Hope: stay awake for God’s light

Teacher background

The First Sunday of Advent begins a new church year. In Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary, the Gospel is Mark 13:24–37. A few days before his death, Jesus speaks in picture language from the prophets. The sun goes dark, and then God gathers God’s people from the ends of the earth. He ends with a tiny parable about a doorkeeper told to keep watch, because no one knows when the owner will come home.

The first reading, Isaiah 64:1–9, is a prayer from a hard time when God seemed far away. The psalm asks, “Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved” (Psalm 80:3).

Christians hold the hope that Christ will come again in different ways. Some expect a literal return, and others understand it as God’s promise to set the whole world right. For children, the main idea is the same: Advent is a time to wait with hope and to stay awake for God’s light. Some children find talk of the sun going dark frightening, so keep the weight on the good news that follows.

The Advent wreath began in Germany in 1839. A Lutheran pastor, Johann Hinrich Wichern, made one for the children of his mission school, who kept asking when Christmas would come. Use battery candles, or light a real candle yourself and keep it out of reach.

Welcome activity

How long is a minute? (5 minutes). Gather the children in a circle and ask everyone to stand. Say: “Close your eyes. When you think one whole minute has gone by, sit down. No peeking!” Watch the clock. When everyone has sat down, tell them how long a minute really was. Most children are surprised!

Then ask:

• What is the hardest thing you have ever waited for?
• What helps you when you have to wait?

Say: “Waiting is hard! Today is the first Sunday of a season called Advent. Advent is a time of waiting. We wait for Christmas, when we remember that Jesus was born. And we wait with hope for the day God makes the whole world right.”

Light the candle of hope. Show the Advent wreath. Many people say the green circle, which has no end, reminds them that God’s love never ends. Light the first candle, or switch it on. Say: “Many churches call this the candle of hope. Hope means we know something good is coming, even before we can see it.”

Telling the story

10 minutes. Open your Bible to Mark 13 and show the children where the story is. Then read this version aloud, or tell it in your own words. Pause where the notes in italics suggest.

One day Jesus and four of his friends sat on a hill called the Mount of Olives. From there they could see the big, beautiful temple in Jerusalem. His friends had a question for him. They asked, “Tell us, when will these things be?” They wanted to know when God would make everything new.

Jesus answered with big picture words. He said a day might come when the sun goes dark. The moon might stop shining. The stars might even seem to fall! (Wiggle your fingers down like falling stars.)

But then, Jesus said, he would come with God’s great glory. (Spread your arms out wide.) Angels would gather God’s people from every corner of the earth, near and far.

Jesus told his friends to look at the fig tree. When its branches get soft and grow new leaves, you know summer is near. (Open your hands slowly, like a leaf.)

So when will God make everything new? Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour. Not even the angels in heaven know! Only God knows.

So Jesus told a little story. A man was going away on a long trip. Before he left, he gave each of his helpers a job. Maybe one helper swept the floors. Maybe one helper cooked the soup. (Pretend to sweep, then stir a big pot.) And one helper was the doorkeeper. The doorkeeper had a very important job. He had to keep watch by the door.

When would the man come home? Nobody knew! Maybe in the evening, when the sun goes down. (Yawn and stretch.) Maybe at midnight, when it is very dark. (Rest your head on your hands.) Maybe when the rooster crows, very early. (Crow like a rooster.) Maybe in the morning, when the sun comes up. (Reach up high.)

The doorkeeper had to stay awake. He had to watch, so he would be ready to open the door. Jesus said, “Watch, keep alert, and pray; for you don’t know when the time is.” Then he said, “What I tell you, I tell all: Watch!”

Jesus said that to his four friends. And he says it to all of us, too. That means you, and you, and me!

Long, long before Jesus, God’s people waited, too. They had been through a very hard time. Their city was broken. Their hearts were sad. A prophet prayed for them. He said, “Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down.” He meant: God, please open up the sky and come help us!

The people knew they had done wrong things. But they still had hope. They prayed, “But now, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.” (Pretend to shape clay in your hands.)

A potter makes bowls and cups out of clay. A good potter keeps working the clay until it is just right. God made each one of us. And God keeps working with us, too.

Now it is Advent, and we are waiting, like the doorkeeper. We wait for Christmas, when we remember that Jesus was born. Jesus brings God’s light to the whole world. We wait with hope for the day God makes everything right. And while we wait, we keep our eyes open for God’s light. We can see it when someone shares, or helps, or says a kind word.

Wondering questions

5 minutes. Wondering questions have no wrong answers. Ask one at a time, wait in silence, and welcome every answer without correcting it. Repeat back what a child says so they know you heard them.

• I wonder which part of this story you like best.
• I wonder what the doorkeeper did all night long.
• I wonder how it feels to wait in the dark for morning to come.
• I wonder what God’s light looks like.
• I wonder what you are hoping for this Advent.
• I wonder how we can get ready for Jesus.

Some hopes are tender, like a child hoping a sick grandparent gets well or a parent comes home. Thank each child for sharing. After the wondering questions, play the quiz on the slides, or ask the questions aloud and let the children call out the answers.

Craft: a paper plate Advent wreath

10 minutes. Each child makes an Advent wreath to take home and use all through Advent.

You will need paper plates, green construction paper, purple or blue paper for candles (and pink, if your church uses a pink candle for the third week), yellow paper for flames, safety scissors, glue sticks, markers, and a small envelope for each child. Before class, cut out the plate centers so each plate becomes a ring.

1. Tear green paper into small pieces, about the size of a leaf.
2. Glue the green leaves all around the paper ring until it looks like a wreath.
3. Cut four candles, each about 1 inch wide and 4 inches tall. Glue them around the ring, one at the top, one at the bottom, and one on each side.
4. Write one word on each candle: HOPE, PEACE, JOY, and LOVE.
5. Cut four small yellow flames. Glue one flame on the HOPE candle today.
6. Put the other three flames in the envelope and write your name on it.

Tell the children to add one flame at home each Sunday of Advent. By the fourth Sunday, all four candles will be lit.

Game: Keep awake!

7 minutes. Clear an open space and have the children stand facing you. Teach the four times from Jesus’s story, each with its own motion.

1. “Evening!” Yawn and stretch your arms.
2. “Midnight!” Rest your head on your hands, as if asleep.
3. “Rooster!” Flap your arms and crow, “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
4. “Morning!” Jump up and reach for the sun.
5. Call out the times in any order, faster and faster. Every so often, knock on the door or a table and call, “The owner is home!” Everyone jumps up, opens their arms wide, and shouts, “We’re awake! Welcome home!”

Let children take turns calling out the times and knocking. Nobody is ever out. If someone gets mixed up, laugh together and keep going.

Memory verse

3 minutes. Teach the memory verse with motions.

Watch, keep alert, and pray.

Mark 13:33

• “Watch”: put your hand above your eyes, as if looking far away.
• “keep alert”: sit up tall, with your eyes wide open.
• “and pray”: fold your hands.

Say the verse like a sleepy person, then a little more awake, then wide awake! The memory verse coloring page lets children color the words in bubble letters.

Snack idea

Optional. Make a snack wreath. Arrange round crackers or pretzel rings in a circle on a plate, and add green grapes cut in half for leaves. Check for food allergies before class, and serve water or juice.

Closing prayer

Ask the children to fold their hands or open them on their laps. Read each line and let them repeat it after you.

Dear God,
thank you for Advent,
a time to wait with hope.
Help us stay awake
and watch for your light.
Help us share your light
with everyone we meet.
Come, Lord Jesus!
Amen.

Take-home note for families

Send this note home with the activity sheets and the paper Advent wreath. It also prints by itself on the printables page.

Today in Sunday school

Today was the first Sunday of Advent, the four weeks when the church gets ready for Christmas. Your child heard Jesus’s short story about a doorkeeper who stayed awake, watching for the owner of the house to come home (Mark 13:24–37). We lit the first candle on the Advent wreath, the candle of hope. Hope means we know something good is coming, even before we can see it.

Talk about it

• What is the hardest thing you have ever waited for?
• What do you think the doorkeeper did to stay awake?
• What are you hoping for this Advent?

Try this at home

Put the paper Advent wreath your child made on the table. Each Sunday of Advent, take one flame out of the envelope and glue it on the next candle: hope, peace, joy, and love. If you light real candles at home, let a grown-up do the lighting.

Pray together

Dear God, thank you for the gift of hope. Help us watch for your light this Advent, and help us share it with others. Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Adapting for younger or older children

Younger children (ages 4 to 6). Tell only the doorkeeper story, and act it out with one child as the doorkeeper and you as the owner who knocks. Skip the crossword and the word search, and use the maze, the coloring pages, and the wreath with the candles cut ahead of time. Teach just the word “Watch!” with the hand-above-the-eyes motion.

Older children (ages 10 to 12). Read Mark 13:32–37 and Isaiah 64:1–9 together from a Bible, taking turns. Talk about how God’s people waited a long time for God to help them, and how Christians still wait with hope for God to set the world right. Use the crossword without the word bank, and invite the children to write their own prayer of hope for the world, like the prayer in Isaiah.