| Year Levels Focus: | God is love. This love can be experienced in people and in the world around us. (TCREK001) |
| Aims: |
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| Content Statement: |
Students will be encouraged and supported to wonder about God as Mystery. They will learn that Christians refer to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They will have the opportunity to see and experience signs of God’s love in the world around us and will be supported to identify God’s presence in the loving actions of others. Students will be supported to recognise God as our loving creator, who continues to give us life. Students will be given opportunities to experience God’s constant presence and love. They will be supported to develop a loving relationship with God expressed in prayer and shown in loving actions. |
God is mystery. We can never fully grasp the meaning of this mystery. The only way we can talk about God (i.e., do theology, which literally means “God talk”) is in metaphor and by analogy with what exists. Since we human beings are living beings, “persons” who “exist”, our most complete metaphor for God is that God too is a personal, living being—although God is infinitely more than that. As St Thomas Aquinas said, “God is the subsistent act of ‘to be’ itself”. God is not so much “a” being as God is the very act of being.
The Christian faith asserts that this mystery (of being-in-itself at the heart of all being) loves all beings into being. In that sense God is “creator”—God loves us into being. And because this mystery loves us, it has a “name”, it is “personal”, it has an identity by which it relates to us, reveals itself to us, and it can therefore be (in some measure) known by us (i.e., to the extent that we are capable of knowing it).
What this means is that all theology (“God talk”) is very limited when it comes to saying anything definitive about God. The most that we can do, when speaking of God, is to speak by analogy and in metaphor. As St Thomas Aquinas put it: “We can never know what God is; we can only ever know what God is not”. Or, as St Augustine said in one of his sermons, “If you understand [it], it isn’t God”.
Apart from speaking of God analogically as personal, among the most important metaphors we use to speak of God is to say that “God is love”. Now, because God is love, “God” is a verb (a “doing word”) more than a noun (the name of something). Love is something that happens between the one who loves (“the loving Father”) and the one who is loved (“the beloved Son”), united by the love they share (“their Holy Spirit of love divine”)—for which the metaphor is “Holy Trinity”, the “three” who are one in the love that unites them.
In GNFL this understanding of God is developed with the aid of these theological emphases:
- The Catholic way to speak of God is by analogy and in metaphor.
- Almost all of the books in the Bible speak of God in metaphor; and almost all Catholic theology (of the academic kind) speaks of God by analogy.
- This way of speaking of God is in our terms (in human images, ideas and language) but it is on God’s terms (the way that God wishes to reveal himself to us).
- Christians use the word “God” because we have no better one with which to point to the mystery we are trying to talk about.
- Using this poor little word saves us from falling prey to a delusion that by using bigger and more impressive words we’ve actually “got” God, that we “grasp” who and what God really is, for example, “The Supreme Being”, “The Absolute Reality”, “Pure Essence”, “Transcendent Ground of Being”. While all of these more exalted terms may have their uses, when it comes to actually defining God, all these abstractions are just as inadequate as the far more earthly biblical metaphors like “fortress and rock” (2 Samuel 22:2), “mother hen” (Matthew 23:37) and “gate for the sheep” (John 10:7).
- No definition of God’s essence or nature is possible—except perhaps the paradoxical one that deconstructs itself, and is therefore no definition at all: “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14).
- The “Christian God” is not just another god among other gods.
- The “Christian God” is rather the Christian way of speaking about this Mystery, which we experience as loving us and which is revealed in Jesus—that’s what makes it specifically Christian.
- The central Christian statement of faith is: “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16); and that love is revealed in Jesus, who loved you and me and everyone so absolutely that he gave his life for each one of us personally and for all of us collectively.
URL link to Theological Conversation chapter (PDF).
- God is Mystery, a source of wonder, the giver of all life.
- God is love, always with us and continuing to give life.
- God’s love can be experienced through the love of others and through the world around us.
- God loves each of us and invites us to respond in love.
God is love. This love can be experienced in people and in the world around us. (TCREK001)
Students will be encouraged and supported to wonder about God as Mystery. They will learn that Christians refer to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They will have the opportunity to see and experience signs of God’s love in the world around us and will be supported to identify God’s presence in the loving actions of others. Students will be supported to recognise God as our loving creator, who continues to give us life. Students will be given opportunities to experience God’s constant presence and love. They will be supported to develop a loving relationship with God expressed in prayer and shown in loving actions.
TCREI001
Responding to questions with thoughts, and naming feelings, ideas and decisions (TCREI001)
- responding to open questions about where God is present in the world
- expressing feelings and thoughts about God
- making choices about how to act towards others and ourselves
- cultivating self-respect by showing mutual respect
TCREI002
Listening to stories to learn about characters, words, concepts and values relating to love (TCREI002)
- listening to biblical stories and wondering about their deeper meanings
- role-playing biblical and other stories (e.g., stories from the lives of the saints)
- using Godly play dolls to play creatively with biblical stories
- learning about things that were different about the world Jesus lived in as a child from the way things are now
TCREI003
Sharing observations, thoughts, feelings and ideas (TCREI003)
- taking turns to let others speak in prayer time
- taking turns and listening to others’ thoughts and ideas about how God is love in us, our families and the world
- visualising and imagining stories about Jesus that show us God’s love for us and acting them out
- naming the ways that Jesus shows us how to love one another because God loves us first, and making models, drawings or installations to express this to others
- taking turns to share thoughts and reflections about how God loves us
- taking turns to share thoughts and feelings about how we experience God’s love in others and in the world
TCRED001
Using senses to name important words and feelings (TCRED001)
- using senses to name feelings
- using sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch to provoke responses that identify and reflect on big ideas and significant feelings
TCRED002
Listening and responding to others’ ideas and thoughts. Pondering, and wondering and asking questions about our world (TCRED002)
- listening and responding to others’ ideas and thoughts about God’s love
- pondering, wondering and asking questions about how we experience God’s love in our lives
- drawing some conclusions about how Jesus teaches us to be open to God’s love
TCRED003
Applying ideas about what could be done to model for others some loving choices (TCRED003)
- naming behaviours that reflect being loved by God
- implementing plans and processes that promote self-respect and mutual respect
- sharing with others what being loved by God feels like and how it changes us
By the end of Foundation Year, students bring their sense of wonder to God as Mystery, as giver of all life and as love, revealed in Jesus, friend and brother. Celebrating God’s love and mystery in the church community, they describe the sacraments as celebrations of God’s presence. Students value both the uniqueness of the human person and the oneness of the human family. They engage with the Word of God through Scripture stories that tell of his love; they identify ways of both experiencing that love in people and in their world and, in turn, sharing it through their own loving actions. They experience prayer as talking to, listening to, and growing in loving relationship with God.
Students will be encouraged to use their imaginations when engaging with Sacramental signs and the Parables of Jesus.
Students listen, engage with and respond to sacred texts and stories, reflect on characters and concepts and share observations, thoughts, feelings and ideas. In diverse ways they express their emerging understanding of and engagement with the teachings of the Catholic Church, with Sacramental signs and with religious events and rituals. Through reflective practices, they develop ways of making loving choices that express care for self, for others and for their world.
Pre-unit assessment
Students record or depict their ideas and questions about God.
God is like…………………..
Sometimes I wonder……….
I think God is………..
(These responses will be compared with response to one of the completion assessment tasks.)
Learning Hook
Share the story: Because Nothing Looks Like God by Lawrence and Karen Kushner, or Images of God for young children by Marie-Helen Delval.
Surface
(Giving language, facts, and basic concepts structure to lead into deeper learning)
Key Vocabulary: Mystery, wonder, glory, beauty,
praise, Sign of the Cross
What do you wonder about God?
- Invite students to express their wonderings about God and use their thoughts to create a wonder wall.
- Introduce thoughts about God’s constant presence through the sharing of the story: Where is God? by Patricia May or Maybe God is like that too by Jennifer Grant.
- Provide the opportunity for students to enjoy an unstructured, reflective walk to simply experience the wonders of creation OR engage with a focussed nature walk, e.g a rainbow walk, during which students have a rainbow spectrum card and look for (and, perhaps, photograph) items in creation that reflect the specific rainbow colours.
- Share the song: Rainbow by Andrew Chinn. Notice how many different shades of green, red, yellow etc. they can see. Complete a scavenger hunt sheet that has God’s gifts in focus. Share the song: God is Good All the Time (KWSCM).
- Share the story: Because Nothing Looks Like God, by Lawrence and Karen Kushner. Share responses and add to the wonder wall.
- Take some quiet time: sit with the awareness that God is Mystery, a source of wonder. Share the book, I wonder, by Annaka Harris.
- Pray the Sign of the Cross, naming God as Mystery: Father Son and Spirit.
- Share the song: God's Love is... by John Burland.
Deep
(Learning experiences that lead on from beginning experiences to questioning more deeply and exploring ideas in different ways to lead to making connections between faith and life)
What do you wonder about God?
- Share ideas and feelings about how we know our parents’ love is with us all the time, even when we can’t see them. Consider family practices and sayings that help us keep close, even across distance.
- Support students to listen to, view and reflect on and provide opportunity for students to practise meditative prayer with the Psalm text. The book God is always with me : psalm 139 by Dandi Daley Mackall or view on YouTube the Psalm 139 videos listed in the resource section below.
- Offer opportunity for students to draw/paint the colours of Gods’ presence, the colours of God’s love, the shape of God’s presence, images for God’s care.
- Listen to the song: God Our Father Looks on Us with Love All the Time and encourage wondering about the lyrics, including:
"God our Father looks on us with love all the time; He says: I love you all the time; He says: I am with you all the time". Nurture prayerful response. - Provide the experience of prayerful engagement with the scripture text: Jer. 31: 3-4 “I will always love you; ...you are precious to me…”.
- Share the guided meditation: God Loves You So Much, link in resources section below.
How is God with us always, continuing to give life?
- Consider God’s presence through all the events of life. Interview some family members or other adults to hear stories of how they have experienced God’s presence and love. Wonder about happy times and times of sadness and challenge. Identify ways in which God is with us, always giving life. Share the songs: New Day and God is Good All the Time from the resource section below.
- Through examination of personal or published stories/poems (see unit overview) about people who reflect qualities of God, develop a group chart that records descriptors: God is loving, wise, forgiving, faithful etc.
- Support the students to engage with the Understanding Faith Unit 20, Part 1 Pg 15, Interactive: God is….. Encourage them to make links with their original (pre-assessment) thoughts and with ideas on the Wonder Wall.
How do we experience God’s love?
- Engage with the story: God's Paintbrush by Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso. Explore the questions of God’s constant presence and our different experiences of God’s love.
- Invite further questions and wondering through exploring experiences in life when we know love. Encourage students to share memories of times in which other people help them experience God’s love.
- Provide starter-stems/prompts for prayers of praise and of thanks and support students to create their own prayers. In praying these prayers, investigate how gestures and movement can enliven prayer.
How can we respond to God who always loves us?
- Share stories about people who love us and build ideas about ways of showing our love in return.
- Share the wordless story Vincent by Frank Fraser.
- Explore scenarios in which love and care are shown and then returned or passed on and others in which the love is taken but not given back or given away.
- Develop a comparison chart: This action/person is only taking love; This action/person is both receives and giving love...
- Consider the quote: “The love in your heart isn’t put there to stay for love isn’t love till you give it away”.
Transfer
(Learning experiences that help students engage with deeper understandings that can be applied in their own lives)
- Invite students to reflect on the following, to share ideas and to record and illustrate their responses: "What I wonder about God, Where I see signs of God, How I show others about God"...
- Provide the opportunity for students to create hearts representing God’s love and to record on the reverse side an action they will undertake to reflect that love to others.
- Use Understanding Faith Part 2 Pg 16 Slideshow: Our Creator God as the foundation for a Litany Prayer, pausing between sections for the prayer response: God of Life and Love, we praise You; God of Love, we give You thanks.
- Share the song: Thank you Lord, Alleluia.
Resources
Burland, John. God's love is. YouTube.
Chinn, Andrew. Rainbow.
CODECUK. Lego Psalm 139. YouTube.
Delval, Marie-Helen. Images of God for young children.
Fraser, Frank. Vincent.
God our Father looks on us with love. YouTube.
God loves you so much : a guided Christian Meditation for children. YouTube.
Grant, Jennifer. Maybe God is like that too.
Grant, Jennifer. Maybe God is like that too. YouTube.
Harris, Annaka. I wonder.
Kidswise. Psalm 139. YouTube.
Kushner, Lawrence and Karen. Because nothing looks like God.
Kushner, Lawrence and Karen. Because nothing looks like God. YouTube.
KWSCM. God is good all the time. YouTube.
Mackall, Dandi Daley. God is always with me : psalm 139.
May, Patricia. Where is God?
May, Patricia. Where is God? YouTube.
Sasso, Sandy Eisenberg. God's Paintbrush.
Sasso, Sandy Eisenberg. God's Paintbrush. YouTube.
Thank you Lord, Alleluia. YouTube.
Understanding Faith. Part 2, Page 16. Slideshow: Our Creator God. Online Subscription.
Understanding Faith Unit 20, Part 1, Page 15. Interactive: God is…. Online Subscription.
YancynotNancy. New Day. YouTube.
* Unless otherwise noted, items listed under “Resources” are books.