Thank you for sharing this! If it isn't too much trouble, are there any resources on what this looks like in more detail? I ask because I am involved in developing the curriculum and teaching the confirmation class for the youth at my church. As a part of a European/scholastic tradition it is ultimately a rather passive experience for the confirmands. We have lots of discussion in the class, and time for the youth to ask questions and voice their views and all that, but when it comes down to it the only real requirement is that they assent to the creed and say they want to go through with it. I feel there is a lot of room for growth, and I would love to learn how we might do things better.
Easter speeches were often short poems that were shaped around the biblical passages relating to the Passion and Resurrection. Easter speeches often had fairly simple rhyme schemes that made them easy to remember and provided a level of engagement with the substance of biblical texts that could be effectively internalized. The aim of teaching, learning and reciting Easter Speeches was aligned with catechism, but the form was not strict catechism.
Here are some short principles from the practice that can be extrapolated:
1.Make the act of reciting and remembering communal. Develop something that students and parents can read together, study together, and remember together.
2.Focus on transmitting the essentials. Easter speeches had the ability to move toward concise statements that explained why the Resurrection was important. What concise statements and truths do you want students to remember and the larger congregation to be reminded of?
3.Practice! An activity like this will be a totally foreign way of learning to modern students and likely modern families. It will be awkward, unusual, and uncomfortable; build in a lot of time to practice.
The great lexicon of the Black church vernacular lives on in your witness and work. Thanks again for reminding us of such a great foundation.
The great lexicon of the Black church vernacular lives on in our witness and work. We are a part of a great constellation of faith. I am grateful
Thank you for sharing this! If it isn't too much trouble, are there any resources on what this looks like in more detail? I ask because I am involved in developing the curriculum and teaching the confirmation class for the youth at my church. As a part of a European/scholastic tradition it is ultimately a rather passive experience for the confirmands. We have lots of discussion in the class, and time for the youth to ask questions and voice their views and all that, but when it comes down to it the only real requirement is that they assent to the creed and say they want to go through with it. I feel there is a lot of room for growth, and I would love to learn how we might do things better.
Easter speeches were often short poems that were shaped around the biblical passages relating to the Passion and Resurrection. Easter speeches often had fairly simple rhyme schemes that made them easy to remember and provided a level of engagement with the substance of biblical texts that could be effectively internalized. The aim of teaching, learning and reciting Easter Speeches was aligned with catechism, but the form was not strict catechism.
Here are some short principles from the practice that can be extrapolated:
1.Make the act of reciting and remembering communal. Develop something that students and parents can read together, study together, and remember together.
2.Focus on transmitting the essentials. Easter speeches had the ability to move toward concise statements that explained why the Resurrection was important. What concise statements and truths do you want students to remember and the larger congregation to be reminded of?
3.Practice! An activity like this will be a totally foreign way of learning to modern students and likely modern families. It will be awkward, unusual, and uncomfortable; build in a lot of time to practice.