Rotation.org Writing Team

Last Supper ~ Lord's Supper

Science (Memory) Workshop 

Summary of Activities

Through a series of memory experiments (games), students will learn why remembering the story of Jesus' Last Supper is important. The memory games are designed to help them more fully participate in the Lord's Supper, and grow as a Christian.

Notes: This lesson was written for upper-elementary age students and needs a minimum of 40 minutes to complete. The three experiments-games are progressive. Ideally, this lesson would be taught just prior to students participating in the Lord's Supper in worship. See younger child adaptation notes at the end of the lesson.

Scripture for the Lesson

Matthew 26:17-30

Lesson Objectives

See the Bible Background at rotation.org for this set's complete list of objectives. 

Preparation and Materials

• Read the Bible Background and scripture.
• The materials needed for each activity are listed with the activity below.

Lesson Plan

The games in this lesson plan are really object lessons (demonstrations of ideas using props/objects). The teacher continues to talk throughout the demonstrations similar to how you might conduct a children's sermon. We've suggested a number of "insightful" things to say, but of course, your own insights and feedback from the kids will make your presentation unique. The games and insights are progressive (to be taught in order).

TIP: To make sure key points are not forgotten, have this lesson plan in front of you as you progress through it's steps.

Open

Welcome your students and explain how today's lesson will unfold. Tell them that at the end of the lesson you hope they will have a greater understanding of what Jesus taught us at the Last Supper so that we can get more out of the Lord's Supper, also known as, "Communion." (Explain the difference in "Last" and "Lord's" if needed.)

Begin with this warm-up memory activity:

Memory Test 1:  Remember by Telling a Story (Episodic Memory)

(information and meaning is remembered better when wrapped in a story)

Give each student a pencil and paper.  Tell them that after you read the following list of words, they are to write down as many as they can remember.

Read Word List 1, ...pausing about 2 seconds between each word. 

Word List:
alligator - apple - tree - toddler - house -
shoe - head - window  - arrow - cried

After reading the list, ask them to write down as many words as they remember, then ask them to tell you all the words they remembered, you'll write these on the board. Show them the original list and have them mark down how many they remembered. Afterwards, collect their papers so they can't see them again, erase anything you wrote on the board, and give them each a new sheet of paper.

Say: One of the gifts God gives all of us is the ability to remember and tell stories. It's a type of memory called "story" or what the brain scientists call, "episodic" memory.  And it's extremely important gift that we in the church use all the time to remember important things.

Listen to my story using that same list of words. 

Word List 1 Story: My alligator wanted an apple, so I shot an arrow at a tree outside my window. The arrow hit an apple which fell onto my toddler's head. He cried and then brought it into the house and stuck it in my shoe.

Have them write down as much of the story as they can remember. After you've given them a minute to do so, begin reading the story phrase by phrase. Have the students keep track of how many of the words they remembered as you read aloud the Word List Story emphasizing the KEY WORDS from the original list.

Word List Story:
My alligator wanted an apple, so I shot an arrow through my window at a tree. The arrow hit an apple which fell onto my toddler's head. He cried and then brought it into the house and put it in my shoe.

The Science: Our brains better remember important things when we create a story around the things we want to remember. In brain science, this is called "episodic" memory. It means we remember important details when they have a story connected with them. Stories have locations, characters, emotions, and actions.  

Point: (You will make the point with the scripture reading activity below.)

Scripture Reading

Go to the Board and write the following Word List:

cup - table  - bread  - body - blood - covenant - forgiveness - sacrifice - salvation

Say: As we listen to Matthew 26:17-30, listen to how all of these words in the Word List  are turned into a story so we don't forget them. 

Read: Matthew 26:17-3

Take a moment and circle a few key words you wrote on the board, mentioning how that word-concept was part of the story you just read. For older students, and those with more time, turn this into a set of questions about the reading.

Share this Key Point: At the Last Supper, Jesus took the old story of the Exodus Passover, ..a story about God saving the Israelites from slavery, and turned the supper into a story about himself, ...about how JESUS was saving the people from their slavery to sin.  

[He took Bread, Blood, Cup, and Forgiveness from the Exodus story, and added Table, Sacrifice, and Salvation to make it a story about him and us.]

It's as if Jesus said, 
"You use to remember the Exodus Passover at this meal. Well now, I want you to remember YOUR SALVATION from SIN AND DEATH. And guess what, now I am the lamb at your Passover, It is my blood that will be a sign for you that God saves, and forgives. It is ME who will rain down on you like the new manna in the desert, the Bread of Life during your journey." And in fact, that's exactly what he meant.

Do: Hold up some bread, break it, and pantomime it raining down on each student, then give it to them to eat.  As you do this, say the words, "Give us this day, our Daily Bread." What do you suppose Jesus wants our brains to remember about those words?  Him!  He is our Daily Bread.  (Why do this? We're creating a vivid memory.)

Memory Test 2: The Power of Associative Memory

(one memory, such as, the sight of breaking bread, can trigger a flood of meaning)

Say: Let's see if you can complete my sentences. 

Spaghetti and __________ (most will probably say "meatballs")

Jack and Jill went __________ (up a hill)

Jingle bells, Jingle bells, ______________(jingle all the way)

Our Father, who __________ (art in heaven)

Take and eat, this __________ (is my body. They just read this in scripture.)

Say: Your brain just used what is called "Associative Memory."  "Associative" means my words triggered another memory already in your brain. I said "Our Father, who" and it triggered your memory to say, "art in heaven."   

Jesus told many stories, including ones we call "parables" because he wanted us to remember important truths.  Who here can remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan?

Do: Let your students try to verbally tell the story. As they contribute, write out what they say.

The Point:  Point out that some students didn't remember a certain part of the Good Sam story until someone mentioned it, and that made them think of something else in the story. This is the power of stories. One memory triggers another. I can simply say "Good Samaritan" and your brain, if you know the story, immediately fills in what that story was about.

Ask: Are we telling the whole story here? No, we're remembering it and writing it down in a sort of "short-hand" or summary. 

Say: In our scripture reading about the Last Supper, Jesus used objects that triggered people's memories about the Passover story, ...and he didn't even have to tell them the whole story.

Ask: What two objects did Jesus hold and talk about at the Last Supper? (Bread and Cup) 

Ask: Did he say everything there is to say about the Bread and Cup?  —No, his disciples already thought they knew what the Bread and Cup meant. They had celebrated the Passover meal many times before and knew the story about the Passover bread.

Ask about the Bread:  Looking at Matthew 26:26, what NEW MEANING did Jesus "associate" in our brains with the Passover bread?  Give to, add to? (that it was his body, broken for them) 

Ask about the Cup:  Looking at Matthew 26:27, what NEW MEANING did Jesus "associate" in our brains with the Cup?  (that the Cup was about salvation, about his blood shed for the "forgiveness of sins")

Hold Up a Loaf of Bread and ask...

Who is the Bread?  (Jesus)
Who is Broken? (Jesus)
Who's is the Bread of our Life?  (Jesus)

Hold up the Cup and ask...
What does the red juice in the cup remind you of? (Jesus' blood/sacrifice)
What did Jesus' sacrifice on the cross GIVE to us?  (forgiveness)

Say: In fact, as Christians, I no longer need to even say the words. I can just show you this (bread) and this (cup).  (Hold them up without making a sound. then ask...)

When I held them up, what went through your mind? What memories did you pull up?

Propose a "Silent Communion" by saying:  Imagine if we held a "Silent Communion."  What do you think would happen if our church didn't say any words at all during Communion?  What if we just held up the Bread, broke it, and gave it to the people to eat, and then held up the Cup and invited everyone to silently drink.

Would people understand what it meant?   How would they know what we meant?

To those like you who know the story, it could be VERY meaningful. But to those who didn't bother to learn the story, or don't believe it, or who are distracted —it would seem "boring" or unimportant. 

Ask: What did you NOT know about the Last Supper story. What would go through your mind if I just held up a piece of bread and cup? What would you think was going on?

Point out that "when you know the story, and pay attention to the story, you can become part of it.  Jesus is talking to you!"

Memory Test #3:  Distractions to memory and meaning

Say: So our brains are great at remembering important things when they have a story, and our brains are great at BRINGING MEANING to the Table, even when we only tell part of the story.  Just the sight of the Lord's Table and smell of bread can cause an avalanche of memories and meaning to those who care. 

So now let's look at things that work AGAINST us to dull or distract us from remembering and participating in the meaning of the story...

Things you'll need:

• 3 buckets or trashcans
• 6 to 10 tennis balls (or any collection of balls that can be shot into the buckets)
• 3 signs for the buckets. 1: Memory of the Story's Meaning   2: Want to Be Close to Christ  3: Feeling part of Fellowship
• 3 signs with a string to hang around the neck:  1: "Bored"  2: "Don't Care"  3: "Somebody is distracting me"

How to Play:

1st Round:  (a very quick round to introduce the game idea)

Line up the class a couple of feet from the buckets and let them toss the balls into the buckets. See how many in a row they can get it.  The signs are not used in the first round. Make this a quick round. 

2nd Round:  (You will place the labels on the buckets as you say the following.)

Say: Let's create a story around our game. I want you to imagine that the buckets represent three things we need to make participating in the Lord's Supper special: 1) memory of the story, 2) wanting to be close to Jesus, and 3) wanting to feel part of this fellowship (the other disciples around us). 

Have students line up and toss the balls into the buckets. (Make it pretty easy to do and don't overplay this round.)

3rd Round: (adding the distractions)

Say: The problem with wanting to believe, wanting to feel Jesus' presence and feel close to the other disciples around us is that there are sometimes DISTRACTIONS in the way.

Do:  Hang the three "distraction" signs around three students. Have "Bored" walk in front of the buckets while one or two students try to toss their ball into the bucket. Then add the second "distraction", toss a few balls, and then the third "distraction" to make the game more difficult (distractions can use their hands or feet to block balls tossed). In fact, it should be nearly impossible!  

Stop the game and ask students the following questions:

1. How can we stop "boredom" from being a problem?   (Possible Answer:  Look again at the buckets. How cool would it be to feel Jesus' presence at your side supporting you?)

2. How can we stop "Don't Care" from keeping us from belief, and a desire to be close to Jesus?"  (Possible Answer: Make a decision to know and become part of the story.)

3. How can we stop "Others Distracting Me" from interrupting the MEMORIES we have of the story and its meaning —that participating in the Lord's Supper are meant to trigger?  (Possible Answer: Let them know you want to pay attention. Kindly set them straight. Be a good example to them.)

As the students come up with some good suggestions, have the "distraction" kids wearing the signs sit down a few feet in front of the buckets.

Resume the game with the "distraction" kids all sitting and not allowed to use their hands or feet to block ball tosses. Let the rest of the class see how many balls they can toss over or around the "distractions" and make it into a bucket.

In Summary:

We need to know the story in order to feel part of it.

We need to not allow things or people to distract us participating in the story, and the presence of Jesus.

Adaptations

For Younger Students you're going to have to simplify your language. The "brain science" comments will be lost on them, but the demonstrations will be remembered. 

If you are part of a church which does not allow children to take Communion, you might try to change that!  Jesus himself said "let the children come and don't hinder them."  But if that change isn't possible right now, ask your pastor to do a special unofficial "Lord's Supper" celebration just for the children.

Written by the Rotation.org Writing Team
Inspired by a lesson from Team member Jaymie Derden
with contributions by Neil MacQueen
Copyright 2017, Rotation.org Inc.