Colors of Christ Cross
I used the Color's of Christ Beaded Cross as an inspiration for our Rally Sunday celebration theme. I made a cross on the wall out of sticky-backed foam sheets in the colors, adding purple. I found foam banners in a Christian craft kit and wrote the meaning of each color, adding small symbols to each: black heart, red cross, white heart, white dove (for blue), crown, green feet, purple cross. Then, as I talked through the colors/verses, using the activity as a guide, I made the cross on the wall, adding the banner after we discussed the color. I cut the yellow foam into a rudimentary crown, adorning it with diamonds of the other colors as jewels. I changed the verse for the gold to Psalm 149:4. For purple, it symbolized royalty, and we talked about being part of a royal family, and the verse was 1 Peter 2:9. Also, that all Christians are connected by this royal bloodline. I did the colors in this order: black, red, white, blue, gold metallic, green, and purple.
We then called in the adult Sunday school class to help with the next project. I cut 1.5" strips of construction paper in each of the 7 colors. I made them into sets, leaving out the purple. Each adult helped one child make paper chain crosses. Start with the black one, then make the red one. Connect them with the white one. Add the blue one to the white one. Between the red and blue, add the yellow one to the white one, and then the green one to the yellow one. This would look similar to the bead cross...only the arms won't stay up real well. This is why you need the purple ones...to tie us together as family. The adults had the purple strips, which we used to connect the crosses together (connect a blue from one to the red of another) into a long chain. We then taped the black rings to the ceiling beam as part of our decorations.
I wanted to connect the kids and adults, as so often in any church there is a huge divide between the two groups. This interaction was well received by the adults! We also had balloon bouquets of all the colors for decorations, as well as a cake with the balloons on it.
We made the "Color's of Christ" Beaded Cross as well. I used purple lacing, to emphasize the connection discussed earlier/used in the links project. Rather than gluing the three across together, I used two 15" lengths of lacing, looping them over a keychain ring. Then, add the black bead, inserting all four ends into it. Next, separate the four strings into 1-2-1. Thread the white bead onto the center two, the red onto the left one, and the blue onto the right one. Thread the red string up through the white bead and back through the red bead. Repeat with the blue, adjusting and tightening them to form the cross beneath the black one. Then, add the gold bead, and then the green bead. Again, this order follows the same order as the others, and the process of salvation and growth.
Tie a knot beneath the green bead. One adult suggested using a lighter to melt the lacing, but I don't think this is necessary. (The lacing was pre-cut before class, and added to a snack size Ziploc with the beads and ring for each cross.) You could do the same thing as a necklace, starting with longer thread (very thin cord) and doing the beads from the bottom (green) up instead, or putting in on a small ring instead of a key ring to make a pendant. You may want to try this with heart shaped pony beads.
A final project was to make a white cross. I used Psalm 23:4-6, which includes "clean hand and clean heart" reference. Each student was given a white piece of cardstock. They drew an outline of one hand and signed it, and then drew a heart and wrote the verse inside it. These were to be assembled into another wall cross, but we ran out of time, and I sent them home with them instead. For this to work, you need to have two out of every six students turn their papers horizontal, and the other four vertical to make the cross (same shape as first cross discussed).
We also had a quiz, and each student got a question, and a prize for answering. We helped each other with the answers (mixed ages...Preschool through high school). The prize was a bag with a cross eraser, a metal cross and rainbow tract card with poem "The Cross" purchased at a local Bible and book store.
Copyright 2006 Tanya McIlravy
Asst. Sunday School Supt.
Community E. Free Church
Philip, SD
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