What Happens in Churches During Lent and at Easter?

What happens in churches during Lent and at Easter? Christianity

Name of Unit:
Salvation: What happens in churches during Lent and at Easter? / Faith:
Christianity
Key Stage In Which This Unit Should Be Taught:
Key Stage 2 / Recommended Year Group (if specified): Year 5
Previous Learning:
Why is Easter the most important Festival For Christians?
How do Easter symbols help us to understand the true meaning of Easter?
Easter People – Who is the most significant person in the Easter Story?
Why are they having a Jewish Party?
Possibly: How does Holy Communion build a Christian community?
How does the Christian Festival of Easter offer Hope? (Depending on where this unit is placed in the school’s RE Curriculum Map.)
AT1 Learning About Religion
Focus: Forms of Expression. / AT2 Learning From Religion
Focus: Identity and belonging.
What This Unit Teaches:
V  What happens in churches during Lent and at Easter, particularly at: -
'  Ash Wednesday, Passiontide, Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday;
'  Maundy Thursday;
'  Good Friday;
'  Holy Saturday and Easter Day.
V  An awareness and understanding of the expression of Christian beliefs in a range of styles and words within worship;
V  Understanding of how the living out of ritual in church at Easter inspires and influences Christians;
V  Reflection about what and who inspires and influences each of us.
V  A visit to the parish church or the cathedral should form part of this teaching unit.
Key RE Vocabulary:
Church; Easter; salvation; Christian; Christianity; festival; worship; liturgy; ritual; Lent; Ash Wednesday; ashes; Lent study group; charity; Passion Sunday; Passion; cross; crucifix; Holy Week; Palm Sunday; palm leaves; palm cross; procession; “Hosanna!” Maundy Thursday; Maundy Money; foot washing; Last Supper; Holy Communion; Eucharist; Passover; stripping of the altar; Vigil / Watch; Garden of Gethsemane; Good Friday; crucifixion; Stations of The Cross; Passion Play; fast; meditation; Holy Saturday; fire; Paschal candle; Easter Day; resurrection; joy; hope; Dawn Vigil; baptism, renewal of baptism vows; blessing; holy water; Admitted to Communion; First Communion; Christian community. / Cross-Curricular Links:
Literacy, History; Geography; Art and Design; Music, Dance; Computing; Personal, Social and Health Education; Citizenship.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development:
Understanding of how worship and reflection can aid spiritual development;
How Christians use life, death, resurrection and teachings of Jesus as an inspiration and influence to guide them morally;
How joining together in common forms of expression builds up a community;
Awareness of different traditions and practices in Easter worship by different Christian denominations. / Sensitivities:
This unit teaches about what happens particularly in Anglican churches at Easter.
The exact practices in Easter worship vary from Christian denomination to Christian denomination and indeed even within the Church of England itself.
It is important that the particular practices of the tradition of the parish church are taught whilst giving the pupils an awareness of wider common practices within the Anglican Church.
Be sensitive towards Muslim pupils who are not permitted to draw people under Islamic teachings.
Please remember that RE is not Collective Worship and so, in these RE lessons, although pupils are learning about Easter worship, they should not be expected to participate in any worship as part of RE.
Possible Further Thinking and Extension Activities:
Easter practices in worship between Christian denominations, including the Greek Orthodox Church;
Easter practices and customs within worship that take place in other countries;
Links between what happens in churches at Easter and the practices of other world faiths. / Future Learning:
Possibly:
How does Holy Communion build a Christian Community?
How does the Christian Festival of Easter offer Hope?
(Depending on where this unit is placed in the school’s RE Curriculum Map.)
Learning Objectives / AT1 / AT2 / Suggested Teaching Activities / Points To Note
Lesson 1
Pupils should:
Understand what happens and why in churches at the beginning of Lent, Passiontide and Holy Week;
(AT1)
Explain how, by taking part in rituals in churches at the beginning of Lent, Passiontide and Holy Week, a Christian is inspired and influenced.
(AT2) / ü
ü / ü
ü
ü
ü / What happens in churches on Ash Wednesday,
on Passion Sunday and during Passiontide
and Palm Sunday?
Introduction:
Discuss with pupils about learning.
When they learn something, what is the best way of learning about it?
What is the best way of really understanding something?
What is the best way of remembering something?
Encourage the answer of doing / experiencing.
Tell the pupils that in this teaching unit we are going to learn about what happens in churches during Lent and at Easter?
Main part of the lesson:
Ask pupils what liturgical season Christianity is currently marking?
Lent.
Recap how Lent is the preparation time for Christians in getting ready for the most important festival of all for them, Easter.
What is one of the main ways by which Christians mark the period of Lent and the festival of Easter?
Elicit the answer of worship in church.
Explain that during Lent and Easter, Christians will include in their worship some of the rituals that happened during the first Holy Week and Easter and other acts that are about what is being thought at that time.
Why do Christians include these rituals?
Elicit the idea of remembering what happened in Jesus’ time and to help Christians understand the real meaning of Easter for them.
Why do Christians do these rituals together in church?
Worshipping together and experiencing the events and rituals as a faith community which brings them closer together through shared experience of the core beliefs of their faith.
Ask the incumbent or another member of the clergy to visit and talk about how Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday are marked in the parish church.
Alternatively show video clips to illustrate this.
Ash Wednesday:
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent and marks the period when Jesus went into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights and faced temptation.
This is marked in churches by a Eucharist at which people are ashed to remind them of their own mortality.
Ashes are an ancient sign of penitence; from the middle ages it became the custom to begin Lent by being marked in ash with the sign of the cross.
The palm crosses left over from last year in church are burned to make ashes and people have the sign of the cross made in ash on their forehead by the minister. As each person receives the imposition of ashes, the minister says the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.”
What do these words mean?
Why do people have the sign of the cross made on their heads?
Why is the sign of the cross made out of ashes?
Throughout Lent, the liturgical colour of purple is used in the church – on the altar frontal, vestments and clergy robes and there are no flowers or decorations. Liturgical dress is the simplest possible. The Gloria in Excelsis is not used.
Why is this?
The Bible reading that is used at Ash Wednesday services tells of Jesus entering the desert and facing temptation
Luke 4:1-13
Read this with pupils and discuss.
During Lent, Christians often give up something that they can live without and if it is financial, they save the money and then donate it to charity.
Alternatively, Christians take something on, e.g. extra reading of the Bible or prayer to help them become a better Christian.
Many Christians also attend Lent Study groups where they study the Bible and think about Christian teachings and living.
Why might Christians do these things?
How does Ash Wednesday set the scene for the period of Lent, in preparation for Easter?
Passiontide and Passion Sunday:
The Sunday before Palm Sunday is called Passion Sunday.
This marks the beginning of the time when the Church particularly remembers the passion of Jesus, the events leading up to and including Jesus’ crucifixion. The Passion Narrative is read in churches.
In many churches crosses, crucifixes and statues are covered up with material that is the liturgical colour of purple or a plain colour. This is as symbolism of anticipating Christ’s suffering.
Palm Sunday:
Palm Sunday comes at the beginning of Holy Week.
It marks the time of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and crowds lined the streets and waved palm branches in the air to greet and welcome Jesus. They shouted “Hosanna!”
What do pupils think that Christians might do in churches to remember this remarkable event?
Churches have a procession on Palm Sunday, often outside the church within the parish but, at least, inside the church. The members of the church will all be given a palm cross made out of a palm leaf to wave during the procession and they will sing an appropriate hymn / song that contains the words “Hosanna!” in it.
Some churches will even have a real donkey in their procession!
The Bible reading that is used at Palm Sunday services tells of Jesus’ triumphant entry to Jerusalem,
Matthew 21:1-11
or John 12:12-19
Read this with pupils and discuss.
The liturgical colour is red and so the altar frontal, vestments and vicar’s robes are in this colour to mark this day in the church’s calendar.
Some churches also ‘Admit to Communion’ on Palm Sunday, this is when children who have followed a series of preparation classes to learn about being a Christian will make promises about being a good Christian and are then ‘admitted to communion,’ so on Palm Sunday they take their first Holy Communion.
Why do Christians take part in a Palm Sunday procession?
What does the palm cross symbolise?
How might their palm cross help a Christian in their faith?
Why might Palm Sunday be an appropriate time for children to be admitted to communion?
Activity:
The palm cross is a symbol that strengthens, inspires and influences Christians all over the world. It symbolises Jesus Christ and the core Christian belief of salvation – when Jesus died on the cross to save the people of the world.
Ask pupils to express who has a positive effect on them. Draw and write about someone who strengthens, inspires and influences them, helping them to be a better person.
Plenary:
Share our inspirations with each other. / This unit teaches about what happens particularly in Anglican churches at Easter?
The exact practices in Easter worship vary from Christian denomination to Christian denomination and indeed even within the Church of England itself!
It is important that the particular practices of the tradition of the parish church are taught whilst giving the pupils an awareness of wider common practices within the Anglican Church.
Resources:
The parish church;
The incumbent and other clergy;
Video clips of how Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday are marked in the church;
The Holy Bible;
The Church of England website for worship texts:
www.churchofengland.org
Palm crosses.
Learning Objectives / AT1 / AT2 / Suggested Teaching Activities / Points To Note
Lesson 2
Pupils should:
Understand what happens and why in churches in Holy Week;
(AT1)
Explain how by taking part in rituals in churches in Holy Week, a Christian is inspired and influenced.
(AT2) / ü
ü
ü
ü / ü
ü
ü
ü / What happens in churches on Maundy Thursday
and Good Friday?
Introduction:
Re-cap with pupils about their learning in the previous lesson.
Explain that we are going to continue learning about what happens in churches at Easter and today, particularly about what happens in churches on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
Main part of the Lesson:
Ask the incumbent or another member of the clergy to visit and talk about how Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are marked in the parish church.
Alternatively show video clips to illustrate this.
Maundy Thursday:
When is Maundy Thursday?
The Thursday of Holy Week.
What happened on the 1st Maundy Thursday?
The liturgical colour used on Maundy Thursday is white and so the altar frontal, vestments and vicar’s robes will be white to mark this day in the Church’s calendar.
The distribution of Maundy money takes place on the morning of Maundy Thursday.
This is an annual service in one of the cathedrals in Great Britain, a different one is chosen each year. During the service the Queen gives a bag of Maundy money, to selected pensioners. The Maundy money is a set of special coins that is exclusive to this service. The number of pensioners matches the age of the Queen. They have been especially nominated and chosen to receive the Maundy Money in recognition of the special work that they have done in their communities.
Show a video clip of an extract of one of the services.
Why do pupils think that the distribution of Maundy Money takes place?
Why is it the Queen who distributes the money?
Concept = service.
Why is good service to the community by pensioners recognised?
Why does this particular ritual happen on Maundy Thursday?
How might this expression reinforce the Christian faith and inspire and influence Christians?
The Passover Meal and Maundy Thursday Eucharist:
It was the Jewish festival of Passover when the events of the 1st Easter took place. Many churches remember about the roots of Jesus and Christianity by re-enacting a Passover meal.