Wisdom - 1st-5th Grade Big Idea for September

What's more precious than jewels but available to all who seek it? Screams to get your attention but eludes you if you ignore it? Has a definite starting point but knows no end? Here's a hint:

YES! It's wisdom, which is finding out what you should do and doing it. God says if you accept His words and store up His commands inside you, tune your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, call out for insight and search for it as you would for hidden treasure, then you will find out how to know Him. He is the one who gives wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, the one who stores up success for His followers, the one who shields them from harm, guards their paths, and leads them in the right direction. (See Proverbs 2:1-11. In fact, see all of Proverbs for a whole trove of the treasures of wisdom.) Put that way, who in his right mind wouldn't dig wisdom? Dig for wisdom? Dig and dig for wisdom?
So in September, we'll be on the hunt for gems of wisdom, helping kids understand that God wants to give you wisdom. Wisdom is worth searching for. If you want to be wise, hang out with wise people. And wisdom is knowing AND doing.
So get your shovel out and let's go dig for wisdom. It's worth it.

Check the weekly Refrigerator Door Cards and GodTime Cards for more information on the content of each weekly  lesson.

Love - 1st-5th Grade Big Idea for August

Do You Feel the Luuuv?
How does that Beatles' song go? "All you need is love ..." When you think about it, just about everything we do with or for others boils down to love. Which, of course, doesn't come as a surprise to God-followers, the Creator of love. He IS love, after all (1 John 4:16), and the reason we can love at all: because He loved us first (1 John 4:19). Jesus said THE most important commandment is to love God and to love Him with all we've got. When we do that, we'll love others--the second most important commandment. The second most important, yes, but so closely aligned with the first that it's impossible to split the two. John put it this way: "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen ... Whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:20-21, NIV). And so on that one "peg" (love God/love others) hang ALL the commandments--the 10 Commandments, the Mosaic Law, and the 600 or so laws the Pharisees added to it.
So in August, Launch!1st-5th grade will focus on love, which is choosing to give someone your time and friendship no matter what. We'll begin with the time the Pharisees got their heads together in an attempt to trick Jesus and His reply (which also happens to be our memory verse for the month, Matthew 22:37-39). When you love God, you'll love others.
The second week of August will be all about what takes "first place" and the fact that when you love others, you give them your time, as Jesus pointed out when He visited Mary and Martha (Luke 10).
In week 3, everything will revolve around Jesus' parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15): When you love others, you're quick to forgive.
Week 4 we'll focus on what Jesus told Peter after His resurrection (John 21). When you love Jesus, you'll treat others the way He does.
In week 5, we'll depart from the norm and examine a "faith skill," the faith skill of prayer (dialoguing with God, both public and private). Jesus modeled all kinds of principles about prayer for us. But ultimately, He showed us that talking to God changes things.