LEARNING FOCUS 5: Jesus wants us to love one another.

Jesus would have gone to the synagogue, every week on the Sabbath (Shabbat).  He would have listened to readings from the Scriptures and sung psalms.  On three special occasions each year, it is possible he would have journeyed to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts that highlight the Jewish Year.

As the people travelled along, they often sang to keep themselves cheerful and pass the time, but each day, at particular times, they sang their prayers in preparation for the feast they were going to celebrate.  These ‘song-prayers’ are called psalms and we still sing these Jewish prayers today.  Perhaps you can try to remember the next time you say or sing a psalm that these psalms are the very same prayers that Jesus himself used to pray.

There were particular psalms that people used on the way to feasts in Jerusalem, they were called foot psalms or pilgrimage psalms, as they were said as people went on foot to Jerusalem.

There were particular psalms for each stage of the journey, looking forward to the moment when they would catch sight of the beautiful Temple as they came over the hill.

One particular psalm expressed the great joy of the pilgrim standing inside the Temple in God’s presence:

‘I rejoiced when I heard them say: “Let us go to God’s house”.

And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.’

Psalm 122

Answers these questions and complete the activity in your home learning book

1. Are there any songs you sing when you are travelling with the school or your family?
2. How do you think the Jewish people felt when they first saw the Temple in Jerusalem?  Remember they didn’t have televisions or cameras in those days, so they would not know what it would look like until they saw it.
3. What do you think the journey was like in Jesus’ time?  Why do you think it would help to sing the psalms?

Activities

1. Read Psalm 122 in God’s Story 3 page 42 and say what you think it means and how you could apply it in your life.  Rewrite the psalm, to describe and give reasons for the actions and roles of Christians. 
2. Write your own psalm for a journey to a special place of worship and begin to make links to the pilgrimage psalms.

LEARNING FOCUS 6: The Christian’s life journey of prayer.

Christians believe that life is God’s gift and that everything in life reflects God’s love.  The presence of God the Creator, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit is in the everyday life of Christians.

Prayer is therefore an important part of Christian life.  This includes regular prayers, going to church every week to worship God and celebrating all the major events in life, including birth, marriage and death.  Many people pray when they wake in the morning and before they go to sleep at night and at other times during the day.  Christians thank God for their food by saying grace before and after meals.  We can pray for one another, for special occasions, if someone is ill or in difficulty, or at joyful times like the birth of a new baby, a wedding etc.

When Christians come together for Mass or special services, there are ‘formal’ prayers which they say together such as the ‘Our Father’ or the ‘Glory to God’.  There are also set responses to prayers which people make together.  Through prayer Christians talk to God and they develop their relationship with God.  In quiet prayer the Holy Spirit speaks in a person’s heart and prompts them to follow the example of Jesus’ journey on earth in his love and care of others.  Prayer leads to good actions.

Answers these questions and complete the activity in your home learning book

1. Why is prayer important in Christian life?
2. What prayers do you say at home and in school?
3. What are your favourite prayers and why?
4. What helps you to pray?
5. How can we help others with our prayers?
6. What does prayer lead you to do?

Activity

Make a table with 3 columns, showing the prayers which are prayed in school, the time of day they are prayed and why.