FAITH CHALLENGE

Isaiah and God’s Vision of Peace

May 25 – June 22, 2003

Unit Overview

Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25 (CEV, attached)

Memory Verse:

“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” – Psalm 34:14 (NRSV)

Concepts:

• God intends for all of creation to live in peace.
• Peace is not just the absence of war and violence, but also the presence of wholeness and well-being in every part of life: spiritual, emotional, social, political and economic.
• God calls us to work for peace with ourselves, our family and friends, our community and the world.

Offering:

The offering for this unit will go to the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Iraqi Relief Fund. Here is some information about it from the PDA web site:

The initial attack on Iraq has begun. As war intensifies, human suffering will be high, and Iraqi people weakened by 12 years of sanctions, 25 years of misrule, wars with neighbors, and now massive anarchy all create the need to address the humanitarian suffering in Iraq. Children and others least able to escape its violence will be especially vulnerable. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has joined with other Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alliance members in sending supplies and critical personnel to Iraq and surrounding countries likely to see an influx of refugees—Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The Middle East Council of Churches provides a framework for these efforts. An initial $230,000 has been sent using One Great Hour of Sharing and designated gifts to put relief supplies in place. Drawing on our experience from the Gulf War, PDA anticipates again using both One Great Hour of Sharing and designated gifts to provide humanitarian aid, relief and resettlement assistance to refugees, and assistance to families of U.S. military personnel.

Objectives:

This five-lesson peacemaking unit was originally conceived as a response to the war in Iraq. As the Faith Challenge team talked about the need for a set of lessons on peace during a time of war, we began to broaden our purpose to address not just the specific situation in the world today but the Biblical idea of peace: shalom in Hebrew and eirene in Greek. The idea that we have chosen to emphasize is that peace is much broader than the absence of war and violence: it also includes “well-being, wholeness or health, welfare, prosperity, and safety.”[1] These lessons explore this aspect of peace as conveyed in one of the final visions of Isaiah, in which God promises to renew all of creation.

As our children learn about the areas in which God intends for us to have wholeness and well-being and to work for wholeness and well-being‑for peace‑in the world, they will construct three representations of the world:

• A mural that portrays the images and pressures that the world brings to bear in their lives. This mural will be constructed from magazine and newspaper images and text that show the world as it is or as the predominant culture says it should be.
• A neighborhood that portrays the world as Isaiah’s vision says it could be.
• Individual and corporate prayers for ourselves, friends, family, and the world. These will be incorporated into an intercessory prayer for the closing worship.

These three representations, and the content and audience of the lessons, will expand each week. (see schedule below).

Supply List for first 4 lessons

· Enough photocopies of Isaiah 65:17-25 (attached) for each participant (or family).

· Flip chart paper

· Mural paper on the wall (approximately poster board size)

· Magazines (all types), newspapers, church supply catalogues eg. Group publishing, Cokesbury, Christian Book Store, Augsburg, stc.

· Poster board in various colors for buildings

· Template for cutting and folding Peacemaking house (see attached)

· Waxed juice and milk containers for buildings – all sizes and shapes

· Markers, pens, glue, scissors

· Scripture verses and religious stickers for pasting onto buildings

Resources

Vera K. White with Hedda Sharapan, Building a Neighborhood Together. Published by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. Louisville, KY.

Schedule:

Week 1 - Self	Country Room	6-7 Grade Boys	Mural: Who or what does the world say I am or should be? Neighborhood: Who or what does God say I am or could be? (Children build symbolic representations of their homes.) Prayers: Children write prayers for the broken places of their lives and their hopes for living in God’s image.
	City Room	6-7 Grade Girls
	High School SS Room	8-12 Grade Girls
	A8	8-12 Grade Boys
Week 2- Friends	Fellowship Hall	Grade 6& 7 and friend guests	Mural: What is the worldly image of the spaces I occupy with my friends? Neighborhood: What is the Godly image of the spaces I occupy with my friends? (Children and guests build their shared spaces: school, mall, ball fields, hangouts, dance studios, etc.) Prayers: Children and friends write prayers for their shared neighborhood spaces.
	High school Youth Lounge	8-12 Grade Boys & Girls and friend guests
Week 3- Family	Fellowship Hall	Grades 6 – 12 and family guests	Mural: What is the worldly image of the spaces my family occupies? Neighborhood: What is the Godly image of the spaces my family occupies? (Children and their families build broader community spaces: workplaces, stores, banks, doctor’s offices, parks, church, etc.) Prayers: Children and families write prayers for their shared neighborhood spaces.
Week 4– Community	Fellowship Hall	Grades 6 – 12 and congregation	Mural: What is the worldly image of the larger world? Neighborhood: What is the Godly image of the larger world? (Children, families, and others from the congregation build representations of other neighborhoods, spaces occupied by people outside of their immediate community, other nations and continents, etc.) Prayers: Everyone writes prayers for the world.
Week 5	Fellowship Hall	All	Closing Worship Service of Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Worship (suggested order attached), using prayers gathered throughout the unit and readings from non-Biblical writings that express participants’ hopes for what the world can be.

Isaiah 65:17-25
Contemporary English Version (CEV)

The LORD's New Creation
¹⁷I am creating new heavens and a new earth; everything of the past will be forgotten.
¹⁸Celebrate and be glad forever! I am creating a Jerusalem, full of happy people.
¹⁹I will celebrate with Jerusalem and all of its people; there will be no more crying or sorrow in that city.
²⁰No child will die in infancy; everyone will live to a ripe old age. Anyone a hundred years old will be considered young, and to die younger than that will be considered a curse.
²¹My people will live in the houses they build; they will enjoy grapes from their own vineyards.
²²No one will take away their homes or vineyards. My chosen people will live to be as old as trees, and they will enjoy what they have earned.
²³Their work won't be wasted, and their children won't die of dreadful diseases. I will bless their children and their grandchildren.
²⁴I will answer their prayers before they finish praying.
²⁵Wolves and lambs will graze together; lions and oxen will feed on straw. Snakes will eat only dirt! They won't [hurt or destroy on all][2] my holy mountain. I, the LORD, have spoken!

Template for Individual Peacemaking House

You may use this template to create your individual homes. You can vary the dimensions to create a variety of sizes. The finished size approximates a half pint container. Cut on the solid lines, fold on the dotted lines. Fold the base tabs in – to be glued down to a surface. Fold the roof tabs out. Fold the house into a square shape and glue together at the side tab.

A roof can be made of same or contrasting color. Measure the roofline and add ½ inch for overhang. Glue the roof to the folded out tabs of the side walls.

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[1] Peggy Cowan, “Biblical Basis for Peacemaking,” Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.

[2] From the NRSV.