P a g e 1 Kingdom of God
P a g e 2 KINGDOM OF GOD And he said to them, Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation. With these words Jesus turned his group of followers into a Church whose main task was to spread the Good News (Gospel) to the whole world. One of the main things his followers felt they needed to do was to build up the KINGDOM OF GOD here on earth. Key Ideas: The Kingdom of God is not a place The Kingdom of God is found in the goodness of people s hearts and by following God s love Jesus parables and miracles were the first signs that the Kingdom of God had come. Starter Task: Imagine that you are in the position of ruling your own kingdom. You have absolute power: any law that you pass has to be kept by everyone in the kingdom.or else! Have a think, and write down the first laws that you would put in place Which laws were best for the kingdom? What, if anything, did they have in common? Is there any link between what we have found here and our Key Ideas?
P a g e 3 KINGDOM OF GOD In the gospels, Jesus gives us more insights into the Kingdom of God. Matthew 7: 21 Matthew 10: 26 27 Matthew 10: 28 31 Matthew 10: 32 33 Matthew 13: 4 9 Matthew 13: 31-32 Matthew 13: 33 Matthew 13: 44 46 Matthew 13: 47 49
P a g e 4 Justice and Peace JUSTICE PEACE We are going to start our exploration of this topic by thinking about what these three key words mean. Discuss in your groups what these words might mean For you personally For your local community For the world PEACE
P a g e 5 Justice and Peace All through the history of God s relationship with humanity these themes have been clear Justice: Peace: The need for fairness in our dealings with other people A secure and non-violent life For Christians we learn what justice and peace mean by looking at these three sources The teaching of Jesus Passages from Scripture Church Teaching From these three sources we learn what justice is and how we contribute to the spread of justice in the world. It also helps us to know how to respond when there is injustice. Copy the following table into your jotter and then working with the other members of your group try to identify situations where there is a need for justice or peace Start locally and try to think of situations from school or the local area. Then think about bigger national and international examples. Leave space for additional examples Situations that need Justice Situations that need Peace
P a g e 6 The teaching of Jesus We can learn from Jesus what is meant by justice and peace when we look at examples of what he did in his life. 1. How he taught us to pray 2. How he explained how to behave 3. How he showed compassion for those in need Prayer When the apostles asked Jesus how they should pray he taught them the prayer we call the Our Father. This short and familiar prayer has plenty to say about justice, peace and reconciliation. Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. 1. What lines of the prayer deal with justice and human needs? 2. What lines of the prayer deal with reconciliation? 3. What sort of kingdom are we praying for? Heaven or Earth?
P a g e 7 The Golden Rule Jesus put his own spin on a moral guideline that is common in many religions and in most cultures. It is called the Golden Rule because it is basically all you need to live by to live a good life. It comes in various forms. E.g. Not one of you truly believes until you want for others what you want for yourself (Islam) Do not treat people in ways that you would find hurtful (Buddhism) What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour (Judaism) Do not do to others things that would cause pain if done to you. (Hinduism) Love your neighbour as yourself (Christianity) We can see from this that every culture and continent shares the same sense of right and wrong. But when Jesus talks about the Golden Rule he also reminds people that they have to be at peace and reconciled with God as well as their neighbour. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. 1. What difference would it make if we loved everybody the way we love (look after, feed, clothe, entertain, care for) ourselves?
P a g e 8 Compassion for those in need Another way to build up the Kingdom of God is to show compassion to those in need. To do this a person just has to follow the example of Jesus. Christians believe that they will be judged on the kind of life they have lived. Have they followed Jesus example and helped those in need. He told them: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
P a g e 9 What should we do? The gospel passage identifies various groups of people that God expects us to respond to. He identifies them as he hungry, the thirsty, strangers, those lacking proper clothes, the sick and those in prison. The hungry The thirsty Strangers Those lacking clothes The sick Those in prison Discuss then note down Today some of those people and their needs are the same but there is more to it than that. People can be Hungry for more than food Thirsty for more than water Strangers in different ways Lacking more than just clothes Sick but not just physically Trapped in a prison but not necessarily a jail Try to think of other ways people can be Hungry Thirsty Strangers Lacking things Sick Trapped Now try to think of ways young people can help them
P a g e 10 Compassion for those in Need Loving God by loving your neighbour as yourself. Situations that need JUSTICE and PEACE are where the Church believes its members should be taking an active role. And many do. Individuals support many charities and organisations e.g. SCIAF, Children in Need, Mary s Meals, our own Ecuador Project and Christmas Parcel Campaign and many others Create your own charity to deal with one of the problems highlighted in the slides above. You have to Work out the main aim of the charity Write up its mission statement Identify some fundraising events that highlight the problem Design a logo and a slogan for the charity.
P a g e 11 Workers for Justice and Peace Below are the pictures of people who you could say are modern day prophets. Some of them would never think of themselves in that way. They are Mother Teresa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Oscar Romero Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Pope John Paul II. Each of them is famous in some way for challenging the injustice in the world or making people take notice or change things for the better.
P a g e 12 Workers for Justice and Peace When we think about the lives of these people and learn a bit more about them we can see how they were inspired by the teaching of Jesus. They are people whose lives are marked by the qualities that Jesus asks his followers to have. Here is a timeline for their lives. Some have died and the reason why they died is sometimes very closely connected to their work and their Christian message e.g. Oscar Romero and Martin Luther King. They followed the example of Jesus 1, 2 3 and 4. They died for what they believed was right. Timeline of Modern Day Prophets 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Mother Teresa 1910-1997 Oscar Romero 1917-1980 Nelson Mandela 1918-2013 Martin Luther King 1929-68 Desmond Tutu 1931 - Present Pope Francis 1936 - Present World War I World War II & the Holocaust 1948 1990 Apartheid in South Africa 1965 Black Americans get the right to vote
P a g e 13 Your challenge Is to find out about the life and times of one of these five people and to tell their story. How you tell the story is up to you. You can use anyone of the following ways Options 1. A newspaper article 2. A journal or dairy with entries for key moments in their lives 3. A short talk 4. A story board Your piece should contain a) Details of where and when they were born b) Information about what life was like for people in the country they worked in (this is important because they don t all work for people from the country they were born in) c) What was it that made them speak out (That s what prophets do) d) What their message or cause was Your final piece must be Interesting Detailed Well presented Clear Easily understood