THE THEME: The Gospel is a portion of the Crucifixion story from Luke that tells of the repentant thief.

THE LESSON: Luke 23:35-42. Explain to the class that this is the Sunday before Advent. During Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, we often talk about the kind of King Jesus came to be. This story, from the crucifixion helps us to think about Jesus and who He was and is. Read the story aloud.

SOME QUESTIONS TO TALK ABOUT:

1. What words do you use to tell what kind of person Jesus is?
2. What can you say about Jesus after hearing today's story?
3. When you hear the word "king", what do you think of?
4. What are the duties of a king?
5. How is Jesus like a king? How is Jesus not like a king?
6. What is the most important thing, for you, about Jesus?

AN ACTIVITY TO DO: Using yellow poster board, scissors, glitter, paste and markers, help each person to make a crown and to decorate it. Around the base of the crown, help the class to complete this sentence- "Jesus is King because..."

End the class with the Collect of the day, using simply words of your own to replace the harder words.