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Apostles’ Creed
Game Night!
Parents
Vs
confirmands
Sunday, Nov13
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Morton Hall
Dinner included!
Instructions
Set up: Create a game board on a piece of posting board using squares or circles as spaces. There should be a minimum of ten blue squares, ten red squares and ten yellow squares. Interspersed among your squares should be pitfalls. Each board should have at least five pitfalls and five grace pads. Get creative with your pitfalls, some examples are listed below. The punishment for landing on a pitfall could be losing a turn, go back to start or move backwards x number of spaces. In addition to the game board, three stacks of cards are created. A red, blue and yellow stack. Each card in your stack will have written on it a question and an answer. Some cards will have two answers both a short answer and a long answer. Be sure to write both answers and the question on the same size of the card.
How to play the game:
The game can be played with an unlimited number of players. The recommended number is 2 to 4 players or teams. The object of the game is to get to the finish line first. Each player or team has a game piece on the board. A single dice is used to play. When it is your turn, you answer the question which corresponds to the color of the square which your game piece is sitting upon. If you answer the question correctly you may move forward the number of spaces which you rolled. If you answer a long answer correctly you may move forward double the number of spaces rolled. If you answer incorrectly you do not move your game piece.
Pitfalls: These are examples of Pitfalls that you can put on your game board.
Did not Tithe
Argued with Zeus
Burned at the stake
Fed to the Lions
Leporsy
Crucifixions in the Area
Put into slavery
Lost in the desert
Shipped wrecked
Attacked by mob of Pharisees
Stoned by Sadducees
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Red Cards: Definitions – Each set of the following questions and answers should be written on the same side of a separate red card.
Recite the first article
I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
What does the first article mean?
It means I believe that God created everything, stars, earth, fish, animals, mountains, deserts, me and you.
Recite the second article
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
What is the second article about?
It is about Jesus, his crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascension. It is about he beat death. It is good news, because Jesus’ promised that he will resurrect us too.
Recite the third article
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Red Cards – continued
What does the word “apostolic” mean?
Short answer: It means that roots of our belief are same as the earliest followers of Jesus.
Long answer: Not only is our belief the same as the belief of the earliest followers of Jesus, it means that we understand the Church to have an unbroken chain of belief since those earliest days.
What does the word “catholic” mean?
Short answer: Universal.
Long answer: It means that the church exists both in the time past, in the present and in the future to come. It also means that the church is inclusive of all people, races, classes, places and times.
What does the word “virgin” mean?
One who has not engaged in genital sexual intercourse. In this context the word is used to describe Mary who as a pure young girl.
What does the word “amen” mean?
It shall be so. I agree.
What is the “communion of saints” ?
The body or group of believers. This body includes those from 2,000 years ago, those of us present now, and those of the future who are yet to be born.
What does “seated at the right hand of the Father” mean?
To be seated at the right hand of the King was considered the supreme place of honor. The creed is trying to teach that Christ has the highest honor or place with God.
What is “forgiveness of sins”?
God forgives our sins. All of our sins, even the ones we don’t know about, or feel bad about. God forgives them. This means God forgives those people who are really horrible, just like he forgives us.
What does ascended mean?
Ascended means to rise up.
What does descended mean?
Descended means to go lower, to go down.
What is the difference between Church (capital C) and church (lower case C)?
“Church” spelled with a lower case “c” means the local congregation or community. The church is not the building. The church is the group of people in the building.
“Church” spelled with an upper case “C” means the community of believers of all time, places, cultures, economic classes, and races. The Church is the larger community of believer way beyond the congregation. The Church is mystically connected to God through Word and Sacrament.
Red Cards: Continued
When we come together as church and celebrate Holy Communion, we become Church and are connected through Christ’s Word and sacraments with all Christians everywhere. When we are by ourselves doing an act of faith we are the Church. When we gather with friends from the youth group and go to the movies we are the church.
Blue Cards: History - Each set of the following questions and answers should be written on the same side of a separate blue card.
Who was Pontius Pilate?
He was the judge at Jesus’ trial who authorized his crucifixion. He also was a prefect, (a kind of governor), who was put in charge of Jerusalem, by the Roman Caesar or Emperor, Tiberius.
Who was the Virgin Mary?
Short Answer: Jesus’ mom. Also referred to as St. Mary.
Long Answer: Sometimes referred to as the BVM or Blessed Virgin Mary, or the “Theotokus”
which means the “bearer of God.”
Who is God the Father?
Short answer: God.
Long answer: Father describes God as the perfect parent. We are his children which is awesome. We often use the word Father when describing the creative activity of God. We are God’s creation. God loves us as only a perfect parent can.
Who is Jesus Christ?
Short answer: God.
Long answer: Jesus is God’s son. Jesus is fully God and fully human. Jesus is God in human form. Sometimes Jesus, God in human form, is called God in the flesh, or God incarnate. Jesus died and three days later, was resurrected. Jesus promises to resurrect those who believe and are baptized in the same way. Because Jesus did this we give his teachings authority over our lives.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Short answer: God
Long answer: Spirit is that essence or presence of someone. A spirit can be present among a group of people, like when a soccer team has team spirit. A spirit can cause us to do evil like when we join a mob at school and cheer on two kids who are fighting. A spirit can cause us to do good, like when a community rallies together to help victims of a natural disaster. The Holy Spirit, is the essence or presence of God that exists among God’s people. The Holy Spirit can bring us comfort and support and the Holy Spirit can cause us to live a life of love and service of God and God’s people.
Blue Cards – continued
The first creeds of the church date . . . . .
a)From the time of Martin Luther.
b)From the very beginning of the Church.
c)From the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine.
d)From the Reformation.
e)From the time that Lutherans first came to the United States.
What does “descended to the dead” mean?
Short answer: This means that Jesus really died. He wasn’t just in a coma, or unconscious. He was completely dead.
Long answer: Many people in Jesus time believed that all of creation was a kind of three layer cake. The middle layer, which was flat, was the earth. The top layer was heaven and the bottom layer was hell or the “place of the dead.” To say that Jesus descended to the dead, is to say that Jesus went down to the place of the dead. It means that he was completely dead.
What does “ascended into heaven” mean?
Short answer: This means that Jesus went to heaven to live forever.
Long answer: Many people in Jesus time believed that all of creation was a kind of three layer cake. The middle layer, which was flat, was the earth. The top layer was heaven and the bottom layer was hell or the “place of the dead.” Heaven was the place where God lived/lives.
Why were the creeds created in the first place?
In the first three hundred years after the resurrection, Christianity had spread to many nations, languages and cultures. This great diversity required a statement of belief to bring unity to the Christian community.
Yellow Cards: Theology - Each set of the following questions and answers should be written on the same side of a separate yellow card.
A creed is . . .
1.A prayer we say out loud.
2.A hymn.
3.A statement of shared beliefs.
4.Another name for the pulpit.
5.None of the above.
Christian Creeds are based on
a)A pastor’s sermon.
b) Luther’s writings.
c)Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
d) Biblical statements of belief.
e) All of the above.
Yellow Cards - continued
Which of the following are creeds of the church?
a)The Apostles’ Creed.
b)The Nicene Creed.
c)The Athanasian Creed.
d)All of the above.
e)None of the above.
Creeds are important to the Church for . . .
a)Guarding against false teachings.
b)Passing on the faith.
c)Teaching new believers.
d)Maintaining Christian unity.
e)All of the above.
What are the three persons of the Holy Trinity?
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
What do you call belief in just one God?
Monotheism
Who is the Lutheran Church named after?
Martin Luther
Name three disciples
Peter, James, John
What do you call belief in more than one God?
Polytheism
What does ”resurrection of the body” mean?
Short answer: I believe that after I die. That Christ will resurrect me along with all believers to live with him forever in heaven.
Long answer: Immortality means that we can never die. Resurrection means that something died and is then brought back or restored to life. Resurrection of the Body means that we will die but Christ will bring me and all believers back to life.
What does “judge living and the dead” mean?
Short answer: This means that Christ will put all things in right order at the end of time.
Long answer: The living are those who believe in God. The dead are those who do not. Our god is a loving god and he promises to forgive and love without condition those who have faith in Him. The carrying out of this promise is what judging the living and the dead is all about.