Links from Sunday's Youth Group

This year, I'm not planning to try to summarize every Sunday's youth group curriculum but I do plan to post relevant links when you guys ask me to share them in "class." So here's what we looked at and discussed on Sunday, October 16th:

Our 5 Minutes of God Time song

Our random video (about calling to the whales with orchestra music)

And the meat of our discussion: Adolfo Kaminsky

• A list of biblical verses pertaining to lying
• Some of our discussion questions:
• Is there ever a time when it's OK to lie/deceive or break laws? And since we agreed that in Adolfo's case, it was OK, where is your PERSONAL cutoff point (on the scale of "making fake passports to save thousands of innocent Jews" to "murdering an abortion doctor to try to prevent the death of innocent babies")? Are there times in our everyday lives that we justify small wrongdoings/lies/deceits with the belief that it's for a good reason?
• For Adolfo to do what he did required the efforts of many people. Who else needed to be involved for him to have those opportunities (i.e.- the rest of the forgery team, the person within the Nazi regime who slipped them the list of targets, the previous employers who taught him the skills this job required, the people who helped buy supplies or supplied the apartment, etc.)? Is the courage of those people equally worthy of our admiration?
• Was there a cost to Adolfo? Do you think he knew the consequences of his actions when he chose to help?
• Why do you think he decided to join the resistance rather than flee when he had the opportunity?
• When you look at the events in Adolfo's life, do you think it all took place by happenstance?

Hope to see you next week!

Service

One of the topics that we just keep coming back to is service- which means you have to ask yourself whether your youth leader is just too lazy to come up with a new topic or whether there's something so profoundly important in the topic that it needs lots of emphasis and discussion. Being the youth leader, I'm going to go with the second one. :)

So why is it so important to understand? It's the age-old tension of faith vs. works. Ephesians 2:8 talks about how we have been saved by grace alone, rather than by our works, so that no one can boast. Doing good alone can't save you, because the kingdom of God is as much mental as physical. And really, how many of us have done something that we thought was really helpful, only to realize later that it wasn't the right thing to do? Or have done something good for the wrong reasons? Even something as cut and dry as serving a meal to a hungry child can have a wide range of impacts on the server. Any way it goes, the child gets fed. But are you doing it because God asked you to love your neighbor as yourself, and this is an expression of pure love? Or is it because it gives you a smug sense of satisfaction to know that you're not in the position of the one who needs help? Or maybe it's because you need verifiable service hours to put on your college application, and this is an organized activity that doesn't take much thought on your end. One motivation goes a long way towards bringing you closer to God. The others? Not so much. Salvation is about drawing closer to God, not just checking off a list of good deeds.

But then James 2:24 reminds us

^21-24 Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

 It's not just about the mental, either. If salvation is a drawing-near to God, there's some action required ("drawing near" is an action, yes?). If you say you believe something but your actions don't match what your mouth is spouting, you have to wonder where the disconnect happened. Dig a little deeper: Have you not really bought in to this whole Christianity thing? Do you have some unresolved questions that might make it easier to live out what you've been taught? Or maybe you just need the reality check that you haven't put much thought into your time and actions, and now that you know, you're ready for some change.

So to help us dig a little deeper, let's look at motivation and you can think about what resounds most clearly with you. Why might we serve?

• Self-service: Not just gaining college-enticing service hours, this also includes the actions you take on behalf of someone else to make yourself more secure or to ensure that there's help for you when/if you might need it.
•  Guilt: Feeling bad that you have it better, you throw a little something (time or money) at a problem not to make the problem better, but to make you feel like you "did your part."
• Obligation: You serve because something you belong to requires it- NHS, Boy Scouts, etc.
• Commandment: God said to love others as yourself, so you're going to serve to obey God rather than because you "feel it" (this is not always a bad thing!)
• Justice: You are outraged by a wrong and so you act, not because you like the act of service (though you might) but because you have a strong need for change.
• Feelings of joy: Maybe you really love the action that functions as your service, the fact that you're serving, or the people that you're serving. Whatever it is (and maybe it's all of the above), there is an eagerness in this service- you're happy to do it because of the heart-squeezing happiness it brings.

 Your reasons could be any or all of the above, or even something else entirely, and it probably changes based on a myriad of circumstances. But obviously, some of those reasons are going to be preferable to others. In addition to recognizing that some reasons to serve are better than others, it's important to remember that there are ways to optimize our servants' hearts:

• The most enjoyable forms of service make your heart and your mind sing. They are pleasant and tailored to your skills. Seek them out- they'll refresh you! But if you haven't found them yet, don't just sit and wait for them to come to you. Most of the time we learn what our skills and interests are by DOING- and in the doing, we refine until it feels right. I once knew a guy whose job was to travel around and fix chiropractic tables- and he LOVED it. That's obviously not something your guidance counselor is pushing toward you as a career option, so how did he find it? By starting down a path he thought he might enjoy and then tweaking his skill set as the opportunities arose. You can do the same.
• Serve in ways that DON'T make your heart and mind sing.Very few people enjoy doing dishes or putting away chairs or doing any of the other mundane tasks that so often need doing. It can be easier to pursue the more glamorous service opportunities and ignore the ones that won't get you praise or a Nobel Peace prize. Do the everyday services anyways- it'll help you grow in understanding, in principals, in appreciation of others.
• Think both immediate and long-term. Put your phone away and look around you to find the things that you can do RIGHT NOW. You don't need to spend every waking minute on it, but there's always something that can use your attention. But don't forget about the future, either. Is there something you think would be really cool to do but that you're not qualified for right now? Learning a skill or preparing yourself for a move or even going to college can all be acts of service in themselves, depending on how you view them and what your motivations are.
• Service isn't just a "do"- it's a "be." Get a black belt in service- move from having it be an event to having service be your way of life. It's a mindset shift, when you start to look at everything from where you go to what you do to how you eat as acts of service. There are very minute shifts that can make a big difference to someone else, and it allows you to immerse yourself in loving others all the day long.
• Keep yourself balanced.  Every cause out there has more than one way to approach it (and this is not a rallying cry for you to take on all of them). Keeping balanced is finding both where you fit in the plan and keeping the bigger equilibrium across all of the ways you serve in your life. There are four main categories of service (with some cross-overs) and every Christian should have some form of active service in each of them:
• Known: Serving in a way that allows you to know the people you're serving. You can see their faces, you can talk with them, you can connect on a personal level (even if it's nothing more than a "Hi, how are you?"). This is the hands-on stuff. It might be people at your school, at church, in your neighborhood, or the people we interact with on the mission trip. In our church, it might include the Circle of Friends Shoppe or (for some of you) the India Ministry.
• Unknowable: Like Heifer or Shared Hope, this service benefits people that you will never meet. You can't see their faces, talk through their struggles, give them a hug. Sometimes you're benefiting people in distant lands, and sometimes they're people right here who are kept private for safety reasons, like when we raised funds for Friends of Abused Families.
• Formal: The "organized" service action/event. Sometimes it's spearheaded by someone else, like the mission trip or the India Gala, but it can also be a personal standing commitment to an organization (greeting at church, serving on a board, providing childcare every Wednesday night at the shelter, being a Big Brother, etc.)
• Informal: Whether spontaneous or not, this is the "I'm just gonna do it" category. It can be talking to someone who looks lonely, letting someone in front of you in line, or deciding to surprise your family with dinner. Maybe it's calling your grandma, because you know she'd like that. Or maybe it's deciding to stop buying chocolate with questionable labor practices. These are the things that don't require a big plan- they're the opportunities that simply show up in your life, nudging you to follow through. They can't be quantified on a list of ways you serve, but believe me, you'd notice a very different world if we all started to ignore the little things.

Your assignment for the week was simple: No matter how you currently serve, think of ONE new thing in any of the service categories and decide to take ONE step towards making it part of your life. Maybe it's as simple as finding the website of an organization and looking at their volunteer opportunity list. Maybe you donate something off of a wish list. Maybe you call your grandma. Maybe you.... fill in the blank. Just choose one thing and, most importantly, start.

5 Minutes of God Time: Follow Me by Casting Crowns

Creation Care

Earth Day was this past week, and so it's a great time to discuss the role of Christians in caring for this earth. Do we have an obligation to care? And if so, do we then have an obligation to act? More than just being part of the ecosystem that depends on nature to survive, we as Christians have an even stronger need to be active in stewarding our environment in accordance with God's will. Need more convincing? Take a look at these scriptures:

Genesis 1:26-28

^26-28 God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
        reflecting our nature
    So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
        the birds in the air, the cattle,
    And, yes, Earth itself,
        and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
    God created human beings;
        he created them godlike,
    Reflecting God’s nature.
        He created them male and female.
    God blessed them:
        “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
    Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
        for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”

Leviticus 25:23-24

^23-24 “The land cannot be sold permanently because the land is mine and you are foreigners—you’re my tenants. You must provide for the right of redemption for any of the land that you own.

Ezekiel 34:2-6

God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherd-leaders of Israel. Yes, prophesy! Tell those shepherds, ‘God, the Master, says: Doom to you shepherds of Israel, feeding your own mouths! Aren’t shepherds supposed to feed sheep? You drink the milk, you make clothes from the wool, you roast the lambs, but you don’t feed the sheep. You don’t build up the weak ones, don’t heal the sick, don’t doctor the injured, don’t go after the strays, don’t look for the lost. You bully and badger them. And now they’re scattered every which way because there was no shepherd—scattered and easy pickings for wolves and coyotes. Scattered—my sheep!—exposed and vulnerable across mountains and hills. My sheep scattered all over the world, and no one out looking for them!

Isaiah 24:4-6

The earth turns gaunt and gray,
    the world silent and sad,
    sky and land lifeless, colorless.

^5-13 Earth is polluted by its very own people,
    who have broken its laws,
Disrupted its order,
    violated the sacred and eternal covenant.
Therefore a curse, like a cancer,
    ravages the earth.
Its people pay the price of their sacrilege.
    They dwindle away, dying out one by one.

 

Jeremiah 2:7-8

^7-8 “I brought you to a garden land
    where you could eat lush fruit.
But you barged in and polluted my land,
    trashed and defiled my dear land.
The priests never thought to ask, ‘Where’s God?’
    The religion experts knew nothing of me.
The rulers defied me.
    The prophets preached god Baal
And chased empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.

Revelations 11:18

We thank you, O God, Sovereign-Strong,
    Who Is and Who Was.
You took your great power
    and took over—reigned!
The angry nations now
    get a taste of your anger.
The time has come to judge the dead,
    to reward your servants, all prophets and saints,
Reward small and great who fear your Name,
    and destroy the destroyers of earth.

Rather than recap what we discussed regarding each scripture, I'd like to invite you to consider them for yourself. Why did I include that particular scripture? What might it mean to you? When you read them, are you getting any nudges in the back of your brain?

After our discussion in "class," we watched a couple of videos to further explore the issue:

 The unexpected intricacy of God's creation: How Wolves Change Rivers


 Why this is an urgent issue for us: Sixth Mass Extinction Is Here

And then we talked about what are some small steps to get us thinking about what and how we can honor our Creator in caring for creation:

• Don’t be willfully ignorant. History doesn’t admire people who know something’s wrong and pretend it’s not happening. It takes courage and strength to decide to learn and change- be THAT type of person, rather than the one who’s guided by convention and comfort.
• Think through your actions to find the impact. Whether it’s a purchase, an activity, a meal, or whatever, start to figure out who and what is touched by your choices. You’ll never understand the whole web of your influence, but being aware that you HAVE a web of influence is a good first step.
• Cultivate a wabi-sabi attitude- see the beauty in things that are slightly broken, old, or not-so-flashy and embrace it, rather than replace it. It takes a lot of energy to harvest/mine new materials, produce it into your product, transport it to the store, and store it until you purchase it, and all that energy has to come from somewhere (not to mention the actual materials used up in making the “thing” and the habitat disturbance it can cause).
• Talk about it- if someone questions why you do something different, explain it and do it simply (i.e.- I read that buying out of season flowers is really hard on the environment, so I choose to not have them). You don’t have to convince them to do the same thing or give examples and statistics (unless they ask), but it starts to change the assumptions of those around us!
• Leave part of your yard “wild”- it gives habitat to lots of creatures, helping them survive and creating a mini bio-diverse ecosystem.
• Plant a garden- it gives you a chance to contemplate nature, wonder, and ecology AND it gives you more control over the ethical considerations of your food (like corporate domination, poor water right laws, illegal labor practices, transportation and energy issues)
• Embrace landscape imperfection- don’ t use petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides on your lawn (it kills biodiversity in plants AND animals AND bugs)
• Eat less meat/dairy and more veggies- and make them heritage varieties, while you’re at it. The higher on the food chain you eat, the more resources went into growing each pound of food. And remember the Great Potato Famine? The more varieties of food we have, the smaller the chance that one bug, one virus, or one climate fluctuation will wipe out our food supply. But farmers won’t grow it if you won’t buy it.
• Go minimalist! There’s only so much space and material to go around- the less you take for yourself, the more you have to share with your neighbor (whether 2 legged, furry, feathered, or finned). You might even enjoy living light!
• Use your skills, whatever they are! Make a video, write a song, use your body rather than powering up a machine, make daily choices to keep creation in mind.
• Call/write/visit your government representatives. Civically engaged youth are a force to be reckoned with- just ask Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, a 15 year old from Colorado, who has addressed the U.N. THREE times about climate issues.
• Be confident! Choosing to live outside of someone else’s expectations creates powerful ripples. Remember why you’re doing it, and embrace your choices. People will question (or even mock you) if you’re wishy-washy, but they’ll respect and accept your “eccentricities” when you’re strong enough to joke about it.

  
Aaand just to get you thinking: Gratitude: The Antidote for Greed


5 Minutes of God Time: For the Beauty of the Earth (Instrumental)
(Lyrics)

March 5 Minutes

Since we've used the month of March to go through a few Nooma videos in youth group (rather than having a reproducible curriculum), we won't have much discussion online. But here are the month's 5 Minutes of God Time songs:

March 6th: Move (Keep Walkin') by TobyMac

March 13th: The Cello Song by The Piano Guys

March 20th: Air I Breathe by Mat Kearney

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby!

Since you all told me that's what I should have called our Sex, Love, and Relationships unit, I'm using it as the title of this post....


There are so many things that we covered during our extra long day or two, we won't be able to run through them on the blog. And that's why you all received binders and handouts during the workshop. If you DIDN'T get a binder and you'd like one, please let me know! Also, please remember that I am a resource for you for all these things- if you end up with questions or thoughts at any point, you can always ask me!

What I WILL put on this blog post is our Five Minutes of God Time songs and a couple of links that we discussed, but that weren't part of your binders. Enjoy!

Five Minutes of God Time: Hold Me by Jamie Grace

Five Minutes of God Time: Elastic Heart (Sia Cover) by Brooklyn Duo

The video we discussed but couldn't watch due to technical issues: http://www.upworthy.com/there-are-6-scriptures-about-homosexuality-in-the-bible-heres-what-they-really-say

Glossary of Transgender, Non-Binary and Genderqueer Words

 

Who is my neighbor?

This week actually had two questions, but we're going to focus primarily on the second. The young man who questions Jesus in Luke 10:25-37 wants to know what he needs to do to be saved, and Jesus turns it around on him- what do YOU think? His response: Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus applauds this! Very good! But then the young man goes a bit further, wanting Jesus to confirm that "neighbor" can be a very small circle of people- and Jesus responds with the story of the Good Samaritan, asking "Which one of these was a neighbor to the man in need?" The young man can't ignore his point, even if he can't bring himself to name a Samaritan as the hero, and Jesus tells him "Go and do likewise."

So, who is YOUR neighbor? And how do you love him/her?

We started our discussion by watching two videos:

A Norwegian Social Experiment

and

An episode of "What Would You Do?"

Have you ever helped a stranger before? Several of you had stories that involved your family members taking action, but there were far fewer when we narrowed the question down to times YOU personally had made the decision to help. Why? It's easiest to help people who have an obvious, immediate need (like passing out in the grocery store), or people who are considered less able to help themselves (a lost child, an older gentleman who looks physically frail).

Have you ever chosen NOT to help a stranger before? Why? There are all sorts of reasons we might choose not to act:

• Too distracted or busy to stop- someone else will do it, I have really important things to be doing!
• Scared of the situation or of potential danger to yourself
• Scared of the TYPE of person needing help
• Scared of "stereotyping"- "I don't want that disabled person to think I pity him!"
• Not sure how to help or what to do
• Unable to help- but what about Linda in the "What Would You Do? episode?

 What are some ways you can help when you're not sure what to do?

• Remember that they are a human (Remember Linda giving the man the name "Billy" to give him a story and remind others that we're all relation to each other)
• Call 911 (if needed)
• Ask others to help
• Ask them what they need (if you can't give it, be prepared to offer alternatives)
• Be prepared!
• Look up some answers to scenarios you can imagine finding yourself in- that way, you'll have an idea of what the "correct" answer is in a nerve-wracking situation
• Practice how you'd respond
• Carry some small bills in cash (maybe even setting aside some money for JUSTINCASE)
•  Use your phone to look up solutions or know who you could call for help

Finally, just BE THERE and be aware. Talk with them, lend them the support of your presence. No one expects you to be able to fix everything, but honoring and acknowledging them can go a long way!

Scenarios (what could you do?):

1. You see a family in a store/restaurant that really looks like they’re struggling. What could you do?
   1. Interact with the kids (“I heard your mother ask you do something, can you tell me what that was?” or “Do you think that’s a good idea?”)- Use your judgement as to whether it's really needed, but this can remind everyone involved that others can see them
   2. If he/she is obviously frazzled, you can ask the parent if you can help them get anything, since you how hard it can be to keep everyone on task and you have a bit of extra time
   3. For any financial situation: Talk with a manager- “I’d like to put this towards their bill when they check out” makes your act of goodwill less confrontational and also less about you)
   2. You witness an accident where someone is/might be hurt
   1. Keep a phone on you or ask someone else to call 911
   2. If person is conscious, ask if there’s someone you can call for them
   3. Stay with them until (and sometimes even after) help arrives
   4. Remember that you don’t have to know what to do- you just need to be present. The only thing worse than being hurt and scared is to be that way without anyone around to help
   3. You hear someone saying something hurtful or mean (or even abusive). What do you do?
   1. Pay attention- don’t ignore it
   2. Step in, calmly, if it’s safe- call out racist, sexist, or otherwise biased language and behavior (“I don’t agree with what you’re saying, and it’s making me uncomfortable to hear you treat this person like that” or “I think you/what you’re doing is beautiful, and I hope you don’t let that person make you feel any differently”)
   3. If it's not safe or it's escalating, call 911- I’m witnessing an episode of abuse at this location
   
   5 Minutes of God Time: Multiplied by NEEDTOBREATHE
   

Do You See This Woman?

Following our current "unit" of discussing Pastor Rich's sermons, we discussed the story in Luke 7:36-50. It's the story of Jesus having dinner at a well-known religious leader's house and a rather infamous woman from town comes to honor Jesus. She cries on his feet, then wipes them with her hair, and anoints him with some expensive oil- much to the disgust of the religious elite, who feel that if Jesus really knew who she was, He wouldn't have anything to do with her. It's a story about spiritual pride and how that pride leads to blindness. A real, live person becomes a talking point, a pawn in their games of self-importance and status. They turn a complex human into a caricature, and if they even notice her at all it's to say "At least we're not her!" But mostly she's not even worth wasting the time to think about.

Jesus turns it around and calls out their blind spots- "Do you see this woman?" is not a question of whether they can physically see her. They have quite obviously noticed her. But it goes deeper than that, to demand that they not value one human life less than another. And if we're honest with ourselves, we need that advice today just as much as the Pharisees needed it 2000 years ago.


Discussion questions:

Name something that is often associated with a class/group that you belong to, but that you don't think personally fits YOU. Once again, the danger of the single story came up. We all have parts of a stereotype that we don't claim and that we'd hate to have define us.

Talk about a time when you felt like someone really "got" you. What made you feel that way, and did it change anything for you? You can't fake "seeing" someone- it requires openness and receptivity to see them as they really are, not just as you want them to be. And "seeing" goes way beyond just interacting with words and physical presence.

What are some of the reasons we choose not to truly see another? There's a cost to seeing others, understanding where they come from, and why they re the way they are. Some of the costs include:

• Social relationships (That person is just too weird! Your friends might expect you to just ignore them like everyone else, assuming if you can understand them and find value in them, you must be just like them)
• Time (Seeing might require that you take action in order for you to maintain a sense of integrity in your beliefs)
• Emotional (it can feel like going through the wringer to put yourself into their shoes and truly understand their emotions and motivations in anything other than a clinical way)

Is there a particular group it's easier for you to understand/see? Is there a group that's harder? It's easiest to understand those who have something in common with us. And our society often tries to divide rather than unite- THAT political party, THOSE immigrants, THAT race.

Do you think it's easier or harder to "see" those closest to you?  It's easy to only view our family members and friends through our own perceptions. But what about switching your viewpoint so that they're the main character in the story? What do you learn about them when you view them as the center of the universe instead of yourself? What about seeing yourself? Maybe you see yourself well enough to know that you're shielding some things from your consciousness, and truthfully, a full reckoning of our faults and skills would be overwhelming. But to recognize that we CHOOSE to not see everything is a good first step towards getting to know ourselves better!

Why are you looking for me?

We're starting a new series of discussion in youth group, giving us a chance to talk through some of the things Pastor Rich mentions in his sermons- which right now is a series of questions (so it’s a pretty natural transition into talking about our answers). Questions invite discussion, so that's what we'll do! (If you missed Pastor Rich's sermon, you can find the audio archives of his Sunday and Wednesday sermons here.)

This week had had the first recorded words of Jesus in the gospels, and it was (not surprisingly) two questions: Why are you searching for me? Didn’t you know I’d be in my father’s house?

What kind of Jesus are you looking for?  
Answering that will give you a lot of insight into your faith and how you view God. We went through some caricature images of Jesus and what someone who's attracted to that version of Jesus might be looking for:

Strong-arm/Powerful Jesus: My Jesus will be you over the head with chunk of wood from his cross. My Jesus backs my opinions and desires, and is the all-powerful conqueror! His main method is force and threat, not love.

Buddy Jesus: All things are permissible! Jesus just wants me to follow my bliss and be happy; there are never consequences to my actions, because Jesus is for me, and He doesn't call me to do anything too hard.

Hunky, Movie Star Jesus: Jesus is amazing at filling all of the ideals society expects- your life is prettied up, made better and nicer. You'll have more friends, your skin will clear up, and everyone will like you because of your smooth, appealing, undemanding faith.

Prosperity Gospel Jesus: This Jesus is a close companion to hunky Jesus, with more emphasis on economic and material goods. This is your best-life-now Jesus, who will bless you with abundant riches and no hardship. Answer His altar call and finally get your iPhone (if you're truly righteous, you'll get a private jet)!

Nature/Zen Jesus: Jesus-the-creator elevates nature and personal peacefulness above the clamoring humanity; don't worry about the "others," what you need is to exclusively focus on your inner life.

Conquering Judge Jesus: Thank God you're saved, because this Jesus is coming with a vengeance and you'll get your eternal reward. The fire-and-brimstone Jesus has a black and white view on everything, and there is little that falls into the realm of grace.

Perhaps your idea of Jesus doesn't fit into any of these caricatures- great! There is some value in all of these (except, perhaps, the prosperity gospel Jesus), but as was pointed out in youth group, there is the danger of the single story.

Losing/Finding/Rethinking

Have you ever “lost” Jesus? You probably have, at LEAST once! JAM Time Jesus gets converted into Confirmation Jesus gets converted into High School Jesus. With each step, you lose a bit of the simplicity and gain greater insight. You lose some things that are less helpful, in order to gain more AS YOU'RE READY FOR IT. At 5 years old, you're not ready for the complexities of social justice Jesus- but then Jesus surprises you with something unexpected and you're forced to reconsider whether there's more to Him than you thought. So when you find yourself questioning just who He was and what He stood for, know that you're on the right track. You don't worry about losing something if you don't value it!

Knowing that you WILL continue to rethink Jesus multiple times in your life, how do you know when the ideas you're mulling over are a new facet of Jesus and when you’re entering the danger zone of "heresy?"

First, remember that not all religions are one. It’s false and an insult to every one of them to gloss over very real differences (see: not every one believes in an afterlife or in the involvement of a creator). But there are things that other religions stress that Jesus also talks about- and if you’re finding a new facet of truth in another religion and figuring out how it also applies to Christianity (not just your own current interpretation of your faith) you’re doing OK.

Second, Jesus was a real dude. That means you can’t rewrite who he was in order to suit your new interpretation. You can be a feminist and still believe that God sent a SON (who, not inconsequentially, had some very stereotypical feminine features and feminist views on equality). You can believe in tolerance for other viewpoints and see how Jesus didn’t force conversion- but you can’t decide that Jesus had an anything-flies mentality to life on earth. And you can realize that your understanding of who the real-guy Jesus was may have been influenced strongly by cultural perceptions that don’t really add up- but you can’t decide that he was a purple space alien who landed here to lead a conquering army.

Third, Jesus is/and- You don’t have to chuck the baby out with the bathwater. Mary’s idea of who Jesus was as a small child wasn’t any less true because she had to start understanding who Jesus was as an adult. Toddler Jesus was as much “Jesus” as the social justice and personal salvation Jesuses were. People are richly layered, so don’t decide that you have to automatically exchange one idea for another (or assume that all interpretations are mutually exclusive).

Fourth- Does it fit scripture? We are a church who believes that God is still speaking, but that God’s truth is eternal. You might have a new insight, but if your thoughts on who Jesus is directly conflict with scripture, you have a lot more searching and praying to do before you commit yourself to this new idea.

Finally- have you offered up your new findings/interpretation to Jesus himself? We believe in an interactive God, in every single person’s ability to communicate with God, and with the influence of the Holy Spirit. Take this idea to God in prayer and see what you find!


5 Minutes of God Time song: Creed by Third Day and Brandon Heath (in honor of the Apostle's Creed we declared during little Cole's baptism!)

Beauty

In a not-easy-to-follow-in-a-blog-post format, we discussed the topic of beauty by playing Jeopardy/Be-A-Ut-Y (with mixed up "pieces" under each heading). Summarized for the blog, this is what we had to say:

Scriptures:

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Ezekiel 7:20

His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore I make it an unclean thing to them.  (IE- beauty can be corrupted and used for wrong, such as beautiful models inspiring terrible and negative ideals)

 

Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. 

Types of Beauty:

Natural Beauty: May need some cultural reference to truly understand all the layers of beauty, but this type of beauty is universal. Think about scenes of natural splendor, the glory of the Hubble telescope’s images, some forms of music and art.

 

Learned Beauty: “Acquired beauty”- the kind of beauty that you hope to see (think about learning another language in order to read a great literary work, or learning an instrument to enter into the beauty of a piece of music; much of science is this kind of beauty- the beauty of the double helix isn’t/wasn’t readily available, but James Watson knew that “something this beautiful just had to exist”)

 

Taught Beauty: cultural constructs of beauty that we’re taught to appreciate because of what they mean within the culture (thin vs. fat, tall vs. small, the opulence of gold-leaf, number of children, etc.)

 

Larger Beauty (beauty for everyone) and Smaller Beauty (exclusive beauty): Important that we don’t destroy the larger in order to glorify the smaller (part of why we have a National Park system: think if we turned Yellowstone into a subdivision. There might be a beautiful flower bouquet on the kitchen table, beautiful music being played, etc., BUT the glory of the larger park has been demolished on the whole.) Remember when searching for and creating beauty that your beauty expands, rather than destroys what God and His other creations have already placed in the world.

Beautiful Things:

Beauty is not in temporal things, it only comes through them. Finite things are only an image of what we desire, but they may do the trick [if we forget to pay attention to what it is that attracts us]. - C.S. Lewis. Objects and things are not bad, and they certainly can be beautiful. But we need to remember not to revere the object- it is just a symbol of the much greater beauty that we're longing to be part of.

Name something in nature you feel is beautiful. Ask the beauty of the earth, ask the beauty of the sea, ask the beauty of the wide, airy spaces, ask the beauty of the sky, ask the order of the stars, ask the sun making the day light with its beams, ask the moon tempering the darkness of the night, ask the living things which move in the waters, which tarry on the land, which fly in the air; ask the souls that are hidden, the bodies that are perceptive; the visible thins which must be governed, the invisible things which govern—ask all these things, and they will all answer thee, Lo, see we are lovely. Their loveliness is their confession. And these lovely but mutable things, who has made them, save Beauty immutable (Augustine)

Nature itself cries out the beauty of the one that made it, the creativity of the creator, and His love of diversity and splendor- God didn’t do it half-way.

Architecture In youth group, we viewed 4 very different kinds of churches- a modern, austere church in Japan, an Eastern Orthodox cathedral festooned with gilt and complex designs, the Cathedral of Notre Dame with all its ornate carvings and Gothic splendor, and a wood and glass church in the forest meant to mimic and give glory to the creation God gave us. Though very, very different in style, all of these churches are intended to represent beauty and glorify different aspects of God- and they also speak to the cultural contexts of beauty.

Ugliness vs. Beauty We viewed another set of pictures (inner city slum and community garden, and the before-and-after pictures of war-torn Homs, Syria) and discussed the emotions they evoked- beauty (hope, delight, purpose, availability of choices, community, security, contentment, positivity) and ugliness (despair, danger, hopelessness, being weighed down, worthlessness, sadness, insecurity). Beauty doesn't just stand alone, and it's not just "fluff." There are very real emotions and expectations that come alongside of beauty (or the lack thereof), which color our understanding of the world and where we fit into it.

Miscellany

What do you do when you find beauty? When you're awed by the beauty of the stars or mountains, when you're invigorated by a beautiful relationship, or inspired by the beauty of human spirit and creativity, what do you do? You stop, pause and admire. Do you also give thanks? Thanksgiving is a great way to fully appreciate beauty- take a moment to give thanks to the creator of such delight- both the instrument/person and the ultimate source of creativity and beauty and your ability to comprehend/enjoy it. Gratitude for beauty is the #1 way to see more of it!

Beauty in the Ugly Go Google "Faith in Humanity Restored" to see some great examples of earth-shattering beauty in terrible situations, and realize that part of our ability to see beauty in all its complexity is because we understand what it means to have and be the opposite.

It is hunger that gives food its taste. It is thirst that makes cool clear water taste like nectar. It is tiredness that makes sleep a boon. It is toil that makes rest the thing that the body and mind long for. It is loneliness that gives friendship its value. It is the rain that gives the sunshine its joy. It is the dark of night that gives the dawn its glory. It is the parting that makes reuniting a happy thing. (William Barclay)

 Created Beauty Think of a song that seems to inspire universal appreciation- what's so beautiful about it? Check out these 51 beautiful sentences- what other words do they inspire? Beauty is more than just a momentary sense of enjoyment- it can also give us a sense of urgency, longing, intimacy, inspiration, hope, and peace. Eastern Orthodox Icons are another form of created beauty- beauty made through prayer and as a form of prayer (the beauty is an intentional way of connecting with God).

Truth, Goodness, and Beauty If you don’t have all three, you haven’t found the “real” thing- especially when it comes to faith. If your faith isn’t beautiful, keep searching for the truth and goodness that make it so!

5 Minutes of God Time: Carol the Bells by The Piano Guys

Christmas Party

After all the games and food, we had an opportunity to reflect on our past year and think about how we might want to approach the coming year. Part game, part mediation, you had a chance to think about what you've already incorporated into your lives and what you might want to add or subtract in the future. As you walked, hopped, and rolled across the room, this was our list:

• If you’ve been to youth group this year
• If you’ve been to church this year
• If you haven’t missed a youth group this year
• If you haven’t missed a Sunday church service this year
• If you’ve been to Wednesday night service
• If you’ve been to the 10:30 service
• If you’ve attended another church this year
• If you have a bible at home
• If you’ve read your bible at home
• If you’ve read your bible somewhere other than home or church
• If you can quote a bible verse
• If you can quote a bible verse other than John 3:16
• If you know the lyrics to a hymn well enough to sing them
• If you know the lyrics to a non-hymn Christian song
• If you can name a Christian artist (bonus points for naming more than 1)
• If you know where you can hear Christian music
• If you’ve voluntarily listened to Christian music outside of church
• If you can name at least one friend
• If that friend knows you go to youth group
• If you’ve ever invited a friend to youth group (bonus points if they came!)
• If you’ve ever identified yourself out loud as a Christian to someone
• If you’ve ever talked about your faith with someone
• If you’ve ever talked about your faith with someone outside of the church setting
• If you do a daily bible reading or devotional
• If you can name a spiritual discipline (bonus points for more than one!)
• If you’ve ever intentionally done something to bring honor to God
• If you’ve ever prayed
• If you prayed this week
• If you prayed last night
• If you’ve prayed today
• If you’ve ever seriously been challenged by your faith/the bible/a sermon/etc.
• If you’ve ever been called a name or lost social status because of your faith
• If you’ve ever lost a friendship or gotten distant because of your faith
• If you’ve ever responded with prayer for the other person when someone hurt you
• If you’ve ever gained a friend because of your faith
• Eyes closed, raise your hand and answer honestly: If you feel like your faith is something personal to you, not just something you do because of family expectations
• If you can name at least one way that your faith has changed your daily life
• If you can name at least one way your faith has changed your goals in life
• If you can name at least one way your faith has changed how you interact with people (your family included)

Joy

This week we played JOY Bingo, giving you all the chance to write 1-9 in whatever order you'd like in your Bingo squares. As we pulled numbers out of the jar and you worked towards "BINGO!" and your corresponding candy prizes, we had the following discussions:

1. Joy is the serious business of heaven (said by none other than C.S. Lewis)- it's the emotion that best reflects the message of the Gospel, and it's emphasized in scripture:

 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. - John 15:11 (Jesus teaching had one goal- joy)

We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. - 1 John 1:4 (Jesus apostles shared this same goal)

We are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in the faith. - 1 Cor. 1:24 (Paul's ministry was also driven by one thing)

 Joy is something deep within our faith tradition- it's not something superficial and unimportant.

2. Joy is deep, substantial and lasting. It doesn't fade with overexposure, and it's re-energizing rather than exhausting. This makes it different than pleasure and happiness- ice cream can make us happy, but it's an easy come, easy go feeling and too much of it can make us sick and tired (same with casual sex). Endless shopping can turn into boredom and it never truly satisfies- though it can give us the temporary high of happiness. Joy has to be something more!

3. Good news of great ________. Happiness? No- The very wise C.S. Lewis once said, "I didn't go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity." Pleasure? Fun? No, not really. Joy is the only one that truly fits. We had two quotes to go along with this one:

But fun is not what joy is about. Indeed the real enemy of joy is that self-absorption that seeks to be endlessly entertained, constantly distracted, always busy. The pursuit of happiness is a hard taskmaster and like most tyrants is suspicious of anything resembling Sabbath rest, much preferring the 24/7 economy of convenience, a consumer culture that is on all the time.In fact, the disappearance of Sabbath in our culture and the corresponding passion for "amusing ourselves to death" should offer us a clue as to why joy is so difficult for us today and why our desperate activity has such a nihilistic edge to it. (Currie)

Feast means joy. Yet, if there is something that we-- the serious, adult and frustrated Christians of the twentieth century-- look at with suspicion, it is certainly joy. How can one be joyful when so many people suffer? When so many things are to be done? How can one indulge in festivals and celebrations when people expect from us "serious" answers to their problems? Consciously or subconsciously, Christians have accepted the whole ethos of our joyless and business-minded culture. They believes that the only way to be taken "seriously" by the "serious"-- that is, by the modern man-- is to be serious, and therefore, to reduce to a symbolic "minimum" what in the past was so tremendously central in the life of the Church- the joy of the feast. The modern world has relegated joy to the category of "fun" and "relaxation." It is justified and permissible on our "time off;" it is a concession, a compromise. And Christians have come to believe all this, or rather they have ceased to believe that the feast, the joy have something to do precisely with the "serious problems" of life itself, may even be THE Christian answer to them. (Schmemann)

 4. Quotes:

I think God will forgive everything except a lack of joy; when we forget that God created the world and saved it. Joy is not one of the components of Christianity, it's the tonality of Christianity that penetrates everything- faith and vision. Where there is no joy, Christianity becomes fear [and guilt] and therefore torture. (Schmemann)

We need a "joyful spirit of festivity" because "it is an occupational hazard of devout folk to become stuffy bores. They should not be. Of all people, we should be the most free, alive, interesting. Celebration adds a note of festivity and hilarity to our lives. (Foster)

5. Joy is a choice, rather than something we "receive."

Some people become bitter as they grow old. Others grow old joyfully. That does not mean that the life of those who become bitter was harder than the life of those who become joyful. It means that different choices were made, inner choices, choices of the heart. (Nouwen)

6. Joy withstands all trials. God's love is the only thing that is eternally stable- he loves us no matter what, during the easy times as well as the hard. And in that, there is joy in doing the Father's will; joy in our Father's will is what gives us the motivation to do hard things- Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him. Joy and suffering can co-exist, and joy in the midst of suffering is the clearest possible meaning of joy (because there can be no question of it being confused with happiness or pleasure).

7. Joy is an abiding, God-given reality. It's a fruit of the Holy Spirit that we choose to express, characterized by a profound serenity and inner peace. It flows from allowing oneself to be embraced by God's love, and because it rests on relationship rather than circumstance, it can withstand all the trials and tribulations of life.

Authentic joy is not something flippant, transient, or superficial, nor is it a mere feeling of euphoria that can be generated at will or by engaging in the various forms of pleasure or entertainment that today's world has to offer.Rather it is an abiding God-given reality, a "fruit of the Holy Spirit" (see Gal. 5:22), characterized by profound serenity and inner peach, which flows from allowing oneself to be embraced by God's love and is capable of withstanding all the trial and tribulations of life (Murphy)

8. Mary is an excellent example of embracing joy in the mist of less than perfect circumstances. She knew that accepting God's will would make her ostracized and potentially even condemned to being stoned to death. Following God's will would cause her even more suffering- and yet, we have her Magnificat, an explosion of rejoicing over the impending birth of her child and savior:

And Mary said,

I’m bursting with God-news;
    I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
    I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
    the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
    on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
    scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
    pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
    the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
    he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It’s exactly what he promised,
    beginning with Abraham and right up to now. (Luke 1:46-55)

9. What is the opposite of joy? It's not sadness- that's the opposite of happiness. The opposite of joy is apathy, despair, boredom, ennui, and emptiness.

5 Minutes of God Time: Mary, did you know? by Pentatonix

Wonder

Wonder is a word we use often: "I wonder...", "Wonderful!" or in church hymns, "wondrous." But what does it mean? Dictionary.com defines it as

verb (used without object)

1. to think or speculate curiously

2. to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe; marvel (often followed by "at")

3. to doubt

verb (used with object)

4. to speculate curiously or be curious about; be curious to know

5. to feel wonder at

noun

6. something strange and surprising; a cause of surprise, astonishment, or admiration

7. the emotion excited by what is strange and surprising; a feeling of surprised or puzzled interest, sometimes tinged with admiration:

8. miraculous deed or event; remarkable phenomenon.

Though that seems like a LOT of definitions, they all have one thing in common- they are all connected to the unknown. We as humans have a need to experience the unknown- we have a God-given curiosity and attentiveness to things that are new to us. It's part of who we are, and it's a positive thing! So, if you'd like to encourage this part of your internal makeup, particularly as it relates to your faith, there are 7 key things you can do (original article here):

1. Seek out displays of mastery and genius: Many of the great masters of art have been inspired by their faith, and there are some truly great songs, concerts, and hymns that have been similarly inspired. Sometimes we Christians fall into appreciating something for the effort and intention of the creator (which isn't bad) without really being moved by it and that mediocre acceptance can become overwhelmingly "standard." So if you're feeling "blah" and uninspired/unmoved by the things you've been experiencing, look for someone who's doing a truly great job at writing, singing, painting, etc. BONUS: it doesn't always have to be specifically Christian in nature in order to inspire a Christian sense of wonder! Isn't it amazing that God gave someone the talent to put those words in that order? What a blessing that she has such a moving voice! That TED Talk really makes me think about things more deeply- hallelujah!
2. Look at your life through someone else's eyes: Bring a friend to church, talk about your faith with a stranger, read about God and Jesus from a new and different perspective or tradition. Just like a person can look different when you see her in a picture instead of in real life, finding another way to explore things can help you find new ways to see the things you no longer find exciting.
3. Approach things from new angles: Since we discussed this at Christmas time, we talked about how we often view the nativity from the perspective of Christians, 2000+ years later. What if we took a minute to explore what finding Jesus looked like for the shepherds or the Wise Men? Joseph? Herod? Put yourself in their shoes- what do you see? What do you feel? Are you a bit more uncertain about putting your trust in a savior who's barely a day old? Or does it solidify things you've always dreamed? You can take a look at your church and the wider Christian fellowship in the same way- how does a woman from Guatemala approach Jesus? What about a man from Syria? What might they see? OR, in much simpler option, try sitting somewhere different in church next Sunday- does the change in physical angle/position inspire a new sense of the profound?
4. Change the context: Try doing church in a new way! If you've never read about faith, find a book at the library and settle down with a cup of something warm. Go to service within a different denomination or a different ethnic group- try a historically Black church, or experience worship in Korean. Listen to a podcast about faith online. You can get creative!
5. Slow Down: Clear your schedule and your ideas about how long something should take! For example, if you're walking home from school, walk extra slow- listen for the birds, explore every blade of grass, stop and watch that bug crossing your path. Try taking one step each minute (or even every 10 seconds), and become a connoisseur of your surroundings. Wonder and marvel at how they were made, how they are the same and yet different, and contemplate what that means within your faith framework.
6. Get out of Dodge: Go somewhere new! It doesn't have to be as far-flung as another continent- there are certainly parts of your hometown that are as-yet unexplored! Break up your habits and routines and try something new! Maybe try a new ethnic restaurant in town and wonder at how people and their traditional diets formed. Go to a new park, or even just a new neighborhood, and mentally explore what the residents of that area might be thinking- what are their histories, their hopes, their fears? Whether you're thinking about squirrels or septuagenarians, you're likely to find something to make you take a step back and say, "Wow, I never thought of that before!"
7. Change your lenses: The original article talks about viewing things through microscopes and telescopes (which certainly is a great way to gain wonder!), but this can be done mentally, too. Pick a topic and think about how it might be connected on the global scale- between countries and continents, and also between issues. How does the rainfall in Tunisia impact tourism in Switzerland? Does your purchase of that shirt influence education in Thailand? Don't just go for the obvious answers- think it through! The world is so incredibly interconnected, there are almost infinite opportunities to be blown away by the complexity of the web! On the opposite end of the spectrum, try exploring something infinitely small- go ahead and break out that microscope and think about mitochondria. Look at something you don't normally contemplate and really pick it apart- what makes it tick? Why? How?

There are two final things to remember:

1. If you believe that God made the world and everything in it, ANYTHING you contemplate in an attempt to create wonder can be an exploration in faith. Deepening your relationship with God and being enlivened with novelty can occur in any number of ways, and they certainly don't have to have an official "Christian" stamp in order to have an impact on your faith!
2. Wonder is mainly about attitude. You have to WANT to wonder before wonder will present itself. If you don't, you won't see it- or at least, you won't see it very often. Anyone can be a cynic, but you have the choice to be amazed and grateful and full of life. 

5 Minutes of God Time: O Come, O Come Emmanuel by The Piano Guys