Week 1002 · about 45 minutes
Mark 13
Mark 13 · Memory verse Mark 13:20
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Mark 13), the matching word search and answer key (Mark 13 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a paper crown
Hold a paper crown. Read Mark 13 in about four minutes, stopping at Mark 13:20: “Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Mark 13?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Mark 13 is a real chapter from the New Testament. It starts, “As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, see what kind of stones and what kind of buildings!”” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be.” Mark 13 opens with these words: “As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, see what kind of stones and what kind of buildings!”” The line to keep is Mark 13:20: “Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days.” Carry the word “unless” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Mark 13:20: “Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Mark 13? Then try this: Read “Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones,…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through Mark 13. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Mark 13:20. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Mark 13 and write Mark 13:20 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Mark 13:20
“Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Mark 13. Help us remember Mark 13:20 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.