Faith-Prayer PowerPoint PDF

One La Salle Prayer Let me be the change I want to Today I start the change I see To do with strength and wisdom want to see. All that needs to be done.. Even if I’m not the light And become the hope that I can I can be the spark be. In faith, service, a...

One La Salle Prayer Let me be the change I want to Today I start the change I see To do with strength and wisdom want to see. All that needs to be done.. Even if I’m not the light And become the hope that I can I can be the spark be. In faith, service, and Set me free from my fears and communion. hesitations Let us start the change we Grant me courage and humility want to see. Fill me with spirit to face the challenge The change that begins in And start the change I long to me. see. Amen. The Ten Plagues of Egypt Plague - affliction, calamity or destructive invasion seen as divine punishment. In the eyes of the Israelites, the occurrence of the Ten Plagues is a strong demonstration of God’s power and designed to persuade Pharaoh to let God’s people go. God has power over nature The Ten Plagues are: 1st: water to blood 6th: boils God has power over life 2nd: frogs 7th: hail 3rd: gnats/lice 8th: locusts GOD IS ALMIGHTY 4th: flies 9th: darkness 5th: pestilence on livestock 10th: death of the first-born The meaning of plagues to us…………… BLOOD We comfort and mourn those whose blood has been spilled. FROGS We protest the proliferation of violence. GNATS We stop infestations of hatred and fear. ANIMALS We appeal to all people to act with humanity. PESTILENCE We overcome the sickness of racism and prejudice. BOILS We attend to those who suffer from diseases HAIL We help respond to storms and disasters that claim lives. LOCUSTS We fill the air with voices for change. DARKNESS We bring light to those who live in the shadows. DEATH OF THE FIRSTBORN We inspire the next generation to carry on the struggle for a better world. we are asked to turn our hearts toward the millions of people around the world suffering today’s plagues of hatred, prejudice, baseless violence, sickness and war. We are asked to do something small and personal. The Story of Moses & John Baptist De La Salle destined for greatness based on their background and what their plans Experience hardships and turning points in their lives Both almost gave up and turned away from God’s plan for them Both said “yes” to God FAITH  FAITH confidence, belief, to be convinced of, reliance or complete trust (Webster Dictionary) From the Greek work pistis, which Strong’s Biblical Dictionary defines as: “persuasion, giving credence to someone, moral conviction of religious truth.”  FAITH belief, firm persuasion, assurance, firm conviction, faithfulness. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and the assurance that God is working, even though we cannot see it. As a personal decision is a TOTAL YES to God. CREED CULT CODE  STAGES OF FAITH DEVELOPMENT faith grows and changes with time In 1981 James Fowler, a professor of theology and human development, identified Six "stages" or types of faith which tend to emerge as individuals grow and mature.  STAGE 1: INTUITIVE-PROJECTIVE FAITH faith of toddlerhood and early childhood (about 0-3) The toddler starts to hear and exhibit some basic understanding of the nature of one’s parents search for meaning, significance and purpose. Stage where child learns to do sign of the cross, utter the name “God “ or ‘”Jesus” At this stage, the child intuits what these words mean from his parent’s example, and projects his relationship with his mom and dad onto the faith object (i.e., “God”, “Jesus”, “church”, etc). In other words, whatever he feels toward mom and dad, he will feel toward these faith objects.  STAGE 2: MYTHIC-LITERAL FAITH faith of early childhood into middle childhood. time when the child learns the meaning-making stories of his parent’s faith- belief system; bible stories, saint stories, morality stories, etc. These stories communicate meaning and significant truths in a simple manner even children can understand as they tend to have emotional resonance. At this stage, children tend to believe these stories are literally true. Any lessons or deeper meaning to be taken from these stories tends to be seen as a distant second. The stories are important simply because they are “our stories.” This stage can often be accompanied by tribalism that, on the positive side, gives the child a sense of belonging, but on the negative side can create suspicion toward people who are different.  STAGE 3: SYNTHETIC-CONVENTIONAL FAITH faith that first come in adolescence. the person tends to see faith in terms of its ability to facilitate easy social relationships. At this stage, much of a person’s faith journey is expressed in the search for a supportive community of people who can make that person feel welcomed and affirmed. The person at the Synthetic-Conventional stage tends to tacitly accept many of the teachings of his faith community without having really reflected deeply on them. Because these truth-claims aren’t deeply understood, problems can enter in if these teachings negatively affect the person’s relationships or feel, somehow, unwelcoming. Doctrines that seem “mean” or “too hard” are either quietly laid aside or outright rejected for the sake of social convention.  STAGE 4: INDIVIDUATIVE-REFLECTIVE FAITH faith stage of early to middle adulthood. the person begins reflecting more seriously and critically on the faith stories he learned in his youth. This person is prompted to ask hard questions about why certain things are true, in what contexts they are true and what levels of truth these stories convey. this stage allows for tremendous growth in understanding and wisdom of one’s faith traditions. This can also be a time where a person becomes more suspicious of “easy answers” and tends to look down his nose at people who seem just a little too sure of themselves. This stage is very susceptible to a kind-of syncretistic faith where everything is true and the only thing that matters is that whatever you believe brings meaning to your life.  STAGE 4: INDIVIDUATIVE-REFLECTIVE FAITH People at this stage can tend to become fairly pleased with themselves for having had the courage to ask hard questions about their beliefs and other’s beliefs as well. They often believe that this stage is the pinnacle of faith development when, in fact, it is merely the gateway to a mature faith. Many people stay at this stage for life, becoming perpetual questioners/seekers. Others, who have a more successful experience in this stage, use their experiences to come to a new level of maturity and understanding about the different levels their faith and their faith traditions operate on, leading to the beginnings of an individual, reflective, personally meaningful and coherent belief system.  STAGE 5: CONJUNCTIVE FAITH This stage is usually consistent with middle-to-late adulthood, though, depending upon how intentional one has been about one’s faith life, one can come into it much earlier, much later, or never. Conjunctive faith is characterized by three things: First, a certainty about one’s own beliefs. Second, a willingness to experience a “willed naivete” (i.e., a willed humility and acceptance) about certain beliefs or practices one used to reject or look down upon. Third, a willingness to be generous toward others’(potentially) contradictory beliefs without lapsing into syncretism. At the conjunctive stage, one tends to look for the deeper truths that connect more superficially polarized concepts. For instance, the person at the conjunctive stage has learned to do a good job of being both just and merciful–and thus truly pastoral–in his dealings with others. Or, for another example, the person at the conjunctive stage may have had to work very hard to understand that the “angry, warrior-God” of the Old Testament is really the same as the “loving, good shepherd God” in the New Testament (be careful, though, these are just illustrations, not “tests” of being in this stage).  STAGE 5: CONJUNCTIVE FAITH the person may tend to re-examine certain beliefs or faith practices that he formerly rejected or looked down upon. The character of this stage of faith journey is the quest for a wholistic faith that makes connections between disparate concepts without fudging the truth. Being in the conjunctive stage is a bit like being the parent who, having built a bicycle for his child, decides to go back and figure out what to do with all the pieces that were left over (even though the bike still seems to work well-enough as-is). This is what most would consider mature faith.  STAGE 6: UNIVERSALIZING FAITH If Conjunctive Faith is mature faith, Universalizing Faith is saintly faith. At all the previous stages, the person is more of a student of his faith. At this stage, the person tends to be seen as an exemplar of his faith. Regardless of the particular faith tradition that might be represented, this stage is characterized by a certainty of one’s own beliefs, a generous openness to the journey others are on, a sincere compassion for one’s fellow man, kindness, and the ability to be genuinely present, that is, to make the people they are with feel a sense of significance and sacredness just by keeping company with them.