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Curriculum > Youth > Year 3 > Lesson 17

CONCEPTS IN LESSON

Reminder of what it means to be a disciple in 1st century Israel
Use the Lord's Prayer to summarize Jesus' main teachings (aka the good news)
Analyze and then practice prayer using components of the Lord's Prayer

SUPPLIES NEEDED

Device that allows class to view this video clip (from the movie Inside Out)
Print from this .PDF and then handout for each person in the class
Writing utensil for each person in class

OPENING PRAYER

OPENING QUESTION

We start today’s class with the opening question. One of the teachers will ask the question and then to give you some time to think of an answer, the teacher asking the question will also answer first to give you some time to think.
Once the teacher answers the question, we'll go around the circle.
When it's your turn, start with your name and then answer the question to the best of your ability.
Here's this week's question: What is your earliest memory?

INTRODUCTION

So in our previous lesson, we started a new session of stories about Jesus and his disciples
One of the things we discussed was that Jesus was not the only teacher in his time. There were many teachers in his time and place.
And, most of those teachers had disciples - in the Gospel of John, we learn that even John the Baptist had disciples.
The idea of being a disciple in Jesus' time is that you would learn from your teacher (or "rabbi") by following the teacher, listening to the teacher, asking the teacher questions and doing what the teacher did.
Like an apprenticeship.
And, if you were a really good disciple, then you could go on to become your own teacher/rabbi
That's what we talked about last class.
So, once we understand and accept that Jesus was a teacher, one of the things to then think about is "What were the main things that Jesus was teaching his disciples?"
Two of those main things were 1. The good news and 2. How to be in connection with God (a.k.a., how to pray)
Those two things are what we'll be talking about in today's class.

TRANSITION TO VIDEO CLIP

One of the things that Jesus wanted his disciples to know and then do was be in contact with God.
Jesus also wanted his disciples to remember what the good news was that he taught
So, one of the amazing teaching things he did was he gave the disciples a prayer that the disciples could repeat over and over again both as a model of what prayer looks like AND as reminder of what Jesus taught.
To get started with today's lesson, let's watch a movie clip that in a fun way talks about how memories are formed and the importance of those memories.
The following clip is from the movie "Inside Out."
In it, we see inside the brain of the main character, Riley.
Inside her brain are characters based on emotions. The emotion who narrates is Joy and as you'll see, she is telling us about Riley's core memories.
Let's see what happens

WATCH VIDEO CLIP

ASK – answers are in parenthesis

Do you remember what "islands" Riley's core memories had created? (hockey, goofball, friendship, honesty, family)
Did you see any islands of "school" or "knowledge?" (Not really, though hockey island has a lot of learning in it)
And what does Joy say these islands of personality do? (Make Riley into who Riley is)
The answer to the following question is very simple and is not meant to be a trick question - in the video, what caused the memories to be memories? (events/things that happened in Riley's life)
So, would you agree that the movie clip was saying that actual experiences in Riley's life were more likely to be "core memories" rather than "very important words"? (mostly meant to be rhetorical, but if a student says "No" - ask them to explain why they said no since the movie clip is pretty clearly showing events and experiences, not conversations or lectures)

TRANSITION TO SCRIPTURE

I think why the movie clip shows life experiences being so integral to memory-making is because that's just how it is for us.
Now, this doesn't mean that wise words or someone else's experiences cannot be core memories for us - however what I think the movie clip helps us think about is that in order for words without life experiences attached to them to become core memories, those words are going to have to be considered very very important to us.
And that challenge is what Jesus was facing with his disciples.
He wanted what he was teaching his disciples to become core memories.
He wanted the ideas and words he was teaching to stay with his disciples and shape his disciples.
But since some of what he was teaching were words and not experiences, getting those words to the "core" of his disciples was going to be a challenge.
But in today's scripture story, I think we see one of the ingenious things Jesus did to help his disciples turn his main ideas and teachings into a core memory.
Let's see what Jesus did to make this happen.

READ SCRIPTURE: LUKE 11:1-13

Recommend class reads it out loud; one person per verse

Luke 11:1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." 2 He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial." 5 And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' 7 And he answers from within, "Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'

8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. 9 "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

ASK – answers are in parenthesis

Is there anything you find interesting or weird about this story? [to teachers: You don't necessarily need to answer what they notice or have questions about - sometimes just agree with a, "yep, that's interesting" or a, "Yeah, I find that to be weird, too" works]
What is Jesus doing at the start of the story? (Praying)
And what question does that prompt from the disciples? (they ask Jesus to teach them how to pray)
Do you recognize the words that Jesus teaches them to use when they pray? (yes -- what we now call the "Lord's prayer.")
What do you think about that story that Jesus tells about the neighbor asking over and over again teach the disciples about prayer? (To not be worried about "annoying" God with what we talk to God about. That we can keep bringing stuff up)
Verse 13 -- What does Jesus tell the disciples that God will give them if they keep asking? (The Holy Spirit)

TELL

The gospels tell us that Jesus taught the people and his disciples "the good news that the Kingdom of God is near." Or, "the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand"
Though this phrase "kingdom of God is near" may not make much sense to us at first, Jesus very helpfully told us what the Kingdom of God being at hand looks like by summarizing it in the Lord's Prayer.
In the Lord's prayer, he tells us that God's kingdom is when God's will is done on earth (just like it's done in heaven) - that's the summary. That's it - the kingdom of God is when God's will is done on earth.
Jesus then tells us what things look like when we seek to do God's will.

There is enough to live on (give us this day our daily bread)
We admit our mistakes and receive forgiveness (forgive us our sins/debts)
And we forgive those who make mistakes against us (that we may forgive those who sin against us)
We are not tempted to live separate from God and God's will (lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil)

And that is the main thing that Jesus was teaching the people and his disciples - that the Kingdom of God was at hand and the Lord's prayer is what it looks like.
Then, by giving his disciples a prayer to repeat over and over again - Jesus gave them a way to turn his teachings and words into a core memory.
The other thing Jesus was teaching the disciples was how to pray, how to be in connection with God.
As we talk about the Lord's Prayer today as a prayer, think of it from two different perspectives (and there's no reason to believe that these two perspectives are in disagreement/mutually exclusive).

The Lord's Prayer is a mighty fine prayer to pray as it is. No changes or adjustments are needed.
The Lord's Prayer is a model that incorporates a number of components of prayer that we can think of as an outline to help us learn how to pray on our own.

For #2, we're going to look at those components now.

HAND OUT

(From this .PDF)

EXPLAIN THE COMPONENTS

The Intro -- ("Our Father")

Prayer starts just like any other conversation: We address the person - we say their name or title.
I usually say "Hi God" or "Hello God" in my own prayers.
When praying for a group, I usually go more formal and say, "Dear God"

Give praise - ("Hallowed be your name")

When praying, it's helpful for us to tell God things that we think God is doing well / is good at / that we appreciate about God.
Why would we do this?

Because it helps us remember / practice looking at how God is at work.
It also helps us to give God credit when we otherwise might not.
Finally, prayer can often become a list of "Give me this, give me that." This is the part where we remember what we've already received.

Invite God into your life -- ("Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven").

The Kingdom of God is wherever God is allowed to be king. God does not force God's will upon us, so we have to invite God's will into our lives.

One way we can invite God in to our lives is by sharing a problem we're facing / are worried about and then telling God, "I would like your help / wisdom with dealing with this problem. Help me to know your will.
Another way we can invite God into our lives is to ask that we would know how to share God's love / care with others during the day

Ask for help / petitioning -- ("Give us this day our daily bread")

What are you struggling with? What are you scared of? What do you want to know? Ask God for help with those things.
God wants to help us and asking for help is part of the conversation that is prayer. So ask away! But understand that "No" or "Now is not the time" or "Consider this other idea instead" are valid responses you might hear in response from God.

Forgiveness - ("Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors")

Forgiveness is a key component of the Kingdom of God. And what we see in Jesus' summary of the Kingdom of God is that we have to receive it before we can give it.
Sometimes, asking God for forgiveness can seem forced or contrived - because you don't think you've done anything that needs forgiving. If that's what it seems like for you, then you can

1. Thank God for the gift of forgiveness
2. Ask that if there are ways that you are acting / living that are hurtful to you or to others, that God help you to see it

Remembering to ask for and seek forgiveness isn't ultimately about thinking you are a terrible, sinful person. Instead, making forgiveness be part of your prayer life is a reminder that God won't let anything keep you and God separate from each other. Because that's what forgiveness does - it removes the barriers that are between the two sides in a relationship.

Discernment / listening ("Do not bring us to a time of trial")

How can God bring us anywhere if we are not seeking God's direction and discernment?
This line is a reminder that we want to know God's direction for us, and so we have to listen - which is the other part of a conversation, right? We talk and we listen. This line is the reminder that we have to listen, too, when we pray!
As for what the line actually means, I often read this line in my head as "Ok, God - I'm listening for you and your words, but go easy on me! Nothing too tough right now"

TELL

Now that we've talked about the components of the Lord's Prayer, let's do the matching activity that's listed on the Handout that we were just looking at/talking about.

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE HANDOUT SHEET

DO THE ACTIVITY ON HANDOUT SHEET

ASK

So for line a, what components did you add?
[Ask same question for lines b,c,d,e,and f.]

TELL

(If there’s time…)

Using what we've talked about and using the components on this handout as an outline, what we're going to do next is individually write out the Lord's prayer using our own language (not even necessarily line for line, but trying to incorporate the five components we've talked about).
Then, after about 5 to 10 minutes of writing, we'll discuss our experience and maybe even share some of our writing with each other.

DO WRITING ACTIVITY OF LORD'S PRAYER

ASK / TELL

Were there certain parts that were harder to write/think about than other parts?
What parts did you find to be easier? Harder?
Is anyone willing to read their prayer?

DO SHARING

[Note to teacher(s): If no one volunteers, read yours]

CLOSING PRAYER

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Luke 11:1-13

Jesus’ Ministry and The Lord's Prayer

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