Viewing archives for KS3

These resources have been created to support the Jerusalem Trust and BBC film Catholics – Women.

There are resources designed for use with KS2 (8-11),KS3 (11-14), KS4 (15-16), KS5 (17-18) and adults.

In order to use this resources it is necessary for students to watch entire film. In addition, sections may, of

course, be reshown as required in relation to each topic. The Programme Outline contains the timings for each

part of the film.

Teachers can select all or any of the resources and activities as suitable for the course they are pursuing. There

are additional ‘Stretch and Challenge’ topics as well as cross-curricular materials.

Additional versions of resources have been created:

• Dyslexic (D) wherever appropriate

To avoid confusion these are coded in the bottom left -hand corner of each page.

Many of the materials, especially the challenges, are also suitable for

• SEN – special educational needs;
• EAL – English as an additional language.

This resource will:

• explore this question of how reading relates to questions of truth and meaning
• equip teachers with an awareness of a range of reading practices
• invite teachers to consider how these different reading practices, or ‘theologies of reading’ can be applied in the classroom context

A paper by Dr Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft, David Thompson Research Fellow, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge and Dr Kathryn Wright, CEO, Culham St Gabriel’s Trust.

Published January 2020.

“Should I work occasionally on Shabbat if I am struggling to find a job?” was a question sent to the Jewish Chronicle’s ‘Rabbi, I Have a Problem’ feature. The Orthodox rabbi’s response concentrated on the importance of staying true to the faith. “If you betray your principles by working on Shabbat, you will lose a part of yourself that will be very hard to reclaim. Be true to yourself and you can never go wrong.”

The Reform rabbi looked more practically at the matter, suggesting that the writer go to employment organisations that support people who keep Shabbat, or which are known for their flexible working conditions.  He also alluded to the German Reform Rabbi Leo Baeck’s concept of ‘Sabbath moments,’ not keeping the full Shabbat but elevating certain times, such as making Kiddush on Friday nights.

The area of work and Judaism is positive to explore in the classroom, as it puts the faith into a modern, living context. It also encourages practical peace-making – how can we find a solution to difficult dilemmas?  How can people from different beliefs and traditions work happily side by side?  How can we offer support to people who hold different beliefs when they face harassment and racism?

Some questions for pupils to discuss in groups could be:

I keep the kosher food rules but want to be a chef. What should I do? 

This dilemma was first mentioned to me by an ex-pupil, who had special needs and worried that his job choices would be even more limited if he could not taste certain foods. There are now far more vegan and vegetarian restaurants which would suit an employee who would want to keep away from ‘treif (non-kosher food)’ if they cannot get a job in the kosher sector. Also, I note that a famous TV chef – Tom Kerridge – has a shellfish allergy and lets others from his team taste these dishes. However, the answer is not, as one pupil suggested, just taste a little non-kosher food, as it won’t matter.

I am a doctor in A and E and usually don’t work on Saturday as I am Orthodox. However, this week no-one else can work on that day. What should I do?   

A key Jewish concept is ‘pikuach nefesh’ – preservation of life. This should always come first.  A Biblical quotation for this would be, ‘Do not stand by idly when a human life is in danger.’ (Leviticus 19:16). There is also the quotation used in Schindler’s List, “Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:1 (22a). Pupils can discuss how the doctor could have ‘Sabbath moments’, for example, saying Shabbat prayers in his break.

I wear a kippah and work in a recycling centre. Some of my work mates make fun of me every day. What should I do?

This is an opportunity to discuss workplace bullying and discrimination. Pupils should not feel it is acceptable for people to experience hatred at work simply because of their beliefs and there are laws (2010 Equalities Act) and procedures to deal with this. Role play could encourage pupils to show how to support someone who is facing anti-Semitic harassment at work.

I know someone who is poor. I don’t know whether to give them money or to help them get a job. What do you think?  

Here, Maimonides’ Ladder of Charity could be mentioned (Mishnah Torah 10:7-15). The highest level of charity is giving someone a gift or loan, or helping them into work, so that they don’t need to be dependent on charity anymore. The dignity of having a job is very important in Judaism.

I am an Orthodox woman who dresses modestly. My new manager at my hairdressers’ says I must wear a short skirt at work. What should I do?   

This is indirect discrimination and will be in breach of the 2010 Equalities Act. An employee would have to justify their decision on health and safety grounds, which is obviously not the case in the example. Pupils could discuss ‘tzniut’ – Jewish customs on modest dress – and how it connects with Muslim women’s dress code.

Finally, it is interesting to consider the whole area of Jewish workplace ethics. How should we behave at work?  Is it acceptable to gossip about workmates, take home stationery, use work time to sort out our social life, to tell lies in order to sell things?  Some key teachings are

• You should keep your distance from a falsehood – Exodus 23:7
• For one positive act leads to another positive act and one transgression leads to another transgression – Ethics of the Fathers 4:2
• What would be hateful to you do not do to others – Hillel, the Babylonian Talmud
• Even a good deed, if done (without permission) in the employer’s time is a sin – Path of the Just
• A good name is better than precious oil – Ecclesiastes 7:1

Jewish Principles in the Work-Place, a resource from JABE (Jewish Association for Business Ethics)      https://www.scojec.org/resources/files/workplace_ethics.pdf

The Employer’s Guide to Judaism, a resource from the Board of Deputies of British Jews  https://www.bod.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Employers-Guide-to-Judaism2.pdf

https://www.thejc.com/judaism/rabbi-i-have-a-problem/should-i-work-occasionally-on-shabbat-if-i-am-struggling-to-find-a-job-1.148045

https://www.scojec.org/resources/files/workplace_ethics.pdf

This resource was written by Hannah Mandelbaum, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team. If your class would like to ask a Jewish representative any questions about their faith, or to see answers to previously asked questions please visit http://pof.reonline.org.uk/people-of-faith/judaism/

This resource was written by Hannah Mandelbaum, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

Well, have you managed to avoid Slade, the Pogues, Michael Buble, Bing Crosby, Mariah Carey, Wham!, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Chris Sievey, Cliff Richard, Elvis Presley, Band Aid……..?

Perhaps the only way to do this is to stay indoors with your fingers in your ears! I’m sure Ebenezer Scrooge would have avoided them all (‘Bah! Humbug!’), but I have just come across one school that is hosting a debate: this House believes Ebenezer Scrooge is a better role model for children than Father Christmas. What do you think? Being a Grumpy Old Man I might tend to agree with the motion, or, being a Grumpy Old Philosopher, I might prefer to change the motion and deny the validity of the binary choice……..

Either way, what is Christmas? I don’t mean what is the whole Biblical and traditional story(-ies), I mean what is it now for modern Britain? Thankfully the Daily Mail spoofs that to mention the word ‘Christmas’ would somehow cause offence to others are a thing of the past, but I have a friend who now insists on wishing me a happy vegetarian Winterval and urges me to engage more with the seasonal solstice and look forward in hope not evidently to the Christ-child but to more daylight. Hmmm.

There again, Advent is replaced by Black Friday and Cyber Week, carols by Jingle Bells, the joy of feasting by guilt over the poor, and the journey of the Magi by Elton John’s journey from his first piano. Is this all too negative? – no, but it is short-sighted. In a sense this is what Christmas always was – no wonder the Puritans banned it from 1644 to 1647! It has always been jolly and drunken for the majority. It started that way in ancient Rome, when Saturnalia moved to the 25th December. Its 4th Century AD rebranding as the birthday of Jesus followed a century of debate in the churches as to when Jesus was actually born (many days of the year suggested) but the replacement for Saturnalia became official soon after Constantine had embraced Christianity, of a sort, for the Empire.

Another origin is similar, the Sol Invicta cult of the Roman World, in which Constantine himself was brought up, which partied on 25th December, but the general idea is the same: a religious/secular festival in the gloom of midwinter. Plenty of other accretions to Christmas have come from similar festivals (Yuletide, for example), in the hope that ‘Christianising’ them would sanitise them.

So where does this place us today? Should we as Christians bow to what seems inevitable and have our Christmas whilst the world has its Xmas? I say a guarded ‘No’ to that. Why?

[i] There are many on the fringes of Faith, indeed adherents of other Faiths also, who want life to be more than shopping, reality to be explored, not turned Virtual; we can hold a candle for those people.
[ii] The Christmas stories are our cultural heritage, with a message of ‘Peace on earth’, of goodwill to all people, of remembering the rejected family with Baby in a manger about to become refugees in Egypt.
[iii] The staggering wealth of music, dramas and poetry speak of a society that desperately needs a central value beyond Brexit and the economy.
[iv] We need something better for our mental health than mere Mindfulness – we need something to be Mindful of, namely the hope that Bethlehem can bring us all as we explore its many meanings.

But the real Bethlehem today is a parable of the lives of so many people – under occupation by forces beyond its control, impoverished, walled in, drained of its Christian heritage, the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square commercially exploited – a parody at the heart of Christianity. One Bethlehem tours website (all-in package including Jerusalem and the Dead Sea) includes the comment that ‘For those not interested in Bethlehem there will be free time in Jerusalem’ – presumably the shopping malls of West Jerusalem? Bethlehem has now so little to offer even the commercial tourist.

In our schools we need to explore and exploit the nativity story: life under Roman occupation; an unpopular census for taxation purposes; an illegitimate pregnancy and family shame; an honourable carpenter protecting his young bride-to-be; the value of the family connections in their hometown of Bethlehem; the holy family squashed together in the animal quarter of a peasant house, occasioning ribald remarks from neighbours; the brutality and despotic fear of Herod and the child massacre that follows. Then there is the welcome from the lowly and near-dispossessed (shepherds); and from the wealthy overseas wise (the Magi), with their extraordinary royal gifts that must have seemed so inappropriate when they finally located Jesus, following the star to the Christ-child; then their refugee journey to Egypt.

If we can’t find parables in this shared narrative for our modern world then we seriously lack empathetic imagination.

So let us merge Christmas and Xmas (after all, X is the Greek letter at the start of Christ’s name), let us both use and celebrate the feast and give our gifts; and let us explore the depths of the narrative for our modern world, whose tinsel and plastic cribs are but a parody of reality.

This resource was written by Richard Coupe, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

During National Interfaith week our Imam planted trees outside the mosque alongside the Chief Rabbi, this was part of Mitzvah day which is a day of faith-based action. I, along with some of my students, also participated. I think it is really important for our faith leaders to set examples for the rest of the community and images such as faith leaders working for the common good speaks volumes. Our students have linked up with young people from our neighbouring synagogue and have formed a social club

Outside mainstream education there is an impressive range of initiatives, projects, websites and resources, much of it galvanised by the excellent Inter Faith Network and their growing membership, who have been the pioneers and main inter-faith drivers for almost thirty years.

The Quran commands Muslims to “Vie, then, with one another in doing good works!” Planting trees in Islam is a form of charity and is a step in the right direction for helping reverse the effects of climate change. Muslims are required by Islam to keep the environment around them pure and clean. True Muslims are those who appreciate the beauty surrounding them. This may explain many of the Prophetic hadiths that talk about the merits of planting trees and other acts that benefit people.There is a hadith saying, “There is none amongst the Muslims who plants a tree or sows seeds, and then a bird, or a person or an animal eats from it, but is regarded as a charitable gift for him.” This is a form of sadaqah jariya which means that such an act will continue ton benefit a person after the person dies as well.

Inter-faith activity is defined as ‘the collaborative promotion of dialogue, co-operation, understanding and action of different faith groups in order to develop a more cohesive society’. 

A cohesive society is one where there is a common vision and sense of belonging for all communities; the diversity of people’s different backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and positively valued; those from different backgrounds have similar opportunities; and strong and positive relations are being developed in the workplace, in schools, and within neighbourhoods.

A lot can be learned outside the classroom and young students can meet religious leaders and ask them questions about anything they like.

Visiting sacred space is another excellent way whereby students can get a feel of what it is like to be a follower of a faith. There is awe and wonder when entering the space that is sacred to people of other faiths. I visited East London mosque during a meeting of the Religious Education Council. I was amazed to hear that almost two thousand people use the mosque every day for their daily prayers. Whilst I was there three coffins were being brought in whereby after the mid-day prayers people would then take part in the funeral prayers of the deceased. The mosque had a minaret and there were loudspeakers that were used for the call of prayer. I remember how unusual it was to hear the call to prayer on the streets of London!

There were fantastic displays on the walls where a verse was cited about a particular topic like marriage for example and then a small image was painted to illustrate the topic. Visiting East London mosque was nice for me during National Interfaith week because it is not a mosque I normally go to because I go to a mosque which is nearer to where I live. It was interesting to learn that part of the building used to be a synagogue and before it was sold they there were very good relationships between the two communities illustrating the peace and harmony that can result when people respect each other regardless of their faith or belief.

This resource was written by Aliya Azam, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

I am frequently asked how Jesus could be God. So this is a brief study, under the general title of Leaders and Prophets, about this central belief of Christianity.

Christianity believes that God really came into this real, material world, being fully human whilst never losing His deity: he was not just a prophet. How did Christians ever arrive at such an idea? First of all we can look to the Gospels:

• Jesus taught it: he said ‘I and the Father are one’ (John 10.30), ‘I am in the Father and the Father is in me’ (John 14.11)
• Jesus showed it: his many miracles – ‘it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you’ (Matt. 12.28) – healing the sick and raising the dead
• Jesus proved it by his resurrection

Secondly, after the resurrection, and the reception of the promised Holy Spirit (Jesus had said he himself would send the Spirit) the first Christians had a great deal of thinking to do, rather like this: Jesus must have been the Messiah, fulfilled Old Testament prophecy literally (‘Mighty God, everlasting Father’ – Isaiah 9.6) and be coming back again as he promised; only if he is really divine can he do all this. And when he said ‘before Abraham was, I Am’ (John 8.58) he made the most staggering claim: he is that Word of God, that Wisdom of God, that very image of God, through whom everything was made in the first place (Proverbs 3.19) and in whom we are made!

Thirdly, talk of God’s personified Wisdom and Word were current in Judaism at the time and, differently, in contemporary Stoicism – the divine Word (Logos) is the guiding principle, the inner formula, of the universe as a while. So John opens with the claim: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…..the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’.

St Paul articulated what this means in his letters to the Philippians and the Colossians: he identifies Jesus as pre-eminent over all creation (Colossians 1.15-20), the means by which creation was made and is sustained, and in whom ‘all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell’. He also explains (Philippians 2.4-11) that, in becoming man, Christ divested himself of divine privileges (omnipresence, omnipotence, etc.) and submitted to an ignoble death. So the incarnation is definitely in the Bible.

However, how this came to be understood over the ensuing centuries varied

Some Christians came to see Jesus as a man adopted by God because of his holiness, ‘Son’ of God in an exceptional way but not God in the flesh. Conversely some others were so keen on Jesus being God, or God’s Word, that the human element of Jesus was considered a mere minor addition, and possibly not really real anyway (Apollinaris, Sabellianism, Gnostics). Others argued over whether Jesus’ soul was divine, human, or both (Nestorius, Origen), and a major heresy argued that though he was divine and human together, God is so immutable and transcendent that the ‘god’ in Jesus must have been a lesser aspect of divinity, a special creation not eternal and not fully God (Arius). Did Jesus have just one unique nature (Monophysites) or two unmixed (orthodox definition)? Or two, unmixed indeed but actually separate (Cyril)? And so it went on!

It took the Councils of Nivea and Constantinople, in the 4th Century, to reach the most widely accepted definition in the Nicene Creed:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

Of course all these problems were caused by old views of humans – body and soul – and at a Platonic version of God, for whom matter was untouchable. Christianity had to break both moulds to get this definition of one Lord Jesus Christ, fully God and fully Man, a definition finally fully set out at Chalcedon in AD 451 – see http://anglicansonline.org/basics/chalcedon.html and note that even so there are variations within Christendom still. That’s the thing about God, He just won’t conform to our thinking! We have not got adequate categories to explain the Incarnation, that is clear, but it is the essential central mystery of Christianity.

Divided nature – what he does as God, what he does as man

This resource was written by Richard Coupe, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team. 

The relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and large parts of organised religion is complex. Some members of the LGBTQ+ community have been hurt by their experiences of organised religion and this has led to distrust.

I would like to say that Paganism is different. That Paganism is fully accepting toward LGBTQ+ people. But I can’t say that.
I can, however, say that the majority of Pagans are accepting toward LGBTQ+ people.

I think it is fair to say, though, that even among the small minority of Pagans who do in some way discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, the number who claim to do it on religious grounds are even fewer. This is because there is very little in Paganism that can be taken as somehow religiously proclaiming that homosexuality, etc. is wrong. So, if you do encounter one of the few Pagans that have issues with such things, my view would be that their discrimination is entirely their own and not something that has been transmitted to them as a ‘Pagan teaching’.

In fact, there is a great deal in Paganism that not only signals an acceptance of homosexuality, transsexuality, etc. but actively recognises it as something that can be religiously recognised and celebrated.

A great amount of modern Paganism is constructed from features (both religious and social) of older cultures. It is no secret that the ancient Greeks and Romans, for example, had a rather progressive attitude toward homosexuality, at key points in their history. So it should come as little surprise that there are models within their religious and mythic traditions that can be taken as representative of LGBTQ+ qualities.
The God Dionysus, for example, was depicted as both an old man and as an effeminate youth. The God Pan is unapologetically pansexual. The deity Hermaphroditus (from where we get the word hermaphrodite) was the God of hermaphrodites and the effeminate and possessed both male and female physical features. Even the Goddess of Love herself, Aphrodite, was sometimes depicted with a beard and in Theselay she was celebrated with lesbian rites. And of course, Aphrodite is regularly invoked in the ancient poetry of Sapho, celebrating love between women.

But themes and concepts that can be significant to an LGBTQ+ expression of religion, are definitely not restricted to the Greeks and Romans. In Germanic mythology, we see a number of examples of gender-bending and switching of traditional gender roles and power structures.
In South America, the God Xochipili is the patron of male homosexuality.
Polynesia and the Pacific Islands contain a number of different deities and religious traditions involving gay relationships and bisexuality. Additionally, there are a number of examples of third-gender and gender-variant shamans. In fact, Shamanism generally has numerous examples of people, behaviours and practices worldwide, that fall under the umbrella of gender-variance.

There are actually more examples than I have space to list, but we can see that such themes are common across many ancient cultures, all over the world.

The degree to which LGBTQ+ themes are celebrated and discussed in the broader Pagan community will differ from place to place.
Paganism is a very personalised path and being as the majority of people are not a part of the LGBTQ+ community, it’s hardly surprising that those themes may not feature in the practices of a lot of people. Additionally, despite the broad acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, orientations, lifestyles, and love styles, there are large amounts of Paganism that are constructed in a very heteronormative way. They’re not exclusionary of LGBTQ+ themes and people, but at their most basic level they revolve around a certain core of celebrating the cycle of life as expressed through the female and male experience, and the union of the male and female to perpetuate life. Much of this has come out of the popularity of Wicca and other modern Witchcraft traditions.

So, while on the one hand Paganism is very inclusive, I could understand if the commonality of heteronormative themes might make an LGBTQ+ person feel excluded.

However, there are Pagan groups and paths that are exclusively LGBTQ+. For example, the Pagan tradition known as Radical Faerie, is exclusively made up of “lesbians, gay men, trans*, bisexuals, queer hetero people and anyone else in between” (quote from Radical Faeries of Albion: https://albionfaeries.org.uk ).

I think it is a strength of Paganism that it is not just LGBTQ+ inclusive, but that it possesses a wealth of myth, tradition, and iconography of an LGBTQ+ nature. That this creates even more opportunity for members of the LGBTQ+ community to not merely explore their spirituality among accepting people, but to explore a spiritual path that also reflects important aspects of who they are and can be celebrated with others who are also on a similar life journey.

Glossary
LGBTQ+ : Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Queer, +others.

This resource was written by Luthaneal Adams, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

Christians always look forward to Christmas, whatever our denominations, because it enables us to reflect once again on why we are Christians: we believe God decisively entered our world once and for all, in person, to redeem us; in so doing He had to become exactly one of us – and so begin the narratives in Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels.

However, we are less confident on the period leading up to Christmas, Advent. What’s it all about? Well, we know that four clear Sundays before Christmas Day (hence the moving date for Advent Sunday) we are to make spiritual preparations for the celebration of the Incarnation. Over the centuries customs have varied widely: some have Lent-like fasts, many put up Advent wreaths and lights, or share special calendars to count off the days; then there are Advent carols, Christingle, a specific wreath with five candles lit Sunday by Sunday in many churches to remember the spiritual history leading up to the arrival of Christ (‘Advent’ means ‘arrival’), and no doubt other customs. So, what are we missing?

The Collect in the ASB prayer book for Advent includes:
…so that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to life immortal…
The original creed of Nicaea, the contemporary product in AD325 of the great Council of Nicaea states:
…[he] will come to judge the living and the dead….
And the New Testament frequently makes reference to the Second Coming, Jesus himself making reference to it in the eschatological discourse (e.g. Luke 21. 25ff), through the message of the angels at the Ascension, the epistles right up to the buffers of Revelation: “Amen. Come Lord Jesus!” 

Why don’t we make more of this profound Hope? I suggest three main reasons:
a) Over the centuries we have seen so many ‘millenarian’ movements proclaiming the imminent end of the world – ‘The Pursuit of the Millennium’ is a fascinating yet worrying read;
b) Post-Enlightenment Christianity has become embarrassed to hold such a blatantly supernatural article of faith (Article IV of the 39 Articles, for example)
c) It hasn’t happened yet!

To tackle these in turn:
a) We know even from the pages of the New Testament that an imminent Return of Christ (Parousia) was often expected, and that hope had to be realigned to the realities of the Christian life (2 Thessalonians 3.10, for example). Enthusiastic movements such as the 2nd Century Montanists plainly had some such expectation, and right through to the Jehovah’s Witnesses today this belief has been a great inspiration, even though all predictions have proved futile. It does lead many to re-assess whether such a belief should have any place granted this history. The simple answer is ‘No’; just because some people have got it wrong, the overall belief is not invalidated though it may need more careful consideration.

b) Familiar rationalism has created liberalism, which has been a valuable antidote to modern Fundamentalism and mindless, superstitious ‘faith’; poor Anselm’s credo ut intelligam (‘believe in order that I may understand’) has been misused to make blind ‘faith’ a virtue, which not even Jesus proposed – he told us to watch and not to let anyone deceive us, being ourselves as ‘wise as serpents’.. Realised Eschatology, its roots in the Johannine tradition, took off in the 20th Century, reinterpreting ‘eternal life’ to mean a virtuous quality of life rather than an endless quantity of life, and of course there is much to be said for this in terms of the moral and spiritual teachings of the New Testament and of Jesus himself. Albert Schweizer’s famous conclusion that Jesus was a failed eschatological prophet who flung himself to the cross trying to make God see his point of view, probably sums up the basis for redirecting the Second Coming hope towards a more spiritual and reasonable hope. But by the time the supernatural has been removed from the Gospel, Christology become Adoptionism, eternity become excellence in this world, and God merely the Ground of Our Being and not Trinity, there is not much left! Christianity is fundamentally supernatural or it is nothing.

c) For some in New Testament times the delayed Parousia was already a problem: ‘Where is the promise of His coming’ (2 Peter 3.4). This could, of course, mean we have always got it wrong if doubts existed even then, but Peter’s answer in this epistle is helpful: God does not work on our timescale, and if the Parousia is delayed, it is to give us time to turn to God rather than face judgement too soon, so live as if the Parousia is tomorrow, but plan to be here a long time! We sometimes call this ‘Now, and not yet’. Unfortunately, there is an industry of speculation among evangelicals, often based precariously on the Book of Revelation, to construct the agenda and scheduling of the Last Days, but since Jesus himself said that only the Father knows the times, it does seem pointless to pursue the Millennium through literalism in that most troubling of books.

In conclusion, Christians must hold on to the faith of the creeds and New Testament, that this chapter, entitled ‘Spacetime’, will conclude and another chapter begin. It is His Story and not our history, Otherwise, to recycle St Paul, we are of all people the most to be pitied. Advent tells us there is a great Hope to be eagerly awaited, whenever it may come, and that the arrival of the Son of God in the first place, and later his resurrection, are God’s promises to us that the Hope will be fulfilled: he will come again to judge the living and the dead. And to refer again to 2 Peter ch. 3: in the light of the Parousia, what sort of people should we be?

Enjoy the fun and Hope of Advent!

This resource was written by Richard Coupe, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

Intro for teachers

This is a lesson asking an ethical question. Ethics is a branch of philosophy focussed on what can be said to be right and wrong, fair and just.

The enquiry question students will answer is an ethical question: it is about how and why people try to make the world more equal. In this lesson the focus is on wealth inequality, seen through the issue of hunger.

To explore the ethical question the Sikh langar and Trussel Trust charity are used as case studies. The social issue is poverty, hunger and the need for food banks. Students will be engaged in ethical thinking. They will answer the ethical question at the end of the lesson, using these case studies and their own analysis.

Learning Outcomes (KS3)

Emerging

• Explain how the langar is an example of Sikh sewa
• Explain how one action of the Trussell Trust meets their ethical aims

Expected

• Explain the ethical principle behind langar and sewa in Sikhism
• Explain the ethical principle behind the work of the Trussell Trust
• Using examples, compare the practical work done by religious and non-religious groups and suggest similarities or differences.
• Offer a supported answer to the question: Is the struggle for equality a spiritual or practical matter?

Exceeding

• Offer a supported answer to the question of whether there is a difference between religious and non-religious ethical inspirations to fight inequality
• Using the information studied, give a view as to whether altruism exists or not and why

Learning activities

Starter: start by introducing ways British Sikhs are adapting the duty of langar to current situations.

This video shows Ravi Singh, founder of Khalsa Aid, organizing deliveries of home-made food from Bradford to the flooded areas of Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire in 2015:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jNTegoLAR0

This video shows the charity Sikh Welfare Awareness Team (SWAT) giving hot meals to those homeless on the streets of London, as well as many others struggling to cope:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZmYx5DYGzc

If you can’t access these videos on You Tube try searching for other similar events, using search terms such as ‘langar’, ‘street kitchen’, ‘homeless’, ‘Sikhs welfare awareness team (SWAT)’. Find videos which show langar on the streets or outside Sikh religious settings.

As students watch ask them to note

1. Any mention of religious teachings relating to langar
2. All the ways people are being helped

Listen to answers. Talk about what seems to be inspiring Sikhs to give their time, skills and money. How far do Sikhs seem to be inspired by their religion, and how far by a general desire to help others?

Activity 1: What is the langar?

After the starter activity, challenge students to define ‘langar’.

Here is the definition, share after the students’ discussion:

The word ‘langar’ is a Punjabi word meaning ‘community kitchen’.

The langar is a meal served and eaten together in the Gurdwara, the Sikh place of worship.

All are welcome to the langar, Sikhs and non-Sikhs. The food is vegetarian or vegan so everyone can eat it.

The langar was founded by Guru Nanak in around 1500 CE. Rich and poor, men and women, people from different groups and of different statuses were all invited to eat together. This was to show clearly that all people are equal.

Today the langar happens at the end of the service in the Gurdwara.

Talk about the langar, has anyone in the class been to one? Find images of langars in the UK and around the world, such as the huge kitchens in Amritsar, which feeds 50,000 hot meals a day.

Discuss why eating together symbolizes equality.

Activity 2: Sewa: service to others

Bring a sweet treat to class, such as a bag of sweets or packet of biscuits. Give a treat to half the class and ask them to choose someone to give it to. The only rule is they cannot choose their best friend. Ask them to reflect on how it felt to give, and how the other half felt to receive. Give the other half of the class a treat so it is even!

Learn about ‘sewa’; the principle of service to others in Sikhism. Define ‘sewa’ as ‘selfless service’. Discuss the ‘selfless’ part of this phrase, what do students think ‘selfless’ means? Can students give examples of selfless service to others? Below is further information about the principle of sewa:

Sewa

Sewa, or selfless service, means supporting or giving to others with no expectation of reward. It is a central Sikh principle, seen as a religious duty for Sikhs.

Sewa can involve contributing to the community and Gurdwara, or wider work in education or charitable projects.

‘Sewa’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘service’ and refers to the duty to support and care for the vulnerable and needy in society. The concept is present in a number of religious traditions which emerged in the Indian subcontinent including Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism.

Ask the class for examples of selfless service, whether through charities they are aware of, a person they have learned about, or someone they know personally. Make a list of the board.

Look at this list- how many examples are associated with a religion? How many examples are not associated with a religion? How many religions are noted?

Give groups time to discuss this question: is ‘selfless service’ a religious principle?

Activity 3: Is altruism possible?

Ask students to talk to their partners about a good act they have done recently. How did they help another person, and what did it feel like to do this act? Discuss as a class whether being good, kind or generous has its own reward.

Define ‘Altruism’ using the notes below:

Altruism

From the Latin alteri, meaning ‘other people’. The word ‘altruism’ was first coined by philosopher Auguste Comte, meant to denote the opposite of ‘egoism’, or selfishness. Altruism describes a concern for other people.

Today the word altruism describes the support of others, or acting for the benefit of others, with no corresponding reward or benefit for oneself. This might be in giving time, money, practical or emotional support or expertise.

In biology social animals are seen to act for the good of the pack, such as by taking risks to protect young or sharing food.

Psychologists question whether ‘true’ altruism exists because there is usually some benefit, whether social approval, loyalty and gratitude, or a personal sense of wellbeing.

Ask students to discuss whether they think ‘true’ altruism exists: can they think of an example where someone is disadvantaged for the sake of others, and receives no social, emotional or personal reward.

In conversation link with religious ethics, such as sewa. Does such as thing as true altruism exist in religion as in society?

Activity 4: Wealth inequality

We will consider the work of a well-known charity that supports those in food poverty in the UK: The Trussell Trust.

https://www.trusselltrust.org/

Go through the website to get a sense of what this charity does and why. There are videos to watch and facts and figures about food poverty in the UK. Either scroll through some pages with the class, or take screen shots in advance for your PPT.

Make notes of the information gleaned from the website, such as by answering the following questions:

1. How many people are in food poverty in the UK?
2. Why do people slip into food poverty?
3. How does the Trussell Trust try to help?
4. What does the Trussell trust see as solutions to food poverty?

Ask groups to discuss what seems to inspire this charity and its volunteers. Is this an example of selfless service?

Activity 5: Selfless service: what is the inspiration?

Read this article about the langar, sewa and Sikh ethics in modern Britain:

http://theconversation.com/from-the-temple-to-the-street-how-sikh-kitchens-are-becoming-the-new-food-banks-44611

Give out highlighters, ask groups to highlight and then record in a table, these categories:

Complete the table using notes from the above discussion about the Trussell Trust.

Activity 6:   Is the struggle for equality a spiritual or practical matter?

Students will now answer this question and present their answers to the class. If you like, break down the question in advance, considering such elements as:

• What religious teachings encourage people to fight for equality?
• What non-religious ethical principles encourage people to fight for equality?
• Is there a difference between religious and ethical inspiration to fight for equality?
• What causes food poverty, what are possible solutions?
• Are religious and non-religious answers to food poverty the same or different?
• Is there practical work done by religious and non-religious groups to tackle food poverty the same or different?

Students should provide an answer to the question using elements of the case studies (Sikh langar and Trussell Trust) as evidence to base their answer on. They should explain their answer.

Students can give a presentation or create one page of A4 as a written answer.