Jesus is the New and Better…
…Boaz

Intro: Who know what the word redeem means? Can you think of anywhere you’ve seen/heard it? It’s not a word we use very often but you’re mostly likely to find it on a coupon or gift certificate (those little bits of paper you hand over at a store to get an item free or with some money off). Redeem means to buy something back; to pay the price for it i.e. you can redeem your gift by turning in this certificate at participating stores. What price would someone have to pay to redeem you?

Games: To set up the idea of redemption

1. Stuck in the mud - Walk around! One person is ‘it’ anyone they touch gets stuck and has to stay in the same place with their arms out and legs apart. They can be rescued by a Redeemer who has to crawl in between their legs or run under their arms. (Choose an option based on the physical ability of the group/relative sizes of children/how many of them are wearing skirts.) Name one person to be ‘it’ and one to be the redeemer (the redeemer cannot get stuck). After a couple of minutes swap a new volunteer for both ‘it’ and the redeemer.

2. Substition Tag - This is similar to stuck in the mud but whenever someone is 'tagged' they are sent to an area of the room which is designated as prison (this can be a row of chairs, the stage, touching the wall, a rug etc). The prisoners can only be set free by someone else volunteering to go to prison. The volunteer must run to the prison and shout 'freedom' so that people know they've been rescued, and then must stay in the prison themselves until someone else chooses to set them free.

Talk: Here’s a talk about how redemption works and what it looks like in the lives of both Boaz and Jesus.

Drama:

Using the children as actors or the finger puppets as made in the Activity below to reenact the four chapters of Ruth. You could read direct from your favourite Bible translation or the notes below and let them follow along trying to act it out as you read. Here’s a simplified version of Ruth you can use.