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The Beatitudes

Drama Workshop


Summary of Lesson Activities:

The children will explore sign language to discover how to express the Beatitudes without the spoken word. They will discuss how can we apply the Beatitudes to our lives in the “Kingdom of God.” This lesson assumes your children are readers as it makes use of a kid-friendly concordance. Note: in our case, 4th through 6th graders visited this Workshop. This lesson would be appropriate for younger students—reduce the number of words that you plan to sign and if necessary, explain word meanings, rather than looking them up in the concordance.

Scripture Reference:

Matthew 5:1-10

Key/Memory Verse:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”  Matthew 5:3-10 (NIV)

Lesson Objectives:

Refer to the first post in this lesson set.



Leader Preparation:

  • Read the scripture for this lesson.
  • Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
  • Use the sign language resources (see the end of this lesson; computer and Internet access required) to learn to sign “sermon” and “mountain” and “Jesus” and “kingdom” and “heaven” and “blessed” and the signs for a couple of the Beatitudes – your choice! (I would suggest the first one since it repeats “kingdom of heaven.”) It may be necessary at times to use synonyms for words you can't find. It’s not necessary to sign every word.
  • Gather the following materials:
    • Bibles
    • Copies of the book: Kidcordance  (A Concordance written in kid-friendly language. See resources at the end of this lesson for more info about this book.)
    • Two or three large beanbags (optional, for use in the additional activity offered)
  • On the day of class:
    • Distribute Bibles and the copies of the Kidcordance in a circle where you plan to sit.
    • Bookmark your Bible to Matthew 5:1.



Lesson Plan: Opening

Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Drama Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults.

Say: Today we are in the drama workshop. Sometimes when you visit the drama workshop we wear costumes and pretend that we are in Bible times and act out a Bible story. Today we will be doing a different type of drama. We’ll be doing drama with our hands. We will be learning parts of our Bible story, known as the Beatitudes, in sign language.

Ask: Does anyone use sign language, or know any signs?

Say: Well, today we will learn some sign language and we will sign a portion of Jesus' Beatitudes. First, let’s start with prayer.

Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Be prepared to say a prayer yourself, working in prayer requests. Use the Lord’s Prayer as the ending. [You may ask one or two students to lead the Lord’s Prayer.]   A suggestion: “Thank you God for giving us Jesus who promised us many blessings--supreme happiness! Help us to learn how to be more like Jesus – how to be loving, gentle, forgiving when we need to be, and kind. (End with the Lord’s Prayer) Amen.”


Dig

Ask:  Who can tell me what is a sermon? (a portion of a worship service where we are taught)

Do:  Teach the sign for "sermon." [As you continue talking, when you use the words you’ve taught, say the word along with "doing" the sign for the word.]

Say:  That's right, in a sermon we are taught something. In the Bible, there is a particular set of the teachings of Jesus that are called the Sermon (sign the word sermon) on the Mount. We can put two signs together to talk about the Sermon on the Mount.

Do:  Teach them the sign for "mountain."

Say:   These teachings are called the Sermon on the Mount (Sign these two words) because Jesus taught them on the side of a mountain. The “Sermon on the Mount.”  (Again, sign these two words.) Because there particular words of Jesus’ have been given a special title, this means that they are important words!

Ask:  Have you ever seen something so amazing that you dropped whatever you were doing to go and see what would happen next? (allow a few responses)

Say:  Crowds were following Jesus (use the sign for Jesus) from town to town because his preaching and healing were so amazing.

Do:  Teach the sign for "Jesus."

Say:  There was a large crowd that wanted to hear Jesus (do the sign) speak. So Jesus (do the sign) went up on the side of a mountain (do the sign) and sat down. Note about signing
Back in Jesus’ day, Rabbis – religious teachers – always sat down to teach.  So Jesus’ disciples knew that since Jesus was sitting down, that he was going to teach them, so they gathered around and listened carefully.

Ask:  Who can tell us (or recall) any of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount? (in later weeks in the Rotation – see if the students can recall the term “the Beatitudes” and any of his words)

Say:  Jesus spoke many wise things to the crowd.  One of the things that Jesus talked about was the “kingdom of God” which the gospel writer Matthew refers to as the “kingdom of heaven.” Jesus started off his Sermon on the Mount with…

Do:  Open your Bible to Matthew 5 and read verse 3.

Ask:  What do you suppose this “kingdom of heaven" is? (allow a few responses)

Do:  Have students look up “kingdom of God” in the KidCordance books (page 118).

Do:  Ask a student to read the definition.

Say:  The kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven, is not a kingdom like we think of with a mighty king sitting on a throne. It is a spiritual kingdom, a place where God reigns, where things are done by God’s standards. In a sense, it is something on the inside of each of us. When we say the Lord’s Prayer we pray: “Thy kingdom come…” We are asking that God’s kingdom come here on earth.

Do:  Teach the signs for kingdom and heaven.

Say:  At the start of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he talked about what we call “the Beatitudes.”

Ask:  Who can tell me what the word “Beatitudes” means?  (blessings)

Do:  Teach the sign for "blessing."

Ask:  What is a blessing? (Students might be familiar with the use of the word “blessing” to mean a prayer before eating—as in “saying the blessing.” Are looking for an understanding that a blessing is something good—a feeling of well-being or supreme happiness that comes from God. You might also look up this word in the Kidcordance.)

Say:  The Beatitudes are eight special teachings of Jesus and they all start off with the words “blessed are…”

Do:  Review the sign for blessed.

Say:  Let’s read the Beatitudes in the Bible.

Ask: Where in the Bible would we read about Jesus teaching? (in the New Testament)
What is the quick way to find the beginning of the New Testament? (Opening the Bible in middle lands you usually in Psalms. Taking just the back half and finding the middle of that, gets you to the beginning of the New Testament.
What are the first four books of the New Testament?
What do we call the first four books of the New Testament? (the Gospels)
What does the word “Gospel” mean?

Say: The word gospel means “good news.” In the Gospels, Jesus teaches us good news. It is good news that you can be involved in what God is doing to bring about his kingdom. I am going to read the Beatitudes. Follow along if you’d like to do so.

Do:  Read to them Matthew 5:1-10.

Teach More Signs

Say:  When Jesus first taught the Beatitudes, he meant to teach and encourage his followers. Jesus’ followers were ordinary people like you and I. They weren’t especially powerful or important, and maybe they had troubles in their lives. Jesus wanted his followers to know that if they were faithful and joined his kingdom, they would be blessed.

Ask:  That sounds good doesn’t it – to be blessed?
Say:  We can all receive the blessings that Jesus offers if we follow Jesus’ teaching in the Beatitudes. To help us to understand the Beatitudes, let’s learn some of them in sign language.

Do:  Teach them the signs for one or two Beatitudes – use your judgment depending on their attention span! As you teach the students a particular Beatitude, talk about the meaning of words and what the Beatitude itself means. Use the information in the background materials for discussion.

Closing

Say:  The Beatitudes tell us that we are blessed—we can have supreme happiness that comes from God. We don’t have to earn these blessings. They don’t come to us only if if we are lucky; they are available to everyone. We are blessed because Jesus wants to be our friend and wants us to commit to living as his disciples.

Go now in peace, knowing God, loving others and serving the Lord!

If you need another activity...

Do:  Play a game with beanbags. Stand in a circle.

Say:  In this game we’ll toss a beanbag to each other. When you catch the beanbag, tell us something about a Beatitude. For example—let’s start by talking about being a peacemaker. When you catch the beanbag, tell us what you think it means to be a peacemaker, how you can act like a peacemaker, or tell us what God’s blessing will be if we are peacemakers.

Do:  Toss the beanbag around a few times until everyone gets the hang of it, then switch to talk about a different Beatitude. To make it more interesting, add one or two more beanbags into the game so there is lots of activity and interaction.


Resources

Osborne, Rick, et al. Kidcordance: Big Ideas from the Bible and Where to Find Them. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print. ISBN: 9780310224723


Links to Signs:

Sermon

Mount (use mountain)

Kingdom The sign for King: a K hand shape moves from the chest to the waist while crossing the body (the movement indicates the location of the royal sash worn by kings).

Heaven

Jesus: The middle finger of one hand touches the middle of the palm of the other hand then this action is repeated with the middle finger of the other hand. (This action indicates the wounds in Jesus' hands after he was nailed to the cross.)

Blessed (use bless) To help explain this sign to the students, Say: Think of a blessing as coming from the mouth to someone.)

Poor

Spirit

Merciful and mercy – use compassion

Peacemakers – use peace

Persecuted – use persecute

Mourn – use sad

Comforted – use comfort  

Inherit – I couldn’t find this word signed anywhere

Thirst – use thirsty

Filled – use “filled with”



A lesson written by Carol Hulbert for First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI 

Attachments

Images (1)
  • Note about signing
Last edited by CreativeCarol
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