Walk of the Magi Youth Group

Last night at youth group, our mid and senior high students met to do a lesson called "The Walk of the Magi." My goal in putting together this lesson was to help the youth prepare for the coming of the Christ child at Christmas and to help them understand more about Advent and the nativity.

Originally I had a good plan where they were going to "be the magi." But on Monday I received an email that convicted me to change my plans somewhat. See my post here for the details of that email! In the end, I took 6 of the characters of the nativity and the youth traveled through "stations" focusing on that person and a topic that went with it! I got lots of my ideas from this site and LOVE their work.

Here's a run down of what we did:

Station 1: The Wonder of Mary
One of my 10th grade students, Jordan Sommer, drew an outline of an icon of Mary.
At this station, students first learned what an icon is and then filled in the blanks of the drawing by cutting out Christmas ads (thanks to all the church members who brought these in). Using the Christmas ads helped the youth to consider the commercialism of Christmas that is so prevalent in our world today versus the true meaning of Christmas.


We didn't finish the project but Jordan did take it home to do some more work on it. When it is finished, we will display it in the Narthex and it should look something like this:



















Station # 2: The Obedience of Joseph


This staiton was an Advent prayer wall! Students read from Matthew of three examples where Joseph was obedient after angels appeared in his dreams. Often times that obedience meant waiting or that things would turn out differently than Joseph had planned. In Advent we wait for the birth of the Christ child; but sometimes it is hard to be obedient and wait.

There were two large pieces of newsprint on the wall that posed the questions: What are you waiting for this Advent season and what do you think God is waiting for? Youth were encouraged to write their anwers to these questions on sticky notes and post them on the wall.

Station # 3: The Joy of the Angels
At station 3, the youth considered the angels and read their announcement of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:1-10. The youth were challenged with the following statements:

Why were the angels so joyful? We can imagine the nearly uncontrollable excitement in the voice of the angel that spoke to the shepherds. And we can imagine the shiver of wonder that must have filled the shepherds as they heard the resounding sound of the angelic multitudes praising God. But, what was the source of the angels’ joy? What did the birth of the Lord on earth mean to them?
The angels knew that the Lord’s birth was only the beginning. Jesus would grow from infancy to adult life. He would undergo continual battles and would eventually die on the cross. The completion of His work would come as He rose from the tomb on the first Easter. He became the light of the world; a light to our darkness.
God is calling us to be joyous as the angels and to be the light of the world today.




The youth were then given Christmas light bulbs with wire tied to the end to make a hook to make an ornament. The youth were aked to paint or draw on the light bulb what it means to be the light of the world!

Station # 4: The Eagerness of the Shepherds














When considering the shepherds, the youth were given Bibles and a comfy place to sit to the story in Luke 2:8-14. After they read the story, I posed the questions:

What would it take, do you think, for us to have peace on earth? Where are the places that really need peace right now? What relationships are required? How might God be part of bringing that peace through us?

The students then sat silently and offered prayers for eagerness and peace (in the world, in their schools, in theirr relationships, in our church, in their homes). Once they were finished praying, there were pitchers filled with water and an empty bowl. They were encouraged to pour a small amount of the water from the pitcher into the bowl. This represented the way all of our prayers become one in the eagerness of God’s love.

Station # 5: The Determination of the Magi



The magi likely traveled over 1000 miles to bring gifts to Jesus. That takes some determination. Today, we give gifts as Christmas as a reminder of their gifts.

In this season of shopping madness and gift-getting and giving, I reminded the youth that we should really consider an understanding of "gifts" that goes beyond the material goods that will be awaiting us under our Christmas trees.
Several months ago, we did a study at youth group on Spiritual gifts and each of the youth were given the chance to take an inventory to discover their gifts!

I asked the youth to look around the room and see who was there and what their gifts were. Then, write the other people's "gifts" and "talents" down on strips of paper. They were encouraged to do this several times and then make a paper chain out of the strips of paper. The paper chain was placed on the Christmas tree at this staiton. Later this week, I will undo the chain and mail the anonymous remarks to the youth whom they are about.

Station # 6: The Peace of the Christ Child


At this final station, the youth found a handout on the table, were asked to find a space to sit, and read the account of Jesus’ birth from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2: 1-20). There were also questions on the handout for the youth to consider:

When you picture the story of Jesus’ birth, how do you imagine it? If you were there as character in the story, what do you think you would see? What would you smell? What would you hear? What would it be like for Mary to give birth in that place? What do you suppose Joseph is thinking/doing? What is the baby feeling or doing?

There was Advent/Christmas music playing and there was a slideshow of nativity images being projected on the screen. The youth were asked to sit in silence and ponder the evening.


Here are a couple of pictures from the evening:

Catchy Little Faith Phrases ....

I almost didn’t open it. With the Christmas just 12 days away and busy youth ministry week filled with an interactive Advent experience I’m designing for the youth on Wednesday night and our annual youth Christmas party of Sunday night, how could I take a moment to read an extra email? After all, I had already perused, responded, or deleted 72 emails by 10:00a.m. But, something drew me to the email and I opened it. The email came from the SC Synod staff and here is what the email said:

“May this Christmas find you filled with the wonder of Mary, the obedience of Joseph, the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the determination of the magi, and the peace of the Christ child.”

-With love from your SC Synod office staff

5 little lines packed with an extra-ordinary message. Think about it! Read the lines again and ponder them!

I just love these (what I’m going to term) “catchy little faith phrases.” You know what I mean! You’ve heard them before! Like these ….

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”
“God doesn’t give you more than you can handle”
“GRACE = God’s riches at Christ’s expense”
“Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction!”
“With surrender, comes victory. That's the way God works.”

And I’m always on the lookout for inspiring phrases like these to share with others and to help make myself feel convicted! So, I thankful to get to share this one with you today.
And I wonder, which of these challenges speaks most to you today, this week, or this season of your life?

My prayer for each of my youth and parents is that you be filled with each of these, especially joy and peace! Advent Blessings!

Yesterday I was moved to tears ... twice!

Suprise, suprise! But I am happy to report that this time, they were happy tears. I love Advent and worship during Advent. Both times I cried yesterday were during a worship experience. And, a little background you should know, I've been thinking a lot about my definition of worship lately; hence spurring this blog post. Honestly, I haven't thought much about it since my seminary class on worship. But then, over the past couple of weeks, worship and its meaning has been on my heart. And, then I was moved to tears during worship, twice yesterday. It's been a long time since the Holy Spirit has stirred me in that way during worship. And, it is good. God is good.

Of course, there are different types and ways to worship God. For me, types of worship was the most logical place to start when I began thinking about worship. If I'm being honest, I think I prefer contemporary or blended worship experiences (in general) because I love guitar music, I love to sing, and I love the relaxed, yet, respectful atmosphere. In fact, I was so interested in this topic that I decided to do my thesis paper and master's degree project on contemporary and blended worship and how to begin that type of experience in a church setting (and involve youth in it). And, then at the last church where I served, I led youth worship each Wednesday doing series like "Jesus Did What?" where we explored Jesus' life and example and its practicalness in the lives of youth. I've led silent worship expereiences on ski trips (this involved the ever popular twinkie/mayo trick ... just ask a youth about that). I've led worship services where we painted our offerings and praise to God and where I did mandala prayers with the youth. I love that creative aspect to contemporary worship and connecting youth (and myself) to God in creative, practical, and meaningful ways.

On the other hand, there's just something to traditional worship that is important to me also! In fact, life does not seem complete without the traditional worship during Advent / Christmas season. I'm sure this is because of the wonderful memories from my youthhood and familiar feelings that it stirs in my heart. Every Christmas Even when the candles are lit and lights turned off, I feel so connected to my dad (who died when I was 10) and happy tears flow! There's just something about hearing the organ as we sing traditional Christmas carols and about seeing the beautiful Chrismon trees and the Advent wreath being lit each week of Advent. It's just necessary for me.

But, that's precisely what I've been struggling with. Is worship about me? Should it be?

In seminary, my worship professor gave a metaphor for worship that really made sense to me. Dr. Meyers said that worship can be thought of like a play/actors. We (the congregation) are the actors. The worship leaders/pastors are the directors/stage hands. God is the audience.

I think that way of thinking about worship is spot on. But it flips my way of thinking about worship upside down. When I come to worship, personally, I prefer to walk away having "gotten something" out of the experience. And, usually, I do "get something" out of the worship expereience whenever, whereever, and however I worship.

Bottom line for me - worship should be a chance to praise God for the many blessings of my life and to thank God for God's activeness in my life. It should not be about me. However, often times through my authenic and sincere praise of God, I do get something back ... a conviction from the sermon, familiar memories stirred by the singing of a favorite hymn, etc.

Yesterday, we had the Christmas Cantata during our worship time! The choir was phenomenal. The orchestra was outstanding. It's beggining to feel a lot like Christmas! But, I was moved to tears when 8th grader, Savannah Wingard, sang her solo. In talking with Savannah prior to the worship service, I knew she was nervous, but I was very proud of her! Several months ago, I'm not sure if she would have so willingly stepped out of her comfort zone and praised God with her voice as she did. But yesterday, she did and she did an amazing job. I was moved to tears because that moment (and the rest of that worship service) was an authentic, honest moment of praising God.

I truly feel my heart is more "prepared" for the coming birth of Christ at Christmas after attending this year's Catata. And, I'll be honest, I was moved to tears because I couldn't help but think of the many things happening at Zion right now and the possibility that I might not get to experience another Christmas Cantata here as Savannah's (and the other 59 youth on rolls) youth minister. Not having the privelege to further feel and see God at work as Zion's students stretch, grow, and step out of their comfort zones isn't something I want to think about. But, I was moved to tears because I am confident that God has a plan and that God's plan is good. I was moved to tears because I can see God at work in Zion and because in that moment, I felt so lucky to have been a part of God's plan, here at Zion, for whatever amount of time it turns out to be (which is hopefully years and years more!). God is good.

The second time I was moved to tears was with the senior highs at "This Man Called Jesus" yesterday afternoon. The account of Jesus' life that the members of Lake Murray Baptist share is authentic and moving. It's not the first time that I've been to see it, but it was the first time for some of our senior highs. Throughout the experience, it was truly a privilege for me to sit and watch some of our 9th-12th grade students as they were awe-struck by the performance / worship serivce. I couldn't beleive how "glued" to the performance our youth were, barely taking their eyes off of the people acting out the life and times of Jesus Christ. It moved me to tears ... the music was solemn, it was during the crucifixion scene, our youth covered their mouths and one even shook her head in disbelief, and my tears flowed. These happy tears came because I knew the outcome of the scence and that even death would not defeat Christ. He loved me, each of the 9th-12th grade students with me, everyone in the room yesterday, and everyone period, so much that He endured such great pain and suffering. The tears flowed as I realized that because of that, this Advent season truly is a time of hope, mystery, love, joy, and miracles.

I couldn't need that hope, mystery, love, joy, and time of miracles more than I do right now. And, I couldn't be more undeserving of it. But the amazing thing is, for me, for my students, for Zion, for the world - none of that matters to God. There's nothing any of us could EVER do to make God not love and want us. Now, that certainly doesn't justify the things that we do that are wrong, but it does make the happy tears flow .....

Happy New Year, Church!

Happy new year, church! No! I realize it is not January 1st ... that's the secular new year. However, the church new year actually started yesterday with the first Sunday in Advent. It's a little confusing, I know. I've always though it would be much easier to make the two new year's coincide? It's VERY confusing, to me, actually. I've struggled with this since seminary, where I learned that the oldest celebration of New Year's was actually in Babylon around 4000 years ago! If I recall correctly, the Babylonian year actually began with the first full moon after the Equinox (first day of Spring) or sometime in March. And, that makes sense to me! Right? Spring = new beginnings/fresh growth, afterall!

This tradition of celebration a new year continued into the Roman Empire. But somewhere along the line, the Romans decided it would be better to syncronize the calendar with the sun and various emporers began changing dates around. This tampering continued until sometme around 45BC or 50BC, when Julius Caesar established the "Julian calendar." Caesar moved the new year date back to January 1st, where it remains today. He actually did this to honor Janus, the two-faced god who looked backwards into the old year and forwards into the new. As Christianity spread, often Christians and, especially, the Catholic church were hesitant (and even at times forbidden) to celebrate new year's because they thought it to be a pagan tradiaiton.

So, clearly, the liturgical (church) year and the calendar (world) year don't quite match up in thier cylce. The bottom line is they don't match up because the purpose of the Liturgical Year Calendar is not to mark the passage of time as is the purpose of the calendar. The liturgical / church calendar is meant to enable us Christians to celebrate and understand more fully the entire mystery of Jesus Christ, from His incarnation and birth until His ascension, and the expectation of his return in glory.

So really, this beginning of the liturgical calendar is very important! My favoirite liturgical calendar seasons are Advent and Lent!

Advent is the special 4 weeks just before Christmas. The purpose of Advent is is to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Jesus' birth. I don't know about you but I find it awfully hard, sometimes, to remember the real reason for the season! The world's view of Christmas is certainly different from the church's! That's why we had our Advent Adventure yesterday afternoon ... to help us understand Advent and get ready for Christmas! I'm so thankful for those who helped get ready and plan the event, for those who donated items, and for those who coordinated the stations/activiites. It was attended by many church members, youth, and children and we had a great time beginning to prepare our hearts for Christmas.

There are many other events happening during Advent to help us prepare for Christmas. I hope you and your families will come and be a part of some of these great events:

*The Purpose of Christmas Bible study (by Rick Warren)- this one is mostly for adults but senior high youth are also welcome! The group will meet on Wednesday nights from 6:30pm-7:30pm in the cathedral room.

*Advent worship services - meet Pastor Tim each Sunday in Advent at 6:30pm for inspiring worship

*Christmas Cantata - Sunday, December 5th. Music starts at 10:15am.

*Senior high youth group going to see "This Man Called Jesus" at Lake Murray Baptist church this Sunday, December 5th. Meet after the Cantata in the narthex. Bring $ for lunch!

*Children/youth Christmas play - 6:00pm on Sunday, December 12th. We'll be practicing on Sudnays and Wednesdays! Come be in it!! There are a few speaking parts left.

*Walk of the Maji Experience - for mid and senior high students on Wednesday, December 15th (6:30pm-7:30pm)

*Youth Christmas Party, Caroling, and Progressive Dinner - Sunday, December 19th for mid and senior highs!


I love this time of year. Always have, always will. Thanks for sharing in it and preparing for Christmas with me!

Attack of the Lizards!

It’s Thanksgiving week! I’d planned to share in this week’s devotion around the topic of thankfulness. And, I am thankful, now more than ever, for A LOT of things - like my relationship with God, my son, my family, the students and youth leaders with whom I get to share in ministry, my church, my health (after being so sick last week and a scare of a staph infection with Blaine this week), new friendships, and so much more. But, over the past five days, I’ve been attacked by lizards! So, that is what I am sharing about on this Thanksgiving week. Read on ….

I don’t really like lizards. Even when I was a little girl, I just wasn’t interested, like some of my friends, in the game of trying to pull the lizard’s tail off. When I see a lizard, quite frankly, it frightens me/gives me the hebejebees and I just want to remove myself from its presence. I don’t know why this is. I know in my head (and from my bachelor’s degree in Biology) that lizards are relatively harmless; at least here in South Carolina. But I just don’t like lizards (or mice or squirrels or …. well … any rodents)

So, you can imagine my dismay when (lizard number one and I) faced off early last week in my kitchen. Let’s call him Charley. So, when I saw Charley, every fiber in my body tensed up and I found myself praying that he go out the door and not up the stairs or anywhere else in the house. I stood paralyzed …. what to do? I got the bright idea to slowly move past Charley toward the laundry room, get the fly swatter, and get him outside. He climbed right on and I thought I was home free. But then, something spooked him and he jumped. Fearing he was going to jump on me, I screamed and dropped the fly swatter and ran. Once I gained my composure, I managed to get him back on the fly swatter, out the door, and I chunked him over the fence (sorry little guy). Done.

Not done.

The next day, there was a second lizard in the kitchen. Let’s call this one Bob. Bob’s tail had been ripped off and was just beginning to regenerate; so I felt a little sorry for him. Consequently, I saved him from certain death / attack of my dog and went for the fly swatter again. He hopped right on and out the door I sent him. But, before I could chunk him over the fence to be his buddy (Charley), he jumped off the fly swatter and scrambled under the back deck . Done?

Nope.

Yesterday afternoon I was doing some work in the office before senior high youth group. I was making copies and gathering supplies for different events this week. Busy and then boom! There he sat, startling me, on top of the computer monitor in the front office. About that time, several of the senior highs arrived and they scooped him up (yes, in their hands) and placed him out in the grass beside the office. I’ll affectionately remember this lizard as Gus. Done?

Round four.

Meet Michelle. I met her, this morning, as I walked in to my kitchen. Again, catching me off guard, this lizard was on the baby gate that I use to block off the laundry room. I went to move the baby gate and hello …. paralyzed, again, I went for the fly swatter. But Michelle, had other plans. She was a fighter! She wasn’t having anything to do with the fly swatter and being moved out of my house, back to her natural habitat. I tried and I tried but Michelle kept jumping and running and moving to new parts of the baby gate. Finally, I took a deep breath and picked up the baby gate and slowly moved it outside. As soon as I laid the gate down, off Michelle jumped and scurried under the back deck.

I wondered what is going on. Why are there are there so many lizards out of their natural habitat? Is it birthing time for lizards or something? So, I googled “why are there lizards in my house” and “lizards in South Carolina” and “lizards.” And, I learned some things I didn’t know and one thing in particular that can relate to our Christian lives.

Apparently, the lizards are coming inside because it is getting colder outside. I’ve never had a lizard issue in my house before, so I’m not completely sure I buy this as the only reason. Nonetheless, Charley, Bob, Gus, and Michelle came inside seeking comfort (warmth and food). This is much like our relationship with God, right? We come to the Holy One in search of comfort, love, and peace. For example, when times get hard (i.e. cold weather for the lizard), we tend to move closer to God in prayer. The challenge is to remember God's presence in our lives more than during just the rough times; to be caught off guard by the movement of God in our lives, daily!

Another interesting fact about the lizard has to do with their tails. A lizard’s tail helps it in balance and movement. As I could tell from my struggles with Gus (balancing on top of the computer monitor) and Michelle (moving quickly through the tines of the baby gate), balance is very important for a lizard when trying to escape and “enemy.” Further, the tail of a lizard is where fat is stored and thus energy comes from when needed. So, losing a tail could become a real problem for a lizard.

Finally, a most interesting surprise about the lizard’s tail! When it is bumped or pulled off by the “enemy,” it will wriggle around, confusing the “enemy,” and the lizard can get away safely. And, most lizards can regenerate their tails. I think this is a great lesson for us to take in relation to our Christian journey and the enemy (a.k.a. Satan/sin). When we are faced with “attack,” God equips us and gives us the tools for a great escape! As long as we are active in claiming our relationship with God for ourselves, God will “regenerate” our abilities to escape the enemy.

I don’t like lizards. But, I am thankful for Charley, Bob, Gus, and Michelle (the lizards I have encountered this week) and the theological example that lizards bring to the table this Thanksgiving. Pun intended!

Zion Students This Week | 11.08.10

The Test

This past Wednesday and Sunday, we focused on stewardship at mid and senior high youth groups. As a part of our study of using our time, talents, and gifts, our 6th-12th grade students were given the opportunity to take a spiritual gifts inventory. The goal was that this “test” will help them understand some of the talents they have and the ways they can share some of their talents with Zion Lutheran Church. If you didn’t get to take the inventory, you can access it here to either take it online or print it out and take it:

http://www2.elca.org/christianeducation/programplanners/2005CEProgramPlanner/spiritualgifts.html

Despite its length (it’s hard to focus for that many questions), I really do like this inventory and the resources that go with it! It offers a perspective on one’s spiritual and relational talents. That same site offers a resource in the youth category called “Using Your Gifts.” Once the inventory is taken, this sheet tells a little more about how one can use their spiritual and relational strengths.

Some of the Zion youth who took this “test” shared their results with me. Knowing what I know about several of these students (and teens in general), I expected our students to receive high scores and to be talented in areas of gifts like music, leadership, and even service. However, there seems to be a common theme from the results of many of the Zion teens who took the inventory. Many of them scored high in the categories of relational gifts over spiritual gifts. In particular in that relational category, many of the youth have their top gifts in listening and intergenerational openness.

For me, this speaks volumes, especially in the area of intergenerational openness. In my master’s degree work, I studied lot about adolescent growth and development, in addition to faith development of teens. Adolescence is a time of rapid physical, intellectual, social, and emotional growth. And, as most of us could probably guess, a typical characteristic of teenage development is discovering their self identity and expressing that identity to others. Often, this leads to a “breaking away” from parents and various expressions of asserting independence. While often times this is trying on families and parents, this is actually a very healthy and normal teenage experience.

From time to time, as their youth minister, youth share things with me that they don’t feel comfortable sharing with their parents. For this very reason, having an adult role model, that is trustworthy, is so important for teenagers. And barring any harm from what they share may cause to themselves or another, a smart youth minister would not break the confidence of a teenager. On the other hand, not every teenager will connect with their youth minister. I’ve not met a youth minister, yet, who had a daily/weekly, strong, personal, wonderful connection with every youth on their church’s roster. It’s just not possible.

Can they be cordial and friendly? Sure! But this is part of the key to having adult church members serve as volunteers in a church’s youth ministry. While I (the youth minister) may not have an instant connection with every youth in the church, I bet I can find an adult in our church who does! That is a fascinating part of ministry for me! In the past 9 years of doing youth ministry, I have loved promoting and seeing the relationships formed between youth and youth ministry volunteers. I have loved (and do love) the connections I have made. It is truly a visual representation of the vows we (as a church) say when we baptize our children … that we are going to love and support them (and their parents) as they grow up in the Christian faith.

I am so thankful for the volunteers at Zion who have stepped forward to be in relationship with our youth – those who help with youth group, teach Sunday school, go on trips, cook meals with or for our students, and so much more! The good news is, according to the gifts and talents of our youth, Zion students are very open to this intergenerational connection. What an exciting place and situation to share in ministry!