Scripture Reference
Exodus 3:1-14 (NIV)
(You may also want to use Exodus 2:11-25 for background.)
"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, 'I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up.'
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, 'Moses! Moses!'
And Moses said, 'Here I am.'
'Do not come any closer,' God said 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.' Then he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey - the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.'
But Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?'
And God said, 'I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.'
Moses said to God, 'Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you, ' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?'
God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.'"
Exodus 4:29-31
"Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped."
(There is quite a lot of content regarding Moses' feelings between the first and second Scripture References. I left it off for younger audiences, but that could be a lesson in itself with an older group!)
Activity
I'm going to have the kids make a "burning bush" tonight. This could easily be done with construction paper leaves and red/yellow strips of paper. This might also make a fun painting project. Instead, I want to help the kids create a burning bush by using a fan, a construction paper "bush" and strips of red, yellow, and gold ribbon. I'll have the kids use tape to tape the bush and ribbon "fire" together. (The fan will be unplugged for safety until I'm ready to use it.) When all of the parts are taped together, I will turn on the fan (out of reach of children.) We'll turn off the light and shine a flashlight on our burning bush to give it a more "fire-like" appearance.
*If you plan to do this project, please make sure that the children understand the danger of being around a fan. Depending on the ages involved, you may also want to create the bush in advance and use it as a story illustration instead so that little guys don't get the idea that playing with a fan is safe.
How It Went
Kiera thought that our "burning bush" was pretty cool. Andrew was interested, but not quite as much as Kiera. I'm sure that was partly because I didn't let him help make it; he has always had a fascination with all things he shouldn't have, which has included fans in the past. I didn't want to encourage him to have an interest again.
We found that curling ribbon didn't work as well as ribbon from a old bow I had. Kiera also colored some tissue paper in fire-like colors, and that worked well too.
