Jesus’ Birth through the Eyes of Isaiah
Cooking Workshop
Summary of Lesson Activity:
Learn some of the names of Jesus and what those names tell us about Jesus. Make sugar cookies in the shape of the letters of their names or a name for Jesus. [4th – 6th graders visited this workshop].
Scripture Reference:
Isaiah 9:6
Leader Preparation:
Read the scripture for this lesson.
Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
Materials List:
- An easel; appropriate marker
- The book In God's Name by Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
- Items in kitchen: cookie sheets, spatulas, hot pads, and clean-up supplies
- Items in refrigerator: Cookie dough
- The cooking “cart” with:
• Aprons, attendance
• Purple Adventure Bibles; one with tabs (Law, History, etc.)
• Bible tab writing kit: tabs, fine-line Sharpie pen
• Colored sprinkles for decorating cookies
• Parchment paper
• White Flour
• A pencil
• Kitchen timer
Advance Preparation Requirements:
- In advance make the cookie dough (see end of lesson for recipe).
- Wash a metal table.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Turn on vent fan.
- Cover two large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Have a pencil near by.
- Dust work areas on the metal table with flour. Place cookie decorating supplies close at hand.
- Write the key Bible verse on the easel in the Social Hall.
- Distribute purple Adventure Bibles around the tables in the Social Hall.
Presentation
Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction
Gather everyone around the tables in the Social Hall. Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Cooking Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults.
Say: We are going to be baking cookies today. We will save our prayer time for while the cookies are baking. Before we do any baking, let’s talk about what we’re learning.
Ask: Who can tell me what season of the year it is? (answer looking for: Advent)
What is Advent? (allow a few responses)
Say: Advent is also a time of preparing our hearts and our minds for the celebration of Jesus’ birth.
Ask: I know that there are preparations to do for Christmas like shopping and wrapping gifts but why do you suppose we need to prepare our hearts for Christmas? (allow a few responses)
Dig- Main Content and Reflection
Say: Christmas is something we plan for way in advance isn’t it? We get our decorations up and we light Advent candles for four Sundays before Christmas. Today we will learn how Jesus’ birth was actually something God planned for a very long time. God told the world about the coming birth – way before it happened! Seven hundred years before Jesus was born God told prophets to tell the people about the coming Savior.
Ask: What is a prophet? (allow any answers)
Say: A prophet is God’s special messenger. A prophet brings God’s message to the people.
Ask: If we were to read about something that a prophet reported, something that happened way before Jesus was born, where in the Bible would we read about it? (in OT)
Make sure that everyone has access to an Adventure Bible. Have everyone open to the page “About the Old Testament Books” (first page after the title page). Point out how the “Prophecy collection” starts with Isaiah and includes a whole list of prophets.
Say: The message that a prophet brings is called a “prophecy.” All these Bible books listed here are names of prophets - messengers of God. If you have your own Bible today, be sure you receive the tab for the prophecy section of your Bible. [Show the purple Adventure Bible with tabs. Have the Shepherd do a prophecy tab for students who bring their Bibles. Use the classroom Bible with tabs as an example.]
Have everyone flip forward three pages to the Table of Contents and find Isaiah. Have them go to the introductory page about the book of Isaiah.
Say: In these Bibles, every book starts with an introduction page. Let’s look at the fourth question: “What is special about this book?”
Ask someone to read the answer. (“Isaiah gives many wonderful prophecies about Jesus, the coming Savior.").
Say: Let’s look up one of the prophecies of Isaiah that told about Jesus coming. Remember these words were said 700 years before Jesus was born.
Have students find Isaiah 9:6. Read it aloud.
Ask: Who is the child referred to in this verse: “For to us a child is born”? (Jesus)
Say: Isaiah was saying that Jesus would come as a baby, which years later, did happen!
Ask: Did you hear some of the names that Isaiah gave for Jesus?
Refer to the easel with the key verse written on it.
Say: With these names, Isaiah gave clues as to who Jesus would be: a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace.
Ask: What is a counselor? (someone who listens to you and helps you)
What does mighty mean to you?
What other names do you know of for Jesus? (there are many: Messiah, Christ, Emmanuel, Shepherd, Holy One, Lamb of God, Son of Man, Light of the World, King of kings).
Say: These names all tell us something about who Jesus is. Today we have sugar cookie dough that we can shape into letters. Let’s bake some cookies that are in the shape of names. You may choose to create cookies in the shape of your name or a name for Jesus. Be thinking about which you’d like to create.
In the Kitchen:
Wash your hands first and then have everyone wash their hands. Offer aprons. Gather everyone around the metal table.
Say: We have sugar cookie dough that we can shape into letters. Decide whether you’d like to make letters for your name or a name for Jesus. We can also decorate our letters with sprinkles. Let’s decide how large our letters should be. It will be important that all of the letters we create are roughly the same size so that they don’t burn when cooking. It is important that these creations be somewhat FLAT, no more than 1 /4” thick.
Supply lumps of pre-made dough. Use flour to keep things from being too sticky. Students may add decorative sprinkles to their creations prior to baking.
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. Place the Shepherd in charge of taking them out when done and allowing them to cool for a few minutes before bringing them into the Social Hall.
Wash hands and return to the Social Hall.
Back to the Social Hall – Discussion:
Say: Isaiah gave us some names for Jesus. In the Bible we can find more than 100 different names for Jesus. Most people have only one or two names, and perhaps a nickname.
Ask: Why do you suppose there are so many different names for Jesus? (perhaps because he would have many jobs to do or would be many different things to many different people)
Which name for Jesus best describes how you feel about him at the moment?
Say: I would like to read you a portion of this book, which is about names for God. See if any of these names resonate with you.
Begin reading In God’s Name. When the cookies are served read as far as page 13 then stop and continue with prayer.
When the cookies are served:
Say: Let’s have our prayer time. Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Use the Lord’s Prayer as the ending. [You may ask one or two students to lead the Lord’s Prayer.]. A suggestion: “Wonderful Counselor, you are so many things to each of us –Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…[add other names that have been mentioned.] We praise you as our God. We love you. Bring peace to our world and our hearts. Please bless our cookies as we share them. (End with the Lord’s Prayer) Amen.”
Enjoy eating cookies. (If time allows read more of the book. You may wish to paraphrase portions.)
Closing:
Say: This week, remember to think of Christmas as preparing to welcome a coming Savior, a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, a Prince of Peace.
If you have extra time:
Say: Let’s practice the verse we read from Isaiah. It is good to have Bible verses stored in our hearts for when we are feeling the need to remember God and how much he loves us.
Teach the students the verse with movements so that their bodies will help their minds remember the words; accompanying movements are in italics.
Isaiah 9:6 (hold up 9 fingers, then 6)
For to us a child is born, (rock a baby)
to us a son is given, (hold out both hands palms up as if giving something)
and the government will be on his shoulders. (pat both of your shoulders)
And he will be called (sign your ‘John Hancock’ on your hands)
Wonderful Counselor, (put both hands at your ears, as if to hear better)
Mighty God, (hold both arms up to show muscles)
Everlasting Father, (both hands start at heart, reach and point out to sides showing eternity)
Prince of Peace. (hold two fingers up in a peace sign)
Resources:
- McIntyre, Judy. “River Community Church…Advent/Christmas through the eyes of Isaiah.” Rotation.org. 2003.
- The NIV Adventure Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zonderkidz, 2000.
- Sasso, Sandy Eisenberg. In God’s Name. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 1994.
- Trimboli, Kim. Writing Team “The Birth Of Jesus Through The Eyes Of Isaiah: Cooking Lesson.” Rotation.org. 2002. Site Editor Note: During the WT Improvement project 2015-2018, Kim's lesson was retired and her cookie recipe is now found below.
A lesson written by Carol Hulbert from: First UMC
Ann Arbor, MI
Copyright First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI.
Permission to copy materials granted for non-commercial use provided credit is given and all cited references remain with this material
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Ingredients for cookie recipe
Member Kim Trimboli, 2002
(Note: This recipe was chosen and slightly edited because it is easy to manipulate -- not too sticky or too crumbly.)
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup shortening (NOT butter or margarine)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, then combine.
Note: This dough is good to mix by hand.
Editor adds: You can store cookie dough in the refrigerator for two days. Place the cookie dough in an airtight container, such as a plastic snap-top container or a plastic bag.
Adaptation
Edible Cookie Dough adaptation by suggested by a member who didn't have a place to bake, "so we used edible dough made with peanut butter, honey, and non-fat dry milk."
Personalize this by saying the verse to each student one at a time using their name and changing the name places. For example: "Hannah, you will be my witness in Toronto, and in all Canada and the U.S., and to the ends of the earth.” You may also go around in the circle letting each student issues Jesus' words to the person on their left, letting the student come up with the name places.
Editor's Notes:
Then...kids could insert "people" (gummies) through the bottom to see the light.
