Begin the class with opening prayers, and then help the children finish memorizing the prayer presented in Lesson 13. They should be able to recite it in its entirety in the next class.
[You could start the lesson today with the "Unity Prayer":
O my God! O my God! Unite the hearts of Thy servants, and reveal to them Thy great purpose. May they follow Thy commandments and abide in Thy law. Help them, O God, in their endeavour, and grant them strength to serve Thee. O God! Leave them not to themselves, but guide their steps by the light of Thy knowledge, and cheer their hearts by Thy love. Verily, Thou art their Helper and their Lord."
God’s Creatures
The creatures of this big world
Whether they walk or fly, or fly
Are part of God’s creation
Like you and I
CHORUS:
That’s why we treat them with kindness
Remember when you do, you do
To care for God’s creation
Brings blessings to you
The dog on our front doorstep
He is our faithful friend, our friend
We also thank our milk cow
And bees in the wind
CHORUS
The donkey carries his burden
The kitty purrs on our lap, our lap
And the bird sings sweetly
When we take our nap
CHORUS
OR (as in the copy of grade1 lesson book we have the following song):
In Japan - listen HERE
In Japan, Afghanistan, Peru and Zanzibar
With bongos and marimbas, banjos and guitar
People are singing, haven’t you heard
A new Day is dawning, we have brand new words
“The world is but one country,” we’re learning this today
“And all mankind its citizens,” these words will show the way
For all of us to fully learn our talents and worth
So we can build a new world order, here on earth
We have all been likened to leaves upon one tree
Flowers in one garden, waves upon one sea
Brilliant shining stars, radiant candles, rays of light
Birds singing in the garden day and night
Make the nations one, let religions all agree
Be occupied with service to all humanity
Nothing less than unity can satisfy our minds
So tell the world about the oneness of mankind
In Japan, Afghanistan, Peru and Zanzibar
With bongos and marimbas, banjos and guitar
People are singing, haven’t you heard
A new Day is dawning, we have brand new words
OR
We are drops - Listen HERE or HERE
"We are drops of one ocean,
We are pearls of one sea,
Come and join us in our quest for unity,
It's a way of life for you and me..."
[Teach hand gestures to go with the song, children can help make them up as well]
[Or the man is one, God is one song]
The ideas below will help you introduce the quotation that the children will memorize in today’s class.
God created all of humanity to live together as one family. If we are to do this, we cannot let differences come between us. Instead, we should mingle with people of every religion, race, nation and class with love and kindness in our hearts. To help us remember this, let us memorize the following quotation of Bahá’u’lláh:
“Blessed is he who mingleth with all men in a spirit of utmost kindliness and love.”
Listen HERE.
[Alternative quotations
Judaism: How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! Psalm 133:1
Christianity: And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:14
Baha'i Faith: So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth. Baha'u'llah
“God grant that the light of unity may envelop the whole earth, and that the seal 'the Kingdom is God's' may be stamped upon the brow of all its peoples."
Mingle
1. Egrets and cowbirds are two kinds of birds that live in the meadows. They are often seen together. These two kinds of birds mingle.
2. At the devotional meeting, people of different races were so intermingled that you could tell they all felt as members of one family
You know from some of our earlier stories that, when 'Abdu'l-Baha first arrived in Akka, many of the people treated Him badly. They were cruel to the Baha'is and did not want to speak to them. Soon, however, they came to see that the Baha'is were loving and kind, and slowly most of the the townspeople began to show them kindness in return. But there were a few who clung to their anger and hatred.
Now, one day, a man who still carried much hatred in his heart towards 'Abdu'l-Baha heard others praising His greatness and goodness. The man became outraged. He would show them, he said with anger, that this Persian they all revered was not so wonderful after all. And off he went, his heart burning with anger. He knew that 'Abdu'l-Baha could be found praying in the mosque at that hour, and he rushed there, ready to lay violent hands upon the beloved Master. But 'Abdu'l-Baha looked at the man with serenity and dignity. Lovingly, He reminded him of the teachings of God that we are to be generous to all guests, even those that are different from us. At this, the man realized that 'Abdu'l-Baha and the Baha'is were, indeed, like guests in Akka, in his home. And like a generous host, he should welcome them with love and treat them with kindness.
Story (B)
Hakím Áqá Ján, a Jewish doctor, hurried behind Muhammad-Báqir who, lamp in hand, ran towards his home through the narrow streets of Hamadán. His wife was having convulsions and was at the edge of death. A few hours earlier Hakím Áqá Ján had seen her and had given her some pills to lower her fever, yet her condition had worsened. Upon arriving again at her side, he paled as he became aware of the grave error he had committed. In place of the quinine pills, he had given her strychnine, which is a powerful poison. The woman was seriously ill, and there was a very great possibility that she would die because of the doctor’s mistake. Remembering the mistreatment that the Jews always received at the hands of the Muslims in that city, Hakím Áqá Ján feared that if the woman died, he and his entire family and the other Jews of the city would be killed. These thoughts caused him to tremble and he almost could not hear Muhammad-Báqir who was asking him why he was shaking and so upset. The doctor decided to confess the truth and explain his error. To his great surprise, Muhammad-Báqir responded: “Everyone can make a mistake. You have not done so on purpose. Even if my wife dies, no one will blame you.”
The doctor could not believe his ears. It seemed impossible to him that a Muslim could speak like that to a Jew. But as he had to act quickly, he ran to the nearest pharmacy and bought the medicine with which he hoped to save the woman’s life. He spent the whole night with her doing everything possible to save her. Muhammad-Báqir helped the doctor as much as he could and showed the utmost courtesy, friendliness, and kindness. Finally, as morning came, the woman showed signs that the danger had passed and she would recover.
Hakím Áqá Ján was very perplexed by the courtesy and kindness that Muhammad-Báqir had shown towards him. He could not hide his surprise and finally asked Muhammad-Báqir why he had treated him with so much kindness. “The reason”, explained Muhammad-Báqir, “is that my wife and I are Bahá’ís and we love people of all religions.” This is how Hakím Áqá Ján was attracted to the Bahá’í Faith. Later he became a believer. That is how Hakím Áqá Ján came to know about the Bahá’í Faith and to accept its teachings.
Tell the children to form a circle with their hands out in front of them. Stand in the middle of the circle, holding a coin or another object, like a stone. The coin represents a quality, for instance, “kindness”. Then, as you walk along, pass your hand over the hands of each child and say, for example: “John is kind, Martha is kind, Dervi is kind, and so on.” Each child should close his or her hands, acting as though you have given him or her the coin. You should actually leave the coin in the hand of one of the children. When you have gone around the entire circle, one child should try to guess who has the coin by saying, for example, “Kenji is very kind.” Then Kenji should open his hands and show whether or not he has the coin. The child is given three tries to guess who has the coin, after which the game is repeated using another quality.
[Love Unites Us All Obstacle Course Activity:
Create a fun and moderately challenging obstacle course for the children to practice unity while going through together. Take strips of paper apx. 20 inches long x 2 inches wide. Write LOVE in large letters in the middle of the strip and glue the two ends together to form a circle. You will use these as links to chain the kids together. Have the children form a continuous line all connected by holding a love link between everyone. Explain the obstacle course and instruct them not to let go of their links because everyone should stay connected. They will need to be careful and not rip any of the links. To do this they will all need to watch out for one another and communicate with each other. Have several extra links to replace ones that accidently get ripped. When links get broken it's ok, they replace the love and try again until they succeed as a group.]
- Print out some sheep colouring in pictures.
- Attach them to blown up balloons.
- Explain: the job of a shepherd is to take care of the sheep. They need to protect them from danger, help them find fresh grass to eat and water to drink and find safe places to rest. They must work together in unity and to keep the sheep together in one herd. The children should move the sheep from one area to another by gently bumping the balloons with their shepherd's canes. Emphasize kindness to animals: no hitting or kicking their sheep.
Each child has a canvas/board with a circle, and enough rays coming out that each child will be able to paint a ray each.
They paint, and pass on.
At the end, when it's dry, re-outline and add the quote.
oneness_of_humanity.pdf |