Story contributed by Kristen
Click here for the theological background of Acts 8-15
Remember, repetition helps children internalize and make connections. It might be a good idea to read the same story every day for a week. You can add different activities every day.
“[Paul] said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”
Acts 8:5
There were many groups of people trying to follow Jesus’ teachings. Remember how we talked about Peter healing the crippled man? And about the people at the feast of Pentecost who heard the voice of Spirit? Lots of people who had listened to Jesus, or who had listened to a friend of Jesus, were trying to figure out how to live his words. They tried their very hardest, and they all had different ideas and opinions and hopes and dreams.
Dorcas thought the most important thing was taking care of people who were sick and hurting. Peter and Barnabus were worried about how to bring the gospel to everyone. Mary and Martha wanted to tell the stories of Jesus and remember his teachings. Anneus thought that welcoming strangers was what Jesus would have really wanted.
Sometimes all of these people had ideas that were so different that they got into arguments. They couldn’t figure out who was right, or who should be in charge, or what it meant to be in charge. How were they going to make decisions? What were they going to do when someone in their group disagreed or felt hurt? They didn’t always know how to answer those questions, but they did always try their very best to be kind to each other and to remember Jesus.
Paul
But not everyone wanted to be part of the Jesus movement. Some people, in fact, really, really, really disliked the Jesus movement. In fact, they hated it! They thought it was wrong, and bad, and not at all what God dreamed for the world. Remember the people who were afraid of Jesus? Well, some of them kept being afraid of the Jesus movement. And other people were afraid too, for lots of different reasons, and they tried to stop it.
One of those people was named Paul. Paul was a good person who had spent his life learning about the Jewish faith. He wanted to protect his faith, and make sure that other people respected it too. He thought that the Jesus movement did not respect his faith, so he worked really hard to try and stop it. He was angry at the Jesus followers, and he even hurt some of them. He thought he was protecting his faith and doing the right thing.
But then one day, Paul was walking. He was minding his own business, looking at the trees around him and wondering how much longer the walk was, when something spectacular happened. The sky began to light up. Now, this was a big deal because the sky was already full of light – it was the middle of the day! But the sky filled with even more light, so much that Paul had to cover his eyes and get down on the ground. And then, from the middle of the light, Paul heard a soft and kind voice:
Paul, Paul, why are you trying to destroy my message and my followers? It is hard for you to resist my love.
Who do you think this voice belonged to? Paul knew right away. It was Jesus. Jesus was talking to Paul, and telling him that it was okay, he did not need to protect his faith. In fact, he didn’t even need to leave his faith! He just needed to relax and stop trying to hurt the followers of Jesus.
After the light was gone, Paul picked himself up. His whole world felt different. The trees seemed a little greener and the sky seemed a bit bluer. Paul took a few deep breaths, and he looked at the path he was on, and then he turned around. He walked home. He sat down in his comfiest chair, and he thought and thought and thought and felt and felt and felt. And when he was done thinking and feeling, he was a new person. He had seen Jesus, and that vision had changed him. He wanted to be a Jesus-follower, too. So, like Dorcas and Peter and Barnabus and Mary and Martha and Anneus and all the others, he tried.
Gospel to everyone
Another person who tried with all his heart was Peter. He also spent a lot of time in his comfiest chair, just thinking about things. You see, he had a lot of questions. And there were some things that just didn’t make sense to him. So he sat on his chair and he puzzled. And he came up with some solutions. They were solutions that worked for him, but they might not work for you. And that’s okay.
I love that Paul and Peter and the other followers of Jesus were not afraid to ask really big, hard, thorny questions. We don’t have to be afraid to ask those kinds of questions, either! Because God is big enough to hold our questions. And God wants us to explore, and think, and wonder.
One thing that Peter wondered about was this: who was Jesus’ message for? Was it for Jewish people only? Or was it for everyone? This was a big question for Peter, because he was Jew. and Jesus was a Jew, too. And Jews know that God has made special promises to them, and God always keeps promises. So Peter wondered, and he wondered, and he wondered. And one night, he had a dream.
In his dream, there was an enormous net, sort of like a fishing net. And the net settled on the good green earth, and all sorts of animals crawled onto it and settled down, ready for a long nap. Then a voice said, “rise up!” And Peter was shocked, because some of the animals were not clean, so he said, “No, I cannot raise this net up!” But the voice said, “don’t be afraid. The Spirit is within all living things.” And then Peter woke up! What do you think that dream meant?
Peter thought and thought and thought about the dream. And he decided that it meant that God wanted everyone to hear Jesus’ message, because Spirit is in all that is alive. So Peter started teaching people that Jesus’ message was not just for Jews, but for everyone. And some people disagreed with him, and some people used his words to say and do hateful, cruel things to Jews, and some people just ignored him. That’s how things go, sometimes.
What do you think God’s dream is for the world?
Ideas for Play
Contributed by Kristen
- Act the stories out!
- Use a flashlight and create a road to Damascus
- Make a net with animals (stuffies) for Peter’s dream
- Read “A New Way to See” in The Jesus Storybook Bible
- Watch this video about Peter’s vision
- Discuss: what do you think you would be worried about if you were one of the first Jesus followers? What would you do?
- Draw Paul’s conversion. Here’s a fun idea for a craft template.
Art
Compiled by Caroline
Where is Paul? Why do you think his arms are outstretched? Why don’t you try copying Paul—what does your body feel like in that position? Who do you think the other man is? Where is it light? Where is it dark? What does this painting teach you about this story?
Where is Peter? Where is his dream? What is he dreaming about? What animals do you see? Who do you think the angels are? What do you think Peter was reading when he fell asleep? What does this artwork teach you about this story?
Poetry
Compiled by Caroline
I chose this famous poem by John Donne because I feel that it captures the vision of creating a church community. As we read the stories of Paul and Peter and their messy efforts to follow Jesus and spread the gospel, I’m reminded that we really do need each other. We need the Pauls, we need the Peters, and we need YOU, you beautiful mama, to create the full and beautiful body of Christ. We are “involved in mankind,” and if that’s not Christ’s work I don’t know what is.
‘No Man is an Island’
by John Donne
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Music
Compiled by Caroline
This song is a great reminder that no matter how messy and imperfect our efforts are, God makes them beautiful. These early apostles gave Jesus their all and Jesus created something glorious! He can do that in your messy and imperfect days as well!
God Makes Messy Things Beautiful, Slugs and Bugs
milk & honey mamas 
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