16

"Does God Care What I Watch or Listen To?”

Big Idea

Fill your brain with God, not gunk.

Materials Needed:

Blindfold,   Chair,   CD Player,
CD with the following tracks: Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, Robert Browning Overture by Charles Ives, Aviary from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.  

    

Setup:

None.

Lesson

1. Review the big idea from last meeting's lesson: "Love others like you love yourself." Ask the question, "What is the Golden Rule?" and have the children repeat the big idea a few times, doing the motions below as you say each word.
Love: Sign language love sign (Hold up hand, facing out, with thumb, index finger, and pinky extended)
Others: Hold hands near stomach and gesture out with both arms in a circle
Love: Sign language love sign
Yourself: Point to self

 

2. Ask, "What are some of your favorite shows on TV? What's some of your favorite music to listen to?" As the children respond, record their answers on the chalk/wipe board, writing the TV shows on the left side and the music on the right side. When finished, explain the following:
    We've said before that God has a lot to do. He takes care of the entire universe, keeping it all together. If he stopped thinking about it for a second, BOOM! It'd disappear. So, with such big things to do, does God really care what watch or listen to?" Write this question on the top of the board, in the middle. Explain the following:
    In a few minutes, we'll check in with God's word, the Bible, to see what God has to say about this, but first, we're going to talk a little bit about our brains!

3. In the middle of the board, draw a big brain (See Fig. 1 below for a sample.) Explain the following:
    When we watch TV, the stuff we see with our eyes gets sent to our brains, and we think about it. When we listen to music, the stuff we hear with our ears gets sent to our brains and we think about that, too. But does putting all that stuff in our brains to think about do anything to us? Let's try a little experiment to see.

4. Set a chair in the middle of the teaching area. Ask for a volunteer to come up front and have her sit in the chair. Cover her eyes with the blindfold. Explain the following:
    We're going to listen to some music with our eyes closed. When the music is done, we'll talk about some of the thoughts that the music created in our brains.
    Have the rest of the children close their eyes. For about a minute, play track 1 from the CD: "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber.
    Have the children open their eyes. Ask your volunteer to describe any thoughts and feelings the music created in her. Record her answers in short phrases on the board, inside the drawing of the brain. Have a few other children respond as well.

5. Continue this process with a new volunteer, using track 2 "Robert Browning Overture" by Charles Ives.

6. Repeat this process a third time with a new volunteer, using track 3 "Aviary from Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saëns.

7. Have your volunteer join the rest of the children. Explain the following:
    Look at all the thoughts and feelings we put in our brains, just by listening to music with no words at all! Think about all the thoughts and feelings we put inside our heads when we watch a TV show where the characters on the show do things that disobey God. Or how about when we listen to music where the singer says things that dishonor God?
    Everything we see and listen to ends up in our thoughts somehow. We think about the things we see and hear. Now, just because we watch a TV show where people are saying unkind words or beating up someone doesn't mean we're going to immediately run out of the living room and start kicking the family dog. But, filling our minds with that kind of stuff doesn't do anything to help us do good things! In fact, it might make it a little bit harder!
    Erase the words inside the brain as you explain the following:
    But what does God have to say about all this? What should we be putting inside our brains? After all, he's the one we should be listening to.

8. Have a child stand up and read Philippians 4:8 from his Bible: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Have him read it again very slowly, and while he does, write the following words inside the brain: true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy. Explain the following:
    God knows that people tend to act like what they think about. If we think about disobeying God all the time, if we listen to music about disobeying God and watch TV shows about disobeying God, we're probably going to disobey God.
    But, if we think about the things God talked about in this verse, things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy, we're probably going to do them and obey God
    So, all our favorite music and TV shows we mentioned earlier, do we need to immediately stop watching them and only read our Bibles the whole day long? Well, you can never read your Bible too much, but it's okay to watch TV and listen to music, too.
    When you watch the shows and listen to the music we talked about, think about what God said. Is your TV show filled with good things or bad things? Is your favorite singer singing about good things or bad things? Then, you'll know if it's the kind of thing God wants you putting inside your brain!

7. Explain that the big idea from today's lesson is: "Fill your brain with God, not junk!" Ask the question, "What does God care what I watch or listen to?" and have the children repeat the big idea a few times, doing the motions below as you say each word.
Fill: hold hands out at waist level with palms up and raise them above your head
Brain: point to your head
God: point up
Junk: plug nose with one hand and wave away a bad smell with the other