1. Thanksgiving prayer for Holy Communion
2. Hand out prosphora
3. Hand out prayer ropes and pray the Jesus prayer together
4. Our lesson today is on Psalm 23!
We read the Psalm together in our first
day of Sunday School this year.
Does anyone remember it?
Today we are going to hear about King David and how
he loved God and was a Shepherd before he was King…
Let’s review Psalm 23 now...so get out your copy of Psalm 23
so that we can see it and say it together again.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
*
Who wrote it? King David?
[Have time for discussion on what they know about King David,
including his adventures, i.e. David and Goliath]
What did King David do when he was a boy: he was a Shepherd. So this is a Psalm he understood very well when he wrote it and called the Lord his Shepherd.
Did you know that this is one of the most famous Psalms? Many people
memorized this Psalm in kindergarten!
Lots of people say this Psalm as part of their prayers to get them
ready for taking Holy Communion.
In the early Church those who were preparing for baptism were taught this Psalm and needed to memorize it before they were baptised.***
*
Do you remember what a Shepherd does?
A Shepherd keeps the sheep safe, leads them to good green grass for them to eat,
keeps them safe while they sleep and brings them home.
A true Shepherd will also rescue a sheep if it gets lost or in danger.
*
Take down the icon from the wall of Christ the Good Shepherd.
If you have time, you can pass this icon around for the children
to venerate.
*
Ask them if they know that Christ is our Good Shepherd
and ask them how Christ is this in our lives.
Does Christ keep us safe?
His way of life that He wants us to live, keeps us safe …
sin hurts us and Christ shows a way that leads us to
healing so we don’t hurt ourselves by sin.
An example of this can be if you stole a bunch of cookies and ate them all,
you would not only feel bad for stealing but you would have stomach ache.
Christ’s way is better and keeps us from harm.
*
Does Christ feed us? Yes! in the Holy Eucharist! and by reading His Word, the Bible!
*
Christ tells us in the His Gospel that He IS the Good Shepherd!
*
Read these verses:
Luke 15:3-7
New International Version (NIV)
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
*
Ask them what Christ is teaching us about Himself and how He is our Shepherd
(how he looks for us, how He loves us and wants us to not be lost,
to follow Him and be found always by Christ’s side; how Christ is so glad
when someone repents.
How do we repent?
1. We realize that we did something wrong
2. We are sorry for what we did - and if we don’t feel sorry yet - but do know that what we did is wrong, we can ask God to help us feel sorry - and we want to not do it again
3. When you are 7 years old you can go to confession. We will talk about confession this year. Briefly, confession is where you can tell Jesus that you know you did something wrong and that you are sorry and want to not do it again and want Jesus Christ’s help in not doing the wrong again.
Be happy that you can repent and go to confession as it gives Jesus great joy and even the Holy Angels rejoice when we repent!
Craft Idea:
1. Draw a picture of Christ the Good Shepherd
2. Draw a picture of a child going to confession and how Jesus is there listening and is happy that the child wants to learn how not to sin and wants to work on it
3. Draw Jesus looking for the one lost sheep
*** NOTE for TEACHERS: “Psalm 22/23 which begins with the words, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” is probably one of the best known, most often quoted and memorized of all David’s beautiful hymns. It has always occupied an important place in the spiritual life of the Orthodox Christian, and is one of the Psalms included in the order of preparation for the reception of Holy Communion.
In the early Church the catechumens, especially as the time for their baptism drew near, were made familiar with its contents and were even obliged to learn it by heart. It seems, however, that its meaning was not fully explained to them until after they had received the grace of the All-holy Spirit in the mysteries of baptism, chrismation and the eucharist.”
No comments:
Post a Comment