Developing a Life of Faith

Lesson 11 – God’s Love

Aims:* to understand that God’s love is like parental love* to learn that parental love is sacrificial, unconditional and unchanging

Materials* Stories and pictures demonstrating God’s love* Worksheet

Lesson Outline1. God’s Nature2. God’s Love3. Parental Love4. Activities - worksheet, games of positive giving and receiving5. Review the aims6. Prayer

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1) God’s NatureWe can learn about God by studying the common characteristics in the creation. We see two common characteristics.

1. All things have an internal nature and an external form, which is expressed as a mind and body in people. From this we can understand that God also has a mind and body. God’s mind consists of intellect, emotion and will. The deepest part of God’s mind is heart, which is the source of love. That is why we can say that God is a God of love. God’s external form or body is the energy that makes all things. We call this Universal Prime Force.

2. All things also have a masculine (+) and feminine (-) part, which is expressed as men and women in people. This means God is both masculine and feminine. God and people are in a relationship of parent and child. This means God is both our father and mother

2) God’s LoveGod made everything to exist in subject and object pairs. Love is a relationship of giving and receiving between pairs. The subject partner gives to the object partner. The object partner receives and gives back to the subject partner. This giving and receiving is love. When this happens the pairs unite as one. This is how God made all things. God is a united being and the source of love. Whenever there is unity between pairs, God’s love is present.

The family is the best place to learn God’s love. There are four kinds of love in the family, children’s love for parents, the love between brothers and sisters, husband and wife love, and the love of parents for children. God’s love is most like parents love for children

3) Parental LoveHow can we describe parental love? How can we describe God’s love? There are 3 words in particular that we can use to describe parental love: SACRIFICIAL, UNCONDITIONAL, UNCHANGING

Ask for suggestions or play a game of hangman to find the words. Then discuss the meaning of each word. Use the pictures and stories to discuss them

1. SACRIFICIAL LOVE is to deny yourself for the benefit of others

It also means you are willing to suffer so others don’t suffer.

Example: a father jumps in a river and risks his own life to save his drowning son, forgetting his own safety.

Example: parents feed their hungry children first even if they are very hungry themselves

Example: if you are sick, parents may stay up all night and sacrifice their own sleep, because they are so concerned about you

True Stories: Father saves Daughter from Burning Flat Father saves son, 11, by giving liver and kidney Father saves son from cougar

Can you think of a time when your parents sacrificed something for your sake?

2. UNCONDITIONAL LOVE is to love without expecting anything in return

Example: Your parents cook food, buy clothes, give pocket money etc., but don’t keep a check of how much they have done and expect you to pay them back They give and forget how much they have given, because they love you. Of course, parents want to be loved. They just don't give their love with the condition of being loved back! God’s love is the same.

Example. A mother’s love for her baby.

What things do your parents do for children without expecting anything in return? Ask the children if they can remember a time when their parents did something for their sake, without asking for something back

3. UNCHANGING LOVE is the same no matter what happens

It doesn’t matter how old you are, how many mistakes you’ve made, or where you live, parents love remains the same. Parents don’t love their children more one day and less the next. Love is unchanging. God’s love is the same

Example: In the parable of the lost son, the older brother wasted his inheritance on foolish living, but his father welcomed him back with open

arms. His younger brother, however, was resentful. Can you think of a time when you did something wrong, but your parents forgave you.

Example: An 80-year old father will still tell his 50-year old son to wait for the traffic lights to change before crossing the road.

4) Activities• Complete the worksheet

• Play games of positive giving and receiving

1. Give & Return Compliments - In pairs give as many compliments as you can about each other, in one minute

2. Give Positive Statements - Each person in the group says something positive about one person. How does the person feel? Repeat with another person. This could also be written on a piece of paper or made into a card.

3. Share Sweets - Pass a bag of sweets around. Each person should respond in a polite manner saying thank you, that’s kind of you, etc... to show how to be a good object.

5) Review the Aims* to understand that God’s love is like parental love* to learn that parental love is sacrificial, unconditional and unchangeable

6) End with a prayer

Giving and Receiving Love

God made everything to exist in subject and object pairs. The subject partner gives to the object partner. The object partner receives and gives back to the subject partner, and so on. Each gives to the other. This is how love is created.

Label the pictures. Draw your own example

What is God’s Love?

God’s love is the same as a parent’s love toward children. Look at the pictures. Each one says something about God’s love. Explain what each picture shows.

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Father saves Daughter from Burning Flat

A BRAVE father was forced to drop his terrified four-year-old daughter 15 feet to safety because he believed his home was about to blow up.

Gareth Gray had to hurl his daughter McKenzie of his first floor living room window on Sunday evening after a blaze erupted in the flat below.

Mr Gray, 27, a window cleaner from Musselburgh, was forced to make a crash mat of sofa cushions before dropping the terrified tot to safety.

The hero dad then took the 15 foot plunge himself, but missed the cushions and landed on concrete badly damaging his ankle ligaments in the process.

Mr Gray revealed he was forced to drop little McKenzie because he feared a gas explosion would blow up the quiet residential block he lives in.

His partner, and McKenzie’s mum, Natalie McIntyre, 25, also made the jump to safety but escaped without injury.

Mr Gray said: “The neighbours were shouting up to us to get out of the house because the flat below us was on fire and they thought they could smell gas.

“We ran to the front door but the stairway was totally full of smoke so the only way out was through the living room window.

“As we made our way back into the living room, we heard an explosion below us and thought the whole building was going to go up, so my partner and I started throwing cushions out of the window to drop McKenzie on to.

“She was having a bit of a fit with the fear, and I told her that she would have to go out the window and she kept saying ‘No, daddy, no’.

“It had to be done though.

“There was every chance a gas explosion could have torn the building apart if we’d waited, so McKenzie went out of the window.”

Dangerous drop

After the dangerous drop McKenzie spotted her grandfather among the waiting crowd and ran over to him, but when Mr Gray made to run after her he collapsed in agony.

He said: “I must have landed in between the pillows and hit the ground. I thought I’d broken my leg but the hospital told me later that I had torn every ligament in my ankle.

“McKenzie was shouting for her daddy but I just couldn’t move.”

Fire chiefs believe that the blaze was started by a neighbour smoking in bed.

They say the “explosion” was most likely panes of glass shattering inside the ground-floor flat with the heat.

Witnesses claim they saw the downstairs’ occupant, thought to be man in his 50s, emerge from his home covered in black soot and had blood streaming from a leg injury.

Father saves son, 11, by giving liver and kidney

A father has saved his child in a medical first in New Zealand, by donating two live organs.

Eleven-year-old Jessie Pycroft has become the youngest New Zealander to get a double transplant. His father Wayne donated a kidney and a piece of his liver, becoming the first person to donate two organs.

Jessie was born with a rare genetic enzyme defect which slowly destroyed his liver and his kidneys.

Wayne Pycroft told TV One News "Something had to be done. Like any parent would do for their child. I hadn't thought much about it. I just put my hand up and that was it."

Transplant surgeon Dr Stephen Munn said: "The risk can be as high as one in 200 to the life of the patient to donate a piece of liver but in a case like this it would be that risk plus the small add-on risk of donating a kidney as well."

"We worked for many hours, many hours longer than we anticipated to try and hook up the artery and the piece of liver from his father and we were not successful in hooking up that artery despite five attempts," said Mr Munn.

Jessie survived but struggled with infection in the following month, with his heart stopping at one point for several minutes.He has overcome the infection, and is cured of his liver disease. "He's a really brave boy and he's fought the odds," said Mr Pycroft.

Father saves son from cougar

A Vancouver Island man says his protective instincts took over as he ran to defend his four-year-old son who was being attacked by a cougar at a park on the northern Island last Friday.

Paul Krismer of Comox says there was no time to be afraid when he and his wife "sprang into action" after they saw the big cat attacking their son Paul Daniel.

"We heard a little crash from the bushes, and I looked back and there was this cougar in mid-leap clamping on to my son's head," he told CBC Radio.

"There really wasn't much opportunity for thinking. I leaped off the log right onto the chest of this cougar and I hit it very, very hard, and it let go of my son's head at that point and looked up at me.

"Then I got one more big stomp in with my right foot, and then it was getting up to go away and I sort of got one more little kick in that barely had an impact and it ran off into the bushes."

The four-year-old suffered one deep bite mark near his skull and other cuts and bruises, but his injuries are considered minor.

The Lost Son(Luke 15:11-32)

“There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger son said to his father, ‘Give me now the part of your property that I am supposed to receive someday.’ So the father divided his wealth between his two sons.13 “A few days later the younger son gathered up all that he had and left. He traveled far away to another country, and there he wasted his money living like a fool. 14 After he spent everything he had, there was a terrible famine throughout the country. He was hungry and needed money. 15 So he went and got a job with one of the people who lived there. The man sent him into the fields to feed pigs. 16 He was so hungry that he wanted to eat the food the pigs were eating. But no one gave him anything.17 “The son realized that he had been very foolish. He thought, ‘All my father’s hired workers have plenty of food. But here I am, almost dead because I have nothing to eat. 18 I will leave and go to my father. I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against God and have done wrong to you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But let me be like one of your hired workers.’ 20 So he left and went to his father.

The Younger Son Returns“While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and felt sorry for him. So he ran to him and hugged and kissed him. 21 The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against God and have done wrong to you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Hurry! Bring the best clothes and put them on him. Also, put a ring on his finger and good sandals on his feet. 23 And bring our best calf and kill it so that we can celebrate with plenty to eat. 24 My son was dead, but now he is alive again! He was lost, but now he is found!’ So they began to have a party.

The Older Son Complains25 “The older son had been out in the field. When he came near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. 26 So he called to one of the servant boys and asked, ‘What does all this mean?’ 27 The boy said, ‘Your brother has come back, and your father killed the best calf to eat. He is happy because he has his son back safe and sound.’28 “The older son was angry and would not go in to the party. So his father went out and begged him to come in. 29 But he said to his father, ‘Look, for all these years I have worked like a slave for you. I have always done what you told me to do, and you never gave me even a young goat for a party with my friends. 30 But then this son of yours comes home after wasting your money on prostitutes, and you kill the best calf for him!’31 “His father said to him, ‘Oh, my son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But this was a day to be happy and celebrate. Your brother was dead, but now he is alive. He was lost, but now he is found.’”