In this lesson, your children will explore the ways in which God’s unwavering love fill us with hope, even when we are waiting.
Begin the time with your children by preparing or gathering their favorite snack. Place the snack in front of your children. Tell them that they can eat the snack when you return as long as they sit quietly while you are away. Then, leave the room for 5 minutes or so. When you come back in the room, let them know that they can eat. As you share snack together, talk about how it felt to have to wait to eat. What did your children think about while they were waiting? Were they hopeful that they’d get to eat the snack? What helped them be hopeful? (Note: This activity is based on the Toddler (Wait) Challenge that was popular online in 2020. Here’s an adorable compilation of challenge videos.)
Prepare to read aloud Psalm 130:1-8. If your children are unfamiliar with what a psalm is, offer a short explanation. A simple way to characterize a psalm in child-friendly language is to say it is like a very old poem or song that speaks about or to God. Psalms have been used in worship and as prayers for centuries. Some psalms are prayers praising or thanking God. Others ask God for something. This psalm asks God to listen and to do something for the person praying. Encourage your children to notice what this person is asking God to do.
Read aloud Psalm 130:1-8. As you read, use emotion to help your children notice the tone of the psalm since some of the phrasing and vocabulary may be challenging. Read verses 1-3 and 5-6 with a sense of sadness and urgency. Shift to a tone of calm and gratitude while reading aloud verses 4 and 7-8.
After you have finished your reading, ask your children to share what they noticed that the poem’s speaker is asking God for. Note that he wants God to listen to him. He believes he has done something that is hurtful or he feels separated from God or from others. He is waiting for God to be close to him and to comfort him. Ask your children how they think it would feel to wait for God to respond.
Next, focus in on verses 7-8. Explain to your children that the psalm’s speaker is talking about the promises that God has made to the people of Israel in these verses, but this promise is one that God offers to all humanity. The person praying tells us that we can have hope. Ask your children what the psalm says that gives us hope. Note that verses 7 and 8 explain that God’s love is “steadfast” and “within God is great power to redeem.” Encourage your children to wonder what it means for God’s love to be steadfast and what it means for God to redeem. Explain that the psalmist is telling us that God’s love never ends. It is always equally strong and it will never leave us. Because God’s love is unconditional and constant, God can make good out of anything that happens or that we do or say. Ask your children how they think the person saying this prayer feels when she realizes that this is true?
To help your children connect the psalm to their own experiences, complete this art activity together. Gather the necessary materials: a sheet of white paper, two sheets of yellow construction paper, one sheet of orange construction paper, crayons or markers, scissors and glue. If you do not have construction paper, you can use white paper and have your children color each after you have cut them.
Reread verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 130. Note that the psalmist is helping us understand what it’s like to wait for God by saying that the experience feels like waiting for the sunrise. Show your children a video of the sun rising. You can choose your own or use this lovely example of the sun rising in New Zealand. Ask your children what they noticed in the video. What changed in the sky as the sun rose? How did the sunrise make them feel?
Explain that your children will be making paper sunrises. Place a sheet of white paper in front of each child. Then give each a sheet of yellow construction paper. Ask them to cut a large semi-circle out of the yellow paper. This is the sun. Have them each glue their suns at the bottom of their white sheets of paper so that it appears as if the sun is rising up from the bottom of the page. Next, cut several strips of yellow and orange paper. Each should be about 1 inch wide and 4-5 inches long. Lay the strips out in front of your children. Ask them to write or draw the things that they hope for on these strips. Encourage them to focus on things that are life-giving rather than simply material objects. Also, encourage them to think about things that they desire for the people in their communities as well as themselves. Once they have drawn or written on their paper strips, have them glue these above the paper sun so that they look like rays coming from it.
When each child has completed her artwork, offer a prayer to God. Ask God to hear each of these hopes. Tell God that we wait for these prayers to be fulfilled and that we know that God’s steadfast love is always with us.
