Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Clinton, and I'm really pleased that you've joined me for our lesson today.

I'm going to help us with our learning.

Today's lesson is called Christingle and it's meaning, and it's from the unit Jesus: Why is he so important to Christians? We will be thinking about how we can understand what a Christingle is and its meaning for different Christians.

We have some key words to help us with our learning today.

So let's practise saying them out loud because they may be unfamiliar to you.

So let's do I say, you say.

Are you ready? I say Christingle.

You say.

I say Christingle.

You say.

And a Christingle is an orange, and it's decorated with a candle and sweets and used in churches to celebrate Jesus's coming birth.

I say illuminate.

You say.

I say illuminate.

You say.

And illuminate means to light so that it makes things easier to see.

And our last key word for today, I say incarnation.

You say.

I say incarnation.

You say.

Brilliant.

And incarnation is a special word that Christians use, and it's about the Christian belief that God became human in the person of Jesus.

So our lesson today has two learning cycles.

Number one, what is a Christingle? And number two, what deeper meanings can we find in a Christingle? So let's start with our first learning cycle.

What is a Christingle? Here's Aisha and she explains why we look at services and festivals in religious education.

"How people practise their religion," she says, "can help us understand different worldviews.

In religious education, we look at services and festivals to think about deeper meanings that these events hold for people." In this lesson, we'll be finding out about a Christingle service to understand deeper meanings about the story of the birth of Jesus.

Thank you, Aisha.

Ooh, I wonder what this is.

Can you have a guess? What can you see in the picture? What do you notice? Have you seen one of these before? You might like to pause this recording and have a moment to think about these questions or talk to the person next to you.

Welcome back.

Let's find out what this is then.

This is what a Christingle looks like.

Have you ever seen one before? What do you think it's made with? This is Sophia and she has a Christian worldview and Sophia goes to an Anglican church with her family.

She tells us, "Christmas is a very special time for my family.

One of my favourite services at our church is the Christingle service.

It is a special service that's for children to enjoy and be reminded of the Christian meaning of Christmas." Thank you, Sophia.

So Sophia explains a little bit more about Christingle.

She says, "I like the Christingle service because we get to make something and think about why Christmas is a special time of the year for Christians.

I like it when all the Christingle are lit and the church goes from darkness to light.

I don't know about you, but I love lighting candles and I like when things go from darkness to light.

I'm with you, Sophia.

So let's check your understanding.

A Christingle service takes place: A, before Christmas, B, on Christmas day or C, after Christmas.

You might like to pause this video so that you can think about your answer or talk with a partner.

Welcome back.

Shall we find out the answer? When does a Christingle service take place? Is it A, B or C? It's A, it's before Christmas.

Sophia told us it helps her to get ready for Christmas.

Now this is Canon Ann Easter and she's an Anglican priest.

And Ann talks to us a little bit more about Christingle.

She says, "A Christingle service takes place in the church once a year.

It happens in Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas.

So that's a special name for those four weeks.

It's an old German tradition that came over to Britain about 60 years ago now.

It is popular as it's especially for children." Ann continues, "At my church, the Christingle service is a very lively one with everyone making their Christingles and learning about them.

Some people just come to this one service each year.

An important idea is that Jesus' birth, his incarnation, brings light hope and goodness into the world." So I have another question for you.

Is this true or false? A Christingle service is just for adults.

Is that true or is that false? You might like to pause this video to give you a moment to think about your answer and even maybe you talk to the person next to you.

Welcome back.

Let's find out the answer, was it true or false? A Christingle services just for adults.

False.

Well done if you got that right.

Brilliant.

Why? A Christingle services for everyone, but it's especially for children.

I have a task for you.

I'd like you to draw your own Christingle and help Lucas give one reason why some churches have a Christingle service in Advent.

So you might like to stop this video to give you time to think about your drawing, to make your drawing, and to give one reason why some churches have this special service.

I'll see you again after you've done this task.

Welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed drawing a Christingle.

Here is a reason for why some churches have a Christingle service.

So Lucas tells us, "Some churches have a Christingle service because it's a way of remembering the Christian meaning of Christmas." Very well done If you got your drawing done and could give a reason why some churches have that service.

I'm really proud of your thinking, your work, and your learning.

Well done.

So we're going to go on now to learning cycle two.

What deeper meanings can we find in a Christingle? So Canon Ann Easter explains, "Every part of a Christingle has a special meaning.

They all link to the important idea that Jesus's incarnation brings love, hope, and light into the world.

Let's find out what each part of the Christingle symbolises." Thank you Canon Ann.

We'd love to, wouldn't we? "So every Christingle starts with an orange.

The orange is a symbol for the world." "We believe," she's saying as a Christian, "Christians believe that God so loved the world that he sent his son Jesus to rescue people." Okay, so the orange is a symbol for the world.

What next? Ah, then, "Every Christingle has a red ribbon tied around the orange.

This is a symbol of the love of Jesus that he has for humans as he came to the world." That's right Ann, Christians believe that Jesus' incarnation at his birth, he left heaven and came to the earth, so a ribbon symbolises that.

What next? Oh, we've got a check for understanding.

Is this true or false? A Christingle is all about the death of Jesus.

You might like to pause this video to give you a moment to think about your answer and maybe to work with a partner on your answer.

Welcome back.

Let's find out.

A Christingle is all about the death of Jesus.

Was that true or false? Hmm.

It was false.

Well done if you chose that answer.

Why? Because a Christingle is all about the birth, the incarnation of Jesus.

Oh, Ann's telling us more about what makes up the Christingle.

So she says, "Every Ingle then has a candle in the middle of the orange.

This symbolises that Jesus is the light of the world born at Christmas." And finally, "Every Christingle has four cocktail sticks with three sweets on each stick.

Okay, this gives us the number 12.

And these symbolise the sweetness and the goodness of God.

He gave his son Jesus to the world out of love.

Let's check on your understanding.

The sweets on a Christingle symbolise: A, God's strength.

B, God's wisdom.

C, God's sweetness and goodness.

You might like to pause this video so that you can think about your answer and maybe even talk to a partner about it.

Welcome back.

So the sweets on a Christingle symbolise: was it A, B, or C? It was C.

Very well done if you got that correct.

That is brilliant.

So Ann tells us, "When everyone has made their Christingle, they then light all the Christingles and sing a hymn about Jesus and God's love.

The church is very beautiful as only lights come from the candles on the Christingles.

It helps us remember Jesus is the light of the world as the church is illuminated." Oh, I like lights and candles.

I can just imagine that dark place getting lighter and lighter as more and more of the Christingle are lit.

I think that would look very beautiful, just like Ann says.

Sophia explains why she loves the Christingle service.

She says, "The Christingle service is one of my favourite things we do at church.

I love making the Christingle and then seeing the church illuminated.

After the service we collect leftover oranges and make marmalade!" Well that's fantastic, Sophia.

So you have this lovely service.

You think about Christmas and what you're getting ready to celebrate, plus you don't waste anything.

You get to make some marmalade from it.

I love marmalade.

It's like an orange jam, and often people will have it on toast at breakfast, but I think you can eat it anytime.

Paddington Bear particularly likes marmalade sandwiches, doesn't he? So I have a task for you.

Here's a Christingle and I'd like you to label each part of the Christingle.

Can you remember there were four parts to a Christingle.

So we have the candle, the orange, the cocktail sticks, and the red ribbon.

So I'd like you to able to explain and label each part of what these stand for for Christians.

You might like to pause this video to give you time to do this task maybe on your own or with a partner or maybe in a group.

When you've done your tasks, come back to me and we'll look at what your answers might look like.

Welcome back.

So here is how you might have labelled your Christingle.

The candle is a symbol of Jesus being the light of the world.

The orange is a symbol of the world that Jesus came to rescue.

The cocktail sticks and sweets are a symbol of God's sweetness and goodness.

And finally, the red ribbon is a symbol of the love of God for humans.

I wonder, did your answers look similar to that? Really well done if they did.

That's brilliant work, brilliant thinking and brilliant using of everything we found out in this lesson from Canon Ann and also from Sophia.

So you've remembered things really well.

Well done.

So we're at the end of our lesson now and I'm gonna summarise what we've covered and hopefully what you have all learned.

Christingle are used by some Christians in church services in Advent in the lead up to Christmas.

The Christingle is used to symbolise Jesus as the light of the world.

They illuminate churches at a Christingle service and different parts of the Christingle have symbolic meanings.

And the Christingle services or Christingle services are held by a wide variety of Christian churches today and they're very popular.

Some people may only go to this service every year.

We learned about that.

And then other people who go to church regularly will also go to this service.

So lots of people get to enjoy a Christingle service.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed our lesson today.

I've really enjoyed thinking and learning about why churches have a Christingle service in the lead up to Christmas and how it helps them to get ready for Jesus's coming.

It shows why Jesus is so important to Christians.

Thank you for being with me and I hope I see you again soon.

So I'm gonna say goodbye now and I hope to see you soon.

Bye.