Rotation.org Writing Team

JESUS’ ASCENSION
SUMMARY

SCRIPTURE PASSAGE

Story: Luke 24:36-53; Acts 1:2-11
[The event is also recounted in the longer ending of Mark 16:19-20.]

KEY/MEMORY VERSE

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

[Possible secondary Key/Memory Verses: Psalm 25:5 "Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long." or Psalm 130:5 "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope."]

GOALS/OBJECTIVES

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.

MATERIAL IN THIS ROTATION SET

ART [Joy Feemster]

Depict the scene of the followers at the time of Jesus’ Ascension by creating a display of spatter painted clouds and stuffed life-sized figures.

BIBLE BACKGROUND [Anne Camp]

Reflect on the New Testament story of Jesus’ Ascension, the Scripture passage, the memory verse, the goals/objectives, and commentary on the text and the themes.

CINEMA [Julie Burton]

Explore the mystery of Jesus’ Ascension by using video clips of two movies, Acts and He Is Risen, and bubbles.

CREATIVE WRITING [Stephanie Smith]

Use a computer software program to develop sections of a newspaper that share the story of Jesus’ Ascension.

DRAMA [Julie Burton]

Enact the account of Jesus’ Ascension through a Freeze Drama method of storytelling.

GAMES [Cissy Green]

Study the story of Jesus’ Ascension using a Nintendo DS to understand the time that passed between events and practice different forms of witnessing with the DS lite pictochat feature.

MUSIC [Joy Feemster]

Compose new words to familiar tunes to tell the story of Jesus’ Ascension.

PRAYER/WORSHIP [Jo Oehrlein]

Set up stations to involve the students in exploring the story in the following ways: Praying the Bible, Walking with God, Prayer Partners, Adoration through Art, Breath Prayers, Ascending Prayers, Praying with Music, and Journaling.

SCIENCE [Jo Oehrlein]

Experiment with two Science projects to help participants understand concepts from the story of Jesus’ Ascension: ooblek, a material that changes forms between liquid and solid, and hand lotion/glitter to illustrate passing on Jesus’ message.

STORYTELLING [Amy Crane]

Study the story of Jesus’ Ascension using a timeline and retell it in preparation for being
witnesses and sharing the Good News with others.

EDITORS

Ken Wezeman
Phyllis Wezeman

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Phyllis Wezeman,