Purpose: To think with the children about stewardship and prayer.

Material: A bag of pretzels.

Lesson: Somewhere I read that pretzels were created by a monk who lived in Southern France about the year 610. The purpose of the pretzel was to use up some of the scraps of dough that were left after his baking chores were over. In this way every bit of material was used so that nothing would be wasted. He formed the shape of the pretzel to represent the arms of children folded in prayer. To put these little loops of baked dough to good use, he began to give them to children as a reward for learning their prayers. …