Purpose: To draw closer as a family to the Savior who came to Earth and lived among his brethren and sisters.
Possible scriptures: using the Topical Guide as your guide, pick your favorite scripture about Jesus and his mortal life (Sorry, there are just sooo many possibilities here).
Possible Songs: When Jesus Christ Was Baptized, Children’s Songbook page 102; Jesus Loved the Little Children, Children’s Songbook page 59; I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus, Children’s Songbook page 78; Jesus Once Was a Little Child, Children’s Songbook page 55; Tell Me the Stories of Jesus, Children’s Songbook page 57; Come Follow Me, Hymn 116; Our Savior’s Love, Hymn 113; Master, the Tempest is Raging, Hymn 105; Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains, Hymn 212
Possible Materials: Pictures of Jesus. A map of Jerusalem and the map in the January 2015 Friend. It’s up to you if you would rather use a map from the back of the scriptures or maybe just google maps.
Preparation: Begin with prayer. Ask yourself how you would have felt to be alive at the time of our Savior and see Him in person. Read the suggested scriptures, and watch Finding Faith in Christ. Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Children: Watch some videos about Christ’s life and ministry (like this one and this one. Check out the sidebar from one of the videos for other “younger reader” videos).
Lesson:
Discuss how last week’s challenge went.
Introduction: Hold up your favorite picture of Jesus. Ask your family who is in the picture. Then ask who is Jesus Christ? What did he do and why was he important? How did he come to earth? What did he teach? Then ask each member that is old enough to answer what their favorite story about when Christ was alive on Earth. Scripture references and pictures are definitely a bonus, but don’t get caught up in looking for them.
From the Scriptures: Jesus taught us that we should love everyone. Jesus loved everyone, even those that did not love him. He taught us how we can love other people and serve them. Tell your family we are going to read some scriptures of Jesus’ teachings.
- Read John 3:16. Talk about how Jesus loved us so much he came to earth in order to help us.
- Read Matthew 22:36–39. Talk about how Christ summed up everything we need to do into 2 big rules: Love God and Love the people.
- Read Matthew 25:35–46. Talk about how Christ performed miracles out of love, and then said that if we serve other people, we also show love to God.
- Read Matt. 5:3–12. Talk about how Christ loved us by teaching us about love. If we serve others, we will be blessed.
- Read Luke 23:34. Talk about how Christ also loved those who hurt him and forgave those that crucified them.
- Read Doctrine and Covenants 19:16. Discuss how Christ suffered for our sins out of love.
- Read John 15:13–14. Discuss how Christ paid the ultimate price and died for us that we may live again.
From World History: It is important to help your family understand that Jesus really walked on earth. Pull up a map of Jerusalem. Help them see that it is a real place. Then compare it to this map from the January 2015 Friend. As a family, place the cards on the map.
Bear your testimony of Jesus Christ and how you feel about His time on Earth.
Further Discussion:
Discuss what it means to be the only begotten, how Christ was both mortal and divine, and how that allowed him to suffer for our sins and be resurrected.
Ask the family if Jesus ever made any mistakes. Discuss that Jesus was always doing the work of Heavenly father. Remind them of the story of the boy Jesus at the temple, and discuss how Jesus was baptized even though he had never done anything wrong, because he wanted to keep ALL of God’s commandments.
Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: Click here for the most recent conference talks on the Savior.
Challenge:
Throughout the week, find opportunities to serve and love others, in the name of the Savior. For younger children, you could give them a token that they can leave in as a sign that they served (it also acts as a visual reminder that they are challenged to serve others).
Giving due credit: as usual, I read and learned from the Nursery Manual lesson 5, Gospel Principles Chapter 11, and the Family Home Evening Resource Manual Lesson 17.
