EMMANUEL THE INCARNATION & HYPOSTATIC UNION LIFE NIGHT OUTLINE
CATECHISM SCRIPTURE human nature and was like # 464-470 Matthew 1:18-25 us in all things except for # 512 Mark 15:33-39 sin. # 526 John 1:1-5, 14 # 534 Philippians 2:5-11 Jesus showed his humanity # 538 in every event of his human CHURCH life. He shared fully in YOUCAT the human experience DOCUMENTS in his friendships, family, # 77-79 Dominus Iesus 9-10 # 86 Redemptoris Missio 4-6 # 88 The unity of the two natures KEY CONCEPTS in the one Person of Christ KEY TERMS Jesus Christ is fully God is called the “hypostatic Hypostatic Union and fully man. He took on union.” Heresy
GOAL moving into a time of Lectio Divina during the This Life Night will help teenagers understand the Send. two natures of Jesus Christ as fully human and fully divine. It will help teenagers understand that PARENTAL NOTICE Jesus Christ shared in our human experience and, This week at Life Night we discussed the Incarnation of Christ and His hypostatic union – the reality that Jesus Christ was both fully human
ABOUT THIS NIGHT and fully divine. The mystery of the Incarnation This Life Night focuses on the Incarnation and is a crucial Truth for our faith; it is the moment hypostatic union of Jesus Christ. It follows a that the prophets had foretold and all of creation Christmas theme and begins with a challenge had been waiting for. It is the historical moment OUTLINE to create a new “Life Teen Christmas Carol” when God visited humanity and became like us in
between all of the small groups. The teaching all things except sin. We challenged the teens to challenges teenagers to realize the magnitude contemplate this mystery and make changes in of the Incarnation. The Break gives teenagers the opportunity to process the teaching before humanity, it also means that He understands our EMMANUEL
36 LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE even what it means to die. Because of this, God ENVIRONMENT intimately knows our condition and the joys and pains we endure in our humanity. This thought The environment for this night should be set up is not only comforting, but it demonstrates what like a giant Christmas party. Have a Christmas tree an incredible God we serve. This week, take time with gifts underneath it, Christmas lights hung up around the room, and have the Core Team dress narratives in the Bible (Matthew 1:18-25 or Luke up in Christmas sweaters. Have Christmas carols 2:1-20) and discern where you need to grow in playing as the teens walk into the room. If you your relationship with Christ. Consider doing this serve food, consider having Christmas cookies as a family or with your teenage son or daughter out prior to the Life Night or as teens walk in. sometime this week.
divinity. It challenges teens to understand how GATHER close God comes to each one of us. An outline for this teaching can be found on pages WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION 39 to 43. (5 min)
The youth minister should gather all of the teens together and begin the Life Night with a brief prayer. He or she should welcome any teens that BREAK SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (25 min) A LIFE TEEN CHRISTMAS CAROL (10 min) After the teaching, have the teenagers gather back in small groups for a time of discussion. The Break the teens into small groups of six to eight Core Member leading each small group should with one Core Member in each group. Instruct the begin with prayer and then begin a discussion teens to come up with a Life Teen Christmas carol using the following questions: – a song set to the tune of a popular Christmas tune that captures the spirit of Life Teen at your In what ways does Jesus prove that He is God? parish. Give each group time to write and rehearse the song. Invite groups to share their songs, and other prophets or teachers? award a prize to the most creative performance and song. Is it easier for you to understand Jesus’ divine nature, or His human nature? Why?
How does the knowledge that Jesus shared in
PROCLAIM your human experience in everything but sin change your perspective on your relationship "EMMANUEL" TEACHING with God? (15 min) OUTLINE
Jesus is not a liar or a lunatic, so He must be
The teaching for this Life Night focuses on Lord. Do you live your life as though Jesus is the magnitude of the Incarnation and Jesus’ Lord? Why or why not? hypostatic union between His humanity and His EMMANUEL
LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE 37 Read the Scripture passage out loud to the teens three times. Have them pay special attention to SEND a word or phrase that stands out to them. Once they have heard this, they will write that word or NIGHT RECAP phrase down on their paper. The teens will then (5 min) move into a time of quiet prayer and meditation over the word or phrase. After they have had a Gather all of the teens back into the main meeting few minutes to do this, the youth minister should room to close the Life Night with a time of prayer. Begin by recapping the main points of the Life about the word or phrase, and what they feel God Night: is speaking to each of them through that word or phrase. After several minutes of journaling, Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He took the youth minister should invite the teens into a on human nature and was like us in all things couple minutes of silent prayer, thanking God for except for sin. the blessings in their lives.
Jesus showed his humanity in every event of Close the Life Night by challenging the teens to his human life. He shared fully in the human continually seek the voice of Christ in their lives, especially through Scripture. Pray the Hail Mary and death. and Ave Maria together as a group.
The unity of the two natures in the one Person ADAPTING THE LIFE NIGHT of Christ is called the “hypostatic union.” Have the teenagers pray through Lectio Divina in their small groups, and have a time of LECTIO DIVINA Eucharistic Adoration during the Send. (15 min) If you have a large group, have small groups Close the Life Night by praying through John 1:1- volunteer to sing their Christmas Carol. Have 5, 14 with the teenagers through Lectio Divina. three of four groups come forward to do this, Begin by having Core Members pass out pens and have the rest of the group be the judges for and paper to all of the teenagers, inviting them the most creative carol. to spread out around the main meeting space. GOING DEEPER Explain that Christ is God’s Word – and this same Alternative Small Group Questions — for small Word speaks to us through Sacred Scripture. groups that want to dive deeper into the topic of the Prayerful meditation on a particular scripture Life Night, use the following discussion questions: passage can allow us to hear the whisper of God in our lives. Explain to the teens that there are Why was it important for Jesus to become four movements to Lectio Divina: fully human? How would you explain this importance to someone else? Lectio – A reading of the Scripture passage Do you live your life more like a disciple or Meditation – Meditating on a word or phrase as someone who doesn’t fully believe in that stands out to them God (even if you profess yourself to be a Oratio – Active prayer, petitioning God for insight full life of discipleship? into the Scripture OUTLINE Since Jesus is God, and not a liar or a lunatic,
Contemplatio – A time of contemplation, simply why aren’t we more actively spreading the being in the presence of God in prayerful Gospel to our friends and family? thanksgiving EMMANUEL
38 LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE EMMANUEL TEACHING
KEY TERM together in one person and DEFINITIONS one hypostasis (CCC 468). Hypostatic Union – The Heresy – A denial of a truth two natures of Christ – His which must be believed with humanity and divinity – divine and Catholic faith were preserved in their (CCC 2089). entirety when they came
INTRODUCTION Every year we sing Christmas carols about wise men, jingling bells, and a baby being born in a manger. These carols remind us of the Christmas season, but we often fail to remember the reason why we sing them.
We celebrate Christmas because something incredible happened; the Son of God became man. We call this the incarnation, and it radically changed our world. Christmas wasn’t just about a great person being born, it was about God coming among us in order to save us.
Many people, though, live their lives as if Jesus was just a moral teacher, even if they claim the title of Christian. We know Jesus the man, but sometimes forget that Jesus was also fully God.
One of the reasons why believers have trouble living as if Jesus is the Christ is because there is an implied doubt in His divinity. Think about it. We know Jesus the man. We can point to His
G Jesus didn’t just claim to be a man; He claimed to be God. HIN C How do we know that Jesus was God? After all, there were many
wise teachers and miracle workers through the centuries. How TEA
can we trust what we know about Jesus? If we know that He is God, we have reason to profess Him as Lord of our life. So, how can we answer this question? EMMANUEL
LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE 39 JESUS’ DIVINITY – THE SEA Jesus worked many miracles according to the Scriptures. Many prophets worked miracles as well (Elijah, Elisha, Moses, etc). Many Matthew 8:28 people, during the time of Christ, thought Jesus was simply a great prophet who could work great miracles.
However, there are two passages in particular in the Gospels that indicate Jesus was and is something greater than the prophets.
The book of Genesis says, “The earth was a formless wasteland, Genesis 1:1 darkness covered the abyss and a mighty wind swept over the waters.”
The Hebrew word for “mighty wind” is Ruah which gives indication that the “mighty wind” was the Holy Spirit.
The waters in the beginning represented the chaotic and formless existence out of which the Holy Spirit swept over and brought order and creation.
For the Hebrew people, the ocean or sea represented the chaotic waters of Genesis that could not be controlled – except by God.
There are two instances in which Jesus shows He is the master of Mark 6:45 -52 when He calms the storm.
The story of the storm reveals Christ’s divinity. The apostles were at sea in a boat, and there was a great storm. They woke Jesus and Mark 4:35-41 He rebuked the sea and storm by saying, “Quiet! Be still!” The sea listened to His command.
whom even wind and sea obey?” The apostles knew that Jesus was more than a prophet, if he, like the Holy Spirit in the beginning, could bring order out of the chaotic waters.
JESUS DIVINITY – LORD, LIAR, OR LUNATIC Later in the Scriptures, Jesus reveals Himself as God when asked a question about Abraham. Jesus reveals himself to be greater than John 8:58 the patriarchs when he says, “Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.
G This is a huge statement by Jesus Christ. The name, “I AM” is
HIN what God had revealed Himself to be when Moses had asked the C burning bush His name. God revealed His name as, “I AM.” TEA For the Jews, the name of God was sacred and never to be spoken. Speaking the name of God was punishable by death.
In this moment, Jesus reveals Himself to be greater than Abraham and uses the name of God to describe himself. He is claiming to be God. EMMANUEL
40 LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE C.S. Lewis points out that when Jesus claims to be God, He can be only one of three things – Lord, liar or lunatic.
When Jesus claims to be God, He could be lying. However, this is religion and change the course of human history if you are simply a pathological liar.
Jesus claims to be God; he could be a lunatic. However, lunatics tend to say a lot of crazy things – and Jesus was known to be exceptionally wise. It is unlikely that he was a lunatic.
This leaves only one scenario – Jesus is Lord. He is God; He iswho He claimed to be.
The testimony of Jesus’s words and his actions give witness to the divinity of Jesus Christ.
JESUS WAS FULLY HUMAN In the early Church, when people questioned who Jesus was Key Term and presented heresies about Him – they never questioned His divinity.
Three of the most common Christian heresies in the early Church CCC 464-466 divinity. What they questioned was the humanity of Jesus.
CCC 470 human and was like man in all things but sin.
CCC 512-534 Jesus entered into the full experience of humanity. Consider the following truths:
Jesus was born an infant to the Virgin Mother and was raised in a family where He learned to walk, speak, read, and all the common things a normal child would need to learn.
He experiences hunger and thirst, as evidenced by His temptation in the desert.
He had friendships and shared in family life. He shared joy and
sorrow, often in the context of these relationships. G He experienced pain – as evidenced by His passion and death. HIN C When the Creator of man becomes man, Jesus fully reveals humanity to ourselves. He becomes an example for man and a TEA
because He has fully experienced it himself. If Jesus was not fully EMMANUEL
LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE 41 human as well as fully divine, He would not have been able to
THE TWO NATURES – HYPOSTATIC UNION We can say Jesus is fully God and fully man because He has two natures. Jesus has all of the qualities of God and all of the qualities of humanity, except for sin.
This may cause us to have some questions about how this might pose a few contradictions, for example: How can Jesus be an infant that needs to learn how to speak and still be an “all knowing” God?
Or, how can the God of the universe become a baby dependent on a mother and father for everything, and how can that same God exist outside of time and inside of time?
Just like the Trinity, Jesus’ two natures is a mystery. God has revealed some Truths about this union. We know that Jesus was not part God and part man. He was fully God and fully man.
Jesus was not schizophrenic – in the sense that He could change “personalities” from God to man. Additionally, from the time of his birth, He was fully God and fully man; He did not become an all-knowing God at a certain age. We also know that He was fully human; therefore, He experienced the reality of uncertainty about the future.
Jesus was 100 percent God and 100 percent man the entire time of his human existence. This is known as the hypostatic union. This Key Term means that Jesus was one man with two distinct natures.
nature. Nature is the subsistence of who we are.
one person. In doing so – He was fully God and fully man.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US When we consider the dogma of the hypostatic union – we should
hear the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives. G
HIN He was fully human, like us, and shared in all of our experiences. C TEA and understanding because He entered into and experienced our EMMANUEL
42 LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE He was fully divine. This gives authority to what He taught, because wisdom.
Jesus’s divinity reveals that He is more than just someone we should listen to. He is God, sowhen He speaks, He is instructing us
As our Creator, Jesus knows what we are created for, and He guides us to that purpose.
His invitation is for us to join the Father in Heaven by making him the Lord of our life.
Notes
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LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE 43 EMMANUEL CHECKLIST LIFE NIGHT CHECKLIST
CORE PLANNING TEAM: TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO LIFE NIGHT:
______ Turn in a detailed outline of the Life Night to the youth minister. Allow the youth minister ______to give feedback and make any necessary changes. ______ Create a list of needed supplies and materials. ______Assign a person to be responsible for collecting and/or purchasing the materials needed. DATE OF LIFE NIGHT: Decide the people that will be doing the ______following things. Make sure they have a copy of the script and/or teaching outline. Inform them of any practices and/or deadlines. ONE MONTH PRIOR TO THE NIGHT: Teaching ______ Give copies of the Life Night to each of the members of the planning team. Each person WEEK OF THE LIFE NIGHT: should read the Scripture and Catechism references as well as review the planning guide Written outline of the teaching is given to the before the brainstorming meeting. youth minister and practiced.
Get the planning team together for a Run a dress rehearsal of the Life Night. Youth brainstorming meeting (this should last no minister gives feedback. longer than 1 hour). The team prays and discusses where the teens are in their faith Create environment and collect needed journey in relation to this topic. Then using this supplies. planning guide as a starting point, the team adapts the Life Night to meet the needs of the E-mail entire Core Team an overview of the teens and the parish. Create a detailed outline night and small group questions. with any changes and/or adjustments. DAY OF THE LIFE NIGHT: Assign the person responsible for each part of the Life Night: Set up the environment. Make sure the room is clean and presentable. Environment ______
Set up audio and video. Test the video clips to A Life Teen Christmas Carol ______make sure both picture and sound work. KLIST
C Small Group Discussion______ Walk the entire Core Team through the Life
HE Night. Make sure all transitions are ready and C Lectio Divina ______everyone knows their roles.
Pray! Pray for the teens attending the Life Night. Pray for God's will to be done through the night. Pray over those involved. EMMANUEL
44 LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE EMMANUEL EVALUATION LIFE NIGHT EVALUATION InstructIons: Use the following questions to discuss and evaluate your Life Night.
1. On a scale of 1-10, how well did this Life Night 1. On a scale of 1-10, how well did this Life Night accomplish the goal we set? Explain. accomplish the goal we set? Explain.
2. What was the strongest aspect of this Life 2. What was the strongest aspect of this Life Night? Night?
3. What kind of follow-up do we need to do 3. What kind of follow-up do we need to do after this Life Night? after this Life Night?
4. What can we improve for future Life Nights? 4. What can we improve for future Life Nights? How can we accomplish this? How can we accomplish this?
1. On a scale of 1-10, how well did this Life Night 1. On a scale of 1-10, how well did this Life Night accomplish the goal we set? Explain. accomplish the goal we set? Explain.
2. What was the strongest aspect of this Life 2. What was the strongest aspect of this Life Night? Night?
3. What kind of follow-up do we need to do 3. What kind of follow-up do we need to do after this Life Night? after this Life Night?
4. What can we improve for future Life Nights? 4. What can we improve for future Life Nights? EVALUATION
How can we accomplish this? How can we accomplish this? EMMANUEL
LIFE TEEN CURRICULUM GUIDE 45