Session 4: I Come from a Long Line of Apostles

Lesson Handouts

• Lesson 4B
• Session Supplaments

• retell three main events from the history of the Church (the calling of the apostles, Pentecost, the apostles teaching others).
• identify Peter and Philip as two of the apostles who taught others
• identify how apostolic succession has connected us with the early church and how it unifies us with other Orthodox.
• describe two ways in which they themselves are apostles
• recall events and people in this session by means of a game of apostle bingo (Note: groups with less time should leave out the bingo game)

• Muslin hand puppet for each student (see attached instructions for these and other puppet ideas)
• Scraps of cloth and felt, yarn, sequins, buttons, cardboard, aluminum foil, sticky black velcro, glue--all of these for puppets and decoration of them
• Colored markers, pencils, pens, erasers
• Wooden or cardboard puppet stage, if you want one
• Signs (on 12x18 construction paper) each with the title of one of the skits that are part of this session. These titles are: 1) Jesus Calls Matthew to be an Apostle 2) Peter, James and John are Called to be Apostles 3) Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael to be Apostles 4)Peter Denies the Lord 5) Peter at Pentecost 6) Philip Helps a Nobleman Understand
• Blank bingo cards (sample attached).
• Prepare Bingo clues based on the skit information.
• M & M’s or some similar small candy for bingo markers; small prizes for bingo gam
• Various books with lives of apostles and saints who are called “equal to the apostles” written for children. (Kesich, DRE, Seco, Gray and Bear)
• Maps of the world at the time of the early church and of the world today with a notation of Countries where a large number of Orthodox Christians live.
• Computer with Internet access
• Icon cards of Pentecost, saints who are apostles or “equal to the apostles” (SVS Press, Conciliar Press, Jordanville).
• Stoyroboard (precut 5 x 7), tacky glue, tweezers, Dixie cups, lids from margarine tubs for glue, small round and baguette shaped beads, in gold, silver, pearlesque, glass-like colors, books with photographs of icons decorated with jewels, Bibles, Oxford Bible Atlas or Bible with maps in appendix

A. Younger Children

Continue by saying, “Today we are going to learn about what happened after Jesus rose from the dead. Let’s read about it in the Bible. This part of the Bible, the New Testament, has stories about Jesus’ life and the special stories He used to teach people.” (Review the word parable and refer to Chart #2.)

But there is more to this part of the Bible, the New Testament. It also tells us how Jesus sent His followers out to teach and help people after He was no longer here with us on earth. (Read Matthew 28: 1-10 and 16-20 with the class.)

Write the word apostle” on the board and continue, “This word, apostle, means someone who is sent. So Jesus sent His apostles out to do His work. But we would like to know, too, how did these people become Jesus’s apostles in the first place? Lets do some finding out.”

Break for a few minutes before the next activity. Talk together about what we learned from the skits:

• Jesus called some unpopular people, like Matthew, to be His apostles.
• Several apostles were fishermen, so they weren’t rich, well-educated, or highly respected.
• Jesus’ apostles were not always brave and faithful, like Peter when he betrayed the Lord. Jesus, however, not only forgave Peter, but later gave him very important work to do, as we see in the skit about Peter at Pentecost.
• Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian nobleman shows that people are always hungry to know more about God, and the apostles helped fill that hunger for many people

Go through the pages in the students’ personal cloth-bound books for this session. The answer to the first fill-in is "when the Holy Spirit came on the apostles at Pentecost” or words similar to those. If you did not use puppets for the skits, skip the part about what each child’s puppet looked like, and go on to the fill in about “my part in the skit.” As students fill in the remaining parts of the page, emphasize that we, like the apostles, are not perfect. Yet God still loves us and has important work for us to do. Review the meaning of the word ‘apostle--one who is sent. We are called to be apostles. And we are sent, too, to share our Orthodox faith with everyone.

4. Each student uses his/her own bingo card and gets a cup of M & M’s for markers. The group will play bingo in the usual way, with the teacher giving clues about names or words, and students marking their cards.

Play several rounds, and give out inexpensive prizes, making sure everyone receives a prize whether they win at bingo or not. (Prizes can be given for the most patient, most helpful, etc.)

B: Pre-teens

Ask participants, “What do we call those who the Holy Spirit has descended upon?” Discuss how at Pentecost the disciples became apostles. No longer were they just followers of Christ but now they were sent out to preach, to teach, to witness. In Acts, tribes from all over, speaking in different languages, came together and understood each other. Babel was reversed.
Read together Acts 2 and Gen. 11:1-9. Now there is one unifying message, and all diverse cultures become one and all people have the possibility of salvation in Christ.

Discuss their backgrounds. James, John and Peter were fisherman. Matthew was a tax collector. Paul made tents. He was not a member of the original 12 who Jesus Himself called. He had even persecuted the Jews (Read Acts 9).

3. Show map of the world at the time of the apostles, and how Christianity spread.

Tell participants, “Throughout church history the title ‘Equal to the Apostles’ has been given to those who mirror the work of the early apostles in sharing the teachings of Christ. Many of these saints have been influential in the conversions of whole nations of people.”

Read excerpts from the lives of other apostles: St. Mary Magdalene, St. Nina of Georgia, St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow, St. Gregory of Armenia, St. Patrick of Ireland (Kesich: They Walked with God DRE: Enlighteners of Ancient Kingdoms, Saints of the British Isles Gray and Bear: Portraits of American Saints).

5. Ask, “What do you think the words ‘apostolic succession’ mean?”, “How does it affect the Church today?” Explain that through the laying on of hands the consecrated and ordained leaders of our Church carry on the work of the apostles. We can draw a line, directly from the hands of those first apostles to our Metropolitan, our Bishops, our priests and deacons.

6. Make a list of ways that we can be apostles.

8. Decoration of icon cards of apostles and “equal to the apostles”, or the feast of Pentecost. Topics to discuss: Icons serve an important role in Orthodox Christian life. Icons serve as windows to these intercessors and tell us stories. It is important to explain that the tradition of adorning icons with jewels is an important way that we show honor to the saints. Historically a family might have a family icon adorned with jewels that had been in their family for many generations. In using the beads, we must remember to make continuous patterns because the beads are for adornment, not the object of the icon itself. Use the beads to decorate the frame, the halo, the clothing, but not the body, hands or face. Pre-mount the cards on pre-cut styroboard with a layer of tacky glue. Have participants choose beads and put in dixie cups. Put small amount of tacky glue on a lid and give each person a pair of tweezers. Once they have chosen their pattern they hold the bead in the tweezers and dip it in the glue and put it on the icon. Tacky glue dries quickly.