History

Salvation History

(History of the Kingdom of God)

These first few weeks of atrium we are establishing the foundation of Salvation history as told in the Bible and lived out in the Church. Within the context of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium, we use the phrase "history of the Kingdom of God" much more than "Salvation history." In this way, we are tying it in to the parables regarding the Kingdom of God ('Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is like..."') that some of the children have previously studied in the atrium, at home or at church.

In level 1, for those who had that experience, the focus is on the life of Jesus - with only the prophets from Old Testament. The moments of the Mass that are studied focus on Jesus' presence (hence we only focus on the Liturgy of the Eucharist portion of Mass).

But now at level 2 and level 3, we are looking to the bigger context into which Jesus came and will come again. He was present in the beginning, came to the Earth, is with us in the Eucharist and will return as a glorious King at the end of time.

Key words: Creation, Redemption, concept of the Blank Page, Parousia

(two pronunciations on that last one - we tend to use the Italian Pair-oo-see-ah - but the Greek is the same word and more familiar to us: Pah-roo-zha)

Key points of doctrine/teaching:

• this history is told in one Book - the Bible
• the entire history is told, beginning, middle, end, though not all the details are included (such as the date of Jesus' return; anything that is not necessary for our Faith)
• there is a time of unwritten history (though the end is already foretold) - this time is the "blank page" and is right now - the time that is being written by God and people together - this ties into how the Bible was inspired by God but written by human hands
• over the course of the materials, this leads into discussions on the cooperation with the "Plan of God"
• the Bible and the Church are lights for us - we always light candles to remind us
• just an interesting atrium point: we try to always remember to say the book, chapter and verse of our Scriptural quotes - to help us remember where they are found in the Bible. This is a great practice to work on at home too.
• I do not personally focus on any particular length of time for the age of the earth within the atrium environment. Evidence could be read to go both ways. While the children can certainly bring these topics up, the focus in the atrium is on the WORK of God, the GIFTS of God - not on the age of the earth.

Materials used:

ALL CHILDREN

• The Holy Bible
• The Bible is a gift to us; we cherish it; we need the Church to help us interpret it.
• Our Father prayer
• Fettuccia (Italian for "ribbon) - very long ribbon with color-coded portions of salvation history - these colors will repeat through most of the work
• dark blue for creation of the physical world
• tan for the creation of life, humans and the time of the Old Testament
• yellow or gold for the life of Christ
• white for the "blank page"
• yellow/gold again for the moment of Parousia, when "God will be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28)
• Focus is on the great work of God
• There is a level 3 (ages 9-15) version called the Fettuccina ("little ribbon") which is created with the same colors, using cards; the first presentation the children match phrase strips to cards to re-tell the story of Salvation history; later, they will create their own, add more information of their own choosing as well as illustrations.
• Gifts of God
• Shorter than the Fettuccia (fits in the atrium!) with colored cards onto which are placed representations of the various gifts of God: minerals, plants, animals, stars and planets, sun and moon, more importantly other people and most importantly the gift of Jesus Himself in the Eucharist.
• Some discussion on the yet to be fulfilled promises of God
• There is a smaller level 3 version, similar to the Fettuccina that the children fill in and later re-create their own version.
• Blue Unity
• 2 charts - one is a control; the second is a mute; along with a booklet
• reviews the story again, with a focus on the unity of history - why a unity? Because God knows every detail and it is HIS plan.
• Children use the mute strip to place the Scripture passages and images; then check their work with the control. If they are "wrong" we discuss why they chose a different place - many times, the child is not "wrong" so much as had a different idea that can help all of us delve into the mystery of our Faith that much more fully.

OLDER CHILDREN get the following:

• Plan of God
• long timeline showing the rise and fall of civilizations, the connections and breakages between them, leading to the gift of Jesus and then into modern times - representations of the discoveries of humans about the world God created and the horizontal bridges we create between all peoples of all times as we share gifts and discoveries ---- and the issues that arise when we allow sin to enter into relationships.
• control and mute; booklet; lots of extension work (this work leads into sacraments, Mass, Holy Bible, ancient civilizations, Jewish roots of Christianity, and more.
• Open Book
• Set of 12 Scripture cards that when placed in order, look like a very long book
• Children match titles to the cards describing what they are reading - what moment of history
• they then label groups of them by creation, redemption, parousia and identify why an Old Testament writer is in the "parousia" section
• Peoples and People of God
• a brief study into the various peoples that God has allowed to create civilizations; they have each died out, but they had gifts that God wanted passed on (particularly in the areas of science, math, geography, etc.) ---
• and then a look at the "People of God" (the Jewish people) and what happened to them - that within their people the Savior of the world came
• and a look at the new People of God - those who are followers of Christ NOW.
• Holy Bible and Parousia
• a set of Scripture passages from the Old Testament prophets and some New Testament books about the return of Christ.
• match titles to the passages, discuss and ponder what some of them may mean
• an assurance that God WILL keep His promises
• 2000 Years ----- and My Century
• These two works bring the focus to the gift of the Eucharist throughout the last 2000 years
• the saints and Saints who have come before
• and those who are among us now
• My Century brings our own lives into these often "vague" timelines - emphasizing that WE are each part of this history and thus participate in the plan of God
• Miracles of Jesus
• set of 4 timelines focusing on 4 particular Miracles of Christ - how they were prophesied in the OT; the account of the miracle as done by Jesus; what it meant at that time; what it means now; and what it will mean at Parousia
• invitation to study further miracles in similar manner, creating one's own timelines or booklets

 LAST UPDATED: 10/17/13