What is Liturgy

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this lesson is for the kindergarteners to know and love the church (God's house), and know the origin of the Divine Liturgy and the importance of following our Lord's example.

INTRODUCTION & HOOKS - 10 Minute

Watch the video

(Lesson slides attached below)

Ask the children the following questions:

What is the church? ( answer: house of God)
Why do we come to church? (answer: to pray)
Can we pray at home? ( answer: Yes, but at church we meet God in His house, and eat His Body & Drink His blood)
We need to prepare ourselves to come to church, pray the liturgy together and take the Body & Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sing Sons of God with your kindergarteners. Find lyrics here.

After, discuss what the certain terms in the song mean:

What is "the table of the Lord"? (answer: the altar)
Where is the altar? (answer: all the way at the end of the church)
What does it mean to "eat His Body" and "drink His Blood"? (answer: take the Holy Communion)

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 10 Minutes

Read the story of the Last Supper in Mark 14:12-26.

Memory Verse
"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." Mark 14:22

ABOUT THE CHURCH & THE LITURGY - 10 Minutes

Why Do We Come to Church?

We have friends and maybe cousins we like to play with. Don't we ask our parents to go and visit them?
It's the same way with God. God loves us and I'm sure all of you love Him as well. That's why we go to His house. To be with Him, thank Him for everything He gives us and also most important to take the Holy Communion.

Why Do We Have Liturgies?

The liturgy is made out of several prayers and readings. There are many prayers we pray together. Abouna starts by thanking God for all the things He is giving us and we pray with him. Then, Abouna prays for the sick people, the traveling, the ones who went to heaven. So, we pray with him. Then Abouna prays special prayers to ask the Holy Spirit to come down into the bread and wine to become the Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then Abouna honors and remembers our saints and we pray with him. Also if you have any special thing you want to ask God for, you should do that during the liturgy prayers.
Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to do Liturgy on the night before His Crucifixion, Great Thursday
He taught us step-by-step how to have Holy Communion, we even repeat the same words Jesus told His disciples during the liturgy (from the gospel of Saint Matthew 26:26-28 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26) during the Liturgy.

The Divine Liturgy of the Eucharist

Our Lord loves us and gives us every good thing, so we rejoice in the gift of the Holy Communion. Because the Lord first loved us, we can share in that love with Him through the Liturgy.
A sacrament is a mystery of the Church, where the Holy Spirit changes the earthly and makes it heavenly, in order to bring us closer to God
- The 7 sacraments of the Church are: Baptism, Chrismation (Myron), Confession, Communion, Marriage, Priesthood, Unction of the Sick
The Liturgy (Communion) is one of the seven sacraments of the church
We ask the Holy Spirit changes in the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
Our Heavenly Father gave us this gift so that He could live in us and we live in Him (visualize a glass of water, within a pitcher of water: we are the glass both full of water and in water)

How do we prepare for Entering the House of God and praying the Liturgy?

There are three Ps we need to remember and do to be closer to God and be happy with His presence in the church. These Ps are: Preparation, Participation and Prayer

Preparation

Vesper prayer and Midnight Praises the night before
Prepare our clothes we will wear to church before going to bed on Saturday
Waking up early and getting ready quickly
Verse upon entering the Church: "But as for me, in the fullness of Your mercy I will come into Your house; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple." Psalm 5:8

Participation

Our behavior inside the church is very important. We need to respect the House of God. Stay next to our parents and do not run around the church.
Sing the response hymns with the outside deacons, and whenever you find your mind off track, just refocus and keep trying.

Prayer

PRAY with your whole body: stand on your feet as much as you can, follow in the book with your eyes and finger, speak to our Lord with the words in the book, sing the hymns with the outside deacons, and whenever you find your mind off track, just refocus and keep trying.
Remember to pray your special prayers during the liturgy, especially if someone is sick in your family you should remember to pray for him or her. Or if you have a certain request of God like for example help you to be an honest person, or teach how to pray ask God and He is listening to you.

Repeat and Review the Memory Verse

"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." Mark 14:22

APPLICATION (Action) - 10 Minutes

Tour the Church with your kindergarteners:

Model metanias and the praying the verse upon entering the Church
Point out the icons and what can be read in each one, the icons are there because the Saints pray the Liturgy with us as One Body in Christ together
Point out the Last Supper icon above the altar, discuss how the Church is guiding us to connect the Lord's instructions to us on that night to what we do in Church.
Ask the kids what they see and extrapolate on their observations If copies of the Last Supper icons are available, it would be great to send home with the children to add to their prayer space at home.

SERVANT RESOURCES

There are two Liturgy books available that have been published for children, check out your Church bookstore. There is a blue or orange one from the Connecticut church and a yellow one from the DC church.
Fr Bishoy Kamel, The Divine Liturgy: A Company with Heaven
Liturgy, Agpeya, and Praises booklet from the Southern Diocese Servant's Preparation program:
Download the Last Supper Coloring pages as an alternative activity below

COPTUNES+ VIDEO

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Add the Last Supper icon to your prayer space at home and discuss the importance of the Liturgy in your family. Try to come early to Church with your kindergarteners and follow in the book with them. You can encourage them by helping them pick out their best clothes the night before and set an alarm to get up on time.

After class, check with your child the drawing of the church they made in class and what they liked about it. Also ask them what are the 3Ps they should do to have a great time at church (Preparation, Participation, Prayer).