Lesson Plan on Prayer Appreciation (B9-L1)

Opening activity

Have the students write down the list of fears / concerns that go through our minds when we are asked to pray.  Have them share and discuss where these fears come from:

• Who is to be glorified?
• Where is our focus in those thoughts?

Lesson

Discussion 1: Free-form vs Liturgical Prayer

Split the class in groups and have them come up with pros and cons of Free-Form and Liturgical/Pre-scribed prayers.  The goal is to help appreciate liturgical prayer.

Some possible ideas:

Liturgical	Free-Form
Theology Sound	Can veer from sound theology
Focus on God/Scripture	Focus often shifts to “Me” / “Need”
Sometimes Repetitive	Can start to babble
Hard to relate sometimes	Applies to immediate need
Its about us changing	“Vending machine” heresy

*Vending Machine… God isn’t a vending machine that takes prayer coins and outputs what you want 🙂   Prayer is not necessarily trying to get God to do your will… rather us changing to be more like Him and do His will.

Discussion 2: Appreciating prayer

Turn to page 7 in the Sunday School book “Hymn of St. Ephraim.”  Ask them to give a summary of what they think this prayer is asking for – ie. what is it about, what occasion.

•  It is a prayer before going to sleep.
• Many of the stanzas are about sleeping and guarding through the night.
  • Example Stanza 3 – “If I err in my sleep”
    • Tie – back to discussion 1 – if we were to pray from our own mind…would we think to pray like this?
  • many other example of sleep related
• Stanza 7+8 – “Christ Thy life-abiding” .. “While I sleep this night”
  • What is the author of the Hymn looking for protection?
    • Holy Body & Blood –> Qurbana

Discussion 3: Trisagion

Trisagion mean “Thrice Holy.”  It is the part of the prayer “Holy art Thou O God…” Who is the Trisagion address to?  (Trinity? Christ?)

• According to our church (oriental churches), it is address to “God the Son” – These are characteristics of Christ.  Christ is God, Christ is Almighty, Christ is Immortal.
• “Crucified for us” – was added by Patriach Peter Fuller.
• FYI – in the Eastern Orthodox tradition it is take as addressed to Holy Trinity. They also don’t have “crucified for us“

Origins:

• In use before the council of Chalcedon (AD 451)
• Tradition is this is what Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea heard the angels say when they were taking Jesus’s body.

Syriac:

You may have heard “Qaadishat Aloho, Qaadishat hylsono, Qaadishat lomoyooso, Desthlebdh halophain esrahamelain”:

Associated Homework: here