The Last Supper, with apologies to Leonardo

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

Here it is! The pictures created in our Photography Workshop for our Rotation on The Last Supper. (Just the 4th, 5th and 6th graders visited this workshop.)

The 6th Graders (and their Shepherd) create a tableaux of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

Students start off this workshop talking about what dinner time is typically like in their home, and what is done differently at special times, such as birthdays. Then they review the story about Jesus’ special last meal that he shared with his disciples on the night before he was killed. Something happened at this last supper that makes us still talk about it more than 2000 years later! Jesus gave his followers a way to remember him. Today, we still practice this same ritual!

The 4th graders re-enact Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, The Last Supper
There weren’t very many there that day, but the 4th Grade (plus their Shepherd) create their version of Leonardo’s painting.

What’s the process involved in creating this picture? Students are randomly assigned to portray the participants that were at the first Last Supper. They study art prints (with magnifying glasses!) of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, The Last Supper. Then it’s into costumes and recreating da Vinci’s painting using a technique called “frozen picture” or tableaux.

The workshop leader at work with her camera
The Shepherd gets everyone into postion and the Workshop leader snaps a few photos of the 6th graders.

After the photos are shot, the students look at the pictures on a TV screen and choose the best shot. For further learning, the student who portrayed each disciple reads a blurb about that disciple.

students view the resulting pictures on the TV.
Which picture turned out the best?

The 5th graders create a tableaux of The Last Supper
And here are the 5th Graders on the week when they visited the Photography workshop.

From notes made by da Vinci we can identify each of the disciples in his painting. From left to right it would have been: 1– Bartholomew, 2–James the Younger, 3–Andrew, 4–Judas, 5–Peter, 6–John, Jesus, 7–Thomas, 8 – James, 9– Phillip, 10–Matthew, 11-Thaddeus, 12–Simon.

For comparison, here’s a look at da Vinci’s The Last Supper…

da Vinci's The Last Supper

How did they do?

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Photo credits…
Photos of kids portraying The Last Supper by Alice Nuttall. Used with permission.
Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is in the Public domain, the picture shown is via Wikimedia Commons.

Studying the Last Supper

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

At FUMC our Cool Disciples experience Rotation Model Christian education, as they learn about Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops.

In this season of Lent we are studying the story of the Last Supper. Since Easter happens annually, we get to spend time on a different aspect of the Easter story every year. In other years we’ve covered the Garden of Gethsemane, the Empty Tomb/Resurrection Appearances, Easter through Peter’s eyes, and the overall sequence of the events of Easter week.

The Last Supper is the last meal that Jesus and his disciples share prior to Jesus’ death. Read about the story of the Last Supper in Luke 22:7-20.

A frozen picture of da Vinci's Last Supper
From the Photography workshop from the last time we did this Rotation. These kids have now graduated from high school! They were in 6th grade in 2005.

Here is how we studied this story:

  • In the Art Workshop we discussed the celebratory meal that Jesus shared with his disciples. Kids decorated a glass plate; a plate to use at your next special meal.
  • In the Cooking Workshop students will help make and experience a “mini” Seder meal, the meal that Jesus’ and his disciples were sharing at the Last Supper.
  • In the Photography Workshop students will use a technique called “Frozen Picture” to experience the Last Supper (as painted by Leonardo da Vinci).
  • In the Video 1 Workshop (for 1st – 3rd graders) students will watch a video with puppets called How Can I Celebrate Passover? A Young Christian’s Introduction to the Seder.
  • In the Video 2 Workshop (for 4th – 6th graders) students will watch the live-action video The Last Supper.

This Rotation comes around again in 2018. I wonder what workshops we’ll use this year?

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Photo credits:
The Last Supper re-created, copyright 2005, by Alice Nuttall.

Family Lenten activities, part 2

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

Lent is the 40 days (minus Sundays) leading up to Easter. A long, long time ago Lent was the period in which new converts to the church prepared for baptism. They learned about what it meant to be a Christian before becoming a member of the church community. It was basically “spring training” for disciples!

baseball - spring training!

Lent is a great time for your family to take a serious look at your calendars. It’s all about focus. Is there time for being a disciple of Jesus? For including Christ in your lineup? (An hour a week at church isn’t enough!)

Time Out. Talk about…Ask…A speech bubble
What can our family do? We’d like to spend some of our time together warming up our faith.


Last week I had given you ideas for family activities to try out during Lent. If you missed that it’s here. (These activities are not time-sensitive.) It seems only proper to provide more activities to help everyone be a “utility player!”

Ready to “take the field” for Lent?

  • Practice gratitude: Set up a place for praises. In a noticeable location, place a stack of papers and a pen near a basket or a bowl. (Or post a list on the refridge; or give everyone their own journal.) Encourage everyone to draw or write about things that make them grateful. Once a week, ponder your collection. For more ways to transcribe thanksgiving, visit here.
  • Celebrate: Life is a precious gift from God! Work in the habit of celebrating this in some small way, every day! Perhaps start off your day in song (“This is the day” would be a good choice. I often woke up my kids with this one.) Or perhaps change the words to the Superman table grace, adding in “Thank you God, for giving us life.” Re-writing this could be a fun, dinner table activity!
  • Serve others: pick one way to offer your time to someone else from this incredible list. (Includes ideas such as creating “snack packs for Ronald McDonald residents” but did you know they are still collecting pop tabs?
  • Practice solitude: First introduce the concept of breath prayer. Then, designate a signal for when it’s time to gather back together. Next, for an age-appropriate amount of time send everyone to opposite corners of the house. When the “time-out” is up, discuss your experience.
  • Give something up (Fasting): Rather than fasting food try giving up a word. How about the word “no” – try it and see what happens! (Remember that an alternate for the word no can be “let’s think about that.”)
  • Prayer: Make time for prayer every day. Visit here for ideas.

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Photo credit:
Spring Training by Michelle Riggen-Ransom, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0).

363 days until next Christmas!

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
Christmas is over for another year; it’s the perfect time to plan for next year!

Really. I’m not kidding.

While everyone is still thinking about Christmas, is an ideal time to pitch a different way of doing gift-giving next year.

Reduce the number of gifts under the tree and change the way we celebrate.

I’ll let this short video from an organization with a radical name – The Advent Conspiracy – explain it…

Can’t see the video? View it here.

It’s about moving away from the shopping, and lines, and lists that go along with Christmas gift-giving, and replacing presents with presence. (It’s what kids really want/need.) You’ll be less frazzled, frustrated, and flat-broke. You’ll have more time to celebrate God with us. And the best part: reduced spending on gifts allows us to give more – to those with real needs.

This Christmas the adults in our family got a small gift and a note about a donation made in their name. I actually enjoyed the “shopping” this year – choosing charities! It made my happiness run wild when I received an email from the Executive Director of Community Action Network (CAN), our gift to my brother and sister-in-law, excerpted below:

I cannot tell you how panicked I was last week Tuesday, December 13, when I discovered 40+ CAN families had not been sponsored for Christmas. I could only imagine how devastated parents would be when we told them we had no presents…But after we put out our plea for help, the response was overwhelming…
Here at Community Action Network, we experienced our own Christmas miracle: you. You made Christmas (for the) families come true this year. You saved Christmas.

The way we celebrate Jesus’ birth can change the world.

spend less...give more


Photo credits: Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Advent Conspiracy poster and video from here.

Joy to the World?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
I think it’s appropriate that the theme of the third Sunday of Advent is “Joy.”
Right about now, in the crazy, busy preparations of the season, I need to slow down and remember: Joy.

But joy can be strangely difficult to find.

What joy is there in agonizing over the best gift to select for each person. (Will she like it? Will it be good enough? This is so tiring and I haven’t even headed to the mall.) Where is joy in not having time to bake the prettiest, yummiest cookies. (Will my kids/friends hate me for not producing?) And the Christmas tree? Still.not.up.yet.

Christmas is about joy? Have I have fallen victim to the Christmas blahs?

I’ve allowed a heart-takeover; an unrealistic view of what Christmas should look like. I have forgotten the true “joy” of Christmas.

It is a struggle in today’s world, to keep Advent focused on religious tradition. I need to turn from these nagging, guilty feelings and remember the real reason for joy:

Love came among us.

God must have been so excited on the first Christmas! Finally, the time was here, the time that had been planned for, since the beginning! Finally he would come amidst his people and be the one to teach them all about radical love.

I need that reminder: joy.

Joy banner”

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room…

Our family together, will be a worthy substitute for plates full of cookies.
The gifts will be mostly radical.
And the tree will be put up, eventually. Maybe.

What are you doing to focus on real joy?

Joy!

— Carol


Photo credits:
Photos are from my archives.

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A Blessing: divine source of life

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
On the first Christmas God showed himself to us in a new way.

We were touched by God in the flesh.

Nativity Parament

Inject a little reminder of this, by blessing your child with these words. Say your child’s name and…

Open quote markMay you feel close to the divine source of all life.


Click on a box if you would like to…
A check-box Satisfy your curiosity about why you should bless your child.
A check-box View other suggested blessings.


Photo credits:
Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Other photo: from my archives.

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Cool Disciples Schedule: December 2011

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

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On Saturday nights and on Sunday mornings at FUMC our Cool Disciples experience Rotation Model Christian education, as they learn about Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops.

December’s Rotation is about, you guessed it, Christmas! Since Christmas comes every year this allows us the chance to, each year, focus on a different aspect of the story. We’ve done Christmas Rotations from the point of view of Shepherds, of Wise Men, and even from Isaiah’s eyes. This December we’ll take a look at the overall birth story of Jesus. All of the different parts of the story: Who received a message from an angel? Why travel to Bethlehem? Where was Jesus born?… Our target is to ensure that kids know the sequence and timing of story events surrounding Jesus’ birth. Our story is found by interweaving the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

A crèche scene

For Saturdays at the Green Wood location, here is the schedule for December (and a little bit of January 2012)… And for Sundays at the downtown location, here is the schedule…

Schedules have been removed. They were sort of out-of-date 🙂
Check out some pictures of workshops here.

 
Here is what we did in each workshop:

  • In the Drama Workshop students will enact the story. What a great way to learn the story details by participating in the story!
  • In the Games Workshop students will play a quiz game to see how much they really know about the story. We’ll run two Games Workshops so that everyone gets to participate in the fun.
  • In the Video Workshop students will watch portions of the animated video The King is Born from Nest Entertainment while enjoying some popecorn. (Can’t have a movie without popcorn!)
  • In the Cooking Workshop students will create a nativity snack bag with items to represent story elements. Don’t eat this snack until you’ve had a chance to use it to retell the story to someone!
  • In the Art Workshop students will help tell the story using various colors of felt, creating a “stain glass window.” Then they will create stained glass votive holders using colors to represent the characters in the story of Jesus’ birth.

If you are in the area please join us for the fun learning at First United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor, MI.

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Photo credits:
Photos are from my archives.