Year 5

Prayers Saints and Feasts.

Jesus and Prayer

1

Called to beA People of Hope

Possible Outcomes

Working towards Age Related outcomes

Make at least one link between the Lord’s Prayer and Scripture AT1 To know at least one scripture story Jesus taught about prayer AT1 To be able to give at least one way the ‘Our Father’ might affect your life if you are a

Christian AT2

Age Related Outcomes

Make Links between the Lord’s Prayer and scripture in order to show understanding of the prayer AT1

To show understanding of Jesus’ view of prayer by making links to various scripture stories AT1

To compare their own and other people’s views to the question ‘If you are a Christian, should praying the Our Father, change the way you live?’ AT2

Working in greater Depth

Show understanding of the meaning of the Our Father AT1(in this case, after the dialogue exercise, they would write an essay type piece on the meaning of the prayer.) Ask them to take the prayer section by section and explain the meaning.

Be able to discuss the question ‘You should not say prayers unless you agree with the meaning’ using appropriate sources AT3

Additional Tasks to support Outcomes

Engage

As pupils, which Christian prayer do they think is said most often? If you can watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlBK97Q4Ae8 This is a group of very young children saying the Our Father. (Note this is American – you will need to explain that they use slightly different words) or alternatively record your reception or year 1 children saying the Prayer. Explain that this is the most common prayer said by Christians. Give out copies of the Our Father. Ask the pupils in pairs to highlight or underline what they think is the most important line of the prayer. Explain their reasons to others.

Ask the question ‘do we ever think about the meaning of prayers?’ Do the dialogue on the Our Father. (attached) (Note there is a further thought here about why we call God Father - God is God neither male nor female. This however might only be

2

for those children who ask the question in the first place). How does the dialogue help us understand the prayer?

Explore and Express

Use the sheet, with scripture references on, to further understanding of the prayer. After doing this in order to show understanding they create their own art work, showing their understanding of the prayer.

This next section explores the role of prayer in the life of Jesus and what Jesus taught about prayer. Make sure you have read these passages yourself first. One way might be to divide the class into groups and have each group look up the reference and then report back saying what the story is and what they think it means. Scripture passages could be the following (there are more):

1. Luke 6:12–13 Jesus goes to pray before choosing his disciples. It is important to ask God for guidance when making important decisions.

2. Mk 1: 35-36 Jesus goes off early to pray by himself. Sometimes it is important to have space and time to talk to God on your own.

3. Lk 23: 34 Jesus prays Father forgive them on the cross. Jesus thought it important to pray and to keep on trying to do God’s will even when life is really difficult and bad things are happening

4. Lk11: 5-8 This is a story Jesus told about prayer. It means don’t give up God always hears us

5. Matthew 7:9-11 Again a story that reminds us that God always gives us what is good for us. (this may not be what we think we want!)

Having discussed the passages and talked through their meaning create a summary piece about Jesus and Prayer. There is a template attached. You could, for some pupils, use the sheet with the image of Jesus on and ask them to write key beliefs about prayer, that we learn from Jesus.

3

The Our Father Dialogue

Our Father who art in heaven ...' Yes? Don't interrupt me. I'm praying. But you called me. Called you? I didn't call you. I'm praying. "Our Father who art in heaven..." There you did it again. Did what? Called me. You said, "Our Father who art in heaven. " Here I am... What's on your mind? But I didn't mean anything by it. I was, you know, just saying my prayers for the day. I always say the Lord's Prayer. It’s what we do. We never think about it!Well maybe you should. Carry on

"Hallowed be thy name..." Hold it. What do you mean by that? By what? By "hallowed be thy name"? It means... how am I supposed to know that? We just say prayers. Go on then what does it mean?It means honoured, holy, wonderful. Hey, that makes sense. I never thought about what "hallowed" meant before.

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Do you really mean that? Mean what?Mean thy kingdom comeI don’t know I never had to think about it before. I guess it means we want things to be in the way you want. I guess that would be okWell if you mean it, what are you doing about it? Me doing? Nothing. Be reasonable. How is my Kingdom ever going to come about if you and all the other people who pray don’t do anything about it? But that would mean I couldn’t just say the words. I would have to do stuff. Change maybe. Help others or stuff like that. I thought prayer was just – I’m not sure what I thought but, I didn’t think it meant anything! Does nobody teach you anything these days! If you are serious about prayer then you have to try to mean the words. Keep going I can’t wait to see what happens next.

4

"Give us this day, our daily bread." So what does that mean?Bread is like a basic food. Something you need to survive. You are asking for God’s help in giving you what you need to survive this day. I guess that makes sense.

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." So do you forgive others?I knew it! I knew you would say that. I forgive people when they say sorry but sometimes you just can’t forgive someone. You have to get your own back or make them payBut your prayer? What about your prayer? I didn't mean it. Well, at least you're admitting it. But should you be saying it if you don’t mean it?I never thought about it before. I mean everyone says it, it’s just words. I never really thought you take any notice!

Look, I know it’s difficult but, prayer is about trying to get closer to me. If you let me I will help you become the person you are meant to be. I don’t expect you to do it on your own. Things like forgiveness don’t come easy but, just make a start. Ask me to help you forgive people, especially where it’s difficult. After all I will always forgive you, no matter what you do.Ok I guess I can do that.Good do you want to finish the prayer?

Oh, all right. "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Good! I'll do that. However, you have to help me a bit - don’t hang out with people you know want you to do the wrong thing. When you respond to something try to think about what Jesus would do.

Amen

That means yes I believe what’s been said. If you do well, together we really will let our lights shine and change the world.

5

Our Father, Who art in heavenHallowed be Thy Name;

Thy kingdom come,Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day, our daily bread,and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Create a poem or a piece of art work called ‘Living out the Our Father’

6

Where does this prayer come from? Look up Luke 11:1-4

Who taught this prayer?

When did Jesus pray ‘thy will be done?’ Where was he? Was it easy for him to pray this? Was it what he wanted? Is it easy for us to pray this? Look up MT 26: 39

How do we know what God’s will is? Can you give two examples of things you think are God’s will? Try looking up. MT19:21, MT7:1, MT5: 43-44

Trespasses means the things we deliberately do wrong. What did Jesus say about forgiveness? Try looking up MT 18: 21-22

The meaning of the ‘Our Father’ (an exemplar)

Our Father, who art in heaven,

(Father describes our relationship with God rather than God being male, the word Jesus uses is a very intimate one, God isn’t just creator now far away but, involved with us in a loving relationship. Where do you see heaven? Gospel says whoever lives in love lives in God)

Hallowed be thy name. (Prayer starts with praise)

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

(This is important we pray that what God wants, not what we want, will happen. The Gospel describes the kingdom of God; look at the beatitudes for example or the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Do we realise what we are praying for? You have to also ask the question, what are you doing about it! How do your actions bring about God’s Kingdom?)

Give us this day our daily bread.

(Bread is the basic food we need to live so we are praying here for all our needs. Jesus is also referred to as ‘the Bread of life’ and when Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt they were fed mana in the desert)

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

(We ask for God’s forgiveness for things we have done wrong but we also say that we will forgive others. There are no limits on this forgiveness and it doesn’t make exceptions!)

And lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from evil. Amen.

(We are asking that, with God’s help, we will make the right choices and not make choices and decisions that lead us away from God.)

7

The Gospels help us understand what Jesus believed and taught about prayer. I think the 4 most important things we learn are: (For each point you put down you must refer to the Gospels)

8

9