Pentecost: The Day the Holy Spirit Came

In JAM we learned that Pentecost is traditionally celebrated by the Church 50 days after Easter Sunday.

The disciples felt they were ill-prepared to go out and tell the whole world about Jesus (which is what he had told them to do). They knew they had to stay in Jerusalem and wait for something to happen. They couldn’t have imagined what did actually happen with The Holy Spirit giving them power, ability and courage to speak to people in many different languages (ones they had never learned!)

We followed along with the pictures as some of our members brought the story to life through a script.

We watched a Lego video showing how the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples.

Click here to watch the Lego Video- ‘The Story of Pentecost’

During prayer the children lit their own candles while listening to ‘Rest on Us’, by Upper Room. Each candle represented a person in the room and we asked for the Spirit to rest on us today.

Click here to here ‘Rest on Us’, by Upper Room

We prayed the following prayer (taken from URC Faith Adventures Youth Resource):

God of power and presence,

thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit –

not just for the first disciples, but for us today.

Thank you that your Spirit gives courage when we feel afraid,

wisdom when we feel unsure,

and strength when following you feels difficult.

Help us to remember that we are your witnesses –

in our words, our choices, our friendships,

and the way we live when no one else is watching.

Challenge us this week

to step out in faith at least once:

to speak about you,

to stand up for what is right,

or to show your love in a practical way.

Fill us again with your Holy Spirit,

and send us out with boldness and joy.

Amen

We reflected on how Jesus had to go away so that He could send the Holy Spirit to empower each one of us.

Pentecost reminds us that we are filled with the Spirit and sent out to share God’s love with others.

The children got creative, baking flame cookies and mixing icing colours to create fiery designs.

We also played a transformation – spotting game, where one person left the room while we made small visible changes to ourselves for them to notice when they returned.

We had a brilliant time singing and dancing to ‘Move’, by Becky and Nick Drake – the children loved it! Feel free to have a listen by clicking here.