The Tabernacle: God Lives With Us!

This week's story is one of my very favorites, God's detailed directions on how to build the tabernacle tent that would remind His people that He was living among them. The details of the tabernacle would also help the people to know more about God and Jesus -- that's why it was so very important that the people obey and build the House for God exactly as He directed.

We opened our classtime by passing out packing popcorn and toothpicks on paper plates. I told the children they could build whatever they wanted. Their styles were very different (some wanted to crush the popcorn, others wanted to bite the pieces!) and the finished products were very different. I asked each child what they had made and what they would use it for. Trey invented a name for his (a made-up word) and then invented another made-up word for its use! I told the children that because I hadn't given them any instructions, they had made many different creations for many different uses. I told them that in today's story we would hear how God gave very specific instructions for His people to build something because He had a very specific use in mind.

We moved over to our Bible Story Table and set the feltboard up on one end of the table. I had the children sit quietly and then picked quiet, attentive children to come up and add felt pieces to the board. This seems to work very well with this group. I really was excited because I felt the majority of the class really got the story. We put the felt figure of Moses up, and I explained that he had gathered the people to tell them about God's plan for them to build a House for God. It had to be easy to move because the Israelites were always moving from place to place. The House for God had to be like a tent so they could fold it up. The word for the tent was "tabernacle." Now God did not really need a house to live in -- God is everywhere. But the tabernacle tent was to remind the people that God was living among them. It would remind them of other things too. That's why it was so important that they build it exactly as God told them.

We took turns building the tabernacle out of the feltboard set and the children were very interested in each part. I did not try to explain the significance of each item, but told them that each and every piece in the tabernacle told the people something about God and pointed them to Jesus,who would come many, many, many years later.

After our story, I told the children that we were going to build our own tabernacle. They helped carry out two camp chairs and a sheet and we ate our snack underneath this for a while. This was a really fun time!

Back inside, the children pretended to be Iraelites and I gave each child a piece of paper with a picture of an item from the tabernacle. The children took turns placing them on a picture, matching their pieces to outlines. The pieces also had questions on the back, which they did very well answering.

We moved back to the table, and worked on the tabernacle coloring sheets. The children glued construction paper to represent the fine linen of the tent and then put praying hand stickers in the courtyard to represent the people worshipping God. I emphasized that the tabernacle reminded the people that God was the most special of all -- God is the most holy.





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