"February - Lesson 1

​February Week 1, 2025 Learning Together
     Hello again to you and your family! Today we are beginning a new Bible story for the new month. As always, you and your entire family are invited to read and listen and create and pray around this story.
     Besides this first lesson, there will be two more online lessons this month, one per week, and Sunday School will meet on Sunday, February 23, 2025. More information about that will be given at the end of this lesson.
     February’s story is “A Little Servant Girl and the Proud General” and can be found on pages 136-143 of The Jesus Storybook Bible written by Sally Lloyd-Jones. A free copy of this book is available for you at church, or you can order one online.
     Below, you will find a Children section, an Adult section, and a wrap-up section for Children and Adults together.
Children
     Please locate a comfortable spot, settle in, and listen to the oral read recording of this story found at the beginning of this lesson. Close your eyes as you listen and imagine the scenes as they take place, or you could draw your own pictures as the story is read to you.
     You have met our main character – Naaman. He was very rich, a high-ranking army man, and very famous for winning a big battle that helped save his country. He was very, very proud of himself and thought he knew best about everything.
     He was also a very sick man. His illness was called leprosy. Today it is called Hansen’s Disease.
     In the time of the Bible, leprosy was a chronic (doesn’t ever go away) and incurable (can’t be healed) skin disease that was considered a punishment from God for sinning. People with leprosy were treated as outcasts, meaning they could not be allowed to live with their families and be in their neighborhoods. It seems a very mean way to treat sick people, but everyone knew this disease could spread, and there was no cure. It was best not to take any chances and best to avoid a pandemic.
     Today, modern medicine and science have taught doctors that leprosy is caused by a certain type of germ called bacteria. Medicines called antibiotics kill bacteria and can cure this disease now!
     By the way, it is curious to know that skin doctors have noticed that today’s patients with leprosy have one of these risk factors:

• Lived in a country where leprosy is more common, such as India, Brazil, China, Indonesia, or parts of Africa
• Handled an armadillo
• Spent time outdoors in an area where armadillos live

     If you have any comments or questions, please submit them on this blog and Pastor Matt will respond to you.
Adults
 The Biblical reference is 2 Kings 5.
     Naaman was the commander of the whole army of the country of Aram (now called Syria). He was very rich. He had many servants. Even his wife had a servant girl. She was a little girl from the country of Israel. She had been captured from her home and brought to the country of Aram to be a slave in Naaman’s house. Naaman and his family did not believe in God, but the little girl did. Even though she was far away from her parents and Israel, she remembered what her parents had taught her when she was very little. She remembered Elisha, the prophet, and all the good things he did for God.
     Even though Naaman was a commander of the army and very rich, he had a very big problem. He had a terrible disease called leprosy. Leprosy starts out as white spots on the skin. Then, the white spots start becoming sorer. If the leprosy spots were on a person’s hands, then their hands could become so sore with leprosy that they could fall off. The spots would spread all over your body, and finally, you would die. It was a horrible thing to have leprosy because no medicine could make it better.
     No one wanted to be around someone with leprosy because they might get leprosy, too. Naaman had to stay away from everyone. He could not be a soldier anymore, and he could not be with his family. Everyone was really bummed about Naaman, especially Naaman.
     To be continued next week.
     As with the children, if you have any comments or questions, please submit them on this blog. Pastor Matt welcomes the discussion.
 
Children and Adults
     Sunday School will meet at our church on February 23, 2025, at 11am-12pm after services. During our gathering, we will enjoy a treat, oral read and discuss the story, assemble a craft, and end with a prayer. All ages are invited to attend and participate. Put it on your calendar.
~This Week’s Prayer~
Sweet Jesus, give me strength to avoid being too proud and bossy.
 
Have a blessed week,
Margo Greer