We are a Peculiar People

Plan ahead for the kids to wear mismatched clothes. Adults, too!

DECORATIONS

Make a cardboard (or other material) entryway of a castle drawbridge in the main hallway leading to the kids department with a sign above reading:

CHOSEN GENERATION ~ ROYAL PRIESTHOOD ~ PECULIAR PEOPLE

Place 2 guards (youth or adults) on each side of the castle entrance wearing mismatched costumes. The upper half dressed like a soldier. The bottom half dressed in wild, crazy or bright shorts or pants, mismatched socks and mismatched shoes. Hold flags or bugle horns.

COLORFUL SIGNS for the hallways, classroom walls, hanging from ceilings, etc.

If possible, place some of these signs where they can be seen by everyone. It’s good for the church to see and get excited about what’s going on with the kids. Maybe even realize they are missing out on the fun!

SPECIAL        UNIQUE         ONE OF A KIND        PECULIAR     DIFFERENT

UNCOMMON             RARE             ONE AND ONLY        EXTRAORDINARY   

OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD         ORIGINAL          EXCLUSIVE    REMARKABLE

AUTHENTIC          BE YOURSELF           MEMORABLE            ASTONISHING

COOL      AWESOME     RAD    FAR OUT        RADICAL       GREAT        HIP

AMAZING      NARLY       TUBULAR      FANTASTIC   EXTREME       SUPER           

CHOSEN         CALLED         PICKED          SELECTED     ELECTED

Put these on gray paper on another wall.

This is NOT who we were created to be.

TYPICAL        COMMON       NORMAL       REGULAR      AVERAGE

EVERYDAY    RUN-OF-THE-MILL     EXPECTED    GENERAL      STANDARD

TYPICAL        ORDINARY        TRADITIONAL       FAMILIAR     HUMDRUM

EXPECTED    ROUTINE       USUAL         FIXED          PLAIN            SO-SO

GAME: CRAZY CLOTHES RACE

Pick 2-4 players. Each player is given a bag of crazy clothes, hats, glasses, etc. They have to reach in and put on everything from their bag. First person to put everything on wins. Or use a timer and the one with the most items on wins.

MEMORY VERSE SCRAMBLE / SKIT

1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,

a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you

 out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Divide the memory verse on 11 different large size cards. (Cut a poster board in half or 4 pieces.)

Divide the scripture according to how many kids you want to use.

Use 2 different colors of poster board.

Example for the cards:

1 Peter 2:9      But you are      a chosen generation      a royal priesthood     a holy nation

a peculiar people      that you should show forth      the praises of Him      who has called you

out of darkness      into His marvelous light.

Pick a child for each card. Go over the memory verse a few times with the class.

Olga the Organizer enters wearing colors that match or that are all the same shade of one color from head to toe.

Olga: I’m here to get this class organized!

Move a few things around that look out of place. Move a couple of kids by their hair color. Then notice the cards the kids are holding are not organized.

Olga: Oh, this will never do! It’s a good thing I got here when I did!

Move the kids around by colors and tell them how much better that looks. Then decide that boy/girl/boy/girl would look better. Then arrange by height. Scrambling the kids, while scrambling the memory verse.

Olga: Now, that’s perfect!

Teacher: They do look nicely organized but now the scripture is scrambled.

Olga reads the out of order verse.

Olga: Oh, dear! Now what?

Teacher gets the class to help put the memory verse back in order.

Olga: My work here is done!

Straighten things up as she exits.

LESSON / STAND UP GAME

We’re going to play a really fast game so you’ll have to pay close attention! When I call out something and it describes you, I want you to stand up really fast.

• Who likes ice cream? (everyone should have stood up on that one!)
• Who likes brussel sprouts?
• Who likes to play baseball?
• Who likes to wear bows in their hair?
• (Make a long list of different things for the kids to stand up and sit down to.)

Did you notice that everyone didn’t stand up for the same things?  Everyone likes something different. That’s because God made us that way. We are all different but just as special.

Sometimes people want us to be like them or only like the things they like.

(Share a story of when you were a child and tried to fit in. Or did something that you loved no matter what anyone else thought.)

We should be ourselves. God made us who we are, with special gifts and special talents, for a special purpose.

Wasn’t it fun getting to stand up in the game and let people know what you like?

Then let’s STAND UP and be who God made you to be! Chosen, royal, holy AND PECULIAR! Be yourself!

SERMON

Print a photo of Elvis’ blue suede shoes and another photo with him wearing the shoes.

Print a photo of his sunglasses and another photo of him wearing the sunglasses.

(Show the kids the photo of just the shoes.) 

What do you think about these shoes? Do you like them? Would anyone like to wear blue shoes like these to school or church or the movies?

(Show picture of just the sunglasses.)

What do you think about these sunglasses? They look pretty cool but do they look special? They just look like regular old sunglasses to me!

Have you ever been to a museum? There are items in a museum that if they were anywhere else besides the museum, they would just look like ordinary, nothing really special, things.  Just like these pictures look like ordinary things.

But they're not ordinary. This pair of blue shoes actually belonged to Elvis Presley. They were his very own blue suede shoes that he wore on stage. (You may have to explain who Elvis is and you DEFINITELY have to play a part of the song and dance for them!) There may be other pairs of blue suede shoes but they are not special like these. These are one of kind because only Elvis owned them and someone paid $76,800 for them.

And this pair of regular looking sunglasses also belonged to Elvis Presley. They sold for $159,900.

When items belong to someone important or famous, they are considered very valuable!

1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

In the New Living Translation, PECULIAR PEOPLE means God’s very own possession.

That makes us special. We are all different and one of a kind. No one is just alike. Even twins are different.  They may look alike but they like different things. They have different fingerprints. God made everyone different and special. And you are valuable to Him. You are just as valuable to Him as Jesus is! So if someone ever says you’re weird or different, you can say, I sure am. And so are you. God made us all different and special in our own way.

We are PECULIAR!

CRAFT

Tape a large poster board or white paper to the wall. Scripture at the top:

1 Peter 2:9, We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that we should show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

In an “orderly and neat fashion” (with water and paper towels close by), have each child place their hand on a paper plate with paint in it (their choice of color). Then have the child place their handprint on the paper wherever they like. Then with their clean hand, write their name under their handprint. Wash hands immediately.

Note: Use the paint on the hand that they don’t write with.

After they are done, take a minute to talk about how everyone’s handprints are different and their fingerprints are different. Everyone chose different colors. 

Look how colorful the board is with all the different sizes and colors and directions. What if everyone had picked the same color and placed their hands all in a perfect row? It would have looked a little boring! But this looks pretty awesome!

So, dare to be who you are! Dare to be different!

Idea: After the paint dries, put on display in the foyer for the church and the kids to admire.