Opening Prayer
First: briefly tell the children the life story of John the Baptist.
are resources available to help the spiritist teacher tell the story of Jesus’ precursor.
Resource 1.
Resource 2.
Second: explain why Jesus was baptized, but didn’t baptize his followers.
There was a prophecy (message) from that time which stated the Messiah would be baptized. Jesus let himself be baptized by John the Baptist so this prophecy would be fulfilled. It was also necessary that the warning John received about how to recognize the Messiah would be fulfilled. When Jesus prayed soon after the Baptism, the Sky opened, a light descended upon the place, a dove appeared over Jesus’ head and a voice was heard: "This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." John understood that Jesus was the sent from God to teach men the practice of the love - the pathway to happiness.
Third - please ask the children:
* Does anyone have to be baptized when they begin to study at the Spiritist Doctrine? Why? No. Baptism is a ritual and there are no rituals at the Spiritist Centre.
* What makes someone be a child of God? Is it the fact they have been baptized? No. We are children of God because we are spirits who were created by him. We are all children of God; independently from being baptized. Goes doesn’t make any distinction between his children, he loves all of them equally.
* Does the baptism with water transform someone into a better person? No. the spiritist doctrine is based on rational faith. All rituals, dogmas, sacraments and symbolisms loose sense because these are external practices. These ceremonies don’t encourage the inner reform each individual needs to carry out. The way we can demonstrate adoration to God in Spirit (with our heart) and Truth (with our attitudes), as Jesus said, is to get to know the Divine Laws and check if we are living according to them. If we are not living according to them, we should change our acts and thoughts; our way of living so we can live and act with resignation.
Fourth – please ask if anyone has seen, at spiritist centers:
- candles
- images of saints
- procession
- the use of special clothes
- religious wedding within the spiritist centre
These kinds of ceremonies should never happen at the spiritist centre; there are no rituals within the spiritist society. Some of our brothers, who are very attached to their previous religion – in this or on previous existences – sometimes bring habits and rituals to the spiritist centre that they were still not able to overcome them. We all need to make an effort to understand and practice the Spirits’ Doctrine with no rituals or external practices.
Spiritism has no clergy, nor does it adopt or use at any of its meetings or during its practices the following: altars, images, candles, processions, sacraments, concession of indulgences, religious vestments, alcoholic or hallucinogenic beverages, incense, tobacco, talismans, amulets, horoscopes, cartomancy, pyramids, crystals, or any other objects, rituals or external forms of worship. God’s adoration should be done in spirit, without external practices.
In the Spiritist Doctrine there is no baptism. This ceremony doesn’t happen in or outside the Spiritist Centre since someone becomes a Christian (a person who follows Christ’s teachings) by his transformed faith in attitudes towards goodness.
There is no spiritist wedding. Religious wedding ceremonies don’t exist inside the spiritist centre, at the fiancées’ house or anywhere else. The spiritist will get married under the civil law, in accordance with the human laws. That is, the wedding will have a civil ceremony presided over by a local civil authority, which is the appointed judge that can formalize this union according to the society.
It is important to mention to the children that all Spiritist practice is gratuitous, following the orientation of the moral principle found in the Gospel: "Give for free what you receive for free." There are no priests, mediums or spiritist speakers responsible for praying to the spirits who disincarnate. Any person can pray at a funeral home or burials since the prayer is destined to the spirit who is leaving the physical body. What really matters is the feeling of the person who prays; not the rituals that could be done at this moment in time. Spiritism is practiced with simplicity, without any external forms of worship, within the Christian principle that God should be worshipped in spirit and in truth.
Fifth: please tell them one story. We suggest:
The wedding - about the non-existence of rituals in the Spiritist Doctrine or with spiritist practices.
A strange way of Goodness to return or Understanding charity - about the importance of charity for our spiritual evolution.
These and many other stories are found on the site under the link Stories (Drawings)
Closing Prayer
Class suggested being suitable for: 3rd cycle (11 to 12 years old).
Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.
