Abraham
ABRAHAM
Possible Lesson Plan:
- Open with prayer.
- Scripture reference: Genesis 12-20. Quite a few chapters! How about having each student read a chapter and summarize it for the group? They should look for factual content (What happened? To whom? Where?) and also spiritual content (Why did it happen? Lessons for today?). Take some time to trace Abraham’s journey on a map. Make a copy of the map for each student to use as he reads the Scripture reference and connect the lines so each member has a complete “journey”.
- Service References: Abraham’s gifts to Melchizadek, priest and king of Salem in Genesis 14: 18-20, is the introit to Liturgy on Christmas, “From the womb before the morning star have I begotten Thee. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent: Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizadek.” This event is also commemorated in the reading from Hebrews (7:7-17) in the liturgy of the Meeting of Our Lord. Abraham gave homage to Christ Himself in the person of Melchizadek, according to the writer of Hebrews. Why would Melchizadek be referenced in these two feasts?
Another event in the life of Abraham, the entertaining of the three men in Genesis 18:1-16, is contained in the answer of the angel to Mary on Annunciation when she asks how her womb could contain “Him whom the wide spaces of the heavens cannot contain? ‘O Virgin, let the tent of Abraham that once contained God teach thee: for it prefigured thy womb, which now receives the Godhead.’” Church tradition, shown in the famous icon of the 3 persons of the trinity sitting at a table, sees the three men as the three persons of the Trinity. What do you think?
God’s blessing the marriage of Abraham and Sarah is referenced in the marriage rite. What aspects of their marriage were admirable? Which not so admirable?
St. Andrew of Crete, in his canon, sung the first week of Great Lent, exhorts us “Having heard, O my soul, how Abraham left the land of his ancestors to become a wanderer, imitate his resolution. At the Oak of Mamre the Patriarch Abraham offered hospitality to angels, and in his old age inherited the prize of God's promise. O my wretched soul, knowing Isaac to be a new sacrifice mystically offered to the Lord, imitate also his resolution.” Do we have the perseverance of Abraham to follow God’s path?
- Discussion: Today’s emphasis should be faith; the New Testament book of Hebrews showcases the faith of Abraham. After all, God called Abram to leave his home and father a nation, with a wife who was old and childless. His story targets for us the way God summons us to leave the safety and security of their daily lives to follow Him. In that sense, Abram is not that different from all of us, but how many of us are like Abraham? What is the difference between Abram and Abraham? When and why did he get the new name? How would we have responded to the command to leave our homes? What faith qualities did Abram exhibit? Was he perfect? Examples?
Get a little exercise after all this reading: Get up and tell the students to follow you. Lead them somewhere else in the house. Ask them, if you’d been Abram, what three questions would you have had for God before beginning the journey? Now have them hold hands in a long line and close their eyes; lead them back. What feelings did they experience? What feelings might Abram have experienced?
What people do they know who have demonstrated faith? Give an example of their faith in action. Has anyone had a recent experience that caused him or her to take a risk totally on faith? How did it work out? Why? If God needed something done right now and called on us to do it, what faith qualities do we have that would help us get the job done? Have students each make a list. What faith qualities still need some work?
- Close with prayer: Have each student pray (either aloud or silently) about an area of faith where he needs growth.
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