Explore the symbolism of the Rainbow and how Noah built an altar to worship God once the ark was back on dry

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1 Begin: Guide reads the background, scripture & prays for the class Unwrap-Opening Activity 10:00-10:10 AM Investigate: Tell & Wonder about the Story 10:10-10:25 AM Learn by Doing 10:30-10:45 AM Dismiss 10:55 AM Review the Cornerstone & Closing Prayer Explore the symbolism of the Rainbow and how Noah built an altar to worship God once the ark was back on dry 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; 11 and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not return to him any more. 13 In the six hundred first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was drying. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16"Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Scripture continued on page 3

2 Our focus for the Seekers for our Noah lesson is on the symbolism of the rainbow and Noah s building of an altar to worship God. This background gives the Sunday School Guide extra information about the Noah story and theme. The Book of Genesis introduces us to the theme of covenant. God make promises, and the people respond with a promise to be obedient and faithful. The Noah story presents us with the first example of covenant. In the story for this session, Noah and his family enter a new world. They have high expectations and look forward to a new beginning. The family and the animals begin to find new homes. The birds make nests, the animals find their lairs, and the people build new homes and plant gardens. In this setting, God makes a covenant with Noah that never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth (Genesis 9:11C). The sign of the covenant was a rainbow in the clouds. In the recurring theme of covenant, the ultimate promise of God is made through the coming of Jesus. We remember this at every baptism as we renew our own covenant to be obedient and faithful to God. Young children understand promises in self-centered terms ( I promise and you promise ). The rainbow in Noah s story is a concrete symbol that God made a promise that would always be kept. It is a story that will help children understand God s promises in a larger sense. After God told him it was safe to disembark from the ark, Noah built an altar to God and gave thanks. Humanity now has a new opportunity to live in harmony with God. The sign of this covenant, a rainbow in the clouds, comes from the ancient bow of battles. In ancient times, Gods were often depicted with a bow and arrow. The bow was associated with strength and power and to hang up one s bow was to cease from battle. In our faith tradition, the bow in the sky can be seen as the bow that has been hung up or put away. The bow in the clouds is the sign of God s promise that whatever else God does to seek our restoration, destruction is in the past. Memory Match Game: Either print and cut out the animal cards (attached) on cardstock or bring in a memory match card game from home. FOR OLDER CLASSES: Have markers and squares of paper for students to make their own memory matching games. Leave time for them to play their game with someone else in the class. Have plastic bags for them to take the game home with them. 2

3 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." 18 So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families. Say: Today s Bible story is one of the FIRST ONES in the Bible, so it s very easy to find. Here, I ll show you where it is. Show them where to find Genesis 2:1-3, but read Noah s story from the children s Bible in your classroom or use the paraphrasing below: A long time ago God looked at the Earth and God wasn t happy with how the people were treating each other. God decided that it was time to start over. God looked all over the Earth and saw Noah. God knew that Noah was a good man so God decided that Noah would be the one to save mankind and all the animals. God s plan was this: Noah would build an ark (Make hammer noises by knocking on a table), The ark is a boat, two of every kind of animal would come and walk onto the boat (Pat legs to sound like animals walking), and then it would rain for 40 days and 40 nights (Rub hands together to make rain sounds). Once it stopped raining, Noah and his family and all the animals would be safe. Do you think Noah was confused by this plan? Everyone make your best confused face right now. Can you imagine so much rain that whole Earth is covered? I can t. Noah could have easily said, Forget about it, that s crazy! But he listened to God and everything that God said would happen did happen. Noah built the ark, the animals came, it rained, and then finally the rain stopped and the land became dry again. God s promises are always good even when they don t make sense to us. Would it have been fun to take care of all the animals? What do you think it smelled like on that ark!? What about the noises? What would be the hardest thing to do? What would be the easiest? Can you imagine feeding all of those animals and cleaning up after them? What a job! Noah was very faithful to God by caring for the animals. What are some of the promises God made to Noah? Did those promises come true? What did God want the rainbow to show Noah? I wonder if God intends for rainbows to remind us of anything. What might that be? I wonder if you have promised to do something before. I wonder if it s ever hard to keep a promise. Why or why not? Do you think God can use you like he used Noah? Do you think you can always trust God? Do you think Noah's job would have been hard or easy? 3

4 Pin the Animal on the Ark: like the game Pin the Tail on the Donkey, but the children will use the animal cards from the memory match Arrival Activity to affix them to the ark. Have them close their eyes when it s their turn to pin the animal, or borrow bandanas from the church as blindfolds (we have lots!). Draw and ark on the board in your room (a simple line drawing will do) or draw one on large banner paper found in the resource room. Have children take turns trying to put their animal in the ark. Use the blue painter s tape on the back of each animal card so as not to damage the board. Build An Altar - Take the class outside for a brief walk on the playground. During their time outside, they need to find one thing they would like to bring inside with them Highlight from the story that the first thing Noah did once it was safe to leave the ark was to build an altar to God, praising God for bringing him, his family and the animals back safely. With the items the children bring in from the playground have them build their own classroom altar. Have the children explain why the picked their item. You can also explore what makes an altar. Say: Today we learned that God gave us a rainbow to help us remember the promise of never sending a flood again and how the first thing Noah did once he returned to dry land was build an altar to God. Call: The Lord be with you. Response: And Also with you. Let us pray: Thank you, God, for all of your promises. Sometimes is hard to keep our own promises to each other. Help us to remember the promises that you give us and help to trust God in everything. Amen 4

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