Acts 5- Ananias and Sapphira Lesson

Today we started studying the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  We started by finding the New Testament, then Acts, then Acts 5 and reading the story.  I had prepared some simple cardboard figures for Ananias and Sapphira by cutting some thin coardboard into two half-ovals and folding the bottoms under so they'd stand up.  I am focusing on making our Bible lesson materials simple--to allow plenty of room for imagination and to put the focus on the scriptures and not the objects.  I also used a piece of brown felt for the field, and two elements already in our Bible study basket--a cork (for the man selling the field) and coins (from earlier stories).  I love being able to double up uses on items so our basket stays managable.  Also teaches Q to think outside the box and find multiple uses for objects (and stretches her imagination--in an earlier lesson the cork was bread...now it's a person!). 

So here comes the man (cork) to buy the field. 

He gives them the coins.

They keep some of the coins back (we hid them).

Ananias goes to Peter and tells him it's all the money from the field.  Peter has a conversation with Ananias that he's lied and let Satan in his heart.  I loved coming across this phrasing because that's exactly what we say to Quinn when we explain sin/sinful actions--that they happen when we choose to let Satan in our hearts.  Then Ananias dies, of course, which doesn't shock my fairy-tale-lovin' daughter one bit.....

Then Sapphira comes and repeats the process.

Here they are "dead."

We had a lengthy discussion about the fact that God doesn't really want our money or our things--we wants us to love Him more than our stuff.  We talked about certain instances we've loved our money/stuff more (we had a specific incident involving Q to reflect on today) and we prayed together telling God we were sorry for the times we love our stuff more.  She had brought up earlier "But I really LOVE my ice cream cone bubbles and that's why I don't want to give them to God."  So we also asked the Holy Spirit to spur our hearts to love our stuff less and God more.  Yikes, weighty lesson for Mommies, too.  We'll see what types of discussions come up the rest of the week as we continue to process through/act out the story......