St. Patrick

It was my duty to serve as a teacher for Beginners' Church today (which at our church is for kids ages 2 1/2-4. The children leave the sanctuary after singing worship songs.)

Today's lesson was on the last supper but I also included a craft to help them understand St. Patrick. After explaining a bit about Patrick, we sang a song to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?" to help them remember and understand the trinity and significance of St. Patrick's Day. The words to the song:

God the Father (2x)
God the Son (2x)
God the Holy Spirit (2x)
Three in One (2x)

Finally, we went outside to look for other shamrocks.

The children took home their necklace and a sheet with the following info for parents (that I condensed from wikipedia.)

When captured by raiders from his home in Britain, Patrick was only sixteen years old. Taken as a slave to Ireland, he lived there for 6 years before escaping then returning to his family. Later in life he returned to his captors, this time on his free will, as a messenger of the cross. He wrote of a vision that inspired his missionary journey:

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish". As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us."

Legends about Patrick:
It is said that he banished snakes from the island of Ireland. However, post-glacial Ireland never had snakes.

The three leaved shamrock was a illustration device used by this missionary to teach about the triune God: three persons in one being - God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.