ALONE “Man does not live by bread alone.” Deuteronomy 8.5
ALIVE “Joseph my son is still alive.” Genesis 45.28
ANGEL “An angel of the Eternal appeared to them, and the glory of the Eternal shone around them.” Luke 2.9
ARK “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.” Genesis 6.14
COMMAND “This I command you, to love one another.” John 15.17
DAUGHTER “The daughter of Pharoah came down to bathe at the river.” Exodus 2.5
BEGINNING “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1.1
CROWN “…and does crown him with glory and honor.” Psalm 8.5
DRINK “The people murmured against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?” Exodus 15.24
BREAD “Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 5.24
DESERT “He turns a desert into pools of water…” Psalm 107.35
EAT “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden.” Genesis 3.3
CHURCH “…how one ought to behave in the household of God,…the church of the living God.” Timothy 3.15
DEVIL “Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Matthew 4.1
FEAST “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Eternal.” Exodus 12.14
DOVE “…he sent forth the dove out of the ark.” Genesis 8.8
FISH “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” Matthew 14.17
FREE “Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God.” Peter 2.16
FRIEND “A friend loves at all times.” Proverbs 17.17
GARDEN “The Eternal planted a garden in Eden.” Genesis 2.8
GIFT “You thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!” Acts 8.20
GRAPES “You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?” Matthew 7.16
HEART “He who has clean hands and a pure heart…he will receive a blessing from God.” Psalmm 24.4-5
HELP “For I, the Eternal your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you. ‘Fear not, I will help you.” Isaiah 41.14
HOME “Even the sparrow finds a home.” Psalm 84.3
HUNGRY “If your enemy is hungry, feed him.” Romans 12.20
JESUS “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Matthew 1.21
KING “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” Exodus 1.8
LOVE “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Leviticus 19.18
MONEY “The love of money is the root of all evils.” 1 Timothy 6.10
MOUNTAIN Then Moses went up on the mountain.” Exodus 24.15
NEIGHBOR “But he…said to Jesus, ‘Who is my neighbor?” Luke 10.29
NOISE “Make a joyful noise to the Eternal!” Psalm 100
POOR “Blessed is he who considers the poor!” Psalm 41.1
PRAYER “Hear my prayer, O God, and give ear to my cry.” Psalm 39.12
PARENTS “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.” Luke 2.41
PRISON “I was in prison and you came to me.” Matthew 25.36
SING “Sing praises to God, sing praises!” Psalm 47.6
SHARE “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?” Isaiah 58.7
STORM “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea.” Matthew 8.24
RAIN “…your Father who is in heaven…sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5.45
RIVER “and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” Matthew 3.6
RICH “Thus says the Eternal: ‘Let not the rich man glory in his riches.” Jeremiah 9.23
TENT “So he (Abraham) build an alter there and called upon the name of the Eternal, and pitched his tent there.” Genesis 26.25
TOOTH “…it was said, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil.” -Jesus Matthew 5.38
SEASON “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…” Ecclesiastes 3.1
INHERIT “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5.5
SALT “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its tast, how shall its saltiness be restored?” Matthew 5.13
WORSHIP “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” -Jesus John 4.24
WORLD “You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works.” -Jesus Mathhew 5.14
FORGIVE “And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’” Luke 23.34
LAW “On these two commandments depend all the law and prophets.” Matthew 22.40
FAMINE “The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end; and the seven years of famine began to come” Genesis 41.53
QUEEN “…and women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven…” Jeremiah 7.18
SHEEP “All we like sheep have gone astray.” Isaiah 53.6
SEA “Some went down to the sea in ships.” Psalm 107.23
SEED “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” Matthew 13.24

GOD SAID TO JONAH, "Go at once to the great city of Nineveh and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me." Jonah knew that if he gave the people of Nineveh God’s warning, they would beg for forgiveness. Jonah was also sure that they would be forgiven, since God was a merciful God. Jonah didn’t like the Ninevites and didn’t want them to be forgiven, so he took a ship to Tarshish, a town in the opposite direction from Nineveh, and the one farthest away.

While that ship was sailing to Tarshish, a terrible storm came up. The sailors were very afraid, and they threw all their cargo into the sea to lighten the ship in the water. Jonah, meanwhile, was fast asleep below deck.

The captain woke Jonah and begged him to call upon his God to keep them from dying. Then the sailors questioned him. "Where do you come from? Why are you here? When they found out that he was running away from his God, they cried, "What is this you have done? What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?"

Jonah answered, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you."

Still they tried to get back to land, but the storm got worse. Finally, they realized that they would have to throw Jonah into the sea if the rest of them were to be saved. So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea. The sea stopped its raging, and the sailors were certain that God had caused the storm.

God then provided a large fish to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three nights and three days. Then Jonah prayed to God for deliverance; God spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

Again, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, and this time Jonah went. The people of Nineveh listened to Jonah, and they begged God to forgive them. God heard their cries and was full of mercy for the Ninevites, just as Jonah knew God would be. Therefore they were forgiven. This made Jonah angry, but God finally convinced him that the people of Nineveh were worth saving.

Did you ever think something when you were younger and then, when you got to be a little older, find out it wasn’t that way at all?

For example, when I was in first grade, I used to think that children in the third grade were practically grownups! But then when I got to be in the third grade, I didn’t feel grown-up at all. But then I thought the sixth-graders were really old!

For some reason it’s fun to tell other people about your "used-to-thinks." I’ve been collecting "used to thinks" for quite a few years now — some of them are my own, some of them my children told me, and some of them other children told me. Here are some of the "used-to-thinks" I have collected. I wonder whether you used to think any of these things?

I used to think that we lived on the inside of the world ball, not on the outside.

I used to think that when you shut off the TV the program would stop, and then, when you turned it on again, it would begin right where it was when you stopped it.

I used to think you grew bigger on your birthday.

I used to think that when people said that Christmas was just around the corner, the people around the corner were having Christmas.

I used to think that when there were double lines down the middle of the highway, motorcycles were supposed to go in the space between them.

I used to think that ladies who wore high heels had heels on their feet that went down inside their shoes.

I used to think that after you’ve gotten as old as you are going to get, you begin to get younger again. When someone told me how old they were, I wondered whether they were on their way to older or younger.

Children are not the only ones who have "used-to-thinks." Almost every day, now that I have grown up, I find out something that makes something that I thought I knew into a "used-to-think." (Share some grown-up "used-to-thinks" of your own.)

Do any of you have "used-to-thinks?" (Pause while others in the group share their "used-to-thinks.")

But it isn’t just grownups and children who have "used-to-thinks." All the people who are alive together at one time think certain things that people living after them find out aren’t true at all.

The people who lived in Greece several thousand years ago used to think that it was the trees shaking that made the wind blow.

People used to think that tomatoes were poisonous.

The people who lived when my grandmother did used to think that it was positively dangerous to go as fast as fifteen miles an hour. They used to think that there never could be a flying machine — it would fall out of the air.

People used to think that we would never, never get to the moon, or to Mars, or away from our earth at all.

I guess that as long as there are people in the world there will be "used-to-thinks," because there is always going to be more to find out, and there are always going to be new things to find out about what we think we already know. Sometimes, as we get older, we understand things that we couldn’t have understood before — just because we have grown some and have had more experiences. Every time you find yourself with a new "used-to-think," you ought to feel pretty good, because it means you’ve learned something that you didn’t know before.

Goal:
To discover the origins of Shabbat/Sabbath as told in the biblical story and to learn the importance to both Judaism and Christianity of a day of rest and worship.

Materials:
A copy of the book The Creation by Stephen Mitchell (or another children’s book that tells the Biblical creation story)
Large piece of mural paper divided into 6 sections, or 6 separate pieces of paper labeled:
First day (light and darkness/day and night)
Second day (sky and earth and seas)
Third day (all kinds of plants
Fourth day (sun, moon, and stars)
Fifth day (living creatures of sky and sea)
Sixth day (living creatures of earth)

Preparation:
Read Background

Activities:
Conversation and Story

Make a mural of the story. Explain that a mural is a big picture with many parts that tells a story from beginning to end. You could divide the sections among family members and put your mural together at the end, or have each family member draw every section and create more than one mural.

When the mural is done and put together, invite everyone to sit and “rest” to affirm the creative efforts of all.

"Hosanna, hosanna," said Simcha over and over again. She loved the sound of the word and it made her feel good inside to say it. It was such a happy word. "Hosanna, praise God, hosannnaaaaaa." She tried saying it all different ways.

It was a beautiful day–not a cloud in the sky. She knew it would be hot later, but right now, as the sun came up, it was cool and the earth smelled sweet. She was going to Jerusalem with her family to spend Passover with her favorite aunt and uncle. It would be a long walk, and they would have to leave soon so that they could be there before the heat of early afternoon. She remembered the narrow streets that wound through the city and she thought of how cool her aunt’s house would be. Her mother climbed onto the donkey and took the baby in her arms. Father held the donkey’s halter as they walked along. Simcha danced and skipped all around the donkey, kicking up clouds of dust.

"Hold on there, young lady," said Father, laughing. "You’ll have us all choking in dust and you’ll be too worn out to make it all the way to the city.

Simcha calmed down. Her parents were talking grown-up talk, so she stopped listening. "I wonder if we will see Jesus," she thought. She had heard about Jesus. He was a great storyteller — she loved to listen to stories. She had heard that he was a kind person who cared about people who were poor or sick. He wanted to help people and make their lives better. He loved children, too. Maybe if she saw him he would tell her a story. "Hosanna, praise God," she whispered quietly to a bird sitting along the road, and the bird sang a song to her that Simcha thought sounded like "hosanna." Simcha was so happy. She felt as though she could dance ail the way to Jerusalem.

As they got closer to the city, there were more and more people. Everyone who could, went to Jerusalem for Passover. She was glad she had people to stay with, because she knew the city would be very crowded. Many people would have to sleep on the ground outside the walls.

Suddenly, everyone seemed to be shouting. Simcha stretched her neck to see over the crowd. People were moving back to make a path leading up to the gate of the city. Simcha ducked under the arms of some grown-ups and found herself right at the edge of the path. It was dry and dusty. Passing feet stirred up little puffs of dust that made her sneeze. Everyone was shouting, "Hosanna." They had pulled branches off the palm trees and were waving them to cool themselves in the hot sun. Simcha thought someone very important must be coming. It couldn’t be Romans because everyone was shouting "Hosanna" and that was such a happy word. The Romans were mean and made everyone sad.

Then she saw the man on the white donkey coming up the road. He was an ordinary looking man, but something special seemed to glow in his face. As he got closer, she saw his eyes. They seemed so very sad. She wanted to make him happy. She saw the donkey’s feet kicking up dust and she was afraid it would make him sneeze, too. She took off her cloak and spread it on the path in front of him. Others saw her, and soon everyone was spreading their cloaks on the road, too. As the donkeys came closer to her, the man turned to her and smiled. He stopped the donkey and reached out his hand to touch her head. "Thank you," he said. His voice made her feel warm inside.

"Come, Jesus, we will be late," said the man holding the donkey’s reins.

"In good time," said Jesus. "This child has been very kind to me. It is always the children who must teach us. It was a little boy who shared his meal so that I could feed the five thousand who had come to hear me. When a child shares, the whole world seems to follow. The prophet said,’A little child shall lead them.’ We have seen that here today. If we could all be as children, the world would be a better place."

Just then, Simcha’s mother and father caught up to her and saw what had happened. How proud they were of their daughter.

Jesus rode on into the city. Simcha picked up her cloak, folded it carefully, and held it against her cheek. "Hosanna," she thought. "This has truly been a ‘Praise God’ day. Hurray for Jesus"