Nativity
THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
Objectives:
- Students should be able to identify the characters in the icon and tell the story.
- Students should know the date of the feast (December 25).
- Students should be able to recite or sing the Troparion and the Kontakion.
- Students should know the Christmas greeting: Christ is born! Glorify Him!
Possible Lesson Plan:
- Open with prayer.
- The icon: Ask how much the students already know about the story of the feast. Who are the characters in the icon? The Theotokos and Child, St. Joseph (being tempted by Satan to doubt the virgin birth), Satan (in dark colors, the Prince of Darkness), a shepherd (facing the angels as they tell of His birth), the Magi (What is their symbolism? 1 beardless and young, one middle-aged, and one old, representing all mankind), the Angels, the cow, and the star. Note: not all icons have the Magi. Is it day or night?
- Scripture readings:
Gospel: St. Matthew 2:1-12. Read also Luke 2:1-20 from Vespers.
Epistle: Galatians 4:4-7
Old Testament prophecies: Can the older students find some of these on their own?: Psalm 109: 1-4, Micah 4:6-7, 5:2-4, Genesis 14:17-20, Isaiah 8:9-18, 9:1-6, 7:14, 60: 5-6, Numbers 24-15-17, Malachi 3:20. Listen to the songs of the feast for these references.
- Songs of the Feast:
Troparion: Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shown to the world the light of wisdom. For by it those who worshipped the stars were taught by a star to adore thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know thee, the Orient from on high. O Lord, glory to thee!
Kontakion: Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One, and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One! Angels, with shepherds, glorify him! The wise men journey with the star! Since for our sake the eternal God was born as a little child!
Canon: I behold a strange and wonderful mystery: the cave a heaven, the Virgin a cherubic throne, and the manger a noble place in which hath lain Christ the uncontainable God. Let us, therefore, praise and magnify Him.
- Discussion questions:
What is Advent? How long is it? How do we observe it? Where was Jesus born? Why there? How did God arrange for the prophecy of Micah to be fulfilled? Was he born in splendor like a king or was God’s Son, the greatest king of all, born in a very humble place? Why? (maybe so we can all reach Him personally) What was a stable in Jesus’s day? (a cave)
Luke traces Jesus’s geneology all the way to Adam, establishing Him as a man; Matthew to Abraham, establishing Him as a Jew. How is He also our priest? (through Melchizadek) Hebrews 7 establishes this clearly.
Who were the Magi? (highly respected scholars and scientists of Persia, astrologers and the most educated men of their day) Symbolism of these men of high rank coming and bowing before a poor, naked child? (possibly prefiguring the redemption of all the nations, not just the Jews), Symbolism of those traveling from the Orient to the true Orient from on high, following the light of a star to the one true light? In what way is the cave a heaven? The Virgin a cherubic throne (remember, the Ark from the Feast of the Presentation?)?
Where is the peace on earth promised by the angel to the shepherds? Certainly not on earth at the time of Jesus (remember the Romans?) or since. St. John of Kronstadt answers that “every truly believing person who keeps Christ's commandments, every truly repentant sinner has the peace of Christ within himself, and no external troubles of this world can destroy it.” Do you have that peace inside yourself?
- Make a felt banner. Choose and bring to class a background piece of your choice of color, about 24x36 inches. Turn down the top 1 inch and staple around a dowel or coat hanger. We also have pre-cut banners this year. Have the students design a banner to represent the feast, cutting their figures and letters out of the small pieces of felt in the box. We have precut letters with adhesive backs for your convenience. Let me know if you finish off a color so I can replace it. Glue on the pieces and hang in the Social Hall for all to enjoy! Here are a few ideas:
Close with prayer.
