Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Clinton and I'm excited that you've joined me today.

I'm going to be helping you with your learning today.

Today's lesson is called How Christians Use Art to Tell Stories, and it's from the unit Spirituality: how is art used in religions and beliefs? We will be thinking about how we can give examples of how different Christian traditions use art to retell stories.

Sometimes learning can be a little bit challenging, but that's great because it gives us the opportunity to work really hard together and have a fabulous time.

We have some important keywords today that are going to help us with our lesson.

The first word is icon, and that means a picture or painting used as a focus for Christian worship.

We then have Chi Rho.

Can you say that? I say it.

You say it.

So I say Chi Rho, you say.

I say Chi Rho, you say.

Well done.

And this is a very special word.

It's an ancient word, and it uses the first two Greek letters of the word for Christ, the word for Jesus, and it was used as an early Christian symbol.

Then we have stained glass windows, and that's a picture made from coloured glass, often found in churches depicting scenes associated with Christianity.

And finally, we have maybe a new word to you, the word venerate.

Let's do I say, you say.

I say venerate.

You say.

I say venerate, you say, and that's to regard someone or something with great respect.

Our lesson today has two learning cycles.

Number one, what artwork can you find in churches? And number two, what can we learn about Jesus from artwork? Let's get on with learning cycle one.

What artwork can we find in churches? Fiona has a Christian worldview and attends an Anglican church.

Her church was built in 1834.

Well, that was way before my grandparents, my great grandparents, before my great great grandparents' time.

So the church is quite old, and she says, "At my church, you can find stained glass windows, statues, wall hangings and paintings all depicting images of God the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and a range of important saints that we venerate." Do you remember what that word venerate means? Well done if you remembered.

It's about showing respect.

Here's an image of the inside of Fiona's church.

I wonder, can you spot where there's a stain glass window? I can also see some wall hangings on some of those pillars, and I think I can see a piece of artwork and a statue.

But let's see, where is the stained glass window? And here it is.

What image can you see in the stained glass window? You might want to pause a moment and think about that question or talk to the person next to you.

Welcome back.

So we can see an image of Jesus on the cross.

There is a sort of town behind him.

The sky looks quite moody, maybe a sunset.

And there's also for the eagle eyed of you, there are also two people, one either side being crucified.

Well done if you found that stained glass window.

Unlike most Islamic artwork, Christian artwork can depict images of God.

Can you see the central image of Jesus on the cross with two criminals being crucified with him on either side? Can you see Jesus' mother? She's got a a blue dress on and she's at the bottom left hand side of the picture.

What atmosphere do you think the artist is trying to create through the use of colours in this piece of artwork? You might want to pause the video and think about that question or talk to the person next to you.

Welcome back.

I think the atmosphere is a little bit dark, and I suppose in my head I'm thinking for the artist, maybe this is quite a sad and sombre event.

And so the colours are quite bold but dark, reflecting those ideas.

Well done if you thought something similar.

Let's check your understanding.

Christian artwork can depict images of: A, Guru Nanak? B, Buddha? C, Jesus? You might like to pause this video while you think of that answer or talk to the person next to you.

Welcome back.

Let's find out what the correct answer is.

It's Jesus.

Very well done if you chose answer C.

So stained glass windows were first put into churches hundreds of years ago when most people attending churches couldn't read.

They became a way of being able to tell the congregation Bible stories.

So that was a way of bringing to life the stories that were read from the Bible each week in church services.

Stained glass windows gave an opportunity for artists to use their skills to worship God and create something awe inspiring for the people who came to those places to think, pray and worship God.

The main stained glass window at Fiona's church was created 200 years ago and it has a special significance for her.

Fiona tells us, "I love this window.

I love the colours that the light creates shining through it.

For me, as I go forward to receive Holy Communion, having the image of Jesus on the cross to reflect on is very powerful." In Fiona's church, there are statues of saints, so holy people that Christians would look up to and try and live a life similar to.

Here is a statue of Jesus' mother, Mary.

See the flowers that people have left by the statue.

This is to venerate her, to show their love and respect for her.

And can you see that again she's got some blue clothing on? Just like in the stained glass window.

Why do you think Mary is important to some Christians? Which of these statues would you not find in a church? Is it A, B or C? You might like to pause the video to give you some time to talk to the person next to you or to think of your answer for yourself.

Welcome back.

Let's find out which of these statues would you not find in a church? It's B and C.

Yes.

So in B, we can see a massive statue of the Buddha.

And in C, actually, that's a very famous picture of Jesus looking out over a city in Brazil.

But again, it's outside of church.

It's not in a church.

So the the one that you find in the church is a statue there of Mary, Jesus' mother.

This is Asher and he has a Christian worldview.

He attends a free church.

How is Asher's view different from Fiona's? He says, "In my church, we don't have any artwork of Jesus or God in the building.

My tradition tries to keep the building very plain.

So there are no distractions for us in services.

The Bible teaches not to make any images of God.

So this is something my church follows." In fact, the bit in the Bible that says where you're not to make any images of God is part of the 10 Commandments, the 10 rules that was given to Moses after the Exodus and the Jewish people, the Israelites, had left Egypt.

So you might like to pause this video to have a think or to talk to the person next to you.

How is Asher's view different from Fiona's? Welcome back.

So they go to very different churches, don't they? In Fiona's church, we find lots of stained glass windows and wall hangings and statues.

Whereas in Asher's Church we find none of that.

It's very plain, the idea that people won't have a distraction but can focus on God.

So we're learning that Christian traditions, different churches do things in different ways.

Christians would never create artwork with Jesus in it because this would go against the Bible.

Do you think this statement is true or false? True or false? You might like to pause this video while you can have a think or talk to the person next to you.

Welcome back.

Let's find out the answer.

It is false.

Of course, Christians for thousands of years have created artwork containing images of Jesus.

Like in stained glass windows.

It's not seen as going against the Bible for most Christians because it's helping them to worship God.

It's not a distraction, but it's honouring and helping them worship God.

Well done if you got that right.

I'm really very pleased.

Jun and Laura are discussing what artwork you'd find in a church.

Jun says, "I don't think you would find any artwork in a church, as Asher said in the Bible it says not to make images of God." Laura says, "I think you do find artworks in churches as Fiona's church has statues and stained glass windows." Can you use what Laura and young are saying to explain why churches might look different inside? You might like to pause this video to give you time to think about your answer, work with a partner or in a small group.

So you might have said lots of British churches will have stained glass windows in them.

These windows are colourful and create amazing coloured patterns within a church.

They also had a very important job of telling people important stories from the Bible before people could read.

You will also find churches that do not use images of God, Jesus, or the saints in them.

They prefer a plain space where there are no distractions.

Really well done if you've got any of those points in your answer, I'm really proud of your thinking, talking and writing.

Let's go on to the second part of our lesson.

What can we learn about Jesus from artwork? Not all artwork in churches are stained glass windows.

There are some very stylized symbols with deep meanings that you find on the outside as well as on the inside of churches.

And below is the Chi Rho image.

Can you see any letters within this circle? Can you find an 'X' and a 'P'? There's also an 'A' and an 'Omega' shape.

Now, you might not have seen an Omega shape before, and this is a Greek letter that we don't have in our English alphabet.

And this is a really ancient symbol used in the first 500 years of the Christian religion.

So we are talking about 2,000 years ago to 1,500 years ago, so a long, long time ago.

The symbol is called the Chi Rho.

It consists of the Greek letters 'chi', which is the X and the 'rho', which is the P, and they're the first two letters of the Greek word Christos, which translates as Christ.

You can also see on this example an 'A' and the 'Omega'.

And in Greek, these stands for Alpha and Omega, and they're the start on the end letter of the Greek alphabet.

The Chi Rho was used in churches as a way to express beliefs about Jesus.

And so it was often sculpted into the walls of churches.

Just like in the picture we have on the left.

Christians believe that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, the Christ, the one who would save his people.

The Alpha and Omega signs spoke that Jesus was the start and the end of everything.

And some of the Romans even used to have special badges, pins that they would wear into battle in the third and fourth century of the common era.

When there was an emperor Constantine, everybody in his army would wear this symbol because he felt it was really important that everybody should declare their belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah.

So I have a question for you.

Is this true or false? True or false? The only type of artwork you find in churches are stained glass windows.

You might like to pause this video while you have a moment to think about your answer and talk to the person next to you.

Welcome back.

Let's find out the answer.

Was it true or false? It's false.

Why? Because you find a variety of artwork in some churches.

There can be stained glass windows, paintings, and sculptures in some churches.

Remember though, we have Ashers church.

So not in all churches, but in a lot of churches.

Here is a different piece of Christian artwork.

I wonder if you know what a piece of artwork like this is called, it has a special name, and it was one of our keywords in our lesson today.

It's an icon, they've been created for thousands of years as a way for Christian artists to tell stories about the Bible.

Their style is very different from stained glass windows or statues or even sculptures.

They use symbolic colours and objects to tell important stories from the Bible, expressing deeper meanings from these stories.

Now, this is Alexia and she has a Christian worldview.

She attends a Greek Orthodox church with her family.

And she tells us, "In my church there are many icons as you enter the church as well as around the church.

There are ways of telling important messages from stories in the Bible.

They give me and my family an image of a person to focus on when we pray or think about God and Jesus." So this particular icon is about the resurrection or the resurrected Jesus.

Let's have a look at some symbolic colours and objects, what this artist is trying to tell us.

So if you notice, Jesus has a halo above him.

And this is sort of Greek shorthand for everybody, this is Jesus Christ, the Chi Rho.

And in fact, you can see some letters above Jesus's halo.

And again, this is the Chi Rho written in Greek.

Now these two characters in the green and red, they're Adam and Eve and they've been brought back from death and they've been brought out of that black pit.

And they're sort of saying thank you to Jesus as he has brought them up.

Showing how Jesus' death and then his resurrection means that everything that got broken with human beings and God in the Garden of Eden, in the Book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible is no longer separated.

So you can see that Jesus and Adam are holding, well, Jesus is holding onto Adam.

Now, can you see the keys here in that black pit? And that's the idea that Jesus has broken death through his death and his resurrection, he breaks the power of death.

So for Christians, their belief is when they die, they'll go on to eternal life to be with Jesus and God in heaven.

Now, look over here, Jesus holds a staff and staffs are very ancient symbols of power.

And here you can see this is actually the Greek Orthodox way of also showing the cross.

And it's through Jesus' death on the cross that he has power to break death.

And notice that Jesus' dressed in golden clothing.

And of course the background is completely gold as well, just showing the richness of what Jesus has done and the fact that they believe that Jesus is the son of God.

So can you see as well that Jesus has stood on top of the gates of death, a couple of doors in a sense.

He stands on them showing that he went down into death.

But three days later, he breaks everything open.

And so this is a really dynamic piece of art that a Christian has painted and created here in order to tell all these messages to the people using it in their worship.

So Orthodox Christians, venerate icons, and Alexia tells us, "When she enters her church, she'll go to an icon of Jesus, the one that's near the main entrance, and she'll kiss it." And this is to show respect to venerate it.

And it shows her adoration, her love for Jesus.

So can you complete this sentence? Icons are a way of telling stories from the Bible through: A, coloured glass? B, Christian symbols only? C, symbolic objects and colours? Like to pause this video while you have a thing or to the person next to you.

Welcome back.

I wonder, did you think it was A, B, or C? Let's have a look.

It's C, well done if you chose that answer.

I'm really proud of your learning.

Now I have a task for you.

I would like you to use this image as a prompt to explain what Christians can learn about Jesus from looking at an icon.

You should make reference to his resurrection in your response.

You might like to pause this video to give you time to think about your response.

Write an answer, talk to a partner, or work in a small group.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look and see what your answer might have looked like.

Your response might have included.

The image is golden.

So it shows the event is very special, an image to venerate.

Jesus has symbols above him that tell that he's Jesus Christ, the Chi Rho.

Jesus has a halo around him to show that he's the most important character.

He's also in the centre, isn't he? He's the thing that everybody's looking at.

And Jesus is holding a staff to show his power over death, his resurrection power.

And Jesus has overcome death.

He stands on the gates of death again showing his resurrection power.

Really well done if you had any of these ideas in your answer.

So what have we learned today in our lesson how Christians use art to tell stories? Well, many churches have used stained glass windows to tell important stories from the Bible for thousands of years.

The Chi Rho is an early Christian symbol used in churches to remind people that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the waited for Saviour.

Some churches use icons to worship and to focus on God through a story.

And artists have used artwork within churches to express their beliefs, their Christian beliefs.

And these images are often venerated by Christians in churches.

They show respect to them.

And Christian art often contains deeper symbolic meanings placed within images by artists.

But remember, not all churches do this in the same way.

Thank you for being with me for this lesson today.

I hope you've really enjoyed all the new learning that we've done together, I know I have.

I will say goodbye now.

Goodbye.