FAITH CHALLENGE
Paul’s Letters
March 14 –
Nothing Can Separate us From God’s Love
Week 2: Lenten Prayer Activities
Scripture: Romans 8:31-39 (CEV)
Memory Verse: I am God now and forever. No
one can snatch you from me or
stand
in my way. Isaiah 43:13
· God loves us.
· God is on our side
· Nothing can take God’s love away from us.
· Being Christian does not mean we will never suffer; it means trusting that when we suffer, God still loves us and is on our side.
· Students will continue the prayer activities they started in week 1.
· Walk a labyrinth (mostly self-guided; but a guide or coach will need to help students get started and be available to answer any questions)
· Make a clay labyrinth (lead by guide or coach)
· Participate in a drawing meditation (self-guided)
· Learn about and engage in spiritual journaling (self-guided)
· Learn about and participate in lectio divina, or prayerful reading of Scripture (self-guided)
· Learn a body or movement prayer (closing prayer for both weeks; led by guide or coach)
Begin this lesson in the City?/Country? room. You will move to other spaces later in the lesson.
1.
As the youth arrive, have the calendars and “Liturgical Seasons”
available on the tables along with pens and crayons or colored pencils. Invite the students to see if they can use
the information provided in “Liturgical Seasons” to write the days in the
appropriate places on the calendar (hint: begin with the first Sunday in
Advent and Easter Sunday; calculate the others from these dates) and to color the days
and seasons the appropriate color (another hint: “days” are individual
days; “seasons” include not just Sundays, but weekdays as well). This is a good arrival activity. Students can work on it as they come in, and
it gives the class some structure until everyone arrives. If students do not finish this activity,
that’s OK. They will have other
opportunities to work on it during the two weeks of this lesson.
2.
The Coach leads the opening routine: snack, fellowship, Prayer Wall
activity, and Prayer Chain. Name tags
are available. (It would be OK to
omit the prayer chain for this lesson.
The closing prayer time is structured for this lesson and provides a
time for sharing prayer concerns.)
1. The Coach reviews the
timeline and the previous week’s workshop activity. Introduce the Guide who leads the Workshop
Lesson.
Romans – to introduce
himself before a trip he hoped to take there.
1 & 2 Corinthians
– to answer specific questions or to help resolve disagreements.
Galatians – to
correct an error in thinking (someone was trying to convince the Galatians that
they had to be circumcised to be truly faithful).
Philippians – to
praise them and encourage them to remain faithful (the letter read in class
was modeled after—and sometimes directly quoted—Philippians).
1 Thessalonians –
to praise them and encourage them, and to correct a misunderstanding about
those who die before Christ’s return (someone was trying to convince them that
people who die before Christ returns are not saved; but Paul taught that all
who have faith in Christ—whether they live or die—are saved).
Philemon – to
help settle a dispute between a slave and his master.
·
What did churches do with Paul’s letters? Paul’s letters were written to be read
aloud to the congregation to which they were written, just like the letter the
class read today.
·
Why did Paul write a letter to the church at
·
How did Paul understand God’s love before he met
Christ on the road to
·
How did his understanding change? He learned that God’s love is a gift that
cannot be taken away.
· Paul asks lots of questions in this passage. What are some of the questions he asks and how do you think he would answer them?
If God is on our side, can
anything be against us? No!
If God did this [gave his Son
for us], won’t he freely give us everything else? Yes!
If God says his chosen ones are
acceptable to him, can anyone bring charges against them? No!
Or can anyone condemn
them? No, indeed!
Can anything separate us from
the love of Christ? No!
· What are some of the things Paul mentions that cause people to suffer? Trouble, suffering, hard times, hunger, nakedness, danger, death.
· What are some of the things in our day and time that cause people to suffer? Just about any answers the students come up with will be acceptable.
· When these things happen, does it mean God is somehow angry with us or punishing us? No. These things have no bearing on whether God loves us. God loves us always.
1.
Point
out the list of prayer activities and where each is.
2.
Invite
the students to choose the prayer activities they want to participate in. Point out that some of them are self-guided:
there are instructions for doing them in the room. Others will be led by the guide or a
coach. Tell the students how much time
they have to do the activities.
Encourage students to give each other plenty of space. If several of them are already at a table or
using the labyrinth, or all the chairs in the meditation room are taken, look
for another activity that is not so crowded.
1. At
2. Gather the students in a circle around or on the labyrinth. They need to be close enough to hold hands (eventually; they won’t start off holding hands).
3. Invite students to share their experience of the past two weeks. Which activities did they like best? Least? Which might they want to do again sometime?
4. Invite students to share prayer concerns around the circle.
5. Remind the students about the movement praye they learned last week. You might have to teach the movements again if there are new students in the class.
6. Play the music and lead the students in the prayer.
7. Dismiss the students.
8. Move all class materials to the Country?/City? room. Turn off the lights and lock the door.
1. For questions on this lesson plan, call Susan Mazzara, 387-0920.
2. Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located. This lesson will actually occur in three spaces:
· The City?/Country? room: You will need to set up three tables with stools. You will also need a CD player.
· Room A8: You will need chairs in a circle amd a small table with some candles, a cross (the small Celtic cross that sits on the table in the office hallway would be good), and a CD player.
· The main room of the activities building. This is where the labyrinth will be set up.
3. Print the calendars and copy them onto card stock. Make enough copies for each student to have one. You can print small versions of the calendars, six to a page, by setting the following options on the print dialog in Word:
1. Select File > Print
2. In the Print dialog, under Zoom: Pages per sheet, select 6 pages.
3. Under Zoom: Scale to paper size, select Letter.
4. Make sure the Reverse print order option is not selected. (Check the value of this option by selecting the Options button.)
4. Print “Liturgical Seasons.” Make enough copies for each student to have one.
5. Gather the materials you need for the prayer activities and set them up in the rooms where the activities will take place. See “Prayer activity set-up” from week 1.