Confession

CONFESSION

Objectives:

  1. Children should understand the need to confess our sins and receive the Lord’s forgiveness.

 

Possible Lesson Plan:

  1. Open with prayer. Recite here the Lord’s Prayer with the children.

 

  1. Discuss the meaning of forgiveness.  Review the line “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” from the Lord’s Prayer.  Discuss the concept of sin – have the children done things that they were sorry for? Did their parents forgive them if they were sorry? Common things for children to mention would be lying, fighting with a sibling, disobeying, etc. 

 

  1. Review the story of the Prodigal Son, also in the children’s Bibles.  Did the son sin? Was he sorry? Did the father forgive him? How did he show his forgiveness?

 

  1. Although all of these children are too young for confession, show them what occurs.  You can role-play again, with teacher as priest and child as confessor:

(Confessor kneels before the icon. “Priest” lays stole over confessor.)

Priest: O holy Trinity, have mercy on us.  O Lord, wash away our sins.  O Master, pardon our transgressions.  O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for thy Name’s sake. For thou alone art without sin, and unto thee do we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Behold, my child, Christ is standing here invisibly to receive your confession. Do you have anything to confess?

Confessor: I have (fill in with things the class discussed earlier).

Priest: May our Lord and God Jesus Christ, through his love towards mankind, forgive you, my child (name), all your transgressions.  Amen.

 

  1. Make a “muddy picture”.  Bring from home some mud from your yard or use brown finger paint. Have each child color a picture of his own face on a paper plate.   Cover the plate with plastic wrap, taped securely on the back of the plate.  Remind them that we are all to shine with the love of Jesus so everyone can see Jesus in us, just like the shiny face.  Then have the children smear the face with “mud”, covering their face and making it unrecognizable.  Can anyone see Jesus in us now?  This is how we are when we are covered with sin.  Now wipe off the mud.  We are clean again! This is like confession; each time we get dirty, so people can no longer see Christ in us, we are forgiven and clean again.

 

  1. Close again with the Lord’s prayer, asking the Lord to let people see Jesus in each of us.