Purity

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the spirituality module is to teach the children how Christian spirituality should be implemented in their lives. Every week of this module it will focus on spirituality in different ways in their lives: Week 1 -- Repentance, Week 2 -- Confession, Week 3 -- Peace, Week 4 -- Purity. Week 5 is the capstone week to review.

INTRODUCTION - 5 Minutes

Explain to the students that the Oxford Dictionary tells us that the word purity means "the state of being clean without evil or sin; unmixed with any other substance or thing."

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

"Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God." Matthew 5:8

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 10 Minutes

Remind the students when you talked about Repentance and Confession
Both Repentance and Confession are the beginning steps of becoming pure
In order for us to be pure in heart we have to be free of anything that dirties our heart
Our hearts have to be focused on one thing and one thing alone and that's pleasing God
Maybe we have one particular sin that just continues to haunt us, maybe it's lying to our parents, or being mean to other kids, etc... and that one sin could be what's holding us back from having that pure heart
If you don't have a sin that's hindering you from having a pure heart, then maybe it's your intentions or thoughts
Maybe you are doing good things, but only just to get praise from people or a reward
Or maybe you're being forced to help and not really happy about doing something good for others and you are complaining the whole time your mom or dad tell you to do something
All these different things can really dirty our hearts and keep them from becoming pure for God
Pope Shenouda III, said in his book The Life of Repentance and Purity: "Perfect purity is purity from every sin, in all its images and types, whether by deed, or by thought, or by senses, or by feelings of the heart, or by falls of the tongue; whether in the relationship with God, or with people, or with the self. It is comprehensive purity, not merely liberation from a certain sin which used to afflict you."

ACTIVITY - 5 Minutes

Have the children the servant do the following activity to better understand purity:

Take a sealed bottle of water. Show the children that it's still completely sealed. Now open the bottle and take a few sips of that water, the water is pure and clean and good for us to drink. Now put the water bottle down and without speaking add a few spoons of sand to the water bottle that you were just drinking from. After closing the lid, give the bottle a good shake. Now ask the kids if the water is safe for you to drink from? Is it still pure water? Talk about how a little dirt ruined the whole water bottle and it is no longer pure.

Explain that the water is like our hearts, and the sand is like sin. When we sin, we make our hearts impure and we must confess and repent in order to become pure again.

See alternate activity sheet.

APPLICATION (Action) - 10 Minutes

Our challenge this week is to do a check up on our hearts and ask God to help you purify your hearts so you can really see Him clearly.

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Pray the Agpeya together and try and memorize Psalm 50(51) as a family.

"Have Mercy upon me, O God, according to Your great mercy; and according to the multitude of Your compassion blot out my iniquity. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin..."