School Worship Bible Project
Year 2Pentecost and Trinity
Pentecost is an essential part of the experience of faith for Christians. This is so much so that there are ‘Pentecostal’ churches.
In the Anglican Church, the festival of Pentecost inaugurates the season of Trinity. The story of Pentecost is toldin chapter 2 of Acts. The name ‘Pentecost’ comes from the Jewish festival which follows the Passover 50 days (hence ‘pente’) later. The events recounted in Acts 2 occurred on this festival day – thus the Church has adopted the occasion and given it an entirely different meaning.
These events do not occur in John’s work. What we do find however are many references to the Holy Spirit and to the fulfilment of promises. The first readings take us through some of the ways in which John’s Gospel speaks of these things. The later readings find examples from Acts and the Old Testament. These materials do not try to explain the Trinity but to find opportunities to think about the Trinity in some of the ways that the first Church did – it was through their experience that the first Christians built up their picture of the Holy Trinity.
In Lent we suggested finding music with two instruments to indicate the ways that Jesus interacted with people. Now that we have reached Trinity take this further and use examples of three instruments. YouTube comes to the rescue again – try typing in ‘instrumental trio’ or ‘vocal trio’ or maybe start with one of these…
-Pachelbel Canon
-Tale as Old as Time from Beauty and the Beast
-Vocal Disney Medley
Listen, watch, and you may like to use this prayer from Common Worship:
O God our mystery,
you bring us to life,
call us to freedom,
and move between us with love.
May we so participate
in your dance of trinity
that our lives may resonate with you,
now and for ever.
As we say each time – please adjust and adapt the material to suit your own circumstances.
Week 1: Jesus makes a PromiseJohn 14: 18-26Bible Reading
“When I go, you will not be left all alone; I will come back to you. In a little while the world will see me no more, but you will see me; and because I live, you also will live. When that day comes, you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me, just as I am in you.
“Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. My Father will love those who love me; I too will love them and reveal myself to them.”
“I have told you this while I am still with you. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you. / Notes
Here we find one of the most important promises that Jesus made. These words are part of the long speech made by Jesus to the disciples in John’s story of the Last Supper. Several things are mixed up in this promise:
- Love
- Commandment
- Teaching
Values:
Service: Service is a central theme in the way in which Faith is expressed in Christianity. This is not simply just doing things but is being ‘in’ Christ. This is like being exceptional at say,sport or playing a musical instrument - the skills, technique and rules are so much a part of you that you don’t have to think about them. The right response is automatic just like our response to each other, in God’s love, is service.
Hope: As we learn and grow, we all have hopes and wants. These can shape our lives and the lives of those around us. Our hopes have their origin in our experience and our knowledge. In order to have real hope for the future we must have a realistic understanding of where those hopes have come from.
Questions:
What does Jesus mean by ‘I am in you’?
Jesus says that accepting the commandments shows love – how else do we show love?
Why do you think that Jesus says ‘I will come back to you’?
How does the Holy Spirit teach?
Do you ever make promises? Is it easy to keep them?
Week 1: ReflectionReflection
I wonder, are you ever alone?
Are there good times to be alone? Are there bad times?
As we sit quietly for a moment,think of a time when you have enjoyed being alone
What do you think of when you are on your own?
Are there any special things that you do? / Prayer
God of us all,
Through many Bible stories we can see that you have been with people in their loneliness; we might think of Elijah, Jonah and Jesus.
Be with us, we pray, when we are alone so that we will be able to learn more about ourselves and more about you
Amen
You might use different characters here – don’t hesitate to use people from other faiths if appropriate.
Laying the table
Use the table to give a focus for symbols of the Holy Spirit. You could start with the well-known symbols such as fire and a dove and then create symbols of your own – maybe helping hands…
Week 1: Extension Is 30; 19b-21A bit more from the Bible:
TheLordis compassionate, and when you cry to him for help, he will answer you.The Lord will make you go through hard times, but he himself will be there to teach you, and you will not have to search for him anymore.If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, “Here is the road. Follow it.” / Notes:
In these words, Isaiah gives us a picture of God as a teacher, a guide and a helper. The reading also says that there will be ‘hard times’. One of the difficult things in the Bible is that sometimes it says that God makes bad things happen. This is not easy to understand – if God is good then why do bad things happen?Notice that when the bad things happen there is a promise that God will always be there.
A few more Questions
Do you think that the prophet believes that God makes bad times, or is it that God knows that there will be hard times, at times, for all of us?
How do you think that God helps when people ‘cry to him for help’?
Some things to do
The readings mention God’s commandments. We all know something about the Ten Commandments but there are many more than that. Have a look at Leviticus 19:9-18, 25:35-38: what do you think of these commandments?
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Week 2: The New CommandmentJohn 15:12-17,26-27Bible Reading
My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them. And you are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. This, then, is what I command you: love one another. “The Helper will come — the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God and who comes from the Father. I will send him to you from the Father, and he will speak about me. And you, too, will speak about me, because you have been with me from the very beginning. / Notes
This reading is quite well knownfor Jesus giving a ‘new’ commandment. It is worth looking at how John writes about this commandment. He shows us that the whole commandment is built into relationships. These are explained in terms of friendships and the relationships between servant and master. Notice that Jesus talks about love for friends before telling the disciples that they are his friends. It is not simply that there are friendships but that these relationships will bear ‘fruit’. (See Galatians) The reading goes on to speak of the Spirit as the ‘helper’. In this we can also see that the Trinity is based in relationship. We read of importantrelationship between Father, Son and Spirit and between us and the Father, us and the Son and us and the Spirit.
Values:
Friendship: Friendship is a theme that runs through the New Testament. While the word is not often used, we can see through the various writings how friendships developed. The first Christians had exactly the same friendship issues as everyone, they needed to find ways of working together while being true totheir values and their faith.
Service: It is interesting to see in this reading and the extension that there are times when God serves people, as helper, as teacher. This is not just so that we can do things or know things but so that we can understand how best to serve each other.We can look at how God serves and follow this example.
Questions:
Why do you think that Jesus says ‘The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them?’ Is he telling us about how we should behave or is he telling us something about what is to happen to him?
How do we see God as helper or teacher in the Bible stories that we know?
John’s gospel mentions ‘fruit’ – this word is used quite a lot. What do you think he means by this? What do you think that ‘fruit that endures’ is? Does ‘real’ fruit endure?
Why do you think that God sometimes serves people?
Week 2: ReflectionReflection
Let’s wonder …
What makes us friends?
Is it our hair colour?
Is it our height?
Is it being boys or girls?
Is there something inside instead?
I wonder what it is?
You might use this as a responsive reflection in which children give their own ideas about what makes us friends. / Prayer
Lord God,
Thank you for friends.
Help us always to remember them so that our friendships will grow.
We ask that you will be with them in all that they do so that they will never be lonely and will always know that they are loved
Amen.
Laying the table
The table could be laid with symbols of how love is expressed to help explore this reading. There are some very common things like valentine’s cards and wedding rings but can you and the school think of other symbols.
Week 2:Deuteronomy 6: 1-9A Bit More From The Bible
“These are all the laws that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. Obey them in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. As long as you live, you and your descendants are to honour the Lord your God and obey all his laws that I am giving you, so that you may live in that land a long time. Listen to them, people of Israel, and obey them! Then all will go well with you, and you will become a mighty nation and live in that rich and fertile land, just as the Lord, the God of our ancestors, has promised.
“Israel, remember this! The Lord — and the Lord alone — is our God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates. / Notes
Our first reading speaks of the commandments of God. Here we read two very important things that surround the commandments:
The first shows us that there are benefits to following the commandments (the law). The reading uses the Old Testament ideas of long life, the growth of a nation and plentiful food. Notice also that these are not just ‘earned’ by people, they are also the fulfilment of a promise by God.
The second important thing is that believers need to always keep the law in their minds - this is why so many churches have the Ten Commandments on the walls and Moses in the stained glass windows.
Jewish people took, and continue to take these words very seriously, and so we find the use of the Mezzuzah for example built upon passages like this. The Mezzuzah is a little box containing the law which is fastened to doorways.This is a simple, practical way in which people of faith make sure that they do not forget about God.
A few more Questions:
The second paragraph of our reading gives us the first of the two commandments that Jesus gave as the two greatest commandments. The second is in Leviticus 19:18 -‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. How do we make sure that we remember these commandments?
How do Christians make sure that the commands that Jesus gave us in the gospels are always at the forefront of their minds?
What is the most important thing in your life? Why?
Some things to do
Find out what things are most important in the lives of people in your school or class. How do people make sure that they remember the things that are important to them? Does it matter that these things are remembered?
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Week 3: TruthJohn 16: 4-7, 12-13Bible Reading:
“I did not tell you these things at the beginning, for I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me where I am going. And now that I have told you, your hearts are full of sadness. But I am telling you the truth: it is better for you that I go away, because if I do not go, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, then I will send him to you.”
“I have much more to tell you, but now it would be too much for you to bear. When, however, the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead you into all the truth.” / Notes
These words show us that Jesus’ confidence in his disciples had grown. He was showing them that he was able to leave them to their own devices – but this did not mean leaving them alone. Jesus leaves the disciples with a promise that the Helper – the Holy Spirit – will be sent to them. Jesus gives no explanation of why he has to go.The Trinity and the way in which God works is a mystery, we still don’t know ‘why’ after 2000 years of thinking about it. However through this mystery God makes sure that the work begun in creation, through the law and brought to life by Jesus is continued in the life of the Church.
Values:
Trust: Trust is a vital part of the way in which we understand how God works. Trust is essential to friendships and in our learning partnerships. When we know the truth about each other our relationships become stronger and we can trust each other even more.
Compassion: this value is an essential part of relationships. As we learn more about each other, it is easier to understand when people are feeling hurt or upset. This is also why we must be careful to take care of the special things that people share with us.
Questions:
Why does Jesus talk about the Holy Spirit as the Helper? Do you know any other ways that the Holy Spirit is spoken of?
How would you describe the different persons of the Trinity?
God is ……………………………
The Holy Spirit is …………..
Jesus is ………………………….
(These are good discussion questions – it is best not to seek a ‘right’ answer.)
What Truth do you think Jesus is speaking about? Is there a difference between ‘truth’ and ‘the truth’?
Is it ever right to tell an untruth? Are stories in fiction untruths?
(For example, is it more true that a fictional character had a cup of tea than one cast a magic spell? One is at least possible. Or are they equally untrue? Or are we trying to use words that in these cases don’t make sense? Would we be better talking about the integrity of the story or narrative?)
Week 3:Reflection
I wonder – how do we keep in touch when our friends or family have to go away?
Gather ideas in
If we are sharing words, what sorts of things do we say?
If we are sharing pictures, what are they pictures of?
What do you want to hear from your friends?
Let’s pause for a moment to reflect on what we have said… / Prayer
Father God,
Help us to be grateful for our friends and everything that they share with us.
Guide us as we grow to make new friends who we can work with and share joy and sadness.
Amen
Laying the table