Lesson video

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

I'm going to be helping us with all our learning.

Today's lesson is called "Christmas: Deeper meanings through art," and it's from the unit.

"Jesus: Why is he so important to Christians?" We will be thinking about how we can understand how art is used to tell the Nativity story.

Sometimes learning can be hard and challenging, but don't worry, that's why I'm here, and we are going to have a great time learning all about art and Christmas today in our lesson.

So let's get started.

We have some key words to help us with the lesson today.

And we're going to do I say, you say.

So I say icon, and then I want you to say icon.

Are we ready? Great.

I say icon.

You say.

I say icon.

You say.

An icon is a person or a thing regarded as worthy of worship.

I say halo.

You say.

I say halo.

You say.

And a halo is a glowing ring around someone's head, and it's often seen in pictures of angels as well as on other important people.

And our last word today, I say symbol.

You say, I say symbol.

You say.

And a symbol is when something stands for something else, like a heart, meaning love.

So we're going to use these keywords throughout our lesson today, and we've got two learning cycles.

One, how does art help us to understand the Nativity? And two, what deeper meanings can we find? So let's start with our first learning cycle.

How does art help us to understand the Nativity? Here's Aisha.

And Aisha is explaining why we use stories in religious education.

Aisha says stories can help us understand different worldviews.

In religious education, we listen to important stories and think about deeper meanings of these stories to different people.

We can also look at the difference the stories make to people today.

So in this lesson, we're going to use art that's been created around the Nativity story to better understand deeper meanings about the birth of Jesus.

This is Sofia, and she has a Christian worldview.

Sofia goes to an Anglican church, a church in England church, with her family.

"Christmas is a very special and holy time for my family.

We get ready to celebrate Jesus' birth through telling the Nativity story.

In my church, we have a stained glass window of the Nativity.

Would you like to see it?" Oh, I think I'm gonna say yes please, Sofia.

I'd really like to see your stained glass window from your church.

Oh, here it is.

Oh, that's very pretty, isn't it? It's got some lovely colours in it.

And look at the light shining through it.

Hmm.

I wonder what you can see.

So here's the stained glass window from Sofia's church.

It was created in England.

What can you see in this stained glass window? Have a moment and have a look? Can you find the baby Jesus? Can you see some animals? Can you see the baby's mother? What do you like most in this stained glass window? You might like to pause this video so that you can talk in a group or with the person next to you.

Welcome back.

I really like in this picture the animals in the background.

I think I can see a donkey or a horse and a cow, and they're sort of munching on straw.

I think that makes the picture really peaceful, that the animals are so at home with the people who are in their stable.

I wonder if you have the same thing as me or something different that you liked.

So here's Sofia, and she says, "I like this stained glass window.

I like how it reminds me of the Christmas story in all in one image.

I like the bright colours of the artwork and how it uses to express the joy around the birth of Jesus, God's Son." Actually, there are some really bright colours in there.

And actually you can see as well shading where lighter and darker colours that are used.

So it really makes the picture pop.

It really makes it stand out, doesn't it? So I have a question for you.

For Sofia, the stained glass window expresses A, the seriousness of the Nativity story, B, the funny story of the Nativity, or the joy of the story of the Nativity.

Hmm.

is it A, B, or C? I wonder.

You might like to pause this video while you think about your answer or maybe even talk about it with a partner.

Welcome back.

Shall we see what the correct answer was? It's C.

the stained glass window for Sofia expresses the joy of the story of the Nativity.

Well done if you got that correct.

Now let's look at this artwork in a bit more detail.

Can you see a circle around Mary's head? Yes, there it is.

Now, this circle is called a halo.

That was one of our keywords today.

And a halo is a glowing ring around someone's head.

Can you find the halo around baby Jesus's head? Yes, there it is.

Very well done.

So Sofia tells us more about a halo.

"A halo around someone's head is a sign to me to say this person is very special and holy.

It tells me that Jesus is special even when He was a baby, because He's God's Son.

The Christmas story is good news to me, and it's full of joy." Thank you, Sofia.

So a halo is a symbol that Christian artists use to tell people when looking at their artwork who is holy or who to notice.

In stained glass window in Sofia's church, both Mary and Jesus have a halo.

Mary is the mother of Jesus and therefore very special for Christians.

And Jesus has a halo 'cause the artist is saying that he's God's Son and holy.

He might just be a baby, but He's holy.

Now you'll also notice that the face of Mary and the face of the baby by the artist looks like somebody who would live, maybe he's been born here, in England.

So the artist is also making Jesus, who was born in the Middle East, sort of look European because the artist was European.

Now I have a question for you.

Which of these stained glass images show a halo? Have a look.

You might like to pause this video to look in a bit more detail or to talk about your answer with a friend.

Is it A, B, or C? Welcome back.

And the answer is A.

Yes, there's that picture of Jesus with the halo around Him.

Well done if you had that as your answer.

I'm really proud of your listening and your learning.

So I have a task for you.

Can you use the sentence starters below and the image of the Nativity to help you explain how the stained glass window shows that Jesus is important.

So you could start your answer with Christians tell the story of Jesus's birth because.

And then your second sentence, the halo reminds Christians that.

So pause this video to give you time to talk or write your answers to this question.

Welcome back.

Should we have a look at the answers? So explain how the stained glass window shows that Jesus is important.

Your answer might have looked like this.

Christians tell the story of Jesus' birth because it's all about how Jesus, God's Son, came to earth.

The halo reminds Christians that Jesus and Mary, His mother, are very special to Christians, and that they're seen as holy.

What did your answer look like? Was it similar to mine? If it was, very well done.

That's brilliant learning.

Now we're going to go onto learning cycle two.

What deeper meanings can we find? And we're gonna look at some more artwork.

So David has a Christian worldview, and he attends an Anglican church.

"I love Christmas and how each year we retell the story about the birth of Jesus.

The story is special to me.

My extended family is from West Africa, and there's a piece of artwork I love to look at.

Would you like to see it?" Oh yes, please, David.

I'd really like to see it.

Oh, here it is.

So this is the painting.

I love it.

It imagines Jesus' birth in Africa.

Jesus came to rescue all people.

What can you see in the painting? Can you find baby Jesus? Can you see some animals? Can you see the baby's mother, Mary? What do you like the most? So pause this video to give you some time to think about your answers to those questions or to talk about them in a group or with a partner.

Welcome back.

I love the fact that you can really see that it's Africa.

You can see the warmth coming from that fire.

And look, Mary is really pleased for the shepherds who are coming in.

Can you see they've got their sheep with them? They're coming in to meet the baby Jesus.

It's very warm, isn't it, the colours? I think it's a beautiful painting.

Here's Mary.

And she's often painted in blue clothes.

In the stained glass window in Sofia's church, she was in blue.

And it's a symbol artists use to tell us who's Mary.

The one in the blue.

For Christians, Mary is very special holy, and blue is a symbol of purity.

It's also very expensive colour to create 'cause you have to put different paints together.

So putting Mary in blue is another symbol by the artist to say she's really special.

The artist is painting.

This painting is African.

So the person who painted this is African, and he's painted everybody in the Nativity story as Africans.

Now, do you remember the stained glass window? The person who made that was European.

He was white.

And remember Mary and Jesus there looked like Europeans.

They looked like white people.

And here we can see that Mary and Jesus are seen as Africans.

Now, we know that Jesus was born in the Middle East, so he wouldn't have been white, he wouldn't have been black.

But for Christian artists, they often represent Jesus in their own culture, in their own ethnicity.

So artworks for Mary, the mother of Jesus, always look the same.

Is that statement true or is it false? True or false? Why don't you pause the video to give you some time to talk with a partner or think about your answer? Welcome back.

So was the answer true or false? It was false.

Why? Different artists have painted Mary at different times in different countries to look different.

For example, in the painting we were just looking at, Mary was painted as an African woman.

So this is Alexia, and she has a Christian worldview and attends a Greek Orthodox church.

Alexia says, "At my church we love Christmas.

We have a special Christmas icon, which I kiss when I enter the church.

It reminds me of the Christmas story and how special the coming of Jesus is.

Would you like to see it?" Oh yes, please.

I'd like to see it, Alexia.

Would you? Oh, here it is.

Hmm.

Okay.

So an icon is a painting that's put onto wood.

And we've just heard that when Alexia enters her church, she kisses it to show veneration to show how special it is.

Right, what can we see in the painting? Can you find baby Jesus? Can you see some animals? Can you see the baby's mother? And can you find some halos? What do you like the most? Why don't you pause this video to give you some time to think about your answers to that question, and maybe talk with the person next to you or in a small group and share your ideas.

Welcome back.

So I wonder what you liked the most.

I like that light coming.

I think the artist was thinking of it coming from heaven.

And can you see all those angels around the hill being really excited? I've also noticed in this image, in this icon image, we've got, I think, the three kings there on the left.

Whereas in the other images we've looked at, first one, it was just Mary and Joseph and the baby.

In the second one, the African painting, we have the shepherds arriving.

So in this one, we've got the shepherds to one side on the right, but we also have the wise men.

Okay.

So these three people are the clever people or the wise men who came to visit Jesus.

Notice how both Mary and baby Jesus have halos showing how important they are.

Alexia tells us, "I love all the gold in this icon.

It shows the beauty of this story.

I love all the angels that are around Jesus's birth coming from heaven." Yes, I like that as well, Alexia.

"Everyone is there to celebrate this moment.

The people in the image look like their Greek, a bit like the artist who painted it." So an icon is a piece of art showing, A, a person or a thing regarded as pretty, a person or a thing regarded as worthy of worship, a person or a thing regarded as terrible.

So let's check your understanding.

What's the right answer? Is it A, B, or C? You might like to pause this video to give you a moment to think about your answer and even maybe to discuss it with the person sat next to you.

Welcome back.

Let's find out the answer.

An icon is a piece of art showing, B, a person or a thing regarded as worthy of worship.

Well done if you got that correct.

That's brilliant remembering and great learning.

Now, we don't know what Jesus and His mother actually looked like.

So different Christians have painted the people in the Nativity like they see themselves.

So each painting has a deeper meaning.

So Sofia's English stained glass window helps her to understand the joy of Jesus' birth.

David's African painting helps him to understand that Jesus came to rescue all people.

And Alexia's Greek icon helps her to understand the beauty of the Nativity story.

So the Nativity is a really important image that many Christians paint and create art about all over the world.

What characters do you think should always be in an image of the Nativity? Could you draw them and then explain why? You might like to pause this video to give you time to think about your answer and to make your drawing, and come back to me when you've done that.

Welcome back.

So we asked you to think about what characters do you think should always be in an image of the Nativity, and could you draw them and explain why? So there's my drawing and I wonder why I've chosen that.

Well, I've drawn Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus as I think they're the most important characters in the Nativity story.

I've drawn them to look like me, as that is what many artists do.

We found that out this lesson, haven't we? I wonder what your answer looks like and your reasons for it.

So we've got through our lesson today.

Let's go over what we've learned.

Over the centuries, over many years, the Nativity story has been painted by many artists to express the idea of the incarnation, the story of Jesus's birth.

Symbols such as a halo are used to show that Jesus and Mary are special and holy.

Some Christians use icons to retell the Nativity story.

An artwork of the Nativity story can look different depending on the time and the place that artwork comes from, and often about the artist as well.

Thank you very much for being with me as we've done our lesson today.

I hope you've really enjoyed it.

I've enjoyed being here with you, and I hope to see you again for our next lesson.

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