What is taught must be in accordance with the locally agreed syllabus; (If your school is outside of Cambridgeshire: the S.C.A.A Model 2 syllabus has been included to help in matching this lesson plan with your local Agreed Syllabus).
Cambs Agreed Syllabus:
WO (Worship)
Enable pupils to:
find out how Christians worship God (e.g. in prayer, silence, singing, reading the Bible) both in places of worship and at home, and why they do it.
Pupils should consider this:
How do we express different emotions?
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S.C.A.A. Model syllabuses:
KEY TEACHINGS / FOCUS:
CHURCH
AT1 Make a display of objects & symbols associated with Christian worship & state their use & significance.
AT2 Explore the human emotions which may be expressed in religious terms, eg joy & praise, guilt & penitence.
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RESOURCES:
An A4 sheet of paper for each child, (could be coloured paper), brown would be good.
Optional: Some pictures of football players, (or pop stars, if using the alternative illustration).
Optional: A radio, or CD, or tape player + a reading book which requires a lot of concentration.
STARTER:
Q. What is worship? Describe what it is.
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(Possible answers: singing hymns, kneeling to pray)
These things can help to express worship, but what actually is worship?
An illustration of worship:
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Imagine you are going to a football match. (Teachers note: The illustration could be of going to a pop concert).
You go through the turn styles and into the ground.
The players come out to warm up.
Now look around you at the crowd.
Q. What emotions & feelings do you think are in the crowd?
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(Possible answers: excitement, etc)
Many of those in the crowd would be 'fans' of particular players.
Many would have pictures and posters of their heroes.
The great players would be their 'idols'.
It would be correct to say that these fans worship these players.
So to return to the question: "What is worship? Describe what it is."
Q. How would you describe worship now?
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It really is raising someone up in your mind, they are important, they're brilliant, very special, very skillful, they are a hero.
So because of these qualities, you look up to them, & admire them, & you spend time thinking about them.
That is worship.
When a Christian worships God, God is all these things to the worshiper.
God becomes the most important Person in their lives, because they see Him as being very special - the Creator God of everything, & they want to spend time thinking about Him.
MAIN TEACHING:
Christians can't go to the football ground to watch their 'hero', God, come onto the field!
Q. So what things help Christians to worship God?
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(Possible answers: going to Church, singing hymns)
(1) In many Churches there will be a cross.
There is nothing special about these crosses, they can be decorated or very plain.
They serve as a reminder that Jesus Christ, God's Son, died upon a wooden cross to take the blame & pay the penalty for the wrong things that we have done.
(Teachers note: If the children ask questions about this, then a good illustration to explain this is:
Imagine you kick a football through a neighbours very expensive window. The neighbour demands money to have it repaired, but you haven't got anywhere near that amount. Then your dad comes & offers to pay for the full amount of the repairs, even though he wasn't responsible for breaking it. That is what Jesus did - He paid so we could be free of the debt to God.)
An activity to make a cross from paper:
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[1] Place an A4 sheet of paper on a table. Lift the top up & fold along the A - A line.
[2] Lift the right side up & fold along the B - B line.
[3] Now cut or tear along the C - C lines.
[4] Open out & you should have a cross!
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The children could be encouraged to write something meaningful & relevant on the cross which they have learnt so far.
(2) Christians will read, or listen, to the Bible to help them in their worship of God. (Teachers note: The subject of the Bible will be dealt with in later Lesson Plans).
They believe that the Bible is inspired by God. That means that although the Bible was written by many people, they were all given the words from God.
So by listening to the Bible it is like hearing from God Himself.
They learn more & more about God, & therefore they can appreciate Him more, so this raises their worship.
(3) In many Churches Christians will sing hymns to help them in their worship of God. (Teachers note: The subject of hymns, songs etc, will be dealt with in a later Lesson Plan).
If the hymn or song is well written it will focus in on a part of God's character, or on something that He has done.
Here is an example of an old hymn which describes where Jesus' cross was & what the reason was for it.
(1st verse:)
There is a green hill far away,
Outside a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.
(2nd verse:)
We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
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It makes Jesus' death & suffering relevant & personal to Christians now. Jesus had a purpose in going to the cross.
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(4th verse:)
There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven, and let us in.
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This was the purpose, the reason, for going to the cross.
No-one is perfect, no-one deserves to go to heaven, but Jesus opened the way to heaven.
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(Composed by Cecil Frances Alexander.)
Again, if the hymn or song is well written it will put into words what people are feeling,
or it will provide encouragement in their difficult situation. For example a modern song:
(1st verse:)
Father, I place into Your hands
The things I cannot do.
Father, I place into Your hands
The things that I've been through.
Father, I place into Your hands
The way that I should go,
For I know I always can trust You.
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By believing that God is far more wise & powerful than themselves, they can trust that this situation will work out for the best, & to stop worrying!.
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(Composed by Jenny Hewer. Copyright © 1975 Kingsway's Thankyou Music.)
(4) In a Church service there will be a time for praying, & periods of silence to help them in their worship of God. (Teachers note: The subject of prayer will be dealt with in a later Lesson Plan).
An activity to show the benefit of silence:
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(Teachers note: Place a child on a chair, with a radio or CD / tape player on the table next to them. Ask the child to read a section of a reading book which requires a lot of concentration. After about a third of the way through, ask the other children to gather round (the child is still reading), switch on the radio /CD & whisper to some children to call things out to create more distractions).
Q. Was it easier to concentrate during the quiet time, or the noisy time?
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It is much easier to make a big, important decision when you haven't got any distractions or lots of noise.
It is good to have times of quiet 'reflection', to think about ourselves, other people, & God.
So Church services ought to have times of quiet.
But there will be times when Christians will be feeling joyful, excited, & thankful to God. So if it was all quiet then it would be very difficult to express their inner joy.
An example:
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Imagine you have been given a wonderful present & you want to tell your friend about it.
But your friend is in the library! You run up to them & you start to excitedly tell them about your present. But everyone else is telling you to be quiet! You are not allowed to express your excitement.
Church services should cater for these different emotions.
Christians do not only worship in Church:
Worship is not only singing songs, listening to the Bible, praying, etc.
Here's a story from the Bible which has been given modern stage props:
Job (pronouced Jobe!) had a wife & family, & ran his own business.
In one day his lorry got stolen, his warehouse got burnt down with everything in it, he discovered that he wasn't insured for any of it! And then all of his children got killed in an accident!
What a terrible day!
But what does the Bible say he did?
Q. What do you think he did? Or perhaps more to the point, what would you have done?
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Kick some things around?! Shout at God?!...
The Bible tells us that he fell to the ground ....& worshipped God! (Job 1:20-22)
Wow! Isn't that amazing!
He then went on to say: "Naked I came into the world, naked I shall depart. The Lord (God) gave, & the Lord has taken away, may the Name of the Lord be praised."
So in this example worship had nothing to do with singing, or going to Church.
Q. How would you describe this worship?
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(Possible answers: he's a nutter!)
Job didn't react in the way that you would expect.
He had lost a huge amount; his business, & all his children, but even in all this he was able to worship, because:
(a) He believed that everything he had, his business, his money, even his children were given by God.
(b) Job trusted God. So even if this situation was terrible, Job believed that God had a plan which would end up for the best.
Christians believe that God is pleased with such worship.
PLENARY:
Q. What things do you worship?
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(Possible answers: fashionable clothes, football, cars, beauty)
Q. Are there any dangers in worshipping these things?
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If we make these things to be very, very important, we may find later in life that these things were only short lived, & no where near as important as we thought they were.
Q. Should worshipping God be a natural part of our lives?
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Either take a short time to discuss it, or leave it with them.
(Teachers note: There are two worksheets to accompany this lesson plan).