Sunday, January 31, 2010

Today's class was led by Mr. Tobin and Mrs. Mandrachhia. Following session 9 in the "We Believe" program, we examined the Lord's Prayer.

First, our class joined grades 2 through 4 in the Assembly Room for "Singing Our Faith." Mrs. Rawson led the children in singing several songs, some that were well known, as well as a couple of new ones for them to begin learning.

We returned to our classroom and proceeded with our lesson. Chris lit the candle to symbolize God's presence, Noah took the weekly collection, then we all stood to sing the Doxology and recite the Apostles Creed.

Since all of the children knew the Lord's Prayer by heart, we began by reading from Matthew's gospel. We started with the opening of Chapter 5 to explain the Sermon on the Mount, then skipped ahead to Chapter 6, verse 5. Here, we read Jesus say "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,..." and we explained the word "hypocrite." As an example, we said if an adult told us not to smoke cigarettes but then we saw that person smoking, we would say that was "hypocritical." Noah found a definition of the word in the glossary in our bibles and read it for us. We then took turns reading all the way up to verse 15.

We then focused on the Lord's Prayer (verses 9 through 13), trying to explore the meaning of each part. We talked about "Our Father," and "hallowed be thy name." We spent a few minutes explaining what "hallowed" means ("holy"), and made a connection to Halloween ("All Hallows Eve"). We also talked a bit about what this means: that God's name is holy. We reminded the children of the ten commandments and not using God's name "in vain." We looked at the meanings of "thy kingdom come," and "your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Finally, we talked about what "give us this day our daily bread" might mean.

At this point, parents were gathering at the door so we quickly ended with a prayer and dispersed. Hopefully, next week we can continue with the rest of the Lord's Prayer.

The painting above is by the Danish artist Carl Heinrich Bloch. Completed in 1865, it shows the Sermon on the Mount and hangs today at Frederiksborg Palace in Copenhagen.

January 24, 2010

Today's class, led by Mrs. Turner and assisted by Mr. Tobin, focused on the Sacrament of Baptism. Following Session 8 in our curriculum, we explained the meaning of Baptism and the various things that it symbolizes: the welcoming of a new person into the Christian family, a new beginning, the washing away of sins, and God claiming us as His own.


As usual, we began by taking the weekly collection, after which we stood and sang the Doxology, recited the Apostles Creed and the Lord's Prayer. We then turned to our lesson for the day.


We explained that Baptism is one of two sacraments that we recognize as Presbyterians, the other being the Lord's Supper. We also mentioned that our friends and neighbors in the Roman Catholic church recognize seven sacraments (baptism, confession, holy communion, confirmation, marriage, holy orders, and the last rites), and that this was one of the disagreements (Just how many sacraments are there?) in the early days of the Christian church.


Next, we looked at pictures that Mrs. Turner had brought in to show different ways that people are baptized. We saw the familiar version with babies and water poured or sprinkled on their heads, as well as older people being baptized by immersion, sometimes standing in a river and being "dunked." We talked about the importance of water in baptism.


Turning to our bibles,we read the passage in Matthew (3:13-17) to learn how John the Baptist was baptizing people in the River Jordan, telling them to "repent," to change their ways and stop doing bad things, because "the kingdom of heaven has come near." We also read how Jesus came one day to be baptized by John. Of course, John felt that it was not right that he should baptize Jesus, that it should be the other way around. Jesus, however, insisted, so John baptized him. We read that, immediately after Jesus was baptized, the spirit of God descended like a dove, and the voice of God was heard saying "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."


We concluded our lesson with a prayer and, it being Empty Bowls Sunday, all rushed off to the Assembly Room for soup!