Here’s our lesson for this week for our Holy Sherlock group, grades 4 – 6.
Central to the texts that close out the final season of the church year is the promise that the liberating spirit of God, who breathes life into all creation, remains at work. This week, we sit with Moses as the journey through the wilderness comes to an end and he sees the land of promise, freedom, and new beginnings.
October 25 – A Prophetic Vision’s Power
Deuteronomy 34:1–12 The book of Deuteronomy tells the last part of the story of Moses and introduces a new leader named Joshua.
As the people reach the end of their journey through the wilderness and prepare to settle in a new land, Moses climbs a high mountain and looks out over the land of promise – a land he will see, but in which he will never live. Moses dies there in Moab, and the people mourn his death. Moses will be remembered as the greatest prophet Israel has ever known. Joshua takes up the mantle of leadership, which had been passed to him directly from Moses. Moses and Joshua helped shape the stories of the people of Israel and continue to live on through people of faith.
Read Deuteronomy 34:1–12 or Listen to the audio story “God’s Promises” or gather around as someone tells the story “Moses Blesses Joshua.”
From the mountain, Moses looked out over the valley and the plains to a land of promise; a land where the people would be free. It had been a long, long journey. Sometimes things did not go well for him, but Moses didn’t give up. Moses kept going. Sometimes people did not like him, but Moses didn’t give up. Moses kept going. Some days, the journey was hard, but Moses didn’t give up. Moses kept going.
Once upon a time a man named Martin Luther King Jr looked around and said, “Things should be better.” With a vision of a different land, Martin Luther King Jr kept going.
Listen and watch as “Kid President” tells the story of Martin Luther King Jr.
How can you “make the world awesome?”
Print this week’s children’s activity leaflet, which includes the story “Moses Blesses Joshua,” a
puzzle, and an activity.
Make a promises jar
God promised to bring the people out of Egypt to a land of freedom and new beginnings. God always keeps God’s promises.
1. Decorate a jar with wrapping paper. Label the jar “Commitment.”
2. What commitments might you make that show your love for God?
3. Write some commitments to yourself, your family, God – each commitment on a separate strip of paper.
4. Place all the cards in your jar. You might choose to focus on one commitment for one week, then choose another for the following week, and so on.
5. Commitments can be hard to keep. Who might help you to live into them?
Land ownership (discussion starters for ages teens – adults)
Moses’ vision of the land of promise resided in the promise of freedom and justice for all people. There are different attitudes and beliefs regarding land.
Together, explore some of these questions:
What relationship do you have with the land?
What happens to those “invaded” by another people? How do attitudes of land
ownership, thoughts about who owns the land, influence world history,
especially in your region?
Do you get things from the land? Do you give things to the land?
Is our treatment of the land either good or bad, or can it be simultaneously
both?
What about the people who lived here long before this town or city existed?
Who were they and where did they go?
Read “Indigenous Land Acknowledgement, Explained.”
Have you heard these types of acknowledgements in places you go?
Discuss questions and ideas the article raises?
Make a plan to follow through on the suggested action steps?
During the week
Pay special attention to the prophets in today’s world. Reflect on how they might be similar to
Moses or Joshua.
Listen and sing along to the song “Behold, I Make All Things New” (available for purchase and download).
Play the song throughout the week until everyone is joining in.
Visit Lection Connection, October 25, for current events that connect with this week’s scriptures.
Prayer for each day
This is the day that you have made, gracious God. We rejoice and are glad in it. Amen.