Prayers of Thanksgiving

To learn the story of how the Holy Spirit helped Philip and to understand that the Holy Spirit is with others also

The children will be able to demonstrate their appreciation for people who, with the help of the Holy Spirit, shared Jesus with them.

• Stencils of a dove
• Bibles
• Colored and white paper (or felt)
• Pens, pencils, crayons
• Scissors
• Glue

• Say to the children: After the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost, Jesus' friends were filled with joy. They went out to teach people about Jesus.
• Then ask: Can you think of someone who has helped you to know and understand Jesus better? (family members, teachers, priests, catechists, friends, and so on)
• Write their responses on the board.
• After several responses have been heard, say: Let's now read a story from the Bible about one of Jesus' friends who shared what he knew about Jesus.
• Read aloud the story of Philip and the Holy Spirit from Acts of the Apostles 8:26-38, and invite the children to listen silently.
• Allow some time for the children to recall events and to summarize the story. Then direct their attention to the list of people they created.
• Invite the children to create a special prayer of thanksgiving for a person who has helped them to know and understand Jesus better.
• Provide the children with colored and white paper (or felt), coloring materials, scissors, glue, and stencils of a dove.
• Explain to the children that the colored piece of paper will be the background. They will then trace and cut out a dove from the white paper and paste it on top of the colored paper to make a card.
• Ask the children to write somewhere on their doves: Thank you for Sharing Jesus With Me.
• Give the children time to decorate their cards.
• When the cards are completed, invite volunteers to share who they are thanking and why.
• Encourage the children to share their cards with the people they are thanking.
• Conclude by saying: Remember this week how lucky we are to have people who shared Jesus and his story with us.
  

Art/Space Smart, People Smart, Word Smart

Try to provide an example of how the card should look so that the children have a model to follow. For variety, you might consider using felt instead of paper for the activity.