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.

 

  1. Tell the story of Ascension.  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 is Jesus, Mary, angels, and 12 disciples.  Can the older students name the disciples?  Can all the students identify the people and tell the story?

 

  1. True or False?

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.  Let the children crawl on the floor for a few minutes like caterpillars, then curl up very tight and still like cocoons, then leap up and fly like butterflies.  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 a Stained Glass Butterfly:  Just like with the Christmas pictures, Cut out wings of various colors, black or brown antennae, bodies of various colors, and various small circles, ovals, etc. for decoration.  Let each child assemble his butterfly on a piece of wax paper; cover it with another sheet of wax paper, and iron lightly, sealing in the artistic creation as a “stained glass butterfly”.  No iron? No problem. Cut out a butterfly outline with black posterboard or construction paper. Before class, cut shapes from the wings – circles, triangles, diamonds – and have the children glue pieces of colored tissue paper behind the shapes.
  2. Close with prayer.