What we know about Easter

Today (Sunday, March 29, 2009) in our 5th grade Sunday School class we discussed the things we know about Easter, which are both Christian and secular, and took a walk around the church park looking for signs of spring / new growth. These are the results of our brainstorming together:

Things we know about Easter:
1. Easter bunny
2. Eggs
3. The boulder was rolled away
4. Chicken soup / ham
5. Lent (no meat)
6. Rooster crowed 3 times after Peter denied Christ
7. Tomb
8. Last supper (communion)
9. Crucifixion
10. Judas (betrayer – 30 pieces of silver)
11. Rebirth (spring)
12. Garden of Gethsemane
13. Crown of thorns
14. Resurrection
15. The candy! (money in eggs)
16. Wrapped in cloth
17. Easter clothes
18. Father, why have you forsaken me?
19. Angel by the tomb (spoke to them at the tomb)
20. Mary (watching)
21. Egg hunts
22. Jesus’ brothers betrayed him?

Signs we saw of Spring and new growth:
1. Blooms on trees and bushes
2. Snow melting
3. Birds chirping
4. Water running
5. Mud
6. Seed pods
7. Buds
8. Green grass
9. Warm sun
10. Blue sky
11. Sand box with a magnificent soccer ball in it

I encourage you to read the Easter story in your Bible the upcoming weeks with others in your family. We discussed many of the ideas/topics which the students brainstormed, and discussed how even though many people continue to celebrate aspects of the “secular” Easter, the most important part of Easter to remember is Jesus and his resurrection!

The next two weeks we will not meet as a separate class. Next Sunday for Palm Sunday we’ll be meeting in “Miracle Movies” with the rest of the elementary classes. On Easter Sunday, we’ll all participate in the special Easter celebration/party in the Family Life Center during the Sunday School hour.

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Why doesn’t everyone go to heaven?

This past Sunday, March 15th, our 5th grade Sunday School class started a new multi-week study on the theme our students voted for in January, “Why do some people not go to church?” We started with a Grapple lesson on “Why doesn’t everyone go to heaven?” Our discussion on this topic focused on the existence of sin, how sin separates us from God, and how our “good work” here on earth cannot save us from our sins. It is only through faith in Jesus, and our asking for forgiveness for our sins, that we can be forgiven and be able to join Christ in heaven. We discussed the meaning of “holy” (set apart) and how even the “saints” of history were sinners. No one except Christ has been or is without sin. We discussed how it is not our SIN which keeps us out of heaven (otherwise all human beings would be prevented from getting into heaven) but rather human failure / unwillingness to repent in the name of Jesus which prevents entry into heaven.

Our Grapple curriculum suggested several verses for us to discuss and explore in this lesson. These included:

Isaiah 59:1-2 (New International Version)

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.

Matthew 7:13-14 (New International Version)

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Romans 5:20-21 (New International Version)

The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In discussing our own perceptions and definitions of “sin,” one of our students suggested that “killing is a sin.” This led to a discussion about whether it was moral or a sin to eat meat of any kind: beef, chicken, etc. We discussed how the ten commandments include the commandant “Thou shalt not murder,” which is different than “Thou shalt not kill.” I briefly mentioned Just War Theory and the idea which has been developed through the ages that the use of violence to defend innocents can be justified on moral means. We didn’t spend a tremendous amount of time discussing these issues, since of course these are very deep in themselves, but we did touch on them since they were raised by one of our students.

In the context of the above verse from Matthew, we discussed the role of shepherds in the time of Jesus and both the Old and New Testaments, guarding their flocks and being willing to put their lives on the line (lay down their lives) to protect their sheep from predators. We discussed the “sheepfold” and how shepherds would position themselves in the only place where a sheep (or other animal) could enter or leave the sheepfold. In this way, the shepherd was “the gatekeeper” and tightly controlled all access to the sheepfold. This is the context for the Matthew verse as well as verses from John (John 10) when Christ refers to himself as “the gate.” I shared some photos as well as videos of sheep in New Zealand with students during our lesson, and discussed (as an aside) how different the “shepherd” role is in New Zealand since they don’t have ANY natural predators in the entire country. (No wolves, coyotes, foxes, snakes, etc.)

These are challenging teachings to study, understand and embrace in our relativistic and postmodern age. I didn’t use those terms with our 5th graders, but I point it out because there are plenty of folks “out there” calling themselves Christians, professing a belief in Christ, and professing faith in the Bible, who have universalist and Unitarian views of salvation. The Bible and New Testament specifically is clear on this point: There is one way to salvation, and that is through confession and profession of faith in Christ.

Our memory verse for next week is Psalm 46:10 (New International Version):

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth

Students don’t need to recite the entire verse for next week, the first line (“Be still, and know that I am God”) will be sufficient. 🙂

Have a great week, and please discuss these topics and issues with your family!

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When bad things happen we don’t understand

Sunday, March 8th in our 5th grade Sunday School class we concluded our multi-week study on the topics, “Why is life not fair?” and “Why do bad things happen?” These are challenging topics for adults to consider, as well as 11 year olds, but that is why we call our class “Grapple!” We take on challenging subjects (selected by our students earlier in the year) and seek to find answers and guidance in God’s Word.

We discussed that when something bad happens to someone else, one of the WORST things we can tell them is “That was God’s will.” We discussed several important ideas which we need to keep in mind when we have bad things happen to us, to our family members, our friends or others. These include the following.

1. Sometimes we don’t understand

Anyone who tells us that they understand everything that happens in the world is either misinformed, kidding, or misleading us. Even Nobel prize winning scientists admit they don’t completely understand everything about the universe and how everything works. We can ask questions to our pastors about situations they may not be able to fully explain. Why does a tornado strike one person’s house and kill members of their family, and some of their neighbors next door are spared? Why are the lives of very young children taken away by disease or disaster? Why do innocent people die in the world? When it comes to natural disasters like tornados and other things, often we don’t understand the complete picture. We viewed two videos which include tornado / storm stories during class, that have been created by Oklahoma teachers as part of the “Celebrate Oklahoma Voices” oral history and digital storytelling project. We used these stories to discuss the idea of natural disasters happening which we do not fully understand and cannot fully explain.

The first tornado story we watched was created by Lissa McMillin and is titled “1928 Blair, OK Tornado.” The second one by Julie Roberts is titled “The Greatest Hero I Know.” Both of these stories include aspects that are not entirely explainable or understandable by the people who survived them. How tragic that Julie’s father lost her own dad to a lightning strike in their storm cellar. Tragedies like these happen in our lives and we should not pretend that we have all the answers. Telling someone who has suffered a tragedy like this that “this was God’s will” can be a big mistake. It is true God is omniscient and omnipotent, meaning God knows everything and controls all things, but this does not mean God does evil things or “wills” evil things to happen in our lives. This is the second main point we discussed in our lesson.

2. God is not the author of evil

Evil certainly does exist in our world. We don’t have to look far to see people who are making bad choices, and evil things taking place. Sin is a reality in all our lives and it separates us from God and from each other. Whether we are talking about things like drug abuse and addiction like that highlighted in the Crystal Darkness campaign here in Oklahoma, or tragedies which happen related to crime in our communities, evil things are not far away.

Where does this evil come from? It does not come from God. We learn in the Genesis story that God gave us as human beings the ability to choose, and the author of evil temptation in this world is called Satan, or the Devil. Sometimes when bad things happen in our lives it is somewhat easier to understand if it has involved human choices. That is not the case in many tornado tragedies, but it is in other situations. I told our class the story of my friend in college, whose father was a policeman in Philadelphia and who committed suicide. What a terrible tragedy that was. Unfortunately I do not think I did a very good job at that time explaining to my friend “Where God was” in that situation and tragedy. I also told our class about an older student I knew in high school who was killed on his motorcycle by a drunk driver, as both parties were coming and going from a drinking party at the local lake near the town where we lived.

3. God lets us make choices

Both the suicide of my friend’s dad and the fatal driving accident involving the high school student I knew involved people’s CHOICES. God did make any of the people in these situations choose to do evil things. God has given us the ability to make choices, and sometimes our choices lead to bad consequences. Sometimes we don’t have choices about things, as both adults and as kids. We may not have a choice as a child about having to clean up our room. We may not have a choice as an adult about losing our job, or our spouse deciding to leave us and get a divorce. In all these situations, however, we do have choices about how we respond and act in response to these circumstances. As we struggle to understand why evil things happen in the world, we need to recognize that while God is not the author of evil, he does let us choose as human beings. As sinful, fallen people, sometimes we make bad choices. Sometimes those choices hurt others and cause or contribute to bad things happening which hurt.

4. God always helps us

Amidst unfair things which hurt us and others, in addition to understanding that 1) We don’t always understand why things happen, 2) God is not the author of evil, and 3) God lets us make choices, we also need to understand a fourth thing: 4) God always helps us. This is VERY important. No matter what kind of struggle or difficult time we are going through, God has sent his Holy Spirit to comfort and strengthen us. This is a very important thing to know and understand. When REALLY bad things happen to people (members of our families die or are killed, other tragic events happen which we cannot control or seem to change) we sometimes see people run away from God. As a final video story, we watched the testimony of Staci in the Life Church video series “30 Days to Live.” This was brought to my attention by Terry Attebery, who is in my Friday morning men’s group and is the Director of Contemporary Choir at our church. Staci lost her fight with cancer this spring and died several weeks ago. Her testimony about how her knowledge of God’s goodness and the strength He gives us to maintain our hope amidst incredibly difficult times is very powerful. Stacie also exhorts us to focus on the relationships and the people in our lives who are the most important: far more important than things or trips/travel we could go on. Staci encourages us to live NOW, because tomorrow is not guaranteed. I really encourage you to watch Staci’s testimony if you have not seen it already. It is included in two different parts in the online sermon provided by Life Church here in Oklahoma City. We didn’t watch the entire 20 minute sermon, we just watched the five minutes or so which is included from Staci’s testimony.

We wrapped up our lesson last Sunday by reading the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 4:8, in “The Message” translation. Paul wrote:

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

This is a verse we also cited in our past study, “What Would Jesus Put on his iPod.” We may not be able to control or change all the circumstances of our lives, but we can choose our focus and on WHOM we choose to focus each day.

May God bless you and strengthen you as you contend with the challenges and struggles of life. Rely on Him for strength, and He will lift you up. More verses we used during this Sunday School study are available in this post from February 1st.

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Photos and videos of New Zealand

Last week I shared some photos, videos, and even food with our Sunday school class from my trip to New Zealand at the end of February. All the photos and videos I took are available in this Flickr collection. I traveled to New Zealand to share the closing keynote address at the Learning@School 09 conference, which attracted about 1200 primary and secondary teachers from around the country involved in the CORE educational technology professional development program.

Highlights of the trip for me included:

Visiting Mount Sunday, the setting for “Edoras” in the film trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.”

Flying into Rotorua, New Zealand, which is situated on the North Island on the edge of a large, volcanic crater lake. This photo from the window of our aircraft shows the island in the center of the lake which was the summit of the volcano before the magma chamber emptied in an enormous eruption, resulting in its collapse and the eventual formation of the lake.

Visiting Te Puia in Rotorua, and seeing geyser eruptions as well as the hot pools which are part of the geothermal features there.

Visiting Christchurch on the South Island, and touring both the original cathedral in the center of town as well as the International Antarctic Center where all U.S. and many international scientific expeditions to the southern continent originate. (We did ride on a Hagglund too!)

I showed the above photo to our students last Sunday and pointed out that this stained glass picture depicting Christ shows him as a Maori. The Maoris are the “first peoples” native to New Zealand, and are one of several different Polynesian ethnic groups.

I have a little over 50 videos from the trip available on Flickr too, in addition to those above. New Zealand wasn’t a topic in our Grapple curriculum for this year, but it seemed like a good “teachable moment” to share some of what I learned and experienced on this trip with our 5th graders this year. 🙂

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