Rotation.org Writing Team

JESUS’ ASCENSION
STORYTELLING WORKSHOP

PASSAGE

Story: Acts 1:2-11

Key/Memory Verse: Acts 1:9b “As they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” NRSV

PURPOSE

Goals/Objectives for Rotation

Students will be able to:

• locate the story of Jesus' Ascension in the New Testament books of Luke and Acts;
  (Older students will learn that Luke and Acts were written by the same author.)
  
  
• realize that Jesus' Ascension into heaven took place after forty days of appearances by the risen Christ to his disciples and followers;
  
  
• learn that Jesus gave a promise to His followers that the Holy Spirit would come to empower them;
  
  
• understand that Jesus' Ascension is a departure of the physically resurrected Jesus, but it prepares us for Christ's presence in a new way, in and through us;
  
  
• know that God's mission to tell everyone about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was entrusted to Christ's followers -- the disciples then and to us now;
  
  
• realize that we are still waiting for Jesus' return, known as the Second Coming.
  

Objectives for Storytelling Workshop

In this Storytelling Workshop the students will study the story of Jesus’ Ascension using a timeline to help them understand that the Ascension took place 40 days after Easter and that Pentecost follows 10 days later. The children will then retell the story of the Ascension in preparation for being witnesses and telling the Good News to others.

Students:

• will be able to retell the story of Ascension ;
  
  
• wll be encouraged to act as witnesses and tell the story to someone outside the class.
  

PREPARATION

Read the Bible Background.

Read the Bible story in all three passages: Mark, Luke, and Acts.

Materials List

• Bibles for students
  
• Bibles - several other translations or paraphrases (such as The New Living Translation or The Message)
  
• Calendar
  
• Dictionary
  
• Glue sticks
  
• Paper - copy or construction paper cut into 1-inch squares: 49 white squares, 1 blue square, 1 red square
  
• Paper - long sheet of butcher, packing, or shelf paper, at least 51 inches long
  
• Pen or markers
  
• Tacks or masking tape to hang the long piece of paper
  

Advance Preparation Requirements

• Find the dates for Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost on the calendar.
  
• Hang the long piece of paper on the wall at a height the students can comfortably work on it.
  
• Cut the 1-inch squares of paper.
  

PRESENTATION

Open – Introduction

Welcome the children and open with prayer.

Explain that today’s lesson will be an opportunity to learn about how Jesus left his followers (including us) after making a promise of a helper to come. Tell the children that they will be exploring the happenings before and after that event, and then will have an opportunity to explore the implications for their lives today.

Before reading the Scripture, give some background information, including that Acts is a continuation of Luke’s recounting Jesus’ life and that the events we are studying now take place after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Distribute Bibles and read the Scripture: Acts 1:1-11.

Review the details to make sure the children understood the story:

Where did Jesus go?

What did he tell his followers before he left? What did he promise?

How did his followers respond to his departure?

Look at how the story continues by reading Acts 2:1-4.

Create a timeline of the events from the Bible stories:

“We are going to make a timeline to help us visualize our story.”

Write an “E” on one of the white squares and glue it to the far left end of the paper. Say, “This represents Easter – the day of Resurrection. For how many days after that did Jesus appear to his disciples?” [40]

Distribute 39 white squares to the students. Have them glue them side by side next to the first square with the “E” to make a timeline.

“On the fortieth day, Jesus was lifted up into Heaven.” Write an “A” on the blue square and place it on the timeline after the 39 blank white squares.

“This blue square reminds us of the day the disciples watched Jesus being lifted up into the sky. How much longer after that did they wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit?” [10 days]

Give the children 9 white squares to glue on the timeline after the blue square.

Write a “P” on the red square and glue it to the end of the timeline.

“This red square represents the day the Holy Spirit was given to Jesus’ followers. We call that day Pentecost, and this year Pentecost will be celebrated on [date].” Write the date of Pentecost on the paper above the “P” on the timeline.

“This year, we celebrated Easter on [date].” Write the date of Easter above the “E” on the timeline.

“And this year, we remember Jesus’ Ascension on [date].” Write that date above the “A” on the timeline.

“Today’s date is [date].” Write it above the appropriate square on the timeline.

Explain that a timeline is a bit like a map in that it helps us see where events are relative to each other, but it shows their place in time rather than in space. Take some time to look at the timeline and write notes about events that happened along that line, both above the line in the current year (perhaps special services at church, the last day of school, or sports and other newsworthy events) and below the line showing Jesus’ times (the empty tomb, the road to Emmaus, doubting Thomas, the Ascension, choosing another disciple to replace Judas, Pentecost, and so forth).

Write the memory verse below the timeline, and read it as a group several times.

Dig - Main Content

Discuss what it means to be a witness. (Acts 1:8)

Look it up in the dictionary if necessary.

“We read the story as Luke told it. Mark was also a witness to these events and he tells the story in his Gospel.” [Read Mark 16:19-20.]

Talk about how Mark’s telling is much briefer, but is the same story.

Discuss how the New Testament portion of the Bible was originally written in Greek, and can be translated in various ways. Read one or two different translations or paraphrases of the Acts 1:1-11 story to the class, instructing them to listen to the different ways the same story is shared. Discuss whether they were the same story? How did they differ?

Tell the children that they can retell the Bible story using their own words rather than memorizing the Bible word for word (which we do when we are learning a memory verse). Look at the timeline to review the story of Jesus’ Ascension. Then divide the class into pairs. Have each partner take turns being the teller of the story and the listener. The listener should encourage the partner and remind him or her of additional details that can be included in the story.

Reflect – Closure

Discuss again what it means to be a witness. Reread Acts 1:8.

What did Jesus mean for his disciples to do when he told them that they would be his witnesses?

Is Jesus asking us to be witnesses also?

Look again at the first part of the verse. Were the disciples to be witnesses on their own? What is the power that Jesus was referring to?

Discuss how the Holy Spirit helps us to share the Good News that Jesus died for us and helps us to find the right words to say and the right time to say them.

Ask the children, “Whom can you tell the Good News?”

Encourage them to retell the story of Jesus’ Ascension to at least one person this week - a parent, a sibling, a friend.

Close with prayer, such as:

Jesus, thank you for sending us the Holy Spirit. Help us to be your witnesses to the ends of the earth until you come again. Amen.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

Adaptations - Younger Children

Instead of telling the story to partners, divide the class into groups so that there is one adult with each group. Retell the story in that larger group, either one volunteer at a time, or tell it together in a round-robin fashion (one person starts the story and the telling continues with different tellers from the group).

Adaptations - Older Children

Have the children personalize their witnessing stories by telling about what Jesus’ saving grace means to them.

CONTRIBUTOR: Amy Crane