RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22114, 18 November 1933, Page 23

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

By AMPLIU3.

AN EVENING PRAYER. If I have wounded any soul to-day, If I have caused one foot to go astray, If I have walked in my own wilful way— Good Lord, forgive! If I have uttered idle words or vain, If I have turned aside from want or

pain Lest I myself should suffer through the strain— Good Lord, forgive! * If I have craved for joys that fire not

mine, If I have let my wayward heart repine, Dwelling on things on earth, not things divine— Good Lord, forgive! If I have been perverse, or hard, or cold, If I have longed for shelter in the fold When Thou hast given me some part to hold— Good Lord, forgive! Forgive the sins I have confessed to Thee, Forgive the secret sins I do not see; That which I know not, Father, teach Thou me— Help me.to, live. ■ —C. Maude Battersby.

CHRISTMAS IN SUNDAY SCHOOL. Christmas will soon be with us again, and it is time to be preparing plans for its observance in the Sunday school. Christmas is a time of gladness and rejoicing, and is essentially a children’s festival. This gladness should enter- in,to; all services and celebrations in. connection with Christmas. If these are to be successful, adequate preparation must be made. 1 /

In the first place let us try to bring before the children the thought that Christmas is a time for making others happy, for giving rather than for getting. Let us help them to feel that in giving to .others .they are giving to the Lord Jesus whose birthday we celebrate. This iheang careful planning. Children shpuld-be taught to make gifts for others • —toys for sick children, scrap-books, etc., useful gifts for parents, remembrances for their .teachers, books of folders for children in country districts where the opportunities are not so great. If regular play-hours or some form of. through-the-week activities are carried on these should include a handwork period, when such things can be made. If such regular meetings are not held, a few handwork afternoons should be held during the weeks preceding Christmas so that these things may be made. Gifts may also be in goods or money. The children may be asked to earn something for a Christmas gift, or to deny themselves something to give to others. They may bring toys or picture books in good condition, which they have out-grown, to be sent to Maori mission fields. The children of the Presbyterian Sunday Schools this year are working to earn enough threepenny bits to maintain the mission hospital at Kong Chuen, China, for six months. Other churches may work for similar schemes.

These gifts may be brought at a special gift service on a Sunday near to Christmas, or at a week-day celebration. Usually the Sunday schools close before Christmas, so that a service will have to be arranged at some suitable, date aSjnear as possible to Christmas. It is probably better to observe this service in the separate departments, since the worship can be planned to suit the children participating. Singing will take a large place in the service in' all departments, as the story of Christmas is told and sung. The service should be well prepared, teachers knowing how to co-operate with the leader, and the children being told about it in plenty of time to arouse interest and enthusiasm. Parents may be invited to the service. The programme will include the Christmas stories as recorded in the Gospels, interspersed with hymns dealing with the particular story. For instance, the story of the arrival of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Baby Jesus will be followed by a suitable hymn: for little children “Away in a Manger," for older boys and girls “ Once in Eoyal David's City.” The story of the shepherds is beautifully told in Luke ii, and might well be read by the leader or a good reader in the department. The stories might well be dramatised. If they are well prepared, children can reverently dramatise the scenes of the shepherds on the hills, the visit of the shepherds to the stable, and the coming of the Wise Men. Appropriate music and hymns will help in the dramatisation. Except, perhaps, for tiny children, there should be no impersonation of the Baby or representation- by a doll. It is sufficient to have Mary kneeling before the manger. Tiny children have very reverently and beautifully dramatised the story by the use of the poem “ Is it Far to Bethlehem? ” After the story of the Wise Men has been told or dramatised the scholars are invited to bring their gifts and place them in the receptacle provided or on a table. Gifts of all sorts which may be of use to others may be brought—money, toys, ‘food, flowers, etc. One department in such a service brought, among other things, six dozen eggs, w-nich were sent to various charitable institutions. Flowers may be sent to the sick and ageji,. and, gifts to hospitals, orphanages, or other institutions. Gifts should be dedicated in prayer or song. , . Many schools make Christmas a happy time for the children by having, playhours or parties, when a Christmas tree or a visit from Santa Claus brings delight to the hearts of the little children. When this is done the gifts the children have made might be placed on the Christmas tree along with the other gifts. Older boys and girls may make this the occasion for presenting to parents and teachers the gifts they have made for them. Certain thoughts must be kept before us in the preparation of Christmas celebrations. (1) Is the child placed in the foreground in the preparation of the programme? It is essentially a children’s celebration, for do we not celebrate the birth of a child dear to the hearts of all children? (2) Is the teaching of the Christ-spirit the motive that guides the planning of every detail? (3) Does the programme exalt the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving? (4) Is the best material being used —song, picture, poetry, music? (5) Does the spirit of reverence characterise the programme? This is specially' assrntial when any attempt at dramatising the stories is made, and nothing that disperses the feeling of reverence should be permitted to enter the .programme.

PICTORIAL RECORDS OF MISSIONARY GIVING. How does your department portray its progress in missionary giving? We are all familiar with the- weekly announcement that “last Sunday the offering was so and so, and we must do better this week,” and we have all seen the ladder with varied methods of climbing it. What about some new ways? It is the children’s offering, and the more varied and pictorial the means of showing the increase the keener will be the interest, and the closer the links between “ missionary money ” and the actual mission work. Here are 10 suggestions, and remember that no one method is the best for all time. Orchards: On a large sheet of pastel paper draw an orchard of trees. Then let the department fix a gummed dot for each shilling collected, putting, perhaps, 20 on each tree. In our Primary Department the boys and girls have a tree each in the same orchard, and the boys use silver and the girls gold dots. They love to think of our special mission school in Ceylon getting a harvest of gold and silver apples. Starlight; At the bottom of a sheet of dark blue paper paste a picture of children walking in the dark. Then for each shilling collected stick a gummed star in the sky. Should you have a teacher with one of those painfully accurate minds, he will probably insist on the stars being placed in correct constellations. Flowers in the Field. —On a* sheet of grass-green paper stick a coloured dot for each shilling until the plain meadow has gay blossoms covering it. This can be done with flowers cut out, but I find gummed dots much more convenient. Roads.—Picture of a roadway, marked off by trees into 20 divisions. Choose some small pictures of children of the land in which the department is particularly interested, and move a child one division along the road for each shilling. At the end of the road can be a picture of a mission school. Hospital.—Mission hospital picture with 20 empty cots. For each shilling place a picture of a child in a cot. The depart-

ment can name the children from the characters in their favourite missionary books—Mitsu, Prema, Chewn Lan, Ah Fu, etc. Picture Making.—Choose two pictures of the same size, one very dull (you will probably find a suitable one tucked away in the cupboard), and the other one of the joyful, coloured ones obtainable from Sunday school supplies shops. The beautiful picture (which the children should not have seen) is cut into squares or shapes like a jigsaw puzzle, and then for each amount one Part of the dull picture is made beautiful until it is completely covered. _ Boats. —Sheet of blue paper with white lines for waves. On the far shore place a picture of a native child with arms outstretched in welcome to the little boats which set sail and travel a certain distance for each offering. Clock. —A clock such as is used in kindergarten for teaching the time. Let the minute hand move one minute for each penny collected. Bible Stories. —Large sheet of brown or coloured paper, and small native child at bottom gazing up at its emptiness. For each shilling let the department choose which Bible story shall be sent, and fix a little picture of the chosen story on the sheet. All Round the World. —In the centre of a large sheet of paper place a really beautiful picture of Christ. Make a collection by drawing, tracing, painting, or cutting out of children of all nations, and place a fresh child in the group fop each amount. Each of these methods should be introduced by a story linking it up definitelv with the foreign field, and they can all be varied and adapted to suit all ages. If your collection does not reach a shilling a Sunday start with a penny for your unit, and remember no methods should be used more than six months at a time, a more frequent change will probablv intensify the interest, and, after all, it is interest in and love for foreign missionary work which is the most important. _ When w r e have planted those, the offering will increase.—Chris. Williamson.