Opening Activity

• Worship means celebrating God to show Him our love. Today we will learn how a widow (a woman whose husband has died) worshipped God, and how Jesus responded to her actions.
• Worship comes from the heart and can show others how much God means to us. But we shouldn’t try to get attention from others or cause a distraction when we worship! Rather, true worship is about honouring God because of who He is, and we will see how the poor widow in the Bible story set a good example for all of us.

Bible Story

• One day Jesus was sitting with His disciples in the Temple, watching the people who were bringing their offerings. Back then people took their offerings to the Temple court and dropped them into the collection boxes.

• Many rich people lived in Jerusalem. They lived in nice houses. They wore nice clothes. They had plenty to eat. After they had paid for their nice houses and nice clothes and good food, they would take some of the money left over and give it as an offering at the Temple.

• Dressed in their finest clothes, they went to the Temple when they knew a lot of people would be there. They would look around to be sure people were watching. Then they would pour their money into the collection box.

• The rich people liked it when people turned to see who had brought so much money. They hoped people were whispering about them behind their backs. “See how much offering so-and-so brought? Why, he certainly is a rich man, and so generous, too.”
• Jesus saw those people who brought such large offerings to the Temple. And He knew that they brought only what was left over after they bought all the things they wanted. He knew they hadn’t given up a single thing in order to bring a big offering.
• Then Jesus noticed one more person at the collection box—a woman. She wasn’t dressed in fancy clothes. Her husband had died, so she was a widow. Many times she might have gone without food. She might have gone without new clothes also.
• The widow waited until all the people with big offerings were gone. Then she too looked around to see if anyone was watching. When she felt sure no one would see her, she slipped two tiny coins into the collection box and hurried away.
• But Jesus had seen her. He had seen her slip those two coins into the offering box. And she had seen Him watching her. As she walked away He said to His disciples “This poor widow has given more than all the others. They gave gifts knowing that they have everything they need. But poor as she is, she gave all she has.”
• She might not have had money to buy food for supper that night. But she didn’t care. As she heard Jesus’ words, “tears of joy filled her eyes as she felt that her act was understood and appreciated.” And even though everything she owned was just a tiny, tiny bit—less than one shilling Jesus said she gave more than all the others, because she gave out of her love for God.
• The poor widow gave all the money she had because she loved God and knew He would take care of her. What a beautiful way to worship God!
•  We can also worship God with a giving heart. What do we have that we could give to our church or someone in need to worship God (money, toys, clothing, food, etc.)? Giving back to God is a great way to worship Him.

Questions

1. Where is Jesus? (In the temple.)
2. What is Jesus doing? (Watching people give their offerings to God.)
3. What are the rich people doing? (Giving large amounts of money.)
4. What does the poor widow, or woman, do? (Gives two small coins, worth only a little.)
5. Who does Jesus tell about the event? (His disciples.)
6.  What does Jesus tell them? (That the woman/widow put more into the offering than anyone else.)
7. How can this be? (Because the widow gives all that she has.)
8. What does this teach us about worship? (That giving up something for God is a way we can show Him our love.)