Abraham and Sarah
Read Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16.
God had made a promise to Abram and Sarai. God said that they would have lots of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But they never had any children. So Abram asked God many times, “Are you sure? We still don’t have any children.” God took Abram outside and said, “Your family will have as many people in it as there are stars in the sky.” Abram saw that there were so many stars that he couldn’t even count them. Abram believed God. Abram trusted God. In today’s Bible reading from Genesis 17, Abram is 99 years old and he still doesn’t have a child. Let’s watch the video and hear what God says to Abram.
Even though he had waited for a very, very long time and God hadn’t yet given Abram and Sarai a child, they still believed that God would keep the promise that God had made to them. When Abram was 99 years old, God said that God would keep the promise and that Abram and Sarai would have a child. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham which means “father of many nations” or that Abraham would have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. God changed Sarai’s name to Sarah which means “princess” because she would be the mother of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. God keeps promises. We can trust God. God promises to be with us always. God promises to loves us no matter who we are or what we do.
Discuss
- Share a time when someone broke a promise to you. How did you feel?
- Why did Abraham trust God?
- Is it easy or hard for you to trust God? Explain.
Song
All of My Heart. Go Fish Guys.
Activity
God promised that Abraham would have children and grandchildren and great grandchildren as many as the stars in the sky. You can make beautiful “stained glass” stars.
- Cut a star out of cardstock, poster board, or a cereal box.
- Glue yard or pieces of straw or something else to make thick lines across the star in various directions. These will be “metal” between the colors of glass.
- Glue aluminum foil to the star with white glue or a glue stick. Fold the edges around the back of the star.
- Use Sharpies to color the areas between the glue ridges. (Fat, marker-like Sharpies work much better than ultra-fine point ones.)
Activity
Learn more about stars. Visit NASA’s Science Space Place at https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/search/stars/ and check out the sections about constellations, the brightest star, how hot a star can be, voyagers to the stars, and more.
Prayer
God, we thank you that you keep your promises. We thank you that you call us by name. Help us to share your love with others. Amen.
Pastor Dan Fugate, Assistant to the Bishop for Discipleship in the Indiana-Kentucky Synod, ELCA, put this lesson together for Sunday School @ Home. There will be a new one for each Sunday while we are unable to gather together physically in our congregational buildings. Contact him at dfugate@iksynod.org.