My
Church, Our Home
Session
IV: Our Path to Salvation
This session
is to help the participants make the direct connection between church and their
path to salvation. The gifts of the sacraments, the guide to the way we must
live as Christians, and the participation in the fullness of parish life are
all explored.
These are the understandings
we will teach in this session.
Understandings:
- Our parish is
our “heaven on earth” and we need to participate in the fullness
and the wholeness of the church of the living God.
- God has established
certain “house rules” by which we should live (laws, commandments)
to lead us on the path to our salvation.
- God gives us
the sacraments as gifts to connect us with Him, to bring us closer to Him,
and to give us what we need to do His Will and live forever.
These questions,
when answered and discussed will lead back to the understandings for this session.
Essential
Questions:
- What would our
lives be like without rules and regulations to follow? How would our lives
be different? Would this have a positive or negative effect on our lives?
- What are the
“rules” that God expects us to live by? What are the two greatest
“rules?”
- How does the
teaching of St. Paul, “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”
direct us toward following these rules?
- Can we have
a spiritual life in the church without participating in the sacraments?
- Which sacrament
is “the completion of all of the church’s sacraments? Is the term,
there are seven sacraments offered to us by the church, correct?
- How do we prepare
for Holy Communion? What do we do? What should we be thinking and feeling?
- Why are the sacraments
referred to as “holy mysteries?”
- If the sacrament
of penance is so difficult for many people, why is it considered a gift from
God? Are gifts usually hard to deal with?
- Can prayer be
considered a sacrament? Why or why not?
Introduction:
The introduction to this
session will include the beginning paragraphs of the activity session. Begin
with the question what are the sacraments of the church, and if possible, have
an icon depicting as many of the sacraments as possible. The Last Supper, The
Wedding in Cana, The Baptism of Christ, etc. Let the participants explore them
and identify what each icon is showing.
Activities:
Tableau
Activity
Creating tableaus for the study of the sacraments.
- Begin by asking
the question: What are the sacraments of the Orthodox Church? Write the sacraments
sheets on butcher paper/white board. In the discussion, mention that the sacraments
are sometimes also called Holy Mysteries. You can use the icons when reading
the biblical texts. (please see the following page with a brief description
of each sacrament.)
- Tell the students
that they will be broken into seven groups. Each group will be responsible
for creating 3 freeze-frame tableaus about their assigned sacrament. A tableau
is creating a still picture with your bodies using simple props to explain
the most important parts of the story. Use the story of The Three Bears to
explain a tableau.
- The three
bears leave the house.
- Goldilocks
comes in and does her damage.
- The bears
confront Goldilocks and she realizes that she should not have intruded
in their home.
- In our case the
students will show 1) the sacrament done liturgically, 2) the story from the
life of Christ which applies to the sacrament, and 3) an instance where the
fact that we have these sacraments can affect the outcome of a situation*.
*Example for teacher clarification only. Do not give more than one example
to children since you want them to be as creative as possible. This could
be one example for the sacrament of Penance: 1) A child going to confession
2) Christ forgives His disciple Peter for denying Him 3) a friend promises
you he will play with you after school and he breaks his promise. You get
angry, realize the anger is not right, and confess it. Then you are able to
forgive your friend.
*Note: If you anticipate the participants having difficulty with this activity
you can put the following on note cards. This will include the Biblical reference
as well as related themes and give the appropriate card to each group with
a copy of the Bible. Having the participants use the bible to look up the
passages is always recommended when time permits.
- Holy
Baptism - Theophany. Remember the Exodus.
Our birth into the family of God through our baptism. Read the story of Theophany
Matt. 3:13-1 7. Include ideas about the properties of water: cleanses, maintains
life but also destroys. In Baptism water destroys the old man in each of us,
cleanses us and gives us the possibility of eternal life with Christ.
- Holy
Chrismation - Pentecost. The gift of the Holy Spirit.
We become truly what God intended us to be as human beings. We are full and
complete when we are anointed with the Holy Spirit. Act 2. Some of us come
to the Orthodox Church through Chrismation. This anointing sets us apart.
In the Old Testament only the great prophets, judges and kings were anointed,
but in the Church we are all anointed giving us the opportunity to be apostles.
In this story the promise of Christ to send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
is fulfilled. We are empowered by the gifts of the Holy Spirit: to teach,
preach, prophesy, (I Cor. 12:4-12)
- Holy
Eucharist - The Last Supper. The center of the Church’s life.
It is at this banquet that we are reunited with Christ in the Church and that
we give thanks to God. Christ is the food that nourishes us. Here bread and
wine are transformed into the living body and blood of Christ. We are invited
to draw near in faith and love. I Cor. 11:23-26.
- Penance
- Christ forgives His disciple Peter who betrayed Him and puts Him as the
leader of the apostles.
(Matthew 26:31-35, 69-75, John 21:9-15). We sin, we are sorrowful, we confess
, we repent, we are forgiven. We take responsibility for our sins. We are
capable of change in our lives. God recognizes this.
- Holy
Unction - The Commission of the Twelve Disciples
(Mark 6:7-13) Healing - spiritually, physically mentally. We participate in
the wounds of Christ by carrying our own cross in the form of illness, sadness
or pain. We can be healed by our faith and action and God’s will and
action in cooperation.
- Marriage
- The Wedding at Cana.
John 2:1-11. A relationship can change your life. We bring all aspects of
our life to the Church, to be blessed by God. This includes our love for a
husband or wife. We begin this bond in the midst of the Church, surrounded
by the Church, consecrating this new life to God in the Church.
- Holy
Orders - Christ teaches the elders in the temple at 12.
Luke 2: 41-52. Our clergy carry on the work of Christ, through the Holy Spirit,
in God. They preach, teach, pray, and work among us, keeping order in the
Church and our lives.
Split the students into seven groups. Place pieces of paper with the name
of each sacrament into a bowl/hat. Have someone from each group pick one paper
and NOT TELL THE OTHER GROUPS WHAT THEY HAVE CHOSEN! Send each group to different
locations with an adult to prepare their tableaus. This should be done by
looking up the bible passages, understanding the three pieces that need to
be reflected, ( liturgical, life of Christ, and practical application) and
then deciding, in the group, how to set it up. Remember, there is going to
be NO talking during the tableau. The groups will have to show what they learned
by using their bodies, some props and maybe some hand written signs if applicable.
After about 20 minutes, bring them back together. Give each child a scorecard
(piece of paper) and pencil and have them guess the sacrament as described
by the tableau. After each group has had the opportunity to perform their
tableau, and everyone has guessed them correctly, review with the students
what these sacraments mean to us as Orthodox Christians. How are they gifts
from God given to us by the church? Why are they important to us? How do they
help us be prepared for our journey toward salvation?
Interview
Activity:
- Interview a Bishop,
a Priest, a Deacon, a lay church leader, a married couple, someone who has
experienced recovery from a serious illness, an adult convert, a cradle Orthodox
Christian, etc. about how the sacraments have affected their lives, and for
those who perform the sacraments, how they have seen the sacramental life
of the Church affect others. These interviews may be compiled into a book
similar to the CHICKEN SOUP Books found in print today. This will be the Chicken
Soup Book for Orthodox Christian life. Interview sheets (see attached) and
willing candidate assignments will be made available. Teachers should try
to make themselves available for their students whenever possible. Please
encourage the participants to interview their parents, friends etc. if time
is short.
Useful Texts:
I Cor 11:27-32: Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks
the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body
and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and
drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body
eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and
ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be
judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may
not be condemned along with the world
