We are into our third week of Advent and today I’m sharing the third installment in our Kids Church Advent series. This week is called, “The Songs”, and focuses on Luke 1:39-45 when Mary and Elizabeth are praising God for sending the Messiah. We made another cute banner this week and I have a printable version of this lesson at the end of the post. Enjoy!

Welcome Question

“What do you do when you are really happy?”

Introduction

Good Morning! It’s our third week of Advent! The past two weeks we talked about The Announcement, when after years of silence, God spoke through the angel Gabriel to Zechariah and told him he would have a son (John) who would make the way for the Messiah. Then, last week, we talked about The Promise, when Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would become pregnant with the Messiah, Jesus. Gabriel was one busy angel! Exciting things are happening in this story and I can’t wait to see what we hear next!

Large Group Lesson

We’re calling this week’s story, The Songs. Our welcome question today asked, “What do you do when you are really happy?” (Go over children’s answers) Today, in Luke 1:39-56, we will see how Mary and Elizabeth reacted to God’s promises.

Video: Mary visited Elizabeth

So here’s what we know. Mary’s job wasn’t super easy, but it was super special. She gets to see how it was even more special when she goes to see Elizabeth. Now, who is Elizabeth pregnant with? John! The one who will make the way for the Messiah. He’s so excited when Mary comes in, pregnant with Jesus, that he jumps around in his mom’s tummy. Now baby’s move around a lot inside their mom’s, but this is out of the ordinary. John’s dancing all around in there! And why is he doing that, more like how is he doing that? Let’s read that part of scripture in Luke 1:39-45, “In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry,“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Like I said earlier, Elizabeth’s excited, her baby’s excited too! But how is the baby knowing all this? I’m sure if you’ve seen a newborn, you know they don’t do a lot of dancing. BUT, the Holy Spirit was present. The Holy Spirit is a special helper to people from God and the Holy Spirit is God. Just like Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit helped Elizabeth understand that Mary wasn’t just pregnant with some normal baby, she was pregnant with Jesus. Her own son was dancing at the news.

Elizabeth calls Mary blessed a bunch of times in this scripture as well and she doesn’t just tell her she’s blessed, she’s yelling it! Blessed means, “divine favor”. Basically, you are so special, it could only be from God. And Elizabeth knows she’s blessed because she BELIEVED…what happened to Elizabeth’s own husband for not believing? He couldn’t speak!

Mary could still speak, in fact, she breaks into song! Let’s read Luke 1:46-56.

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,

47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

   For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

   and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is for those who fear him

   from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with his arm;

   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

   and exalted those of humble estate;

53 he has filled the hungry with good things,

 and the rich he has sent away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

   in remembrance of his mercy,

55 as he spoke to our fathers,

   to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Mary was so happy, so blessed, she just had to sing and thank God about it all. She praises Him for all He is about to do. Have you ever been that happy you just had to sing? Mary was! She was so happy not only because she was given a special job, but because the Messiah, the Rescuer, was coming for His people…finally!

Advent Candle Lighting

Today, we are going to re-light our candles from the last two weeks which were….HOPE & PEACE. This week, we are going to light the candle of JOY and remember that Christ alone is our source of hope, peace, and joy. We remember God’s promise to bring His people everlasting joy. We remember our need for a Savior who will save us from our sins, and that Christ’s birth is good news of great joy for all people because it is news of that promised Savior. We also remember that in a world that finds pleasure in material things, we are called to find our true joy in Christ.  

Have kids read the following verses:

• “I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.” Jeremiah 31:13  
• “I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” Habakkuk 3:18-19
• “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.” Philippians 4:4-5

As we remember Christ’s birth, and wait for Christ’s Glorious Return, may God give us his everlasting joy!

Close in Prayer

Small Group Questions

Discussion:

Introduce yourself and learn the kids names. Then use the following questions to lead a discussion.

• Who is Mary? The young woman chosen to be Jesus’ mom.
• Who is Elizabeth? An old woman, Mary’s relative, pregnant with John
• Why do you think baby John was so joyful about Jesus? Because he would have the same joy making the way for Jesus as grown ups.
• How was John able to do that? The Holy Spirit
• What is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a helper that God gives us and is also God.
• What did Elizabeth do when she was happy about Mary’s news? She shouted blessings
• What did Mary do when she was happy? She praised God for all that He was going to do
• What do you do when you are happy?

Bible Challenge:

This week’s Memory Verse: “I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.” Jeremiah 31:13  

Last Week’s Verse:  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14

Ask if anyone remembers the verse from last week. Give each child (who wants to) a chance to say it. Go over the verse for this week. Practice it together several times.

Advent Activity:

Using the supplies provided, children will create a banner with the word “JOY” on it. Each week they will make one for the four weeks of Advent. They will also attach their Bible verse for the week on the banner. (Click here for banner instructions) 

Prayer: Ask children if there is anything they need prayer for. Close your small group time in prayer.

If time allows, return to Large Group. Choose one child to share what they learned for Large Group Recap.

Printable Resources:

Printable Advent Lesson: The Songs

Thanks for letting me share,