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PRAYER / WORSHIP ACTIVITY
OPTION 1
10 mins
Before the service, cut out some long strings of paper dolls – there are lots of tutorial videos on YouTube if you don’t know how. Lay the strings out on tables and ask everyone to decorate one to look like themselves. Bring all the dolls forward and display them appropriately. Lead the people in a prayer of offering of themselves to God and one another as you meet to worship today.
OPTION 2
10 mins
Teach everyone Proverbs 3:5-6 as a memory verse from the front: ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.’ Have four pictures as prompts – these could be on the screen or drawn / printed on large pieces of paper. Suggested pictures: a heart, a walking stick, two people shaking hands, a long, straight road or path. Once the verse is learnt, turn it into a prayer as you prepare to hear today’s story.
STORY
10 mins
Create a slide show with a ‘J’ next to a picture of corn on the cob and ‘E’ next to a picture of a wood saw. Put ‘&’ in between them. Ask the congregation to tell you who today’s story is about by reading the letters and pictures (J-Cob and E-Saw). Alternatively, you can do this with the letters printed large on cards and the actual objects instead of pictures.
This is a first person story, so you’ll need someone who can confidently deliver the following script. Dress them in some kind of robe and make sure they have plenty of hair and a beard!
So my name’s Esau. You’ve probably not heard much about me – but I bet you’ve heard of my brother, Jacob: everyone’s heard of him… And do you know what? It’s really unfair because I’m the oldest – I should be the one with the story. You see, Jacob and me are twins. Mum says we’ve never got on – apparently even in her tummy we used to fight! Anyway, when we were born I came out first but that Jacob, he was jostling for position even then – he came out literally grabbing my heel!
He was always a bit of a wimp as well… I’m an outdoorsy type; I love to hunt and I catch all the meat we eat. I’m a real man: you can tell because I’m so hairy. But Jacob, he’s a wee homebody. He likes to stay in with his mammy. He’s always been her favourite. A bit girly if you ask me - he’s not very hairy at all!
Well, that Jacob is a sneaky one. As I said you should have heard all about me - I should have had a story to tell but Jacob engineered it so it was all about him. There was this one day when I came in from hunting. I was starving, absolutely famished and felt like I was going to starve to death right there and then. And Jake, well he’s just cooked the most delicious smelling stew so I asked if I could have some, after all, I’d been out hunting. And he said I could but on one condition, that I would hand him my birthright - that means let him be known as the older brother. That means when our parents died he would get the special blessing meant for the older son. Well, as I was going to die of starvation I thought, what use is the birthright to me, I was just hungry. So I said he could have it. I didn’t think it meant anything…
Not long afterwards our father was starting to get old and frail and he called me to him and asked me to go and hunt some special meat that he loved and make him a stew. He said that when I gave it to him he would give me the special blessing because he knew that he would die soon. So I went out to do as he’d asked - this was going to be my moment.
But wouldn’t you know it, that Jacob just had to get in and spoil things. It was mum as well; she heard what Dad had asked me to do so she went and cooked some of that special stew and gave to Jacob to take to dad so that he would get the blessing. Jake wasn’t stupid, he pointed out that whereas I am very hairy, he had smooth skin so dad would know the difference if he touched him, even though his eyes were very bad by then. So Mum cut some strips of hairy animal skin and fastened them onto his neck and hands and gave him some of my clothes to wear. So when Jake took the food into my father, he was totally fooled into giving him the blessing instead of me.
When I came back and took the stew to Dad he was very upset indeed - he’d already given his special blessing and now there was none left for me. So I’m left with a bit part in the story when really it should have been all about me! Jacob did the only sensible thing and ran away far and fast!
REFLECTIVE RESPONSE TO THE STORY
OPTION 1
10 mins
Just as Isaac blessed his son, we can bless one another through prayer. There are many prayers in the Bible; some great ones are found in Ephesians 1:16-18 and 3:16-21. Either encourage people to use their own Bible to pray one of these prayers (or another) for the person next to them, or project one of the prayers onto the screen and get everyone to pray it together over everyone else.
OPTION 2
10 mins
Before the service, cut lots of short pieces of cord or string (15-20cm) and knot each one a couple of times. In order to get the blessing that God had already promised him (through Rebekah in Genesis 25:23), Jacob took matters into his own hands and made his story a lot more complicated than it needed to be – him running away from Esau was only the start of it! Sometimes we can make our own stories complicated too by not fully trusting in God. As people untie the knots from their piece of string, they can reflect on times when they have taken matters into their own hands and commit again to trusting God.
GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
10 mins
• In the story, Esau didn’t care about his birthright and sold it to Jacob for a bowl of stew. When have you not taken good care of the things God has given you?
• God had already promised Jacob his special blessing, but Jacob chose to trick his father into giving him the blessing meant for Esau. When have you done a wrong thing in order to get something you wanted?
• What does it mean for God to bless you?
• Is it easy to trust that God will do what he promises?
• How are we tempted to take matters into our own hands?
