Obedience in Spirituality

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the Orthodox Spirituality Module is to teach the fundamentals of what it means to be an Orthodox Christian. In first grade, the lessons focus on obedience in the children's lives, prayer, church, and spirituality. Obedience helps grow the spiritual lives of people, therefore, children need to understand the importance of it in regards to their spiritual lives. In this particular lesson, students will learn the different practices we are to do as Orthodox Christians and the reasoning of why we should obey in order to grow in our spiritual lives.

INTRODUCTION - 5 Minutes

Being Orthodox Christian is not the easiest task. There are many things we should do in order to get close to God and grow in our spiritual lives.

First, what does spiritual life mean?

• A life we live in order to grow in our relationship with God.
• It means to be in union with God.
  • "A spiritual person is one who purifies himself of all worlds and moral defects in order to be united with the love of Christ" (An Introduction to Orthodox Spirituality).

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

"If you love Me, keep my commandments" John 14:15

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 15 Minutes

Ways we can grow closer to God and build our spiritual lives include:

• Consistent prayer
• Daily Christian living (doing good deeds, being kind to people, etc.)
• We must strive to be Christ-like and committed to God.
• Going to church
• Taking Communion
  • Christ said, "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you." We must frequently go to church to take communion and pray to God. We unite with God when we take Communion.
• Reading the Bible

Doing these things on a regular basis requires a lot of obedience, self-discipline, and commitment. We may not feel like we want to do these things because we may feel tired or want to do other things. But we must work through the lack of motivation because we must always strive to get closer to God and grow in our spiritual life. Our ultimate goal is to get to Heaven and be with God and that is the most important out of anything else.

When we obey, we should obey because we know that is the right thing, not JUST because our parents said so. We should know from our hearts that it is the right thing to do.

• Obedience Shows That You Believe
  • 1 Samuel 15:22 says, "to obey is better than sacrifice." God is trying to teach the Israelites that He wants them to obey more that He wants them to pay through their sins through sacrifice. When we obey God, we are showing Him that we have faith in Him. He forgives us for our sins, however He would prefer we obey Him in the first place.
• Obedience Shows Love
  • "If you love Me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). When we obey God, we show Him we love Him.

St. Mary gives us a great example of obedience to God. When the angel, Gabriel, came to tell St. Mary that she was going to be the Mother of God, she obeyed. She did not say no or say the angel was wrong. Of course, she was confused and asked questions, but she still obeyed and remained humble.

APPLICATION/ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes

Children will make a cross that folds into a cube (please see printable activities). Have students write one action item they need to do in order to work/grow in their spirituality in each box on the outside of the cube (they should have 6 action items total). For example, in one box they would write "prayer," while in another box they would write "attend church." Then, they can color and decorate around the words. The servant can provide cross stickers or other items they could decorate with. Help them cut and tape the paper to make a cube. Have students share their cubes with one another.

RESOURCES

• Bishop Youannis's book on obedience
• Pope Shenouda's book The Spiritual Man chapter on obedience
• Paradise of the Fathers on Obedience

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Parents, this is a great article on teaching obedience to your children. Today, we talked about obedience in our spiritual lives and the different things we have to do to work on our spirituality as Orthodox Christians.

LESSON ATTACHMENTS