep" is not a synonym for "person," rather, it is a metaphor for a person. Put them together and you can interpet what Jesus was talking about: A Lost Sheep = A Person who has gone Astray. The Bible is full of such synonyms and metaphors. "Lost" and "sheep" are two of Jesus' favorites. So is "blindness."
Playing with the synonyms for LOST and the metaphors for SHEEP help to unlock the verse's rich meanings and points of life application. These are skills most adult Christians have learned, and can be a little dry for kids. This is why the Workshop Rotation Model created the Bible Skills and Games Workshop --to teach the skills of "interpretation," using games.
The Game:
1) Ahead of time, write up two sets of cards or slips of paper, one stack of "synonyms" and one for "situation." Put them in hats or baskets. See the synonym and situation lists below.
2) Explain the game by writing the starter phrase on the board, and drawing one synonym and one situation card and creating a sentence with them. Explain the scoring.
3) Play the game by splitting into two teams. Each team sends a player up to draw a card --ONE FROM EACH HAT. They then have ten seconds to use the starter phrase, synonym, and situation together in a sentence.
Each sentence is to begin with this phrase: "I'm lost when...." (write that on the board).
- They can modify the grammar or order of words if they want.
- They can "invite a friend" from their team to help, or they can "ask for a hint" from the teacher, or they can ask to pick another synonym or situation card, but that causes a 1 pt reduction in their score.
SCORING: Award 3 pts for their combining of the starter phrase + synonym + situation in a meaningful sentence. ADD bonus points for a "Good" (2 pts) or "Great" (3 pts) answer. Deduct a point if they needed help.
The game leader should hold on to the "used" cards until all the cards have been used, then they can put the used cards back in the hat to keep playing.
You can and probably should! adapt or adjust anything in this game to suit your needs.
♦ See the bottom of this post for examples showing how to combine the synonym with the metaphor into a new sentence.
Synonyms for "Lost" they can choose from.
- absent (not there, checked out)
- adrift (without direction)
- confused
- blind, in the dark about, refuse to see
- invisible, shrink from, withdraw from
- vanish, vanished
- disappear, disappearing
- lack of, lacking
- miss, missed, miss out
- stray, strayed
- wander, wandering
- cast away, toss, throwing away
- down the drain, wasted, slip away
- gone astray, take the wrong path
Situations Sheep-people can be "lost" in or about
- Follow, Following Jesus' command to love one another
- Forgive, Forgiving those who wrong me
- Attitude about going to church
- Time spent praying to God
- Obeying the Ten Commandments
- Believing in God with my whole heart
- Don't care
- My sins
- Being selfish
- My search for faith
- Worship
- Helping Others
- Sunday School
- Compassion
- Humble, Humility
- Jesus
Examples:
- I'm lost when I LACK COMPASSION for others.
- I'm lost when my heart is ABSENT in WORSHIP.
- I'm lost when I'm INVISIBLE in SUNDAY SCHOOL.
- I'm lost when STRAY from FOLLOWING (Jesus, Ten C's)
- I'm lost when I CAST AWAY BELIEVING in GOD
- I'm lost when I REFUSE TO SEE MY SINS
