Overview (Schedule, Recipes, etc..)

CHURCH SCHOOL

THE LIFE OF JESUS – THE GOSPELS

TEENS/ PARABLES AND MIRACLES

This file is provided as a resource for Church School directors. Feel free to plug in your own dates and your own teachers.

TEACHERS:  

 

 

    Date

            Lesson/Activity

    Teacher

     Special Notes

September  12

 

                  19

 

                  26

 

 

The Parable of the Sower

 

The Tares

 

MustardSeed/Leaven/Treasure/Pearl/Net

 

 

 

October      3

 

                   10

 

                  17

 

                  24

                

 

                  31

 

 

The Unmerciful Servant

 

Laborers in the Vineyard

 

Marriage Feast and Great Supper

 

The 10 Virgins

The ServantsWaiting for the Lord

 

The Talents

All Saints Party

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operation Christmas Child due

Dress as favorite gospel character

November  7

 

                 14

 

                 21

 

                 28

 

The Pounds

 

The Barren Fig Tree and the Two Sons

 

The Vineyard

 

The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin

 

 

Jar Decorating in hall after class

 

 

 

 

December  4

 

                  5

 

                 12

 

                

                 19

 

                 26

 

St. Nicholas Party

 

The Rich Man and Lazarus

 

Unrighteous Steward & Importunate Widow

 

Christmas Pageant (no class)

 

Publican and Pharisee and 2 Debtors

 

 

 

 

 

Rehearsal during opening exercises

January      2

                   

                  9

 

                 16

 

                 23

 

                 30

The Prodigal Son

 

The Last Judgment

 

The Rich Fool, The Tower, & the King

 

The Good Samaritan

 

The Good Shepherd

 

 

 

Canned Goods

3 Kings Party

 

 

Pack health kits in hall after class

 

 

February    6

 

                  13

 

                 20

    

                 27

 

Miracles: The Wedding at Cana

 

The Nobleman’s Son

 

The Paralytic

 

Feeding the 5000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pack homeless bags

March        6

 

                  13

 

                  20

 

                  27

 

The Blind Man

 

The Centurian’s Servant

 

The Demoniac

 

The Paralytic with four friends

 

Antiochian art contest after class

 

 

 

April           2

                    3

 

                   10

 

                 17

 

                 24

Marathon Movie Night

Calming the Storm/Walking on the Sea

 

The Epileptic

 

The Woman of Canaan and the Widow of Nain

 

NO LESSON: PASCHA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May           1     

 

                  8

 

                 22

 

                 29

 

Play

 

The Raising of Lazarus

 

The Catch of Fish

 

Jairus’s Daughter and the Woman

 

 

 

June          5

 

                 12

 

                 19

 

The Woman with the Spirit of Infirmity

 

The Ten Lepers

 

The Blind Man

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GENERAL NOTES:

Each teen will have a Bible and a copy of “The Parables”  and “The Miracles of Christ” by Archbishop Dimitri. A copy of each Scripture on a blank sheet of paper for each teen is prepared. While it would be nice to hope that each teen would have read the Scripture and lesson ahead of time, realistically, the first 5-10 minutes of class time will have to be spent reading quietly and meditating on the Scripture. Please work with the students on Bible study techniques – each student should use this year to develop a technique for parsing the Scripture that he or she can carry to college – using colored pencils, outlines, whatever works. Paper, pencils are provided. Discussion, hopefully lively, should follow, finally, after discussing the Scripture as the youth have seen it, using “The Parables” or “The Miracles of Christ” as a guide.

 

A GUIDE TO BIBLE STUDY

 

The plan for this year is for each student to develop for himself a method of Bible study that will serve him for years to come. No method is sacred; these are but some suggestions for how to approach the Scriptures. The parables lend themselves especially to intensive study in light of the many levels of interpretation they contain. So, on to suggestions:

 

  1. Begin with a 1-5 minute introduction: Remind the students how to approach the Scriptures. This will take longer the first few weeks and very little time later. Hand out the lessons of the day.

 

  1. Individual time to study the text: This will take about 5-10 minutes. This involves not only reading but a creative approach to learning. Each student will have his own copy of the text of the Scripture to mark on.  Colored pencils will be provided. First look for the facts of the story – who, what, when, where, how – like a newspaper reporter. These might be marked with one color. Then perhaps the student will want to develop their own shorthand of underlining in various colors or drawing arrows to mark repetitions, cause and effect, contrasts, quotations, particular themes, etc. Try dividing the longer readings into paragraphs and titling each paragraph. Finally, the student should also try to put himself in the place of one of the characters and experience the passage as that character would have. What do I smell, taste, see, hear, feel? Do any questions come to mind? Write them down. Anything words, phrases, concepts I don’t understand? Write those down, too. Any similar story come to mind – a movie, book, fairy tale? What about context? Who was Jesus speaking to, where, when, and why? Does this have any implication for the meaning of the passage; for example, what might the people of Jesus’s day have known about the profession of shepherd that would not be obvious today?

 

  1. Sharing observations and questions: Use the questions the group has written down, their observations as they “became” a character, or the leader’s questions to encourage lively discussion. Be sure to help even the shy students to share. The leader must prepare some open-ended questions himself, in case the group becomes bogged down (or is half asleep). Some questions may help the group to envision the scene, some make capture the tension or emotion of the text, some may link the students’ lives to the text, and some may tie portions of the discussion together.  Write the questions down on your large tablet. While the best way for these questions to emerge is in personal prayer and from the group, some potential questions are listed for each reading in case you come up dry.

 

  1. Now take about 5 minutes to read the appropriate section of the book, “ The Parables”  or “The Miracles of Christ” by Archbishop Dmitri. Discuss for several minutes: What answers can we find to our questions and observations in the passage? In the Church Fathers? Are any other questions generated? Can we answer them?

 

  1. Summarize the lesson: The group should decide what main themes emerged in the study of the Scripture in a few sentences.

 

  1. Apply the passage: How will this Scripture affect our lives? What is Jesus asking me personally to do with His truth as revealed in this passage? The Bible was never meant to be merely informative but life-changing!