Angels in America?

Jesus said to him, “Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”  John 1:51

We had an engaging topic this past week--angels.  We opened our class discussing the Feast of St. Michael and I told the story of the battle of St. Michael and Lucifer.  We reflected on the ever-present battle between "good" and "evil"; a "battle" that is explored in all faiths.  We tracked down some beautiful depictions of St. Michael's shield which clearly showed the symbols for Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.   

This led us into a great discussion of angels-the messengers of God- and people in the Bible who had encounters with angels.  I retold the story of Jacob's Ladder and re-read the scripture of the week: John 1:47-51.  

The kids really had a great discussion about how we open our hearts to the angels.  We discussed good deeds, loving one another--the kids really liked to talk about honesty.  They shared some great examples of stressful social situations when one is "caught" between honesty and and "white lies" when they do  not hurt someone's feelings with the truth.  Thus, we reflected on your lesson from last week and kind of tied everything together.

Lastly, we went online and checked out the website.  Try to sign on with the help of your parents this week!   

We’d love to hear your posts on what was discussed or on any of these questions:

Do you believe in angels?  Does anyone in your family have a story about an angel?  Do angels have an affect on what happens here on earth, or do they just watch from above?

Liar's Poker

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much… You cannot serve God and wealth”

- Luke 16:10-13

We started out this week playing a two player card game that my family calls “liar’s poker.”  Some of the kids said that their friends call it “BS.”  Here’s how it goes: Player One picks up a card from the deck, looks at it and makes a statement like, “I am holding a club.”  Player Two decides whether or not Player One is telling the truth.  She says “true” or “false.”  If she is right, she keeps the card.  If she is wrong and has been tricked, Player One keeps the card.  Then Player Two picks up a card and he makes a statement, and so on… When you reach the time limit or the end of the pile, each player counts their cards and the winner is the one with the most cards.  Essentially, the game rewards you for being a good liar.

When is it OK to tell a lie?  That was the question of the day.  The Ten Commandments say, “Thou shalt not lie.”  But we all do, at some time or another.  Some thought it was OK to lie if someone is having a surprise birthday party.  Some thought it was OK to lie in order to not hurt someone’s feelings.  Someone calls you and says they want to hang out.  You don’t really feel like it that day, so you say you have a lot of homework.  And this may actually be sort of true.  But it’s not the real reason you don’t want to hang out.  What if you had to tell a lie to save someone’s life?  Would that be OK?

And what is a lie, anyway?  Is not saying something a lie?  What if a teacher is late for class, and some kids are throwing around a ball and they break a window.  The teacher walks in and says, “Who broke the window?”  No one says anything, but everyone knows who did it.  Is that a kind of lie?  What if there is someone who is destroying property in your neighborhood, and you know who it is, but you are afraid to tell because maybe he will break something in your house?  Keeping silence in the face of injustice… is that a form of lying?  It may take a lot of courage to tell that kind of truth.

It seems that there are no easy answers here.  So we look to the parables of Jesus to guide us and help us to make the right decision.  What do you think?