FAITH CHALLENGE

Exile and Lament

 Week 5

Scripture:          Psalm 137 and 2 Kings 23:31-25:30

 

Memory Verses:  If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 (CEV)

Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9 (NRSV)

Concepts:

·       Remembering is one way to be faithful: we are faithful to God when we remember God and God is faithful to us when God remembers us.

·       Remembering past crises helps us to avoid future crises.

·       Expressing grief and anger with in prayer helps us defuse our feelings so that we do not act them out.

·       Even when our prayers express feelings that are unpleasant or scary, God hears us and loves us.

·       It is often children who suffer most from war.

Objectives:

  • Students will create a collage of the plight of the refugee OR an individual pastel art piece depicting a scene from the exile to Babylon.
  • The artwork from these lessons will be displayed for the congregation. Members will be invited to contribute to the Gift of the Heart mission project for Iraqi children.

Gathering Time/Introductions (Coach)

1.     All youth will gather briefly in the city room.

2.     At the beginning of each class, the Coach greets arriving students and supervises snacks. 

3.     The Guide and Coach remind students to write prayer joys and concerns on the Prayer Wall and to place their offering in the offering jars.    

4.     The Coach introduces the Guide who leads the lesson.

Workshop Lesson Procedure: (Guide takes over from here)

Introduction: 

Recap the lesson events for this unit. We are studying the exile of the Israelites from Jerusalem to Babylon. We met with refugees to learn about their stories. Remembering is a way to be faithful to God. We prepared health bags for the children of Iraq who are displaced from their homes.

Recite the memory verses together.

Today we are going to use art as an expression of the lament of being exiled and a refugee. We have two art projects planned. You may decide which project you wish to work on.

 

Project 1:

Create a drawing, using pastels, of a scene from the exile of the Israelites to Babylon. You will work on your own art piece.

Project 2:

As a group we will create a collage describing the life and challenges of refugees everywhere and at all times – ancient and today.

 

Decide on your project and go to that art room.

 

Project 1: Drawing with Pastels

 

Brainstorm ideas for artwork:

Ask the group to think of the Israelites. If you were going to make a movie of their exile, what would be the various scenes and locations? List their ideas on the white board.

·       Watching the destruction of the temple

·       Leaving their homes, gathering their belongings

·       Leaving the city

·       Caring for the sick and dying

·       Traveling on the dusty road

·       Being slaves in Babylon

·       Hanging up their harps/lyres

What are the emotions in these scenes? What colors lend themselves to showing these emotions?

 

Create:

1.     Decide on a scene to draw.  

2.     Pass out sheets of 8 X 10 pastel paper. Each youth should print his or her name in pencil on the back. Sharing sets of oil pastels, they should work on their creation, working in solid areas of color rather than lines.

3.     When almost complete, they can highlight areas with regular pastels. Decide on a name for your piece of art.

4.     Ask each youth to fill in an index card with the following information:

·       Name

·       Description of the scene – one or two sentences

·       Name for the artwork

5.     Collect the artwork. Attach the art and index card together with a paper clip. We will display the artwork later.

 

Pastels Supply List:

Oil pastels

Pastels

8” X 10” pastel paper

index cards

Project 2: Group Collage

A large piece of butcher paper should be taped to the wall.

Use magazine clippings, scripture verses, words, phrases, and anything else to create this collage. What is the lament of people who are refugees. Recall the lessons we learned in this unit. Recall the stories of our refugee guests. How can we depict their struggles? This collage will help others remember the plight of the refugee, homeless and exiled.

Psalm 137 is a lament by the willows and river of Babylon. We will create our own lament by the willows and river of Babylon with this collage. We will hang this collage in a visible location for the congregation to see. Members will be invited to contribute to our Gift of the Heart Iraq project.

Provide scissors, magazines and scripture verses. Play music as the youth work.

 

Prepare the collage paper.

As others are working, ask for 2 volunteers to help prepare the collage paper by creating a river and willows as the base for the pictures and clippings.

To create the river of Babylon: Sketch a line, from one side of the paper to the other – not too straight. Use clear or slightly blue tinted cellophane – the kind used in gift-wrapping. The cellophane comes on a roll about 30 inches wide by 10-12 feet long. Scrunch the width of the paper to about 4-6 inches. Use glue sticks or rubber cement to glue along the line. Affix the scrunched cellophane. Vary the width to make it look natural as a river.

To create the willows: Take green crepe paper. Cut into 2 inch widths. Use glue sticks to create lines across the paper. Attach crepe paper. Lines may crisscross or emanate from one spot. Whatever looks best.

When you finish preparing the paper, invite the kids to add their pictures, scriptures, write words on the paper, etc.

 

Give your collage a title.

What name would you give your masterpiece? Take a sheet of paper. Write the title of the collage. Give it a description in one or two sentences and ask everyone to sign it.

Tidy up.

Collage Supply List

·        Lots of news magazines, National Geographic, travel, etc.

·        Scripture verses in a variety of fonts and sizes.

·        Pencils, markers, scissors, glue

·        Cellophane gift wrap

·        Green crepe paper

·        Butcher paper as the canvas.

·        Flyers for Gift of the Heart

Closing (Coach):

1.     Distribute Gift of the Heart flyers for youth to take home. Encourage students to use the flyers to explain our art projects and invite them to view them in the Fellowship Hall next week.

2.     Recite the memory verse.

3.     The Coach conducts the closing prayer time.

4.     Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.

Guide preparation in advance:

1.     Go to the Church World Service web site (listed under “References” and print out the information on the Gift of Heart Project.  Use this information to explain to the children the purpose and use of the health kits they will be making.  Print and copy the flyer included with this lesson.  You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to print the Gift-of-Heart-Iraq.pdf file.

2.     Obtain supplies for each art project in this lesson plan.

References

·        Church World Service http://www.churchworldservice.org/kits/health-kits.html

What is a Refugee?

As refugees, we are victims of violence and war.
We left our motherland

because we were being mistreated in many ways.
We ran to get protection in other countries.
But as a refugee, you are always simple in front of anybody.
You are subject to prejudice and mistaken always.
You can pass through any disaster

and nobody will care about you.
Oh! What is lovely like our homeland?
In your own country you are free,
free like a butterfly when it flies from flower to flower,
free like a fish moving in the water.

Homeland is a second heaven…

Andrew Mayak, the Sudan, written in Kakuma refugee camp. “For TILTINGcages: An Anthology of Refugee Writings”, Naomi Flutter and Carl Soloman, ed., Pyrmont, Australia, 1995