Welcome your students to class. As students are entering and getting settled, ask your students to think of some of the silliest or most ridiculous rules they’ve ever had to follow. Feel free to share your own example as well.
While many rules and laws are helpful and for our protection, some can feel a bit silly—like these crazy US laws that sound fake:
Don’t Drive Blindfolded in Alabama
No Donkeys in Arizonian Bathtubs
Your Bingo Game Has A Time Limit of Five Hours
No Pinball under the Age of 18 in South Carolina
- What makes a rule good or bad/unnecessary? (Answers will vary and could include things like: a rule is good if it keeps people safe, it’s bad if it just makes more work for someone.)
- If you were to make the rules for your school, what rules would you put in place? What rules would you get rid of? (Allow students to offer all suggestions, even silly ones.)
Next, ask students what rules they would put in place if they were in charge of your Sunday school class. Encourage them to think outside the box. Write their suggestions on the whiteboard (or screenshared document). Allow the students to discuss their suggestions together as a group. Encourage them to think about what would be good/better with certain rules and what the consequences would be of having certain rules. For example, if someone suggests a rule that students can spend the hour playing on their phones, encourage them to think about the negative effects of that rule as well. Help your students make a long list of suggested rules for class.
- What would be better about following all of these rules? What would be worse? (Answers will vary. Students will likely say the number of rules would be a lot.)
Rules and laws are a part of just about everything we do. Sometimes they’re good; sometimes they seem ridiculous. In our Bible lesson today, God’s people have gotten caught up in all the wrong rules and forgotten the most important thing. Let’s see what God says to them about that.
