Lesson/Family Home Evening: Transfiguration 1

Opening Check-Ins

We support each other no matter what.  Invite everyone to share something that made them happy and/or something that made them sad this past week.  We are here to support each other in prayer and presence.

Centering in Silence and Song

If you have a household altar, I recommend using it.  If not, a sense of ritual and sacred time can be initiated by lighting a candle and ringing a bell (three times is usually a good way to help everyone settle into silence). Share a few minutes of silence together. You may sound the bell again when silence is over.  Children often enjoy the responsibility of these tasks (and should be supervised and assisted as appropriate).


You may also listen to this song and discuss what it brings up for each of you:

Prayer of Jesus

If you have a particular version of the prayer that you use, you are encouraged to use it.

This is the "children's translation" that I wrote and use with my students:
God all around us with many sacred names
We roll up our sleeves to create a beautiful world with you
Please care for us and our needs and forgive us when we don’t do our best
Please help us to be forgiving of others, too.
Help us to be good, loving, and safe so we can help create a loving and safe world for everyone.
Amen.

Sacred Story

Bible Story:

Read together “Jesus is Changed on the Mountain Top” in Children of God Storybook Bible (p. 102-103).

Transfiguration. It’s kind of a funny word, isn’t it? It kind of sounds like “transform” -- you know, like a superhero -- and that’s kind of what it means.

I think it’s kind of similar to this story about Jesus that we heard today. Jesus, who our stories tell us may have existed long before he came down to earth as a human, kind of does this magical transformation. We call it the transfiguration because there was something really special about it. The story says that Jesus’ clothes became dazzling white and he seemed to glow and become very holy. Unlike some of our superheroes, he doesn’t transform into muscles and a cape, he becomes more spiritual. He changes in a way that seems to make him radiate holiness.

Something changes about Jesus in this story. He becomes holy in a way that is seen and felt by his friends.

Conversation:

Read together "God has a face" in Images of God for Young Children (p. 80)

Sometimes very mysterious things happen in the world.  Jesus' transfiguration is a mysterious story that is kind of hard to understand.  What is mysterious in the world to you?

Craft:  

Planting Seeds

In small terra cotta pots, plant seeds!  Use a packet of scatter seeds and put a few in each pot.  See what "mysteries" come up!

Closing Prayer

Read together the Prayer of St. Patrick in First Prayers (p. 141)



Curriculum texts used:  

• Children of God Storybook Bible by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• Images of God for Young Children by Marie-Helene Delval
• First Prayers by Caroline Jayne Church

Special Texts used:

• none