Our Hands-on story we used with flannelgraph this week:
Samuel Story
Hannah and Elkanah, her husband, loved God and each other, but Hannah was very sad because she could not have a baby! She wanted to be able to, but she couldn’t!
Every year, she and Elkanah went to the Tabernacle of God in Shiloh where they would praise God and make sacrifices to Him. One year, Hannah was very sad about not having a baby, so she prayed and asked God to give her a baby. She told God that if He gave her a baby, she would give the baby back to God! The priest, Eli, saw Hannah praying and moving her mouth but not saying any words. He thought she was a crazy lady! When he told her to stop being so crazy, she told him that she wasn’t crazy and that she was asking God for something. Eli understood then, and blessed Hannah.
Hannah went home and had a baby boy! His name was Samuel. When he was old enough, she took him to the Tabernacle so he could serve God, and Eli raised him. Every year, Hannah would make a new coat for Samuel, and he grew bigger, and Bigger, and BIGGER, just like you do!
While Samuel lived at the Tabernacle, he probably helped Eli a lot by opening and shutting parts of the Tabernacle, polishing things, moving things, and cleaning things. He was probably a very good helper!
One night, Samuel heard a voice say, “Samuel Samuel!” He got up and rushed to Eli.
“Yes, Eli?” he said. “You called me?”
“I didn’t call you,” said Eli. “Go back to bed.
A second time Samuel heard, “Samuel Samuel!” He got up and rushed to Eli.
“Yes, Eli?” he said. “You called me?”
“I didn’t call you,” said Eli. “Go back to bed.
A third time Samuel heard, “Samuel Samuel!” He got up and rushed to Eli.
“Yes, Eli?” he said. “You called me?”
This time Eli realized that God was calling Samuel, so he told Samuel to go back to bed and when the voice called again to answer, “Speak, Lord, your servant listens.”
When Samuel heard the voice again, he answered, and obeyed God. From that day Samuel began to be a special messenger for God called a prophet.