Samuel Sunday School Lesson Activity

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Samuel Sunday School Lesson

Into the Lesson

Carry into the classroom a rock that is as large as practical. Write EBENEZER conspicuously on the rock. Cover the rock with a cloth, and then display the rock as class begins.

Lead the class (or have someone else lead) in singing the old hymn, "Come, Thou Fount." Makesure to include the stanza that begins, "Here Iraise mine Ebenezer." Point out that today's textincludes the Bible verse (v. 12) on which hymnwriter Robert Robinson based Isis poem. Also,plan to use the hymn at the end of class. You may want to include the lesson writer's story of Robin-son's writing and re-experiencing the truth of hissong.

Into the Word

Establish brainstorming pairs. Give each pairone of the letters of the word REPENTANCE.(Repeat the E and the N if you have an adequatenumber of students; if you have more than 20students, repeat the letters R. P. and C.)

Direct the pairs to look at today's text and anyother biblical texts on repentance, if they choose.They are to make a list of components or actionsinvolved in repentance that begin with their as-signed letter. Give pairs six to eight minutes towork, and then call for responses.

Though you will get some surprises, expect such responses as the following: R—returning,regretting, restoring, realizing; E—ending, elimi-nating, embarrassment, examining; P—peace.pain, past, pleading; N—need, necessity, near-ness (to God), neglect, newness; T—talking, tears,tenderheartedness, tenacity, thinking, truth; A—abandonment, anguish, accountability, action,admitting, atonement; C—commitment, change,character, choice, cleanness, conscience.

After the pairs have deliberated, ask them toconnect their ideas to specific verses in today'stext. When they report their decisions, youshould hear such connections as these: returningis the call of verse 3; eliminating relates to thecall to put away idolatry in verse 3; commitmentis shown in verse 4 as the Israelites obeyed Godand destroyed their enemies as God had longcommanded; etc.

Ask each pair to present its list and its connec-tions to the text. Have the word REPENTANCEdisplayed in large letters. Point letter by letter,asking for students' comments.

As a visual reminder of the components of re-pentance, recruit pantomime players to stand ina row and do the following: the first playersquints his eyes as he puts a finger to the side ofhis nose, cradling his chin in his other fingerswhile slowly nodding his head pensively (to rep-resent thinking); a second player rubs her eyesvigorously with her clenched hands and silentlysobs (to represent sorrowlremoise); a third playerassumes the classic prayer pose with handspalm-to-palm and head bowed (to represent shar-ing his decision with Cod in prayer); a fourthplayer walks across the room and abruptly turnsto retrace his steps (to represent the turning as-pect of repentance); a fifth player pulls playmoney from her purse and starts giving it to theother players (to represent a sacrificial offeringaspect of repentance.)

Give your players the freedom to representtheir ideas in other ways. As class membersidentify each component of repentance, write itclearly into a list for display. Come back togetheronce again to ask, "Where do you see these com-ponents of repentance in today's text?"

Into Life

Distribute to each class member a small roundstone with an E written on it. Tell students thatt his stone is their "Ebenezer." Ask students to use their stones throughout the coming week as reminder of this study and as a stimulus to prayfor someone they know who needs to repent andreceive Christ's forgiveness.
Finally, lead the class in singing again "Come,Thou Fount." or at least the stanza beginning,"Here I raise mine Ebenezer."

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