The elementary children had a special Atrium session this past week as they explored some of the Old Testament prophecies which give "clues" to help the people recognize the Messiah. These prophecies are ones we look at each year in the Atrium and hear again and again during the liturgical celebrations of the Advent season. While much of the work in the Atrium is done individually, the elementary children have the developmental need to work in groups. Thus, their drawings of the prophecies took place in groups of two to four children. They decided what they were going to draw before they began and everyone agreed to the plan! Each child contributed to the illustration and helped to explain it when we gathered to match the prophecies with their depictions. One group took fifty minutes to begin to draw...and their illustration is the one posted above as a "synthesis." It took time for them to agree on how to show all they wanted to express, but the time spent in collaborating was well worth it!
The season of Advent brings a focus on the Messianic Prophecies for all levels of the Atrium. From the age of three, we speak about prophets as those who "listen closely for God and speak His message to the people." For the older children we focus a bit more on those who were called by God in a particular way...as an avenue to explore God's method of calling each of us as prophets through our Baptism. This year the 3rd - 6th graders have all read at least two of four specifically chosen "Calls" from Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8, Jeremiah 1:4-10, Amos 7:14-15, and Ezekiel 2:8-3:4. They drew what they read and then we discussed the Scripture passages. As we moved into the second and third weeks of this work, it was really beautiful to hear them comparing and contrasting the different ways God called the prophets. As one 3rd grader said, "It's the same but not the same every time." Is that not the nature of God? Unchanging, yet meeting each of us in a unique, personal, individual way that affirms His intimate knowledge of our hearts and souls? |
Carolyn Kohlhaas
CGS Catechist and Formation Leader (Levels I, II, and III) Categories
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