Session 3: Weapons of Peace: Righteousness

Ephesians 6:14: "Breastplace of Righteousness"

By the end of this session, youth should be able to understand the following:

Define righteousness as doing what is pleasing to God
Identify people in our lives who can help us learn right from wrong
Identify Christ as our teacher of righteousness
How we can live a righteous life in accordance to the Orthodox Church.

Procedures: Grades 3-5 / Grades 6-12

Ask: "What does it mean to be righteous?" If nobody knows, tell them that it means to do the right thing all the time: live a life pleasing to God. Have them list all the good things that they can do for each other. (You can use the story of the good Samaritan in the New Testament to illustrate righteousness.)

Activity 1:
Play a game called the good and the bad. Separate your class into three different groups. Ask group three to leave the room. Have group one pick a spot in the room. Have group two pick a different spot in the room. Tell them that there are two spots in the room, one leading to Heaven and the other leading to nowhere. (Don’t tell group three this but instruct group one and two when group three leaves.) Group one will always tell the truth and lead to heaven. Group two is encouraged to lie to get members of group 3 off track. Both teams can bribe them with candy or do whatever is necessary to get the most from group 3 on their side. The team with the most people wins. The third group will not know and will be our victims. Instruct group three outside and let them know what is going on and that they must find the people telling the truth. Have group three come back in the room and let the games begin.

Grades 3 - 5

Have them all sit down for a moment and be absolutely silent. Then ask group three: “Did you know who was right and who was wrong? Most of you ended up in the right or wrong place by accident. You didn’t know who to believe. However, we are very lucky to have special people in our lives who we can trust. Who do you know that you can trust to teach you right from wrong?" (They will most likely say parents, grandparents, and family members)

If they hadn’t already said Jesus, say, "We are missing someone very important. Who we have been talking about?" Ask: "Who do we say is the truth and our weapon in time of trouble?" JESUS!

Activity 2:
Prayer partner project. Break your class up into pairs of two or three. Tell them that they are responsible for praying for each other throughout the whole week. Have them ask Jesus to help and protect their new friend and make sure that they help them if they should get sad or scared.

Ask: "Are we being righteous by watching over each other and praying for each other? Let’s do this throughout the whole week and our whole lives."

Activity 3:
Have youth write a letter to Jesus telling Him what they plan to do this week to be righteous. Give them construction paper and markers to complete the task. Hang them up for all to see.

Conclude: "We are made strong in the Lord every time we help someone, pray for them, or do something good for each other."

Grades 6 - 12

In the game “the good and the bad,” was there a definite way to determine you will end up in heaven?

Group three just experienced what it would be like if they did not know Christ. Without Christ in our lives, there is no way to know which way we are going. It is only through loving Him that we learn what truth is and how to follow the truth. There is no other way to know if we are being righteous.

Have them break up into their same groups with these questions:

How do we begin to live a righteous life? (Righteousness is a journey that we go on the journey toward righteousness. Each day we learn how to love God by living prayerful lives and learning day to day how to follow His commandments.)
Who is in our lives right now that can help us learn right from wrong? (Parents, friends, family, the saints, and Christ are all acceptable answers)
Should we be careful when we are listening to the opinions of others? Why? Give a situation that could be harmful to us. (Yes Sometimes too much advise or no advise at all can be spiritually dangerous. You can talk about peer pressure here or just advise from family or friends that have taken you down the wrong road.)
How can we use righteousness as a weapon against the devil? (Avoid temptation, love God, and help others.) You can use the story of Job to illustrate this point. He defeated evil by remaining righteous.

Conclude: By living a righteous life, God will bless us and bestow on us the grace of the Holy Spirit. This grace protects us from spiritual and physical dangers. It greatly strengthens us. We need to pray to God because the Church believes that it is through prayer alone that we receive the answers to our toughest questions on living a righteous life.