Christ s Abiding Presence

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Session 8 Scripture John 21:1-19 Christ s Abiding Presence session essentials The risen Jesus reveals himself to his disciples, helps them in their work, and points the way toward future mission.

1 Session 8 Scripture John 21:1-19 Christ s Abiding Presence session essentials The risen Jesus reveals himself to his disciples, helps them in their work, and points the way toward future mission. The risen Jesus helps the disciples fill their nets with fish; he then shares a meal with them, and reiterates the need to serve others. Jesus is with us in the midst of our ordinary, daily lives, both helping us and asking us to help others. Through sharing and serving, we recall Jesus abiding presence. Core Session (p. 54) Getting Started (snacks, plates, napkins, knives) Gospel Story Activity Praying Together Enrichment (p. 55) Music Snapshots of the Soul (booklets made in Session 7, optional: compass or round objects to trace) Fish Symbol (trays of sand or salt, modeling clay, washable markers, Fish Symbol [online]) Anna s Story (Anna s Story [online]) Butterflies (glitter) Children and the Gospel What You ll Find Online Helps for Leaders (p. 57) More About Today s Scriptures Reflection Using Visual Arts, Part 1 The World of the Bible: Sanhedrin and Sadducees 53

2 core session Getting Started (10-15 minutes) Begin with the Easter greeting: Leader: Alleluia! Christ is risen! Group: The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Because today s gospel is about both being served and serving others, invite participants into a cooperative snack game. Make available such options as bread, muffins, crackers, cream cheese, jelly, peanut butter, knives and orange juice. Explain: All these food items are available to fix a snack, but you may only eat what someone else serves you. You may not tell or ask someone to serve you. You may answer questions such as: Do you want a cracker? Would you like some juice? You may answer only with yes or no. Allow 5-10 minutes for this activity, then invite participants to serve themselves anything they haven t been offered. As they finish their snacks, discuss: Was it harder to serve or to be served? Which would you rather do? Why? Share a time in the past week when you served someone or did something nice for someone. Share a time in the last week when someone served you or did something nice for you. Gospel Story (5 minutes) Going Fishing Story Focus: Use the Golden Fishes in the Dark Sea from the Session Companion Visuals for Adult/High School as a visual focus for today s story. Jesus had died. Jesus had risen. Jesus had shown himself to his friends. Then Jesus had gone away. One evening Peter said, I m going fishing. We will come with you, said Peter s friends. They climbed into a boat and rowed out onto the water. They fished all night but caught nothing. As the sun rose, they saw a man standing at the water s edge. He said, Haven t you caught anything? Not a thing, they said. enhance your core session Then the man said, Throw your net out on the right side of the boat you ll catch some fish! Peter and his friends threw out the net. Fish! So many fish they could hardly hold onto the net. The friends looked again at the man on shore. It s Jesus! they said. Jesus! cried Peter. My teacher! My best friend! He jumped right into the water and swam ashore. There was Jesus, building a fire on the sand. Peter! he laughed. Come and eat! The others rowed to shore, pulling the net full of fish. Jesus cooked some fish and gave it to his friends with bread. It s really Jesus! the friends whispered, between bites of bread and fish. Jesus is alive and with us again! After they finished breakfast, Jesus turned to Peter and asked him, three times Do you love me? and each time Peter said, Of course I love you! You know I love you! So Jesus said, Feed my sheep; take care of my people. If you love me, show it by loving and serving others. Activity (10-15 minutes) Divide into groups of 3-5. Ask each group to imagine a meal they might share with Jesus: Where would you be? Who would be there? What would you eat? What would you like to talk about with Jesus? What would you like to have happen at the meal? Encourage groups to draw a picture of this meal and to imagine the conversation. Invite volunteers from each group to share their ideas and their drawing. Praying Together (5 minutes) Invite a volunteer to light the candle. Pray: Jesus, thank you for being with your friends long ago, for helping them and challenging them and loving them. Thank you for being with us, too, even when we are busy and tired and nothing seems to be going right. Help us to be open to your presence, to welcome your help, and to know your love. Help us to serve others in your name. Amen. 54

3 with your enrichment activities Music (5-10 minutes) From Singing the Good News, sing together: It s a Miracle (p. 6 of the songbook, track 2 of the CD) Season of Victory (p. 41 of the songbook, track 11 of the CD) Snapshots of the Soul (10-15 minutes) Activity Soundtrack: Hayden s Finale: Allegro (track 5 of the Session Companion Audio CD). Pass out the booklets created in Session 7 (p. 49). (If necessary, create new booklets for new participants.) Ask participants to draw a big circle that takes up most of a page in their booklets. Provide a compass or a round object such as a mug or a coaster for those who like to draw perfect circles. Say: Close your eyes and take a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Take two more deep breaths, exhaling slowly each time. Let yourself be still. Listen as I ask for God s presence: Loving God, help us to be still and to know that you are with us. Help us to know ourselves in the light of your love. After another moment of silence, invite participants to fill their circle with whatever images or shapes or colors come to mind, that is, to draw a snapshot of their souls. As participants finish, suggest that they look at what they ve drawn to see if they can come up with a title for it. Invite volunteers to share their drawings and titles. Collect booklets to use in future sessions. Fish Symbol (15-20 minutes) Before the session print the Fish Symbol found in the Weekly Resources section of the Living the Good News Online Support Site. In the session display the Fish Symbol and explain: The symbol of the fish was used by early Christians to identify themselves as followers of Jesus. Today we read about the huge catch of 153 fish. We ve heard before about the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and how Jesus asked his followers to be fishers of people. In the early years of the church, the first friends of Jesus used the fish as a secret symbol. If strangers met, and one drew the symbol on the ground, you would know that person was a Christian. Sometimes, one person would draw just the upper curved line of the fish to see if the other person would complete the symbol. Give each participant an index card and a bright marker and asking them to draw just the upper curved line of the Fish Symbol, from nose to tail. Then have participants pass their cards one person to the left. That person completes the symbol. Collect and save the cards.. Provide multiple ways to make fish shapes: Provide trays or pans of sand or salt in which to make the shape of a fish using the index finger. Offer modeling clay to roll out narrow 8"-10" rolls of clay that can then be curved into fish shapes. Have paper and drawing materials available for participants who would prefer to draw their fish. They can decorate their fish-shapes however they like. Provide washable markers for participants to draw a fish symbol on the back of each other s hands. Once everyone has created several fish in whatever media they choose, count up all the fish, starting with the index cards. Compare the total number with the 153 fish that the disciples caught. Display all the fish. Anna s Story (5-10 minutes) Before the session print Anna s Story, found in the Weekly Resources section of the Living the Good News Online Support Site. In the session, read the story. Invite participants to respond. enrichment 55

4 enrichment Butterflies (5-10 minutes) Activity Soundtrack: Hayden s Finale: Allegro (track 5 of the Session Companion Audio CD). Discuss: What is a caterpillar? What happens to caterpillars? (They entomb themselves in cocoons, only later emerging as butterflies.) What seemed dry and dead becomes something beautiful! The butterfly an important symbol for the early Church still represents Jesus resurrection. Provide index cards, drawing material, glue sticks and glitter. Invite participants to create pictures of butterflies on their cards. Ask them to use rolled up pieces of masking tape to tape their butterflies to the wall. Close the activity by reminding everyone: That night when the disciples were fishing, they had no luck. Everything seemed hard and hopeless. Then, at dawn, Jesus appeared, not only helping them with their work, but feeding them breakfast on the beach. The resurrection assures us that Jesus is with us, day by day, in all that we do. Even when we feel pretty discouraged about things, this resurrection story reminds us that our lives, like the butterfly s, can change. Children and the Gospel After a long night of empty nets, the fishermen spy a man on shore. He calls to them to cast their net over the right side of the boat. Suddenly the net is bursting with fish. Impetuous Peter, recognizing the man to be the risen Lord, jumps out and swims to shore. Like Peter, contemporary Christians are called to recognize Jesus. Our call is to seek and serve Christ in all persons. If you looked into a difficult child s face and saw the face of Jesus, how might you conduct your Christian education session differently? think over what is being taught? Does this child need activity, and lots of it? Does this child get frustrated when working alone on challenging art projects? Keep a journal of moments when the child seems fully engaged and relaxed. Use your observations to incorporate activities that this child will enjoy into each session. Through casual conversation, learn what special interests the child has outside the Christian education session. Find ways to include these interests during the session. For example, one child may want to bring her pet turtle to the session. Another child may want to show others a complicated dance he has invented. Note: For more information on today s scriptures, see page 57 or the Weekly Resources section of the Living the Good News Online Support Site. What You ll Find Online at Click Weekly Resources, then April 18 for: Printable Scripture Backgrounds for today s readings. Information on this week s Model of Faith, Anselm of Canterbury, remembered April 21. A printable document titled Anna s Story, to use in the optional activity of the same name. A reproducible Fish Symbol to use in the activity of the same name. An optional activity titled To Love and Serve. Click on Seasonal Resources to find: A printable handout on The Book of Revelation. A printable handout on Keeping Easter in your household. A printable handout on The Gospel of John. A PowerPoint Presentation on Why Use Lectionary-Based Faith Formation? for leaders and older participants. Some leaders have found these ideas useful in working with difficult children: Try to understand the child s preferred learning style. Does this child want plenty of time alone, to 56

5 More about Today s Scriptures Today s readings invite us to consider the meaning of Jesus presence with us. In the story from Acts, the apostles, empowered by the Spirit of Jesus, preach the gospel despite persecution. John, in his Revelation, describes how being in the presence of Jesus, the enthroned Lamb of God, moves all of creation to bless and praise. In today s gospel story, Jesus, in another postresurrection appearance, provides an abundant catch of fish for his disciples. Acts 9:1-6 (7-20) The fact that the story of Paul s conversion is repeated twice more with minor variations in 22:4-16 and 26:9-18 indicates Every Christian community must know that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Luke s sense of the importance of this event for the history of the early Church. The account not only serves to authenticate Paul s apostleship, but also shows that the mission to the Gentiles was divinely ordained. Luke uses a number of terms to describe Christians: here they are called disciples, those who belonged to the Way (an Old Testament way to describe the moral demands of the covenant), saints, and those who invoke your name. Paul s persecution of the community is persecution of Jesus himself. Blinded by the light, Paul is led helpless to Damascus and revealed to the community as God s chosen instrument or vessel. Revelation 5:11-14 Today s reading comes from the beginning of the major section of Revelation, that of the scroll with seven seals (4:1 19:10). The scene continues John s vision of God enthroned in the heavenly court. To God as the Creator, the four creatures and the elders sing praise. God is holding a scroll with seven seals, which contains the whole of God s redemptive plan, not only revealed but made effective by the Lamb. The Lamb, as the divine/human agent, is the only one who can open it. helps All creation joins in the hymn of praise, for the whole universe is already reconciled to God. The royal and priestly task of the Church is to make known that fact. Its success is already anticipated in the final Amen. John 21:1-19 Today s reading is from chapter 21, which is regarded by most scholars as an epilogue to the gospel, added either by the evangelist himself or by an editor-disciple. The helplessness of the disciples on their own is transformed by the power of the risen Lord and their obedience to him. They are scarcely able to haul in the net (the same word is used for drawing persons to Jesus in 6:44 and 12:32) because of the size of the catch. (The precise symbolic meaning of the number 153 is unclear; it probably indicates in some way the breadth or universality of the Christian mission.) The meal is described in terms harking back to the multiplication of loaves (6:11). The standard early pictorial symbol for the Eucharist was bread and fish, rather than bread and wine. Nourished by the Eucharist, Christians are to become missionary fishers of people. Reflection for they knew it was the Lord. One theme that flows through today s gospel is recognition. When the catch of fish is larger than the disciples can pull in, John tells Peter, It is the Lord. After the meal, no one asks who the stranger on the shore is; all know it is Jesus. How often do we recognize Jesus in our midst? Or do we bumble more often, who are you? Most of us are more inclined to know Jesus in the accustomed places: the sacraments, the harmonious family meals, the beautiful sunsets. Yet the challenge to the disciples is also ours: to know him in an unexpected place (a lake) under disappointing circumstances (no fish). Yet he has not changed from the person he was before his crucifixion. He speaks with the same tenderness when he invites his friends, come and eat your meal. He looks out for them with the same care when he fills their nets. He overturns nature s laws at sea with the same intensity as he called Lazarus from the tomb. This leads us to think that maybe the difficulty with recognition isn t Jesus problem: it could be ours. for leaders 57

6 for leaders helps Using Visual Arts, Part 1 by Sue Awsumb-Conn Art is a wonderful means of expression, a unique way of communicating to the world what is within each of us. Our society does not give enough opportunities to create art, as it is handed to us daily by TV, billboards, magazines, computers, etc. Yet God gives us the imagination to create splendid things if we take the opportunity to do so. We must take the time, then, to expand our minds, see what other artists have done, talk about art and try it ourselves. Teaching art to children is easy yes, chaotic and messy sometimes but easy. Children see the world in a special way, without hesitancy or fear of judgment by others. When teaching children to make art, we must invite them to enjoy the process and to think of themselves as artists, expressing their feelings about a subject. Keeping the comfort zone for making creative things should be a lifelong process. Several important ways to keep the comfort zone of visual arts intact are by sketching, learning from other artists and knowing that every piece is a learning experience. Sketching Sketching is a fine way to learn how to see the world, as well as to practice copying lines, shapes and colors. All artists use sketching in some way to record and plan future art. They also use this technique to try to understand the world How important are the visual arts in our society? I feel strongly that the visual arts are of vast and incalculable importance. Of course I could be prejudiced. I am a visual art. Kermit the Frog muppet around them. Begin the sketching process by creating a book with blank pages and designing a cover. The easiest way to bind a book is to provide pages of copy paper, per person, punching holes with a 3-hole punch and using yarn or ribbon to bind together. Countless bookbinding texts are available at your local bookstore for more creative and exciting sketchbooks. Viewing Art Learning from other artists is an excellent way to see the world with a different eye, to see what others have imagined before. Participants can observe the wonder of landscapes, stories and images that are considered masterpieces. From these, they can see that a painting or sculpture isn t magic, but a well-thought out plan of line, shape, texture, color, value, space and form the elements of design (for more on these elements, see p. 40). Paintings are often composed of warm vs. cool colors (red, orange, yellow vs. blue, green, violet) as well as carefully placed brushstrokes to make the fantastic textures of the objects in the painting. (cont. on p. 64) The World of the Bible Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (from the Greek word for a council) was the official group of Jewish leaders in Jerusalem that functioned both as a court to decide cases and to determine disputed points of the Law. Because religious and political concerns were not separate in the biblical world, the council dealt with both political and religious matters. Although its exact make-up is hard to determine, at the time of Jesus its members included representatives of all the various Jewish parties the Sadducees, Pharisees, priests, scribes and elders of the chief families and worked closely with the High Priest as is evident both in Jesus trial and in the trials of the apostles (Acts 4 and 5). Sadducees The Sadducees were a small religious group or party within Judaism. Drawn from the priestly and higher social classes, they were conservative in both politics and religion. Accepting as scripture only the written Law, they rejected the Pharisees adoption of unwritten traditions as authoritative. They urged peaceful collaboration with the Romans because of their concern for the temple as the religious and financial center for Judaism and so were often accused of undesirable compromises in order to retain their power. The Sadducees disappeared as a group in AD 70 when Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans and the temple destroyed. 58

Christ s Abiding Presence

Session 8 Scripture John 21:1-14 Christ s Abiding Presence session essentials The risen Jesus appears to his disciples after they spend a night trying to catch fish. When the disciples fail to catch fish