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Middle and High School Textbook Objectives

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Middle School / Junior High
High School
  • Rejoicing in One Lord, Jesus Christ (objectives to come)
  • Who Is God? Who Am I? Who Are You? (objectives to come)
  • Of Your Mystical Supper: The Eucharist
  • Who Do You Say that I Am?: The Person of Christ (forthcoming)
Stewardship: Serving in God’s World

Lesson 1: Our Gift from God

  • Explore the creation story.
  • Recognize one’s responsibility to creation.
  • Celebrate God’s creation in the Divine Liturgy.
  • Praise and thank God for all His blessings.

Lesson 2: Our Responsibility to Each Other

  • Understand what stewardship requires.
  • Recognize that each one has the capacity of stewardship.
  • Recognize that Jesus is the Master Steward.
  • Explore biblical passages dealing with stewardship.

Lesson 3: St. Symeon, Peacemaker and Translator

  • Recognize stewardship values.
  • Recognize that each one has the capability of stewardship.
  • Recognize the stewardship of St. Symeon.

Lesson 4: The Three Ts

  • Recognize our God-given gifts.
  • Use our God-given gifts for the glory of God.
  • Become involved in the stewardship of the Church.
  • Recognize that giving of oneself through time, talent, and treasures can have many rewards.

Lesson 5: Putting It All Together

  • Recognize their opportunities to practice stewardship.
  • Live the teachings of the Beatitudes.
Facing Up to Peer Pressure

Lesson 1: Pressure, Pressure Everywhere!

  • Recognize positive and negative peer pressures.
  • Recognize the difference between a clique and a group of friends.
  • Face up to peer pressures and cliques with confidence as Christians.
  • Commit themselves to being sources of helpful pressures to their friends.

Lesson 2: Keeping the Pressure Down

  • Recognize what they can do to resist negative peer pressure.
  • Recognize what their family, other adults, and their church can do to help them resist negative peer pressure.

Lesson 3: Blowing the Lid

  • Recognize the reasons why some teenagers join harmful pressure groups.
  • Recognize the behaviors of teenagers in such pressure groups.
  • Realize that the actions of such pressure groups can lead to violence and crime.
  • Know what Christian love and understanding can do to turn harmful behaviors into positive ones.

Lesson 4: Keeping the Faith

  • Identify and use five specific ways the Church provides help to resist peer pressure (correct teaching, holy icons, fasting, prayer, Bible reading).
  • Know how Jesus resisted Peter’s temptation.
  • Identify the temptations Jesus faced in the desert and some that students face daily.
  • Recognize Satan (the Devil) as a source of temptations.
  • Learn how to use the words of Jesus in responding to Satan’s temptations.
Honesty

Lesson 1: Called to Honesty

  • Recognize the value of being an honest person.
  • Realize that there are consequences to being honest or dishonest.
  • Recognize honesty involves words and deeds.

Lesson 2: Rules, Guidelines, Goals

  • Recognize that the most important rules are given by God.
  • Realize the Ten Commandments provide us with moral guidance, and Jesus provided us teachings calling for unselfishness and sacrifice.
  • Understand that Christ’s teachings help us reach the “ultimate goal,” and what is meant by the “ultimate goal” (salvation).

Lesson 3: Can You Be Trusted?

  • Understand God expects us to be truthful and honest.
  • Recognize true friends can be depended upon at all times.
  • Recognize the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • Understand that gossip can be equal to “character assassination.”

Lesson 4: Cheating Yourself

  • Recognize cheating is a form of lying.
  • Recognize cheating is a form of stealing.
  • Realize dishonest behaviors have unfavorable consequences.

Lesson 5: Forgiven and Forgiving

  • Recognize God is loving and forgiving.
  • Realize that we too must be loving and forgiving .
  • Realize honesty comes easily when it is practiced  daily.
  • Understand the hidden meaning of the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Knowing Christ

Lesson 1: Who Is Christ?

  • Recognize that Christ is the greatest figure the world has ever known.
  • Recognize that Christ’s birth marks a change in world history.
  • Understand that in reciting the Creed, we pledge our belief in Christ and the Orthodox Faith.
  • Recognize that the birth of Jesus was far from ordinary.
  • Understand the significance of Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist.
  • Recognize that people disputed, and some still do, that Jesus is the Messiah.
  • Understand that only faith in Christ’s words and actions can overcome questions about who He is.

Lesson 2: The Kingdom of God

  • Recognize that the Gospel means “Good News,” which comes from God.
  • Understand that the Gospel teaches what is right, true, and good in the eyes of God.
  • Realize that the Kingdom of God is God’s presence and power everywhere.
  • Understand that the Kingdom of God comes through Christ.

Lesson 3: The Teachings of Jesus

  • Recognize the greatest rule of the Bible: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
  • Understand the “new commandment”: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18).
  • Realize God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom of love.
  • Memorize John 13:34–35: “I give you a new commandment—love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples.

Lesson 4: The World’s Most Famous Talk

  • Recognize the Sermon on the Mount as the “Law of Christ”.
  • Understand that Christ used His authority to interpret the Law of Moses in a new way.
  • Realize that we need God’s help to practice the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount.
  • Recognize temptation and how to overcome it.

Lesson 5: Christ’s Miracles

  • Realize that it is God’s power that performs miracles.
  • Recognize that the greatest miracle is that God became man in His Son, Jesus Christ.
  • Recognize that Satan tempts people to lead their lives away from God.
  • Understand that Jesus performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • Understand the purpose of Christ’s miracles.

Lesson 6: I Am With You Always

  • Understand Christ’s mission to save the world.
  • Understand the meaning of Holy Week.
  • Recognize the greatest injustice ever committed.
  • Recognize that Christ is always with us.
  • Memorize John 3:16: “For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not die but have eternal life.”.
For to Us a Child Is Born

Lesson 1: Preparing for the Incarnation

  • Observe the elements of preparation for the coming of Christ in Scriptures and in the Nativity narrative.
  • Connect the preparation that Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zachariah and the whole world must undergo, to the ways that any Christian can personally prepare for the coming of Christ in His Nativity.
  • Commit to a personal plan of preparation for Christmas.

Lesson 2: The Sacrament of Thanksgiving

  • Identify the sources of needs and wants.
  • Name some of God’s gifts.
  • Recognize that God fulfills both needs and wants.
  • Thank God for both small and large blessings.

Lesson 3: The Sacrament of Forgiveness

  • Analyze the process of human repentance and forgiveness.
  • Compare their own capacity for forgiveness with God’s grace.
  • Approach the Eucharist as healing sacrament, meant for the “holy,” i.e., those who have been baptized, not “the sinless,” i.e., no one.
  • Accept that repentance is a never-ending process.