Ascension

ASCENSION

Objectives:

  1. Children should be able to say “Ascension” and define it.
  2. Children should identify the characters in the icon and tell the story.

Possible Lesson Plan:

  1. Open with prayer.  Remember especially Pascha and the Paschal hymns and greetings.
  2. Read the story of the Ascension in the Beginner’s Bible, pages 466-472, the Children’s Bible Reader, page 267, or the Read with Me Bible, pages 402-403. Supplement with the Golden Children’s Bible, page 361, if desired.  Use the icon as a visual aid and identify the people as you tell the story.  There are Jesus, Mary, angels, and 12 disciples.  Can the students name the disciples?  Can all the students identify the people and tell the story?

 

  1. True/False Questions:

True                                         False

            Jesus rose into heaven on Ascension.             Jesus died on the cross on Ascension

            Mary and the disciples were there.                 Noah rode him to heaven on an ark.

            Jesus told the people that He would               Jesus told everyone He hated them.

                        always be with them.

            Jesus is still alive in heaven                             Jesus is dead and gone.

            Jesus told his disciples to wait in                    Jesus told his disciples to go home

                        Jerusalem.                                                        and go fishing.

 

  1. Was this a sad or a happy story?  What did Jesus promise? (That He would always be with us.) Why are Jesus’s hands spread? (He’s blessing us.) What did He tell His followers to do? (To go to Jerusalem and wait for a helper from God.) Where is Jesus now? (in heaven)

 

  1. Discuss the butterfly.  Use pictures from the library or the encyclopedia.  Show the caterpillar, the cocoon, and then the butterfly.  Is this the same individual – the caterpillar, the cocoon, and the butterfly?  So Jesus was born as a man, died, and rose into heaven – each a different form but the same God.

 

  1. Make the Great Commission Plates. Bring in a globe. On one side of a paper plate have the students draw the world, continents and oceans, with blue and tan crayons. Copy the icon and have the students color it. Cut it out in round shape and glue to the other side of the plate. Print with black marker, “Go Ye,” on the side with the world, and the other already says Ascension. Remind the students that Jesus gave us the Great Commission at His Ascension. What is the Great Commission? “Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations…” Punch a hole in the plate and hang it with a string so it will spin around.

 

 

7.   Sing the song “Spread the Good News”:

Jump to the left and jump to the right                  (jump left, jump right)

And sing to the Lord with all of your might!       (song directing, strong arms)

Raise your hands and wave them in the air          (raise hands, wave around)

And spread the Good News everywhere!            (lower hands in a circle)

 

 

 

 

 

  1.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Close with prayer.