The devotion was part of the semester topic "The life of Jesus Christ", in which we heard various stories from the life of Jesus. This section dealt with the Bible passages Lk 22:66-24:12 + 24:36-48.
Methodology
We have explained the crucifixion and what it means for us on the basis of four points. The four points were chosen on the basis of The Four Points. The bracelets from The Four might have been suitable as a deepener, but as a team we deliberately decided against this so as not to confuse the children with additional symbols.
Instead of the four symbols from The Four, we used the following illustration. For each point explained, a part of the picture was drawn on the floor with chalk (see pictures). The individual parts are described below.
At the end of the devotion, we clarified any questions in smaller groups of 4-5 children with 1-2 leaders and prayed with the children. We reminded the children once again that if we want to be Jesus' friend, we can simply say this to him loudly or quietly when we pray.
Illustration
The four points
1. First of all, the most important thing: God loves us. He loves every single child sitting here. He is perfect (like a new, uncreased, white sheet). [Draw 1st part of the picture]
2. Are we humans perfect? No, we make mistakes. [personal example from leader] Explanation that such mistakes (lying, stealing, etc.) are to blame. [Draw 2nd part of the picture]
Practical illustration (see pictures): The children and the ladder try to jump over the ravine. Of course, nobody can cross the gorge under their own steam. The guilt is too great.
3. Jesus is the Son of God. He never made such a mistake and was very close to God. Nevertheless, he was condemned by a judge (explanation based on an example: thief goes to prison). Jesus did not have to go to prison, but was sentenced to death. Although he never did anything forbidden!
He was spat on by the soldiers, beaten, his clothes were taken away and he was crucified. We deliberately did not want to whitewash the death of Jesus Christ, but we tried to show the children that he really had to suffer for us.
He died, fought death and defeated it. He rose again (explanation: in a normal death, you are buried under the earth. Jesus was buried, but came back after defeating death). So he built a bridge to God for us. [Draw 3rd part of the picture]
Practical illustration (see pictures): The children and leaders go over the cross to God and sit there. After all, it is most beautiful with God.
4. Jesus wants to be our friend. Thanks to him we can be with God again and the guilt is "gone". [If we want, we can pray and simply tell him that we also want to be his friend.
Parts of the picture
In these steps you can complete the picture piece by piece with chalk:
1. God on the right
2. We on the left side. The great gorge (note: no one, not even the tallest leader, should be able to jump over it) of guilt between us and God
3. The cross, symbolizing Jesus, as a bridge over the gorge
Sources
The photos were taken in our youth club www.jungschi-muttenz.ch.
The two pictures of Calvin & Hobbes are from www.teensgeneration.com. The artist and creator of Calvin & Hobbes is Bill Watterson.
