Who is the Holy Spirit?

(Resource Pack 29)                                                                                           KEY STAGE 1& 2

VISUAL AID:    Snake; scorpion or spider (in plastic of course) plus a torch, a paper tissue and an elastoplast

AIM: to make clear the character and actions of the Holy Spirit, Paracletos, the One who comes alongside  The third person of the Trinity, is not an 'it' or a  power.

Show an extract from Luke 11. 11-12  on an  OHP skin.

Look and you will see the words of a very famous Bible Reading;-

‘Would any of your parents give you a snake if you asked for fish fingers?…or a nasty scorpion if you asked for a fried egg?’

Show them visual aids.

‘Your parents wouldn’t do that would they?

They would know how to give good gifts to their children wouldn’t they?

How much more will God, who is your Father in heaven, give the Holy Spirit to those who ask  him?’

The Holy Spirit is described in different forms in the bible.

At the baptism of Jesus, he appears as a white DOVE.

At Pentecost, he sounds like the WIND and comes as FIRE upon the heads of the disciples.

Jesus tells us, that those who believe in him, will have flowing from them… LIVING WATER, again a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

After Jesus died he returned to His Father in heaven, and he told us that his Father would send a Comforter, one who would come alongside us, in our troubles to be with us. (Paracletos) Not to take us out of our troubles, but to be with us through them.

Invite a couple of children out to give three mime examples :-

a) one child falls and hurts his knee, the other comes running with an elastoplast

b) a child is afraid of the dark, the other brings a torch

c) a child is upset and wants to cry, a friend comes along with a paper tissue.

The Holy Spirit is God with us, alongside us, who shares our life and wants to be with us. He is always there for us, the Comforter.

He is the one who comes alongside us in our troubles, not to take us out of them…

 but to be with us through them.