The Gatekeeper
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Level III December 1, 2010 - Level 3, Issue 2
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| Dear CGS Level III Parent, | 
We hope you have begun a blessed Advent season with your family. Atrium will meet for three weeks in December: this week and the next two. We will then take a holiday break until resuming on January 11/13/16.
I must admit I have struggled in producing Level III's newsletters this year. It's not at all for lack of interesting work occurring in Level III. If anything, it's too interesting, too rich. It's hard to boil it down to the essential parent points. As I have struggled with Level III writing in November and December, at the same time I have been very struck by how important it is for parents to have a sense of their child's Atrium experiences. The topics we work with are deep and vast. It does them a disservice to limit them to the 1-1/2 hours together.
Two years ago after our first newsletter went out, one parent commented that it, "will enable us to continue conversations at home." That's really the purpose. I truly feel that, if parents know what their child is working on or learning about, they can look for natural continued conversation. I hope in a couple articles below to demonstrate two such opportunities. My hope is that these examples get your own thoughts flowing of how you personally, within the context of your specific family experiences, events, and routines, can connect Atrium to life.
But we begin the newsletter with a description of our Abraham study series. We will spend this week and next, plus the week of Jan. 11/13/16 learning about Abraham and his role in the Plan of God.
Blessings to you in this season of preparation, Advent!
Peace and joy,
The Level III catechist team:
Sarah Coles on Tuesdays
Lina Hilko on Thursdays
Tom Kinsella and Paul Gilmet on Sundays
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Abraham
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This week and next we will conduct a Bible study of select scripture from Genesis. These readings will help us answer, What is the Bible telling us ...
- about Abraham?
- about God?
- about their relationship?
There's no way in a newsletter to give you a summary of the readings. So, the final article provides the scripture references. Perhaps you'd like to meet Abraham this Advent! Key points we hope to uncover are:
- God chooses Abraham, an ordinary semi-nomad of no particular stature or power, to be the human being through which God's incarnation in history begins.
- Through God's choosing of Abraham, God chooses a people, Israel.
- The Plan of God is realized through God's initiative and gift and humankind's response.
- The God of Abraham is the God of love, relationship, and dialogue; a God who is near to human beings.
- Prayer is dialogue with God - listening and responding - through which faith forms and is nourished. Prayerful response occurs through word and action.
- The life of faith is a collaborative journey with God founded in a relationship that the Bible calls "covenant."
There are many aims in these studies, but there is one I particularly want to lift up to parents, namely because I think parents can support this aim through continued conversations. Through meeting Abraham, I would hope we can initiate an understanding of the shared foundation of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity: belief in the One God as initiated through Abraham, a shared "father of faith." Since the Plan of God moves toward cosmic communion, it should be good news that these three significant world religions share the same seed. And at the same time, it should cause us to wonder, perhaps even despair (before once again finding hope!), at how much misunderstanding, fear, and hatred divides these branches of Abraham's plant. Such depth of conversation can't possibly be explored appropriately in Atrium alone, don't you agree?
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Typology
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Catechesis of the Good Shepherd begins to work with the Old Testament in Level III. In earlier levels, the children focus on New Testament, only touching the Old Testament through certain Psalms or prophesies.
The study of Abraham is one of five "typological studies" provided in Level III. Last year, for instance, we studied Moses and the Exodus. We begin with scripture study to learn about a given person or account. We later introduce material that helps children get a feel for the typological method of reading scripture.
Typology is a theological doctrine in which the Old Testament provides foreshadowing of the events of the New Testament, particularly of the events of the life of Jesus. Through typology, one can see the New Testament in the Old Testament.
The term "typology" comes from the Greek "typos," which among other things refers to a wooden stamp. Think about the stamps we use today with an ink pad. (Or if you're as old as I am, think about the striking stamps of a typewriter.) The stamp contains the image that it will leave behind, although it is not fully or clearly recognizable by looking at the stamp. For example, when you look at the stamp, words or letters appear backwards. The image is within the stamp but in a mysterious or masked way.
Consider a seed which contains within it all that is needed to form the resulting plant. However, the seed looks very different from the plant, though the seed in some way contains the plant. Seed and plant look different from each other but, yet, are intrinsically connected. This image reminds me of an interesting sentence I read last night in History's Golden Thread by Sofia Cavalletti (founder of the Catechesis): "The present has value in that it contains the seed of the future."
With the children, we may just be opening the door for this type of thoughtful reading of scripture. We, in fact, are hopefully planting a seed whereby, as the child grows in knowledge and wisdom, he truly begins to marvel in the vastness, yet coherence, of God's history. Sometimes when I start connecting the dots, I'm left in awe. I'm left feeling, how could anyone but God have written (through us) the Bible. It's too coordinated and connected to be written by humans alone. (I should know because I write a lot of system specs. Would that business analysts could write anything as consistently cohesive!)
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Continued Conversations
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Below I give two examples of current events through which a parent could open a conversation connecting Atrium to every-day. This is really by way of jump-starting your own thinking about how you can use what you learn about Atrium and connect it to everyday life.
Why bother? I remember helping in Alyssa's fourth grade class with Literature Circles. Each child had a job (summarizer, predictor, connector, etc). I'd particularly notice kids doing the least amount possible on the connector job. If they were reading Winn Dixie, a story featuring a dog, they would "connect" because they have a pet. That was such a superficial connection so as to almost be irrelevant. But they were fourth graders. You have to start somewhere. As parents, we have the unique opportunity to be present in a variety of meaningful experiences with our children. So, we can help our children deepen their connections. (I was so sad when my brother went to college. It felt like I lost the person closest to me and nothing would ever be the same. It must have felt similar when Winn Dixie disappeared that rainy night.)
We talk a lot in Atrium about the Plan of God which is moving toward communion, the time when "God will be all in all." Do you ever wonder if children notice division and hatred in the world? Do they ever wonder if maybe this Plan of God thing is a fantasy, wishful thinking? I think it's very good to wonder. I also hope they have someone there at the right moment to wonder with them out loud. Or even to encourage their wondering. Not to have the answer. But perhaps to offer some counter-perspectives based on longer experience. And sometimes, to offer words from the Bible to strengthen our hope.
From 1st Corinthians 13: 9,10,12
For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away... At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
From 1st Corinthians 2:9-10
..."What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him," this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
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Don't Ask, Don't Tell
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If you and your child were to hear about this debate in the military, there might be the opportunity for continued conversation. This policy expects people to deny a part of themselves or lie in order to serve their country. Is this inclusive or divisive? Is the military the only place in which this division occurs? How long has this divisiveness been going on? Parents have a longer memory. When did you first become aware of this divisiveness and fear? Has it gotten worse? Better? In what ways? Can one human being truly create significantly more inclusion? Or is the work of an individual irrelevant?
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One God Shared
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Last year, my family happened to be on vacation in Morocco, a Muslim country, one of their two significant religious feasts, Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, which commemorates the prophet Abraham's obedience to Allah through his willingness to sacrifice his son. While there are differences between the accounts in the Bible and Qu'ran, it was a great opportunity to help our children see that actually more unites us than separates us. Now, I'm not saying it's very usual for people to visit Morocco, but you never know when a connection opportunity will arise. It's not like we actually knew anything about this feast when we booked the trip. But it had a lasting impact.
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Abraham Scripture Study
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The Family of Abraham: Genesis 11: 27-32
The Vocation of Abraham/Promise of God: Genesis 12:1-9
The Separation from Lot: Genesis 13: 5-11
The King's Homage/Encounter with Melchizedek: Genesis 14:13-24
The Covenant with God: Genesis 15:1-18
The Apparition at Mamre: Genesis 18:1-10
Abraham's Prayer: Genesis 18:16-32
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: Genesis 19:15-17, 23-29
The Alliance with Abimelech: Genesis 21: 22-34
The Offering of Isaac: Genesis 22:1-19
The Death of Sarah: Genesis 23:1-18
The Death of Abraham: Genesis 25: 5-11
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Please feel free to talk to Lina Hilko ( LHilko@aol.com) or Sarah Coles ( secoles@gmail.com) with your questions, comments or concerns about Level III or this e-newsletter. |
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