Mary Says Yes

Five-minute object lesson

Prop: a white paper dove

Hold up a white paper dove. In about five minutes, tell the class this: An angel tells Mary she will be the mother of Jesus, and she trusts God’s word. Show the prop and ask, “What does this have to do with Mary Says Yes?” Let two children answer. Then read Luke 1:37 together: “For nothing spoken by God is impossible.”” Close by asking one child to say the lesson back in their own words, using the prop.

Story script

Mary lived in Nazareth, a young woman engaged to a kind man named Joseph. An angel named Gabriel came to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled. Angels do not knock like neighbors.

Gabriel told her she would have a son and name him Jesus. He would be great, the Son of the Most High, and his kingdom would never end. Mary asked how this could be. The angel said the Holy Spirit would do it, and he reminded her that her relative Elizabeth was also expecting a child in her old age. “No word from God will ever fail.”

Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” She did not know every step. She knew whose servant she was. She hurried to Elizabeth, and the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped. Both women overflowed with praise.

God still asks people to trust a word they cannot fully map. You can borrow Mary’s sentence: “I am the Lord’s servant.” It is a brave way to end a day.

Open the bedtime version