Thankful, Grateful, Brave

Sunday School Lesson on Gratitude for Middle and High School Students

Supplies Needed:

  1. Enough Blue Boxes for everyone to have one
  2. Some change
  3. Thank you cards –at least three for each student

Background: During September, we’re celebrating the life of Julia Chester Emery and what would have been her 165th birthday. Julia Chester Emery was the second National Secretary of the Women’s Auxiliary (her sister was the first, who envisioned creating a network of women to support missionaries and the expansion of the Episcopal Church) and is credited as the founder of the United Thank Offering. Julia led the Women’s Auxiliary and the United Thank Offering for forty years, from 1876 until 1916. She was a modest and self-effacing woman; careful to stay out of the limelight, so not much is know about her life.[*] She traveled around the world to visit mission outposts supported by UTO and visited extensively throughout the church, visiting every diocese and missionary district at least once by train.[†] Julia gave up much in order to continue her work, she turned down a proposal of marriage that would have caused her to lose her job and she fought for the canonical status of the deaconess program, which helped build the foundation for the ordination of women. Julia Chester Emery’s life reminds us that we all possess the ability to share God’s love and grace in the world, a willingness to try new things and the grit to commitment to stick with it, even when it is difficult.[‡] Julia is a great example for young people about the importance of gratitude and grit. Today we’ll help the students see all of the things in their life that they are thankful for and to set a goal to work towards and give thanks for all of the blessings along the way to their goal.

Scripture for September 24, 2017:

Track 1:

Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
Track 2:

Jonah 3:10-4:11
Psalm 145:1-8
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16

But we recommend using: The Psalm, either track.

Lesson:

Read the scripture verse that you’ve chosen for the lesson. Discuss with the students what the lesson means. If using the recommended lessons some questions might be:

  • What was the best thing that happened to you this week?
  • What was the best trip you ever went on?
  • What was the most fun thing you did at school this week?
  • What is your favorite place to visit?

Thankful, Grateful and Brave

Pass out a thank you card to each student. Invite them to write a thank you note to someone else in the room. You can write the names on the cards and have the kids draw them. You can also do this verbally by inviting each student to share something they are thankful for about someone else. It’s up to you and the maturity of the group. Once they have thanked each other, pass out a second card. Ask them to write a thank you card to someone not in the room. It can be a family member, someone in the community or even a celebrity, someone they look up to that they are grateful for how that person lives their life and is an example to them. Finally, it’s time to be brave. Pass out the third card and invite the students to write a thank you note to themselves. Imagine yourself ten or fifteen years in the future. What will you be doing? What things are you thankful you tried, learned or encountered? What would you in the future thank you for doing now that would help you achieve your dreams? Share with the group the story of Julia Chester Emery. Tell them about how she had a dream of supporting missionaries and growing the church. Julia then worked diligently to create connections and then started the United Thank Offering to fund the missionaries. When people told Julia she couldn’t do something or that people wouldn’t support her, she worked tirelessly to find a way to her goals. She was brave but grateful. If you could do or be anything, what skills will you need to get there, who’s help will you need? Who will you need to thank and what will you need to thank yourself for?

Closing:Give each student a Blue Box. Invite them to build their Blue Box while you share with them what a Blue Box is used for. Discuss with them that thanksgivings can be celebrated by putting their coins in the box, which will eventually become gifts/blessings for others. Share that it is important for us to give thanks for the good things God is doing in our lives and to help others do the work God has given them to do. Share with them a video from a grant site so they can see where the funds go or better yet, show them the Young Adult grant process, let them know that UTO, when they are a little older, would like to partner with them in doing God’s work in the world around them. Invite the students to put a coin in the Blue Box and name something they are thankful for. Tell them that they can take their boxes home with them and fill them up with coins marking the blessings of their lives. Let them know when they can bring them back to church for the Ingathering. Invite them to challenge their families to find at least one thing each day to be grateful for. Before they leave, put one coin in the box for each student gathered, saying you are thankful for each of them by name.

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[†]

[‡]Brightest and Best: A Companion to the Lesser Feasts and Fasts by Sam Portaro (Cowley, 2001)