First Advent Sorting Game: The Words of the Prophets

On Sunday in Children's Church ("Kinderzeit" is what we call it at our church), we began the Advent Journey with the children. The first part of the Godly Play Advent lesson tells about the prophets who pointed the way to Bethlehem. 

Unfortunately, there is as of yet no German translation of the Bible into children's speech, so the actual words of the prophets can be quite difficult to understand. Even older children who are good readers stumble over the archaic words and struggle to make sense of them. 

Maxi, one of our children's workers, had the idea to make a sorting game with pictures to help the children understand the most important parts of Bible verses. 

We chose the following verses:

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."  Isaiah 7:14

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." Micah 5:2

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned." Isaiah 9:2

Then, Maxi made cards with with pictures and short phrases (for those who could already read) to help the children understand what the verses were all about. 

During the Response Time after the story, Maxi sat at a table and told the children that if they want to know the actual words of the prophets, they could play this game with her. It was wonderful to see a gaggle of children gathered around, concentrating intensely, and making sense of the the prophet's words foretelling the coming of the Messiah.