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Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Thanksgiving Object Lesson – 5 Kernels of Corn

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The cornucopia, also known in English as the Horn of Plenty, is a symbol of prosperity and affluence, dating back to the 5th century BC. It was often filled with the fruits of the harvest which included corn, fruits, and other vegetables. Corn itself was one of the staple foods of the Pilgrims and early settlers. The native Americans taught them how to bury a fish with the kernel of corn to act as fertilizer and speed its growth. After the first year of the Plymouth colony, only half of the 102 settlers were still alive. Times were hard. At a later harvest, after a particularly tough winter it was said that each person had only 5 kernels of corn to live on each day.  Yet they still gave God thanks in spite of the difficult circumstances. Here are a variety of games using corn kernels.

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What You Need

  • Dried Corn Kernels or popcorn – you can get dried feed corn like that sold for bird feeders or unpopped popcorn will also work.

Games using Corn

  • Chopsticks and corn – Using a pair of chopsticks and a couple shallow bowls or saucers, each youth is given one minute to move corn from one bowl to the other using only the chopsticks. Only one hand can be used to hold the chopsticks. The youth to transfer the most corn wins.
  • Corn and Straws Relay – Divide the youth into teams and give every person on a team a plastic straw and a paper cup. Place a piece of corn in the first team member’s cup. The youth must create a vacuum in the straw to pick up the corn and place it into the next person’s cup. First team to get the corn into the last person’s cup wins. If the corn is dropped on the floor, the team must start completely over at the beginning.
  • Corn Bocce – On a smooth surface like a table, one youth acts as the referee, sliding out the first piece of corn. He then marks this piece with a toothpick. Contestants take turns sliding 4 different pieces as close to the referee’s mark as they can. The referee determines which piece is the closest, awarding that youth or team a point. Play until someone gets ten points
  • Corn Catch – You’ll need one cornucopia or basket for each team, one bag of corn per team, and a belt or length of rope for each team. Use the rope or belt to secure the cornucopia around the waist of one player per team. Have the team member who is wearing the cornucopia stand about 7 to 10 feet away from the players who will be throwing the corn. The player wearing the cornucopia may move around to try and catch the corn as it is thrown without using their hands to deflect the corn in any way. Once everyone has thrown the corn, take the cornucopia and count the corn inside. The youth with the most corn wins.
  • Corn Foosball – Have two youth stand at either end of a large table. One youth throws corn (or a plastic bag of it) to the other end of the table, and the other youth must block it from going through and making a goal. Use a dry sponge for blocking making sure it is one that will not scratch your table.
  • Corn Pitching – Players takes turns pitching ten corn kernels, one at a time, into a bowl from a set distance. You might choose to have various bowls of different sizes and at different distances. Display the points based upon difficulty. Keep score of how many kernels end up in the various bowls. The winner is the one with the highest score after three rounds.
  • Corn Race – Using a drinking straw, the youth must blow a kernel of corn across a table. First to blow it from one end to the other wins.
  • Corn Straw Relay – Race to see who could move the most corn from the table into a bowl in sixty seconds using only a single straw.
  • Kernel Relay – Mark a starting line and a finish line with masking tape on the floor roughly 15 feet apart. Set an empty bowl for each player at the finish line and a bag of corn and a spoon at the starting line. Have each player stand at a bag of corn and take the spoon in hand, placing a single kernel on the spoon. The youth will then carefully race a piece of corn to an empty bowl at the finish line, trying not to let the corn fall off the spoon. Each player will continue to race from the bag of corn to the bowl to see how many pieces of corn she or he can get into the bowl within the allotted time of one minute. If a player drops a kernel from the spoon, that youth must then run back to the bag of corn and get another piece to start over again.
  • Odds or Evens – Each player starts out with the same number of corn kernels. Players rotate about the room pairing up with others. When they find a partner, one player hides a few kernels of corn in his hand. The other player must guess if the number of corn kernels is odd or even. If guessed correctly, the player can add the kernels to his own collection. Players take turns hiding and guessing, until one player has all the corn or until a specified time limit!
  • Turkey Feed – Mix a few pieces of candy corn in with a bowl of corn kernels. Blindfold players and have them retrieve the candy corn from the bowl within a designate amount of time. (As a gross out variation, have them retrieve it with their bare feet then eat it.) The player that retrieves the most candy corn in the designated time limit wins.
  • Where’s the Corn? – Line up three plastic cups out on a tabletop in front of a youth. Place a single piece of corn under one of the cups, allowing the player to see which cup the corn is under. Begin to change the cups’ formation around for five to ten seconds. The youth then must try to remember which cup is hiding the corn and will continue to play and collect corn until he or she chooses the wrong cup. Give the earned corn to that player, and continue on with the next player until every youth has won pieces of corn.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

  • In these games are you someone who plays it safe or shoots for the moon?
  • Was the voyage to the new world by the pilgrims a safe bet or a big risk?
  • What were some of the potential risks? Potential rewards?
  • What were some of your strategies in these games?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Some people play it safe in life. Others take risks. Most of the time we evaluate if the potential reward is worth the risk. For the Pilgrims, coming to America was a great risk. But the lure of religious freedom was worth the risk. Many of them lost their lives in pursuit of the opportunity to freely worship God as their conscience dictated. After the first year of the Plymouth colony, only half of the 102 settlers were still alive. Times were hard. Later during a particularly tough winter is was said that each person had only 5 kernels of corn to live on each day.

Yet in spite of their hardships, they gave thanks to God. Eternal blessings outweighed the physical ones. There may be times when we do not have much, but to have a relationship with God is worth any cost and any hardship! They made a choice, a decision to pursue God at any cost.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • What risks are worth the reward of knowing Jesus as Lord and living for him?
  • Is Christianity a risk? Why or why not?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • Has God called you to do something out of the ordinary?
  • To what has God called you?
  • What are you willing to risk for religious freedom?

CLOSING ACTIVITY

Just as a single grain of corn has the potential for an abundant harvest, even one decision for God can lead to a harvest of blessings in your life. What choice is God calling you to make today? Take a kernel of corn home as a reminder of a decision God has called you to make for him regardless of the risk.

SCRIPTURES

  • 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
  • Ephesians 5:20 – “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
  • Philippians 4:6 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

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Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Turkey Feathers of Thanksgiving

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Turkey Feathers of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day was first celebrated in the American Plymouth colony in 1621, when Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer. Before that, a Native American named Squanto taught the pilgrims how to plant corn and how to survive in the new land. When the harvest came, it was celebrated by all the colonists and neighboring Native Americans who had helped them. Gradually it became a common annual custom to celebrate thanksgiving after the harvest. While turkeys were known to the colonists and Indians, we don’t have any proof they were served at the first thanksgiving. But they were added later as part of the celebration that continues until today. Long before that, the Isrealites has a similar feast day to Thank God for what he had done for them. It was called the Feast of Tabernacles and can be found in Leviticus 23:33-44; Numbers 29:12-39; Deuteronomy 16:13. The games in this lesson use feathers, not only because they are associated with Thanksgiving, but also because there are places in the Bible where God is compared to a protective bird who covers us with his wings.

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What You Need

Lots of feathers – Most of these games work best with feathers that are light and fluffy and not the heavy quill-like feathers. You can buy them at any craft store or pluck them from a cheap feather boa.

Games using Feathers

  • Falling Turkey Feathers – The youth on one or more teams must all hold hands in a circle. Throw a feather up into the air inside each circle and then each team must keep the feather from touching the ground only by blowing it upward. They are not allowed to release their their hands to keep the feather up. Have a competition to see which group can keep the feather in the air the longest, or which group in the matter of three minutes drops the feather the least, etc.
  • Feather Blow Floor Race – Tape two lines on the floor at opposite ends of the room as goal lines. Teams blow the feather along the floor to the opposite goal and back. First team to complete the relay wins. Team members should cheer their teams on with the loudest gobble-gobble sounds as possible.
  • Feathers – Play the regular game of Spoons, but substitute feathers for the spoons. In the middle of the table, place one less feather than the number of players you have. Shuffle a standard 52-card deck and deal 4 cards to each person. Have everyone take one of their cards and discard it to their left simultaneously. The person to the right of the dealer, however, should put one of their cards down on the table to start the discard pile, while the dealer picks up a new card. Repeat this process of everyone passing to the left. Each round the dealer should pick up a new card and the person to their right should add to the discard pile, so as to have a continuous influx of new cards. The first person to have 4 of a kind (e.g. all 4 aces or all 4 nines) has to pick up a feather. Following this, all other players need to do the same, with the slowest person left without a feather and out of the game.
  • Fluffy Turkey Feathers Matre d: Youth must carry feathers on a plate or plastic spoon to a target and back. The players must pick up any feathers that drop. First team team to have every member complete the relay wins. You can also designate a body part the feather must rest on such as the back of a hand, on the shoulder, on an elbow, etc.
  • Highest Feather Blow – Award a prize for the person who can blow a feather up to the greatest height.
  • Pin the feather on the Turkey – In this thanksgiving version of the classic kids game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, blindfolded kids try to pin the Tail Feather on the Turkey.
  • Turkey Feather Circle Relay – Youth form a circle. The first person blows a feather to the next person who catches it in his or her cupped hands. Each person blows the feather to the next person. First team to have the feather travel around the circle wins. If the feather is dropped on the floor the team must start over.
  • Turkey Feather Darts – Attach a small weight to the tip of some feathers. These can then be tossed like a dart at cups or targets. You can play with harder to hit targets which are worth more points or have a bullseye like in darts where the closest toss wins.
  • Turkey Feather Float – Give a light fluffy feather to each youth. On “GO” each youth starts blowing to keep their feather in the air. The youth that keeps their feather in the air the longest is the winner.
  • Turkey Feather Juggling – In this minute to Win It Game, keep your head up, eyes open, and a steady stream of air coming through your mouth as you attempt to keep two feathers in the air for a full sixty seconds while staying within set boundaries. Prior to the game create a circle in the middle of the floor that will be the playing area. Make the boundaries large enough to allow some moving room but small enough to keep things challenging.
  • Turkey Feather Relay – Designate a start line and a finish line. At the start signal, the first person on each team tosses the turkey tail feather into the air and tries to blow it up into the air and across the finish line. Anytime a turkey tail feather touches the floor, the person must make loud gobble gobble sounds and take three large steps backward toward the start line. They can then toss the turkey tail feather up again and start moving forward. When a player makes it back to the team the next person starts and the person who just completed the dash, goes to the back of the line and sits down. Team members should cheer their teams on with the loudest gobble-gobble sounds as possible.
  • Turkey Feather Soccer – Play a game where the youth must blow a feather into a cup, bucket or small box that is lying on its side. It is not as easy as it seems. This can also be a great minute to win it game.
  • Turkey Feather Table Tennis – Youth split into two teams across from each other on opposite ends of a table. The objective is to blow the feather off the opponent’s end for a point.
  • Turkey Feather Toss Race – First youth in each team is given a feather. On ‘GO’, he or she throws the feather towards the finish line. From where it lands, it is thrown again, repeating until it lands past the finish line. The participamt can then pick up the feather and run it back to the next person on the team. First team to complete the relay wins.
  • Turkey Feather Volleyball – Tie a string across the room as a net. Each team tries to blow a feather over the string rather than hitting a ball. Rules are similar to volleyball, but they have to blow the feather. The feather can be blown as many times as necessary to get it over the net. You can also play with four teams and the room divided into quarters. Add more than one feather for more fun!
  • Turkey Feathers and Gobblers – All the players sit in a circle. The leader stands on a chair and releases a light fluffy feather. As it flies through the air, everyone must make the gobbling sounds of a turkey. The moment it lands they must become completely quiet. Anyone who makes a noice after it lands is out. The objective is to be wild and crazy so that others can’t help but laugh and make noise.
  • Turkey Feathers in the Wind – The youth kneel around the four sides of a sheet or blanket and then grab the edge. They must then pull the sheet taut and hold it just beneath their chins. Place a light fluffy feather on the middle of the sheet. Each side of the sheet is one team. The youth try to blow the feather away from their side. If a feather touches someone, get’s blown off the edge, or gets blown over the head of someone then that side gets a penalty point. The lowest points wins. You can also play this like musical chairs and the person the feather is closest to when the music stops is out.
  • Turkey Tail-feathers – With a glue gun or piece of adhesive tape, attach feathers to both legs of each clothespin. Give every person two clothespins (Turkey Feathers) as they enter. When everyone has their turkey feathers, tell them you’re giving them two minutes to get rid of their feathers. The only way for participants to get rid of the feathers is onto pin them to someone else. Award a prize to the person with the least number of feathers. The person with the MOST feathers is the official TURKEY! Icebreaker idea: After playing the game, each person must state one Fun Fact about themselves for each feather they are wearing. If they have no feathers they only have to say ONE thing about themselves.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

  • The first Thanksgiving was a time to remember and thank God for what he had done. What do you think people do the most: complain or give thanks?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • What are some of the things we should be thankful to God for?
  • Looking at some of the scripture verses, what does the Bible teach us about Giving thanks? (Share some of the scriptures included in the lesson plan)
  • What are some ways we can say, “Thank you” to God?
  • How many of us have said THANK YOU to someone today? . . .in the past day? . . . in the past week? . . . the past month? Why should we be thankful to other people?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • What do you do the most: complain or give thanks?
  • What are some things that you are thankful for?
  • Name 5 things that God has done for you that make you thankful?
  • What are some things you can do to show your thankfulness to God this week?

CLOSING ACTIVITY

  • In advance, make a large turkey body with no tail feathers. Give each youth a piece of paper cut in the shape of a turkey feather. Ask the youth to write at least 5 things they are thankful to God for on the tail-feather and attach it to the turkey.

SCRIPTURES

  • 1 Chronicles 16:34 – “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
  • 1 Timothy 4:4 – “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,”
  • Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
  • Ephesians 5:20 – “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
  • Matthew 23:37 – “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
  • Philippians 4:6 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
  • Psalm 100:4-5 – “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
  • Psalm 105:1 – “O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known His deeds among the people.”
  • Psalm 107:8 – “Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.”
  • Psalm 118:1 – “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
  • Psalm 118:21 – “I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.”
  • Psalm 136:1 – “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
  • Psalm 17:8 – “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings”
  • Psalm 28:7 – “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”
  • Psalm 36:7 – “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
  • Psalm 91:4 – “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”
  • Psalm 95:2 – “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”
  • Ruth 2:12 – “May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Creative Teaching Ideas

Thanksgiving: Count Your Blessings

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Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Not once a year, but every day, we need to count the blessings God has sent us.
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What You Need

  • A blank sheet of paper and something to write with for each person
  • A timer

What to do – Game

  1. On your signal to begin, everyone should write down everything they are thankful for that can be described in two words or less.
  2. Set a timer, for two minutes (or less) and tell them to begin.
  3. When the timer goes off each youth must count how many items they have.
  4. The person with the most items should read their list and if anyone else has those items on their list also, then everyone who has the items must cross them off the list. Only unique items remain.
  5. The next person continues in the same way, calling out the items that remain on his/ her list. If the item is unique it remains. If someone else has the same item, then all who have it cross the item off their lists.
  6. Continue until everyone has gone, then each person must count up the unique items he or she has on the list.
  7. Award a prize for the person with the highest number of unique answers.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Make it Spiritual

* What was the most surprising thing that someone was thankful for?
* How did creating your list affect you?
* Did you have more or less items than you thought you would have?
* How did it make you feel when you discovered that others felt blessed for the same things as you?
* Of all the things on your list, which is most significant for you? Why?

Make it Personal

CREATE A BLESSINGS JAR

  1. Give each youth a blessings jar. While a small jar is nice, any container with a lid will work. Place a label on it “Blessings Jar.” And maybe tie a ribbon on it. You can just as easily decorate a Pringles can or another container. Or even better, have materials for the youth to decorate their own jar.
  2. Give each youth 30-40 small slips of paper. You can also buy a small notepad.
  3. Encourage the youth to start today and for each day from now until the end of the year, at the beginning of each day, to write something down they are thankful for, or that was a blessing for them on the previous day. Place it in the jar each day. Then at the end of the year, encourage them to open the jar and recall the blessings of God for the last few weeks of the year.

SCRIPTURES

Ephesians 5:19-21
“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Colossians 3:17
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan not only your next Fall Festival or Thanksgiving Celebration, but also most of the other common holidays. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for the holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

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Game Ideas

Thanksgiving: Looking Back

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Thanksgiving is an American Holiday where people set aside a day to remember what God has done for them over the past one year and praise Him and give Him thanks for the works He has done in heir lives. This game plays on the idea of looking forward yet being able to recognise and picture what is behind. It serves as a metaphor for us, also looking forward to the future, but taking some time to picture and recognise what God has done in the past.

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What You Need

  • A variety of simple images related to the Thanksgiving. Some possibilities include a turkey, a pumpkin, a pie, an Indian, fall leaves, the Mayflower ship, pilgrims, etc. You can also use simple greeting cards for the design or images from a Children’s coloring book.
  • Paper and something for youth to write with.

What to do – Game

  1. Form teams of six people.
  2. Instruct each team to sit in a line, one person behind another, and take a vow of silence for the duration of the game.
  3. Give the first person in each line a pencil and a piece of paper.
  4. Then show the last person in each line a simple image of a Thanksgiving outline or drawing
  5. That person must use his or her finger to draw the object on the back of the person in front of him or her.
  6. This continues until the drawing reaches the first person in line. He or she must draw it on the piece of paper.
  7. Have judges determine which team’s picture closest resembles the original picture.
  8. If time permits, play more rounds, letting team members change positions if they wish.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

In this game, we looked forward but had to recognise things that were behind us. Sometimes it is difficult to look back and recognise God’s handiwork when we are focused only on what is in front of us. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to look back, and recognise what God has done for us and praise Him and Thank Him for his work in our lives.

In Deuteronomy 8: 10-18 the Israelites were also reminded to look back at what God had done for them.

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”

  • List some of the things mentioned in the passage that the Israelites were to praise God for? Were they all pleasant things?
  • What lessons can we learn from this passage?

What to do – An optional Illustration

  1. Ask the youth to look around the room and take notice of everything in the room that is red. (You can use any color here as long as there are things in the room of that color)
  2. Then ask the youths to close their eyes and name something in the room that is yellow. (Again pick any color that can be found in the room)
  3. Most will be unable to name something unless they are wearing that color.
  4. It doesn’t mean that the color did not exist when they were looking around, but the way our minds work, when we focus on something specific, we have a hard time recognising anything else.

The lesson is that if we are always looking at all the negative things in our lives and all of our problems (the red color) we will probably miss all the things to be thankful for (the yellow color).

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • Why is it important to Thank God and Praise Him for what he has done for us in the past?
  • What does the passage in Deuteronomy 8 says about why it is important?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • Ask God to help you to examine your life – help you to see all the times He’s worked in your life.
  • What has God done in your life today and then what has He done this week? This month? Write down a list of everything God’s done in your life during the past year.
  • Ask the youth to share some things they have received from God or that God has done for them during the past year?
  • What event(s) in your life do you look back on as special evidence of God•s love and care for you?
  • Spend some moments in prayer, praising and thanking God for working in your life.
  • Ask the youth to keep the list of blessings made during the lesson, take it home, and place it in a drawer or on a mirror where it will be seen often and add to it from time to time.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE

“Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced”

– 1 Chronicles 16:8-12

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan not only your next Fall Festival or Thanksgiving Celebration, but also most of the other common holidays. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for the holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

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Teaching Illustrations

Trading Places

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In Chuck Coleson’s book, The Body, he told the story of a priest named Maximilian Kolbe, who died in the place of another prisoner at Auschwitz.

The story begins in 1939, the year Germany invaded Poland. Father Kolbe was then presiding over a Franciscan order he’d founded near Warsaw. A hard-working priest, Father Kolbe expressed a love, enthusiasm, and sense of humor that endeared him to his brethren.

But in February of 1941, the Nazis arrested Kolbe and charged him with publishing unapproved literature. They sent him to Auschwitz, and the 47-year-old monk nearly died from the back-breaking work.

Despite the brutal conditions, Father Kolbe ministered to his fellow prisoners. He prayed with them, heard their confessions, and comforted their souls.

But that ministry ended one hot July morning. An inmate had escaped, and the angry soldiers lined the prisoners up. “The fugitive has not been found!” the commandant screamed. “Ten of you will die for him in the starvation bunker.” The prisoners trembled in terror. A few days in this bunker without food and water, and a man’s intestines dried up and his brain turned to fire.

Commandant Fritsch walked among the rows of prisoners, stopping before certain men, making them open their mouths and stick out their tongues. He was choosing them like one would choose a horse. His assistant, Palitsch, followed behind. As Fritsch chose a man, Palitsch noted the number and stamped a mark on the prisoner’s filthy shirt. Soon there were ten men — ten numbers listed neatly on the death roll. The chosen groaned, sweating with fear. One of them-a Polish farmer named Franciszek Gajowniczek- couldn’t help a cry of anguish. “My poor wife!” he sobbed. “My poor children! What will they do?”

The ten were forced to remove their wooden shoes, a Nazi tradition for those who were about to be executed.

Suddenly there was a commotion in the ranks. A prisoner had broken out of line and was calling for the Commandant. This was suicidal! A prisoner was never permitted to leave the ranks, let alone address a Nazi officer. It was cause for execution. Fritsch had his hand on his revolver, as did the officers behind him. But he broke precedent. Instead of shooting the prisoner, he shouted at him. “Halt! What does this Polish pig want of me?”

The prisoners gasped. It was their beloved Maximilian Kolbe, the one who shared his last crust of bread, who comforted the dying, who gave up his own blanket and encouraged them with prayer. Not Maximilian! The frail man spoke softly, even calmly, to the Nazi butcher, “I would like to die in place of one of the men you condemned.” Fritsch stared at the prisoner. #16670.

“Why?” snapped the Commandant. Kolbe sensed the need for flawless diplomacy. The Nazi never reversed an order; so he must not appear to be asking him to do so. He knew the Nazi dictum of destruction: the weak and the elderly first. He would play on this well-ingrained principle. “I am an old man, sir, and good for nothing. My life will serve no purpose.” His ploy triggered the response Kolbe wanted. “In whose place do you want to die?” asked Fritsch. “For that one,” Kolbe responded, pointing to the weeping prisoner who had bemoaned his wife and children.

Fritsch glanced at the weeping prisoner. He did look stronger than this used up #16670 before him. The Commandant nodded to his assistant and the change was noted. Kolbe bent down and removed his wooden clogs, then joined the group of condemned prisoners. As he did, #5659 passed by him at a distance, led by the soldiers. On the man’s face was an expression of astonishment, an expression that did not yet reveal gratitude. But Kolbe wasn’t looking for gratitude. If he was to lay down his life for another, the fulfillment had to be in the act of obedience itself. The joy must be found in submitting his small will to the will of One more grand.

The ten condemned men were stripped naked and left in a dark cell with no windows, food, or water. As the hours and days passed, the camp became aware of something extraordinary happening in the death chamber. Past condemned prisoners had spent their dying days attacking one another, crying out in pain and exasperation, clawing the walls in a frenzy of despair. But now, coming from the death cell, those outside heard the faint sounds of singing. Things were different this time. The condemned prisoners had a shepherd to gently lead them through the shadow of the valley of death, pointing them to the Great Shepherd. Perhaps it was for this reason that Kolbe was the last to die.

On August 14, 1941, four prisoners were still alive in the bunker, and it was needed for new occupants. A German doctor named Boch walked down the stairs of the death cell with four syringes in his hand. When he swung open the bunker door, there, in the light of his flashlight, he saw Maximilian Kolbe, a living skeleton propped against one wall. His head was inclined a bit to the left. He had the remnants of a smile on his lips. The doctor quickly snuffed out the lives of the other three unconscious prisoners, then turned to insert the syringe into the arm of the last one. In one moment, Maximilian Kolbe was dead.

So it was as a Catholic priest that St. Maximilian accompanied his wretched flock of nine men condemned to death. It was not a question of saving the life of the tenth man – that was part of the story, but there was much more. He also wanted to help those nine to die with dignity. From the moment the dreadful door clanged shut on the condemned men, he took charge of them, and not just them but others who were dying of hunger in cells nearby, and whose demented cries caused anyone who approached to shudder. It is a fact that from the moment he came into their midst, those wretched people felt a protective presence, and suddenly their cells, in which they awaited their final end, resounded with hymns and prayers. The SS themselves were astounded: “So was haben wir nie gesehen” – We never saw anything like it before, they said.

And what of Franciszek Gajowniczek? He died in Poland in 1995 – 53 years after Kolbe had saved him.

But he was never to forget the ragged monk. After his release from Auschwitz, Gajowniczek spent the next five decades paying homage to Father Kolbe.

A few years ago, the 94-year-old Pole visited St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church of Houston. His translator on that trip, Chaplain Thaddeus Horbowy, said: “He told me that as long as he… has breath in his lungs, he would consider it his duty to tell people about the heroic act of love by Maximilian Kolbe.”

Take It to the Next Level

 

Make it Spiritual

I think the greatest tragedy is that while Franciszek Gajowniczek spent his whole life honoring the man who died on his behalf, we ignore the One who made an even greater sacrifice for us and saved our lives for now and eternity.

There are many things I take for granted in my life – clean running water, electricity, fresh air, and I happen to live in a country with fantastic food that’s always conveniently available any time of the day or night.

Ironically, the things we most likely take for granted the most are the things we should be most thankful for – simply because they’re always there. Continuously. Without fail.

It’s often the same in our spiritual lives. The most basic, foundational things we’ve experienced are the things we take for granted the most. Things like God’s grace, His blessings, His provision. You know how it is, life gets in the way. Urgent things take priority and somehow, God gets pushed out of the picture. We don’t even seem to thank Him or talk about Him te way we used to. We lose the joy of our salvation.

It’s only when something happens, like a power outage or a busted water pipeline do we realize exactly how important these things are in our lives; how essential they are for our existence.

Here’s the thing, why do we wait for something to happen before we realize how important God needs to be in our lives? Why not save ourselves the pain of discovering how far we’ve gone before we come back? Surely we don’t want to be like one of the people Jesus referred to when he told the parable of the sower:

“The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
– Matthew 13:22 (NIV)

If we ever want to be effective followers of Christ, we need to keep our focus on God. Rather than starting the day running through all the things we need to do and ending it exhausted but satisfied we finished everything, we need to start the day focused on God. Starting with gratitude for the life He gave us to enjoy. The privilege of serving Him through our work, the testimony of his grace that we have, through our studies, our worship, our music, whatever.

We’ll all find we end up with a different outlook. A satisfaction that comes not from a job or a test well done, but from a pleasure that we served our Creator well.

“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.”
– Hebrews 2:1-3 (NIV)

Franciszek Gajowniczek spent his whole life honoring the man who died on his behalf. How much more should we honor a God who made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. The One who took our place and received the punishment we rightfully deserved.

Make it Practical

  • Why is it sometimes hard to pay attention to something?
  • What are some of the reasons that youth and adults tend to forget about what Christ has done for them?
  • What does it mean to drift away?
  • What are some ways that we drift away from God like the Hebrews?
  • What attitudes or actions might indicate that a person was drifting away from God?
  • What advice would you give someone who is drifting away from God?
  • In what ways can we pay greater attention and give God greater significance in our lives for what he has done for us?
  • What is the solution for someone who has drifted away?

Make it Personal

  • When have you drifted away? Why did you drift away? How did you get back to where you belonged?
  • What are some ways that your life has drifted away today, or fails to give God the place he deserves? How can you get it back to where it needs to be?
  • What habits or practices can you put in place today that will help keep you from drifting away from God?
  • What are some ways you can keep or return your focus on God this week?

Scripture References

Matthew 13:22 (NIV)
“The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

Hebrews 2:1-3 (NIV)
“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.”


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