Monday, December 27, 2010

Sunday, December 26, 2010

WOW wk4, 12/26/2010 - G4/G5 Class

Hi parents,

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Continuing on Christmas theme (sort of, in a series), this week, we visited the account of the Magi (有幾個博士從東方來) who travelled from the East to find Jesus to worship Him.

Bible verses: Matthew/馬太福音 2: 1-12

Notice that the Magi asked/said, "那生下來作猶太人之王的在那裡。我們在東方看見他的星、特來拜他。"
So the Magi "have come to worship him." We ought to!

Firstly, the students went through the verses and a special presentation of the Matthew 2:1-12 clip was show as a "Sand Drawing"(沙畫圖片) of the story.
(YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N8RkhQkUOY )

Several Q-n-A dialogue was exchanged in an attempt to highlight some bible points;
E.g.,
1) King Herod was having evil plot to find-n-capture Jesus via Magi's help.
2) Magi came a loooong way to worship Jesus - so can we.

OK, some hands-on activity to re-enforce the study/reading; We have a "Thumb Print Drawing" exercise of the account. It's sort of like "getting your hands dirty". :)

Teacher provided a book for reference.

Each Girls and Boys team is to draw using their thumbs to "vividly" paint the story of on the papers provided.

Here is the kids' masterpiece!

They have crafted the major characters recorded in the Bible and are required to narrative through the paint about the story.

You should be proud of your child - as they work in a team-work fashion to bring the story alive. Needless to say, the winning-points system is keeping the scores in check. This time, Boys team won!

Meanwhile, we also shared a video clip about the names used in the Bible to describe Jesus;
To name a few, Lord, Messiah, Truth, Bread of Life, and the list goes on and on.

When asked how many names are used in the clip, all the kids came up with many guesses - 97, 100, 400, with excitement so that they decided to watch the clip the 2nd time and starting counting as the name shown in the video clip.

Final count? 141!! (roughly)

A few words on the ink (Red and Blue): the ink should come off soon - we provided "Clorox" wipes in the class to help cleaning the ink print on student's fingers.

An interesting observation: some kids wanted to apply all ten fingers while some just used the thumb for drawing. I called it the "頑皮指數 ", which is very cute. :)

Lunch: 滷肉飯
(and it's so popular, teacher needs to share his portion with other kid, which is no problem at all... :))
[Reference: ]

Memory Verse: Romans 10:12-13
"The same Lord is Lord of all ... "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Indeed, 『凡求告主名的、就必得救。』

Next week, I'll have a substitute teacher for the Class/

KLUP!

-Sam

Monday, December 20, 2010

成為光滑合用的石子 ...

「他手中拿著自己的杖,又從溪裡挑選了五塊光滑的石子,放在口袋裡,就是牧人用的那種袋子,手裡又拿著甩石的機弦,就向那非利士人走近去。」(聖經新譯本 撒上十七40)


要成為光滑合用的石子,必須在溪中經過經年累月的沖激和摩擦才能變得光滑圓潤,才能合乎使用,才會百發百中。


URL: http://soareagle55.wordpress.com/2009/06/


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WOW wk3, Snack Time & Learning

WOW wk3, 12/19/2010 - G4/G5 Class

Howdy,

It's that time of the year - 'Tis the season - Christmas festivity!

Topic: Jesus – Is Born!
Verses: Luke 2: 1 to 20

we would like to give kids a sense of celebration of Jesus’s birth by enjoying a bit of candy/snack during the Sunday class.

We started out by going through the theme verses, Luke/路加福音 2: 1 to 20,
where it records an account of “news breaking” event of Jesus Birth,
which involves angel of the Lord appearing to shepherds about this
"good news of great joy that will be for all the people.".
(大喜的信息、是關乎萬民的.)

A 2-minutes video clip (narrative of Luke chapter 2) was shown to the class, while we survey the verses (Luke 2:1 - 20).

We pause abit on the account to ponder on several Q-n-A.
(A) Birth place/伯利恆: 大衛的城裡 (with a world map aid to show that the 伯利恆 is located at the center of the World Map! )
Imagine that the gospel then begins to spread across the land, from Jerusalem to all the nations. (從耶路撒冷起直傳到萬邦)

Along the subject of Jesus's birth, we also touched upon the year designations of AD vs BC;
BC means “before Christ.” AD means anno Domini, or “year of our Lord.”
What a significant meaning !

(B) How the News breaking comes about:
there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
(在伯利恆之野地裡有牧羊的人、夜間按著更次看守羊群。) - A side note: 牧羊人 is faithful to follow what was told, that is, 我們往伯利恆去、看看所成的事、就是主所指示我們的。
and ... we ask ourselves a question for spiritual life application - Are we trust-worthy as 牧羊人?

Next, we have a "Name the Tune/Hymn" contest for the Boys and Girls teams;
the idea is to introduce a few Christmas hymns that portraits the meaning of Christmas and being a Christian when we respond to the gospel.

OK, here is the list of hymns we played:

1) Amazing Grace (奇異恩典)

URL: 奇異恩典 at wiki

To respond to the "good news", Jesus birth, is to bring his people out of SIN, and we are to recognize the "grace" so amazing!!

2) Joy to the World (普世歡騰)

3) O Come, O Come, Immanuel

Teacher carefully chose the versions of the songs to have a different artistic rendering in the beginning of the songs so that it's NOT that obvious to recognize. :)

Some lyric and hymn URL links:
(1)
奇異恩典,何等甘甜,
我罪已得赦免;
前我失喪,今被尋回,
瞎眼今得看見。

(2)
Joy to the World at Youtube

And we serve snacks, juice pack, and goodies - THANKS to some parents who cheerfully offer the preparation of food - potato chips, juice pack, etc.

And here is the song/hymn: O Come, O Come, Immanuel

As the Israelite has been longing for the Messiah, the lyric denotes..." !Until the Son of God appear. "


On the lyric:
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!


Final score:

Girls: 2
Boys: 1

We have Pizza for lunch - yeh!!! (all the kids shouted for joy, I guess)

Memory Verse: John 14:6
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me".


Wish'ing you'all a very MERRY Christmas holiday!

KLUP!
-Sam
PS: More video clips are to be posted later.
Special thanks to brother Shih-Tsang for lending projector: 投影機 (works great)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Prep: wk3 12/19, Jesus is Born

OK, Lesson 3: Jesus is Born.

Key verse:
"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:6)

To skit or Not To skit is indeed a question... :)

1) The Way - so we ought to follow
2) The Truth - so we are set free
3) The Life - so we enter eternal life

Amen!

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Monday, December 13, 2010

Live your call - Salt of the World

【上帝的小叮嚀】

耶穌又對他們說:人拿燈來,豈是要放在斗底下,床底下,不放在燈臺上嗎﹖4:21

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Sunday, December 12, 2010

WOW wk2, video clip of "de-puzzle" activity

WOW wk2, 12/12/2010 - G4/G5 Class

Howdy parents,

It's all about God's Plan for this week's class as we study Matthew/馬太福音 1: 18 to 25,
where it tells about Joseph's account of encountering an angle of the LORD, revealing God's plan for him and Mary on what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

And you are to give him name "Jesus", because he will save his people from their sins.

We started out with attending Children Choir program at the santuanry since 75% of the class students are singing in the Choir. Fantastic!!
It lasts about 15-20 minutes by the time we get back to the class.

Now the action begin ...

1) Teacher presents a few "traffic signs"for kids to recognize - such as "End School Zone", "no HM", "Keep Right", and etc. And HM sign keeps kids guessing.

The point is ice-breaking an idea that we all need rules and follow traffic "signs" in our faith journey - using car-driving in our daily life as an example that we follow God's "signs" or/and plan as HE directs our path. If you don't follow the sign, (e.g., Keep Right) you end up running into trouble or accidents.

Finally, HM means Hazard Material. :)

2) Then we dive into bible verses today - Matthew 1: 18 to 25. We have three groups to read through the verses. To re-enforce the messages, teacher presents a video clip (2 minutes) that reads through the Chapter 1 of Matthew in Multimedia fashion.

3) Next we have both Girls vs Boys groups to compete a drawing - each kid can only use marker for 2 "draws" (畫2 ). All the kids take turn to finish their drawing - which is required to focus on Baby Jesus birth.

You'll be amazed what a group of boys and girls can do within 5 minutes time limit. Enjoy - here are the final drawing; To encourage the "competition", we give "points" for things they draw that correspond to biblical account.

4) One more activity - put together a puzzle. Each team has an envelop that contains "broken pieces of puzzle - a biblical theme picture". One is three wise men coming to worship Jesus.

Leaning point: God's plan is the Salvation thru Jesus - where it records in 1:23,
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" which means, "God with us."

And the three wise men - they have came to worship Him. Shall we?

We, from time to time, get to present "Jesus Inside" sign (see below) to the students. Being a christian, in a way, we are to present ourselves and the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us.
Big thanks to Maria - since we have more students this week - it can be tough to juggle things with just one person.

OK, lunch is served - sandwiches. And we have a sweet treat - Biscotti, Gingerbread macadamia flavor. :)

Bible Verse: Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD.

Next week, we plan to celebrate Christmas festivity in the class - there will be hymn/song playing, treats, and of course bible messages, etc. Hope to see all the kids.

MERRY Christmas to you and your family!

KLUP!
-Sam

Saturday, December 11, 2010

They've came a long way ...


To worship him!!!

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第二屆兒童聖誕音樂會 at PCAC

PCAC 教會舉辦 第二屆兒童聖誕音樂會 (PCAC Children Choir program),

  1. 兒童詩班
  2. 以聖誕為主題 - 個人樂器、
  3. 歌唱、
  4. 詩歌朗誦等.
才藝呈獻

URL: http://www.pcactexas.org/pages/getconnected/announcements.shtml

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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Sharing: hymn site


Ran into a site, which has quite a few hymns (live audio/music) with daily devotion and other goodies....

http://www.letsfollowjesus.org/hymns-07.htm


KLUP!
-Sam

Monday, December 6, 2010

Planning ahead: week 2 (Trust God's plan)

As Christmas approaching near, the Sunday school class begins to focus on Jesus's birth...

Week 2: Trust God's plan (in an account of Joseph's story)

In addition, the class plans to have a Christmas celebration (food/snack, goodies stuff) for the children during the class time.
Looking at the schedule, I have not decided which date (12/19 or 12/26).
However, some families may have plan to be out-of-town, which is always great.

Joseph account: Matthew 1:18 to 25,

Precious verse: 馬太福音 1:21
"他將要生一個兒子.你要給他起名叫耶穌.因他要將自己的百姓從罪惡裡救出來。"

NIV:
"
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

KLUP!
-Sam

Lunch time, G4/G5 12/05/2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

WOW wk1, 12/5/2010 - G4/G5 Class

Hi parents,

It's a new quarter - Dec/2010 to Feb/2011; And we are off a good start.

Theme: Jesus, the Mediator (gotta explain what the word means - 中保)

Bible Verses in focus: 1 Timothy 2:5-6
中文:
"因為只有一位 神、在 神和人中間、只有一位中保、乃是降世為人的基督耶穌。
他捨自己作萬人的贖價.到了時候、這事必證明出來。"
English: (NIV)
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself as a ransom for all men閠he testimony given in its proper time.

After greeting to all the students, we make it clear - rules for the class... :)

In short, RSVP:
R espect each other
S it properly
V erse memorization
P ay attention & participation

The rules are designed to provide safe boundary for the kids to learn in class.

OK - we started out with a bunch of "objects" lessons;
Say, a baseball glove, racing car (hot wheel toy), a hat with Texas long horn logo, etc.
This is to ice-break a discussion on what profession can do for us - however, they can not save us or point a way to God.

Then... who can?
Here we go to Bible verses: Psalm 72: 1-20 [所羅門的詩]
There it talks about all the might deeds of God.
72:18 , 獨行奇事的耶和華以色列的 神、是應當稱頌的.

Next, we tried a crossword board game.
It comes with 17 clues or tips that are marked as Across or Down slips.
The title of the game: Jesus, the Mediator

As you can imagine the intensity and involvement of each kid as we divide them into "Boys" team and "Girls" team.

Each team is to elect a "Captain" who is to help organizing the team in cross-word process.

Each team is to pick a "clue" or "tip" (a piece of paper with written clues) and have 30 seconds to come up with an "Answer". The team gets one (1) point when they match the answer.

Some of the clues are,
1) Messiah - A title of Jesus meaning 'The Anointed One'
2) Mediator - a role of jesus to be between man and God
3) Disciples Jesus chose twelve of them to follow Him

Final score?

Boys: 6 points
Girls: 9 points (yeh, Girls win!)

Once again, this week's memory verse is, 1 Timothy 2:5

Today's lunch is served with "蛋炒飯".(some kids had two bowls :))
A Big thanks to our class helper: maria.

Wish you'all a great and blessed week!

-Sam
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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

First day of Class 12/5 - Jesus the mediator of a new covenant

Focus point:

“基督”是希臘文的Christos的譯音,原意是“受膏者”(anointed),
即希伯來文的“彌賽亞”。

猶太人有三種職分在就職時要受膏的,就是先知,祭司,和君王。

所以耶穌是基督,表明耶穌是先知,祭司和君王。

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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

感恩節的由來

感恩節的由來要一直追溯到美國歷史的發端。1620年,著名的「五月花號」船,
滿載不堪忍受英國國內宗教迫害的清教徒102人到達美洲。

Link: http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/%E6%84%9F%E6%81%A9%E8%8A%82
or Thanksgiving at wiki
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

勝 敗不在乎你們、乃在乎 神

**勝 敗不在乎你們、乃在乎 神 **

歷下20章::
約沙法王是猶大國第四任君王,20章一開始談到,當所有外邦的敵人要攻擊約沙法,他就害怕,這是非常正常.

And as you read on,
20:15「耶和華對你們如此說、 不要因這大軍恐懼、驚惶、因為勝 敗不在乎你們、乃在乎 神。」


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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

恩典, 恩典, 恩典!

Sharing an article on the Subject of 恩典:

「在愛子裡所賜給我們的恩典」是髑髏地救贖工作最奇妙的結果之一。「所賜給」的希臘原文為charitoo,與「恩典」(其希臘原文為charis)這個字頗為接近。Charitoo意指「十分偏愛」、「極有恩惠」、「以高度的尊榮增添光彩」及「深情贊同的神聖喜悅」。 Charitoo描述被神深深喜愛的對象。這是一種蒙恩的狀態,也反映出天父充滿深情的大愛。Charitoo這個字在新約裡只出現過另一次,就是在路加福音一章28節,天使出現在馬利亞面前所說的話:「蒙大恩的女子,我問妳安,主和妳同在了。」「蒙大恩」這個措詞形容馬利亞蒙神悅納的地位。的確,她是神千挑萬選的使女,超越眾人,特別被揀選來達成一個神聖的任務──作耶穌的母親。總之,charitoo描寫一個大受尊敬的人、一個特別蒙愛的人,就好像某人眼中的瞳人一般。馬利亞乃是神最喜愛的孩子!

Credit: URL link,
http://blog.chinaunix.net/u/16427/showart_108356.html

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