Marriage and Family

OBJECTIVE

The objective for this grade is to learn about the sacraments and how they impact our life as Christians in this world. We are seeking to teach children how the liturgy and the sacraments should be implemented in their lives so they understand why we carry out this ritual on a regular basis. This week's lesson will focus on marriage and family.

HOOK/INTRODUCTION - 10 Minutes

Review - Talk about the previous sacraments you covered.

Materials:

(2) Paper Plates
(20) coins (any denomination)
Sticky bandage roll or tape

Say: I want to show you all something, but I need your help to do a 10 second countdown when I tell you to.

(Take the two plates out and place the 20 coins on one plate) Explain to the kids, you will see how many coins you will move one by one from one plate to the next, using just your right hand. Have the children countdown from 10 to 1. While they countdown, you will move the coins. Count the coins you moved, after the 10 seconds, and keep track. Then, move all the coins back to one plate.

Tie your thumb down with a bandage roll or sticky tape, only leaving the other 4 fingers available to use. Then, have the children countdown from 10, and start moving the coins you have from one plate to the other using only the fingers you have left. Count the coins you moved, after the 10 seconds (it should be much less than the first round).

Say: What was the difference between this round and the last? The lack of "presence" of my thumb. Without my thumb, anything I tried to do on my own was very difficult and frustrating. That's the same thing with the presence of God in our life. When He is not present in our lives, in our marriage, in our family, consistently, everything just seems harder, more frustrating, almost impossible to do. We were not meant to live this life without God in it, guiding us personally everyday. When we get older and get married, and if God blesses us with children, we have to remember to always have God in our lives.

When these major changes happen in our lives, such as marriage or growing our family, if we don't have a sense of community with God, we can never build our own "small church" in our home.

Today we will continue talking about sacraments. This time, we'll be talking about the Sacrament of Marriage.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

Memory Verse: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 6:25)
"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh" (Ephesians 6:31)

CONTENT (Key Points) - 25 Minutes

Ask the students:

Do you know who the first people to get married were?
Has anyone ever attended a wedding?
What do you notice at the wedding?

When God created man (Adam), He saw that he was lonely and needed a mate, so He created Eve. The love of man and woman is made eternal by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Marriage.

Two will become one in Christ once they get married; Marriage is a mystery of the church that also shows us the great love Jesus has for the church

With God's grace and power the love between the husband and wife will grow and become stronger. The couple should always look to their marriage and love as Christ's love for the church.

The priest anoints the husband and wife with the Holy Oil. There are special prayers that happen at the wedding to pray for the Holy Spirit to come and unite the couple as it happened on the first wedding by God. There are also readings from the New Testament addressed to the bride and the groom on how they treat each other. There is also a reminder to both of them that what God has united no man should separate.

"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her."(Ephesians 6:22-25)

When Jesus came to earth, His first miracle was done at a wedding He attended with St. Mary & His disciples. He converted the water into wine (juice) as they ran out of it. This to show Jesus blessed the wedding and to say getting married has to be blessed by the Lord.

When the time is right, the husband and wife will have children. These children are a gift from God. The parents are fully responsible for their children and to raise them properly within the church.

The true meaning of a Christian Family is a small church.
The family should pray together, go to church together, read the bible together and always have open discussions together.
The family should always attend the Holy Liturgy weekly and partake of Holy Communion together
The family can only be united through Christ, the more the family brings Christ in between them the stronger the family will become to fight off the devil.
Doing service as a family is a great way to serve the Lord and this helps your family grow a deeper bond with one another.
Doing these selfless acts of helping others is a great blessing not just for the family but for those who you are serving.

LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes

You're all so young, why do you think it's important that we understand the sacrament of marriage? Because the sacrament helps us understand the way God has chosen for us to start a family, raise children and continue the church until His second coming. God unites two adults into one. A Christian family should be built on the love of Christ who is the source of all good things.

When I attend a wedding of two adults in the church I see the blessing of God in our lives and thank him for my father and my mother who brought me to life, care for me, and still protect me.

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 5 Minutes

Review the sacraments covered so far with the class. Review main points from the lesson. Ask each child to draw one thing they learned from the lesson on a half sheet of paper.

ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes

Have the children create two rings with the pipe cleaners. Explain that the rings represent an unbroken circle because marriage is not intended to ever be broken.

SERVANT RESOURCES

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Today we discussed the sacrament of marriage. We talked about the responsibilities in a marriage, why marriage is important and the reason people get married. We discussed some verses but it may be worthwhile to review the following: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her." Ephesians 6:25