IPC Day School

IPC Day School

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Preparing for Easter

This year, we may all have more time and more solitude with our families to devote to the Lenten season of preparing ourselves and our hearts for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Easter. IPC is offering daily devotions to help with this. Adults and older children can listen and then share that message with your with younger children in words they can understand. Some parents do not feel adequately prepared to do that, but I promise you that God is with you and you can absolutely help in their spiritual formation. The daily devotions are available on You Tube IPC Birmingham. 

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a widely used Montessori-based Sunday school program for 3-12 year olds which draws the child deeper into an already existent relationship with God. We love our Catechesis program on Sundays at IPC and are fortunate to be able to take our Day School children up to the Level 1 atrium (ages 3-6) twice a month during the school week for one-on-one lessons and circle time with our trained catechists.  Though we are all missing our visits to the atrium while we are apart, Kay and the catechists are inviting you into the atrium for Levels 1, 2 and 3 lessons on You Tube IPC Birmingham.

As we prepare for Easter in this unusual Lenten season, we have talked about Lent as a time that we prepare, get ready in the atrium and our Chapel lessons. You may be surprised that many of your children know that the purple paraments (or cloths) and stoles the ministers wear in church indicate it is Lent. 
I want to share this from Beverly Hoyt, one of our four-yea-old teachers, Coordinator of the Catechesis Program at St. Mary's, and the wonderful formation leader who trained me.

From Beverley - 
During the season of Lent (during which we prepare for Easter), we think about the first three verses of Psalm 23.  You can ask the child what he already knows about Jesus as the Good Shepherd and refer to John 10:3b-5, 10b - 11, 14- 16 to read what the child has heard in the atrium about the Good Shepherd -Jesus - and his love for his sheep.  You can read then 23rd Psalm with the child one verse at a time and “unpack” it with the child.  Asking - "what did you hear”   and “what could this mean?"

Below is part of what we call an album page - lesson plan - for teaching the 23rd Psalm:
Indirect Aim: To introduce the Old Testament 
To connect lessons on The Good Shepherd and the paschal mysteries
To lay the ground work for further presentations of Psalm 23
Materials: Prayer table
Bible
Candle and match basket
Prayer card with verse 1-3
Presentation:  
  • Light the candle
  • What do you remember about the Good Shepherd?
  • He calls the sheep by name and leads them.
  • We have read part of this Psalm. What does Psalm mean?
  • Most of them were written by David.  Who is David?
  • David was a Shepherd.  But Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  
  • Was Jesus a normal man?  Jesus was both man & God.  
  • He was not just a Shepherd like David, he was The Good Shepherd.  
  • Who are Jesus’s sheep? We are the sheep
  • David tells us about his relationship with God in this Psalm
  • Read verse 1-3
  • We have heard some of this before.  Do you remember the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want?
  • What does this mean? I have everything that I could ever want and need.
                He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside quiet waters.  How do these verses make you feel?  Safe.  Calm.  Quiet. 
Have you ever been in a green pasture?  What would that be like?  Soft.  What does a green pasture mean for a sheep?  Grass to eat.  
               Can you picture still waters?  Sheep don’t like moving water.  Actually, they only drink from still waters.  Does the shepherd know what the sheep need?  Yes.  
It’s a peaceful place and he knows what to give them.  

So this lent season you can think about these images.  Green pastures and still waters with the shepherd.  This is what lent is about.  How we can prepare ourselves for the great celebration of Easter.  
  • Verse 3 says He restores my soul.
  • What does this mean? What is your soul?
  • Your soul is your insides; the part of your body that makes you think, love, etc.  
  • Is God making me right?
  • Verse 3 also says He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
  • What does this mean? He leads me on the right path.  He leads me to the right things and God wants us to do the right thing.
  • The Shepherd that calls us by name is going to lead us to the right path for God’s glory.  We (sheep) just have to follow. 
  • Read from the prayer card
  • Sing the Lord is my shepherd or prepare ye the way of the Lord, or say a prayer
  • Put the candle out
After you discuss Jesus and the Good Shepherd and Psalm 23:1-3, you can ask your child to draw a picture of the picture he makes in his head of the Shepherd and the sheep or green pastures and still waters.

If you do this, we would love to see pictures of the children’s art!

St. Mary's on the Highlands, Birmingham, AL Facebook page




No comments:

Post a Comment