Title: The City of Jerusalem
Subject: The Paschal Mystery
Age: 3 to 13 years
Liturgical Time: Lent, right before Holy Week
Doctrinal Content: Jesus was an historical person who celebrated His last supper, suffered, died, and rose in/around the sacred city of Jerusalem.
Direct Aim: This lesson aims to announce the Paschal events within the particular geographic context of Jerusalem.
Indirect Aims: This lesson hopes to go deeper into the mystery of the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery, to enable children to participate more fully in the celebration of Pascha, and to prepare for future studies of the Passion, death and resurrection narratives.
Sources: Gospel accounts of the Passion
Materials for the Lesson:
Model of the City of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus with moveable parts: temple, walls, pools of Siloam and Sheep's pool set in depressed "footmarks;" important to be built up with hills
flat, control map identical in size to the model and with the same markings
Set of small, moveable place markers to fit on the maps, representing the following:
Map of Jerusalem
Optional: set of cards with the above named with a simple explanation
The Lesson Plan:
Invite the children to gather around the City of Jerusalem material. Explain, "This is the City of Jerusalem (locate it on the map of Israel). This is where Jesus spent His last days and where He was crucified and rose." Describe the city by moving its main parts from the model to the control map:
Describe the sequence of events of Jesus' Passion. Move the markers from the model to the control map:
Light the candle and sit in silence for a moment.
So much happened after the Last Supper until the Resurrection, we remember those events during Holy Week: the Last Supper, the death, the Resurrection, the words of love and Jesus' actions of love. He laid down His life for the sheep, and He took it up again. He is not here, He is Risen. Invite a response: silence, prayer, or song.
Restore the materials, dismissing the children to work. Invite them to use the materials to think more about the last events of Jesus' life and how He died and rose.
Note: When describing the people who crucified Jesus, choose the words "religious authorities" rather than "Jews."
Activities:
Work with the material directly
Prayer, Art response
Look in books for pictures of Jerusalem
Color/create map of Jerusalem, including a legend
Notice: This lesson plan utilizes training and the general philosophy/method of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program. Materials found in this document, however, have been created specifically to incorporate the theology and dogmatic teaching of the Orthodox Church. The author of this lesson offers special recognition to Mrs. JoAnne Padget, CGS Instructor, who provided instruction and guidance in the CGS method. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program requires intensive study and strongly recommends that teachers using their program enroll in and complete coursework through an authorized CGS instructor. More information about CGS is available at http://www.cgsusa.org.