Jesus Meets Philip and Nathanael

[John 1:43-51]

Intro: Have you ever heard the phrase ‘too good to be true’? What do you think it means? It means that something seems so good there has to be a catch: like your mum offering you a sweet and then saying ‘you can have it after you’ve cleaned your room’ or your teacher saying ‘everyone can go out early to play … as long as you’ve finished your work.’ We’re going to meet someone today who wouldn’t believe Jesus could be God’s king; someone who thought that having the chance to meet the man who was God was just too good to be true!

Games: in the theme of really knowing someone

1. Bulldog - One person stands in the middle to catch people as they run across the space. Kids may run across the room if what is said is true of them, if they get to the other side they are safe but if they are touched by someone in the middle they will join them to help catch people next time.
   Some suggestions for things that are true:
   Run if you are blonde;
   Run if you can swim;
   … have curly hair;
   … are wearing trousers;
   … are an older brother/sister;
   … have been on an aeroplane;
   … were born in March; etc.

2. Blind man’s bluff - Tie a scarf over someone’s eyes that person has to try to catch other people, using what they can hear. If they catch someone either the caught person is ‘it’ or the ‘blind man’ has to guess who they have caught; if correct that person become ‘it’ if not they continue to try and catch people. For small spaces: The ‘blind man’ stands in the middle of a circle and everyone else walks round the circle. When someone is caught everybody freezes and the ‘blind man’ must guess who they have caught.

3. Who’s who - In a circle or round a table. Everybody needs a pencil and a piece of paper, in a limited amount of time they should draw a portrait of the person on their left, no-one should look at the pictures others are drawing. When the time is up collect all the pictures, mix them up, and put them in the middle. Ask everybody to identify who the pictures are of (it should be obvious but it probably needs stating that they shouldn’t identify the picture they drew.

Drama:

These fun and silly sketches can be used to introduce the difference between really knowing a person and simply knowing about them
Split the group into two or three then give them two different (but related) scenarios to perform:
1a) You meet the Queen and have a conversation about her favourite cheese.
1b) Make an advert for Cheddar: the favourite food of the Queen.
2a) You invent a time machine and go back in history to meet...........
2b) You prepare a class assembly to tell facts about ...................(it must be the same historical person as in part a)
3a) Your teacher tells you a famous singer is coming to your school assembly but it turns out to be the teacher’s sister/brother who just has the same name as the singer.
3b) You go backstage at a pop concert and meet the famous singer (it must be the same singer as in part a)

Ask someone to act as Peter and read this Script. We had a ‘special guest’ from our church come in each week of the series as the character in modern dress. Ideally Nathanael would look studious or hipsterish. You could easily have a leader or an older child read it out.

Activity: To reinforce the idea that knowing someone is different from knowing about them.

Find out facts about celebrities and leaders. Give the facts about one person out one at a time, after each fact ask a child if they know who the person is. Have prizes or points for those who get it right!
Here’s a couple of examples:

1. My birthday is 21st April 1926, My middle names are Alexandra Mary, I can speak French, I enjoy Scottish country dancing, I have been to Australia 15 times, Canada 23 times, Jamaica six times and New Zealand 10 times.
   Queen Elizabeth II

2. I was 6 foot 5 and ¾, I had 5 children; 4 girls and 1 boy, I owned 3 dogs called Eva, Jelly and Chopper, a tortoise called Alfie and a pet goat, I had a caravan in my garden that I used to sit and write in, My favourite game was snooker.
   Roald Dahl

3. Most people don’t know that my surname is Marquez, I was first on TV on August 14th 2000, One of my best friends is called boots, I never go anywhere without my backpack and a map, I have a brother and a sister and a cousin called Diego.
   Dora the Explorer

Songs:
Jesus Rocks the World - Colin Buchanan
God’s love is Big - Simon Parry

Memory Verse:

John 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him.

Write the words up on a screen or white board. Read it together and practice it. Then take words away by sticking a picture of the world over a couple of words at a time. Allow kids to have a go at it on their own.