Week 2: Bound Together in Love

 

WEEK 2: Bind Us Together
Warm Up Discussion 10 min	Reports from last week.  What did you find out about… parts that make up a whole? similarities where you usually see differences? Two scriptures will be written on the board. “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect unity.” -Colossians 3:14 What does this verse mean by “binds us all together in perfect unity”? Why do you this verse says we are bound together instead of, say, melted together? “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” -Ecclesiastes 4:12 Demo: Ask a student to try to break one string of yarn.  Then two.  Then three.  Which was the easiest?  Which was the hardest? How does unity lend strength? What do we use ropes for?
Example Artist 5 min	Show images of Janine Antoni’s “Moor” (R2.1) What unique materials has she used? Do you think you could understand her connections to all of these people without her materials list? What binds all of these people together?
Activity 1 10 min	Learn to Braid Each student will be given three pieces of yarn. They will knot the yarn and tape it to their desks. They will then follow the instructor’s demo to learn how to braid. “Outside left goes to the middle” “Outside right goes to the middle” Repeat. This is in preparation for next week’s project.
Introduce Homework 5 min	Instructions: Collect at least three items from your family members that we may cut into strips and braid together in our next class.   Write down what your items are. If they have a special story, please record it too. Distribute plastic bags for collecting items. Distribute homework handout. (R2.2)
Activity 2 10 min	Mail Art Briefly explain mail art. Explain that we can safely collect materials from people we do not know through mail art. We are doing this now to prepare for a future *SURPRISE* art project! Each envelope will contain a SASE and a photocopied letter which reads, “Hello! I am a 5th grade student doing an art project.  Will you send me something in this envelope that represents who you are? What does it tell about you?  Thank you!” (R2.3) Letters will be returned to Mrs. Henn’s home address, not to the students’ personal addresses. Each student will receive a pen, a stack of envelopes, and a random page of the phone book. From this page they will address as many letters as possible in the remaining class time.
ACTS Prayer 5 min	Adoration: We are amazed by God’s love for us and the way we can share that love with others. Confession: We confess that sometimes we try to do things on our own out of pride, even when we need help from God and from others. Thanksgiving: We are thankful that we do not have to go through life alone.  We have friends and family. Supplication: We ask for help in forming strong relationships with others and for binding up broken relationships whenever possible.
Resources	2.1 Images of Janine Antoni’s “Moor” 2.2 “Bind Us Together” Homework Handout 2.3 Photocopied Letter

Bind Us Together With Love

The image of physical ties has been used throughout Christian teaching as a representation of connectedness in relationship.  It is often used to describe the believer’s dependence upon God, for example, in the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee.

Another popular gospel hymn asks the Lord to restore broken relationships and to “Bind us Together”:

Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
With cords that cannot be broken
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
Bind us together in Love

Rather than contriving a “social activism” project for my students to execute, I’ve decided to build a curriculum around the best possible seed for activism: empathy for others…a willingness to bind ourselves to others in love.  This decision is a response to reading about and observing cases of Christian outreach that have had unintended negative consequences.  I will create a separate post addressing that subject… For now, I believe the best way to teach young Christian artists to create artwork with a social conscience is to help them develop deep empathy for others.

Christians consider developing empathy for others an important component of “seeing the world through the eyes of Christ”.  This phrase is part of the Community Christian School mission statement, so it is fitting that it be used as inspiration for their arts curriculum.

Janine Anotni is a contemporary artist whose artwork “Moor” is a beautiful symbol of this connectedness.  Antoni created a rope made out of materials given to her by people who were close to her.  This rope is like a relational umbilical cord, a vehicle for emotional nourishment and connection.

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Antoni’s work is reflective- it demonstrates the connections in her existing relationships…but I want my students’ work to be progressive- to create and nourishment relationships which are weak or not-yet existent.

Jennifer Tammy, author of the blog Sugar and Space and Glitter posted about creating a “A Paper Chain of Kindness” with her kids.  Check out her post here!  Perhaps I could do something similar with my 5th graders using Janine Antoni as our example artist.

How do you think this lesson could work?  What empathetic “ties” do you think it is especially important for 5th graders to make?  Thanks for your comments and feedback!  They are so helpful!