Sunday Club 7th April 2019
A Prodigal Son and a Forgiving Father (from Sermon4kids)
We asked "have you heard the story of Aladdin and His Wonderful lamp? In one version of the story, Aladdin worked in a shop that exchanged new lamps for old ones. Aladdins job was to polish the lamps and make them look like new. One day, as he was polishing a lamp, a Genie came out of the lamp and promised to grant Aladdin anything he wished for. With the help of the Genie, Aladdin gained great wealth and won the love of a beautiful princess."
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have your every wish come true? You might think so but the truth is, sometimes the things that we wish for are not good for us. This is what a young man discovered in todays Bible story.
Our Bible story today is about a young man who had three wishes.
- He wished for a lot of money
- He wished to travel and see the world
- He wished he could be his own boss
Michael read the following story:
The young man got his wishes, but they were not granted by a genie. The young man went to his father and asked him to give him his inheritance that would be his when his father died. Even though the father was sad that his son wanted to leave, he gave him his share of the family fortune and the young man left home and traveled all around the world. He visited all the places he had always wanted to visit and did whatever he wanted to do. Since the young man had a lot of money, if he saw something he wanted, he bought it, and since he had a lot of money, he also had many friends.
This sounds like a happy story doesn’t it? Well, that isn’t the end of the story. After a while the young man ran out of money. When he ran out of money, his friends ran out on him. He was so desperate that he went to work for a man who sent him to feed his pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the pig food and at the same time realised what a mess he had made of his life. He thought about his father and the home he had left behind.
Even a servant in my fathers house lives better than this, the young man said to himself. I will return to my father and tell him I am sorry for the way I have behaved and ask him to give me a job as one of his servants.
Do you think his father was willing to take him back? Yes, but not as a servant. He welcomed him back as a son. He called his servants together and and told them, “Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was lost and now is found.”
Well, the story had a happy ending after all, didn’t it? This story that Jesus told is really a story about you and me and the way we sometimes behave. Some times we make bad choices, just like this man. We wish for things that are not good for us. We sometimes don’t listen to God and obey what the Bible tells us we should do. When we act that way, we really make a mess of our life. Well, I have good news for you! Just like the father in the story, God, our Heavenly Father, is always willing to take us back if we admit that we were wrong and return to Him.
Prayer: Dear Father, we sometimes make bad choices. Thank you for being a loving Father who will always take us back when we come home to you. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Activities:
Lost and Found: We hid sweets which had a picture on the front related to the story. The children had to find when they are called out. When the item was found, the children called out, “LOST, BUT FOUND.”
Prodigal Son Puppet: Making a puppet (examples below). The children took turns using their bag puppets to give an example of a bad choices they have made. The Sunday club leaders asked the bag puppets questions if the children had problems telling a part of the story.
Cobeys Puppet Michaels Puppet Sarahs Puppet Tylers Puppet