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Luke’s Letter: Christmas Sunday School Lesson
An unexpected “TOP SECRET” message has just been delivered. And we’re all on the case! In this lesson kids will:
•Dive deep into the age-old mystery: Who is Jesus? Is He just a “Sunday School story” or SO much more?
•Team up to investigate the writings of Luke, a doctor with a keen eye for details and a tale to tell.
Christmas is around the corner, and we’re embarking on a journey to uncover the truth about the birth that changed the world!
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Group Worship
Joy to the World
A familiar favorite! Kids sing about that Jesus’ arrival brought joy to the whole world and that every heart should prepare room for Him. It emphasizes rejoicing and praising God for the gift of His Son.
Angels We Have Heard on High
This Christmas classic highlights the joy and mystery of the Christmas story, inviting everyone to sing praises to God for the birth of Jesus. A savior is born!!
Group Worship
Joy to the World
A familiar favorite! Kids sing about that Jesus’ arrival brought joy to the whole world and that every heart should prepare room for Him. It emphasizes rejoicing and praising God for the gift of His Son.
Angels We Have Heard on High
This Christmas classic highlights the joy and mystery of the Christmas story, inviting everyone to sing praises to God for the birth of Jesus. A savior is born!!
Opening Activity | Who Am I?
Objects Needed: Blank sticky labels or name tag stickers (masking tape could also work) and a marker.
Before the lesson starts, write commonly known animals on the labels or name tags.
As the kids come into class, put one of the stickers on their back. Explain to them that they are not to tell anyone what their sticker says.
When you are ready to start class, explain that you have put a sticker with the name of an animal on everyone’s back. Ask the kids to go around and ask questions to others about what animal is on their back. They can only ask “yes or no” questions. The person answering can only answer “yes or no”.
Optional: You can give out candy or a small prize to the kids as they guess their animal.
Tie in: Luke had to ask questions to eyewitnesses of Jesus. In the same way, the kids have to ask questions to eyewitnesses of their sticker.
Memory Verse Game | Luke 2:10-11
Objects Needed: A ball
The goal of this activity is to help kids memorize the verse you’ll be going over during this Christmas series.
Say the memory verse in a call and response fashion several times.
Then, say the first word and toss the ball to a kid. They say the next word then toss it back to you. You say the next word and toss the ball to someone else.
This continues until the verse is complete.
If several kids struggle – have the whole group say the next word of the verse together no matter the child you toss the ball to.
Lesson Script
Luke 1:1-4
Materials Needed:
- An envelope marked “TOP SECRET”.
- Put a note inside the envelope that says: PROBLEM: People don’t believe in Jesus. INVESTIGATE:
- Who is Jesus? Did he really exist?
- A Bible with Luke 1:1-4 bookmarked/highlighted
- A doctor’s uniform or stethoscope
- A notepad with a pen or pencil
- Three shopping bags.
(Put the Bible, stethoscope, and notepad in separate shopping bags. Have someone dressed in black and wearing black clothes and sunglasses deliver you a note in an envelope marked “TOP SECRET”. Alternatively, you can simply find the envelope on a desk or shelf. Open it and look at it, but don’t read it out loud. Pretend to be worried)
Uh oh. Looks like we have “a situation” on our hands. We’re going to have to interrupt class today and deal with this.
But…you guys can help out, right? I’m sure we can figure this out together. I know you were probably expecting to just sing some carols and review the Christmas story today, but we have a major mystery to unravel. Can I count on you?
This note says we’re being called on to investigate. What are we going to investigate?
Well, you know how in Christmas movies they sometimes talk about people not believing in Santa Claus, and that they’re spoiling “Christmas magic?”
This is a much more serious matter. It says here that people are not believing in Jesus. They think he’s just a baby being born in a manger, in a nice old story people like to tell in December.
So we need to investigate. Who is Jesus? Did he really exist? Or is he just a character in a bedtime story?
Ok, ok. How many of you here believe Jesus exists and lived on earth? Oh, I see some/most of you do.
But here’s the HARD question…how do you know he exists? (Allow for answers. Someone will probably say they’ve been taught that he exists).
Most of us have been taught our whole lives that Jesus exists. But how did the people who taught us know he exists? They weren’t alive back when Jesus walked the earth.
Maybe, right now deep down in your heart, you’re wondering if everything you’ve been taught is true. You have some “top secret” questions–but no one knows it.
Well, guess what? It’s ok to have questions. Long ago, a guy named Theophilus had them too. He had been taught about Jesus. But like so many of us, he was wondering, “where’s the proof?”
Luckily, Theo had a friend named Luke who ran a complete investigation on Jesus. And now, we’re going to do an investigation on Luke, to see what he has to say about Jesus!
I’ve been told that there are some clues about Luke hidden in this room. You’ll find them in three shopping bags. On the count of three, go find them! 1…2…3!
(Wait for students to find all the clues. Then discuss them in this order):
- A stethoscope. Who uses a stethoscope? A doctor. We know Luke was a doctor. This means he had to study a lot. He was good at noticing details.
- A notepad. What do you use a notepad for? To write things down that you want to remember. Luke carefully took notes on everything he investigated about Jesus’ life.
- This Bible has a bookmark in the book of Luke. This is Luke’s letter to his friend Theo! Let’s use his notepad and write down what we can find out about him at the beginning of this letter.
(Read Luke 1:1-4 out loud or have students read it).
Luke 1:1-4
“Many have tried to report on the things that happened among us. They have written the same things that we learned from others—the people who saw those things from the beginning and served God by telling people his message. Since I myself have studied everything carefully from the beginning, most excellent Theophilus, it seemed good for me to write it out for you. I arranged it in order, to help you know that what you have been taught is true.” (NCV)
Now let’s think about what we can learn about Luke from those verses. (Allow for answers, then mention the following:).
- Luke says A LOT of people have tried to write down information about Jesus. That must mean he did something really special.
- Luke mentioned, “people who saw those things from the beginning”. What do you need to do to find out if something happened, when you didn’t see it yourself? You have to find eyewitnesses. You have to talk to people who were there at the right time and place.
- Luke said that he himself studied everything carefully from the beginning. This isn’t, “oh, I’ll ask a couple people if they saw Jesus, and that’s enough” Or, “Oh, Bartholomew heard his Grandma say that she overheard a woman at a well say that her uncle twice removed saw Jesus do a miracle! It must be true!”
- Luke gathered all the information together and put it in order. Wow! Time consuming!
- Why did Luke do all of this? The answer’s in the last sentence. “To help you know that what you have been taught is true.”
We need Luke’s letter to help us know that everything we’ve been taught is true, too. That’s why God made sure it survived to this day.
It’s going to help us know that Jesus existed—because it’s proof. It’s a thorough investigation of Jesus. And guess where it starts? With Jesus’ birth.
With Christmas right around the corner, we’re all thinking about Jesus’ birth a bit more than usual. But is it just a nice story that helps sell cute ceramic Nativity Scenes? Or did it…actually happen?
That’s what we’ll find out…next week (see the entire lesson series here) when we continue this investigation!
(Close in prayer.)
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Group Game | Luke Here
Objects Needed: Blindfold
Start by going to an open space or moving any objects in the room to the side. Choose one player to be “Luke.” This player will get a blindfold put on.
“Luke” will count to ten. When he is done he shouts “LUKE” and the children must shout “HERE”. Whenever “Luke” shouts “LUKE,” the players must shout “HERE.”
The goal is for “Luke to hear where the children are and try to tag one. When a player is tagged they are the new “Luke” and will be blindfolded.
Tie in: Luke not only asked questions to eyewitnesses about Jesus but he heard what they said. Just like in the game “Luke” had to listen for the children.
Memory Verse
Christmas is exciting for many reasons. But there is one reason we find that beats all the others. Christmas is a celebration of God coming to earth as baby Jesus on a rescue mission. The one and only Savior was born in Bethlehem for you and for me.
Luke 2:10-11 (NCV)
"The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news that will be a great joy to all the people. Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ, the Lord. "
Small Group Questions
Have you ever wondered if Jesus is real?
Allow for answers.
Who did we investigate today?
Luke!
Who was Luke studying and investigating?
Jesus.
Why did Luke do all this investigating?
To help you know that what you have been taught is true.
How is an investigation conducted?
Allow for answers including asking questions to eyewitnesses.
Where did Luke’s investigation begin?
With Jesus’s birth.
Small Group Activity |Investigators
Objects Needed: Paper, pens/markers
Give everyone a piece of paper and have them draw an outline of their shoe print. If they can easily take their shoes off and put them back on that makes it even easier!
Collect all the papers and mix them up.
Then without putting their feet on the paper, see if the kids can correctly “investigate” other shoes and match the outlines appropriately!
Words For This Week
This is included with every lesson I create, and is designed as a printout for you to give to parents after class.
Today’s Scripture: Luke 1:1-4
Memory Verse: The angels said to them, “Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news that will be a great joy to all people. Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ, the Lord. Luke 2:10-11(NCV)
—————–
Today we talked about an investigator…a guy who did some research and talked to the people who saw and heard what Jesus did. This guy’s name was Luke.
Luke investigated all of the things that people had heard and seen about Jesus and he found out for himself what was actually true. Then he wrote it down in a letter that we have in our Bible today called, the book of Luke.
We need Luke’s letter to help us know that everything we’ve been taught is true, too. That’s why God made sure it survives to this day.
It’s going to help us know that Jesus existed—because it’s proof. It’s a thorough investigation of Jesus. And guess where it starts? With Jesus’ birth.
Key Thought:
Thank you God for sending us Jesus!
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