Contributed by Paul Baglios, St. Paul, MN

Warm-up Question

When we pray to God as Jesus taught, “your kingdom come,” do we really mean it?  Do we really expect it?  Do we really want it?

Signs of the Coming Kingdom?

Earlier this month , Asteroid 2005 YU55 passed by the earth at a distance closer than the moon.  NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced the following:  “Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered Dec. 28, 2005, by Robert McMillan of the Spacewatch Program near Tucson, Ariz. The nearly spherical object is about 400 meters in diameter [i.e., a quarter-mile wide, bigger than an aircraft carrier].   The closest approach will be at 6:28 p.m. today [November 8], when it will come within 80 percent of the distance to the moon.  There is no danger the asteroid will pose a threat to Earth for at least 100 years.   The next approach of a space object as large as Asteroid 2005 YU55 will be in 2028.”   Within days of that event, a passing comet produced an event known as a Taurid meteor shower, producing fireballs in the sky visible in both the northern and southern hemispheres of the earth.

Discussion Questions

•  How many of you were aware of the passage of the asteroid close to the earth on November 8?  How did you hear about it?  What did you know about it?  Was this event discussed in your school?
• Do any of you enjoy learning about astronomy?  If so, what do you enjoy most about it?  Do any of you have a telescope?
• How do you think earlier generations of human societies regarded visible astronomical phenomena before the invention of telescopes and the current understanding of our solar system and the cosmos?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, November 21, 2011 (First Sunday of Advent)

Isaiah 64:1-9

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Mark 13:24-37

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Long before and ever since the birth of Jesus, some people have regarded astral phenomena as signs of an approaching end-time which brings the destruction of the earth and the end of life as we have known it.  Many religious traditions have incorporated such speculation into their understanding of sacred purpose and reality.  Jesus speaks to that interest in our gospel text from the Mark 13, but he cautions us against speculations which distract from the central concerns of faith.  For Christian faith, speculation about the end-time is a trivial distraction from the present circumstances of our life and our world.  When Jesus tells us, “keep awake,” he is not calling us to anxious concern about the end-time but to vigilant exercise of faith in each present moment.  The facts that dazzling astral phenomena can be seen in the skies in every generation and that Jesus speaks to “this generation” help us to understand that focusing our faith on speculation about the future is not nearly as important as engaging our faith in each present moment.  Elsewhere Jesus says, “the kingdom of God has come near” (for example, Mark 1:15).  When he tells us to “keep awake,” he is calling us to pay attention to the nearness of God’s kingdom in the circumstances of our lives, today – and every day.

Discussion Questions

•  To help you think about what Jesus means when he speaks about “the kingdom of God,” read Mary’s song of praise (known as the Magnificat) in Luke 1:46-55, and Jesus’ own teaching in Luke 4:16-21 and Luke 7:18-23.  When and where and how have you seen such signs of God’s kingdom in the circumstances of your own life and the circumstances of our world?
• What makes it difficult to see signs of God’s kingdom in our lives and our world?  Why is it often difficult to believe that “the kingdom of God has come near”?
• How do we, individually and together, represent to others the signs of God’s kingdom, the signs of its nearness?

Activity Suggestions

• Ask individuals to  list two or three signs of God’s kingdom they have seen recently – in their lives or in the lives of others, whether within their our own community or in the larger world.  Share lists with the whole group.
• As a group, identify two or three ways that you might work together to be a sign of God’s kingdom to others.  Make a plan to act upon what you have identified.

Closing Prayer

God, strengthen our faith that we may sincerely pray for the coming of your kingdom, giving us eyes to see its nearness in our lives and in our world.  Teach us to pray daily with all your people: Amen; come, Lord Jesus.

Contributed by Brian Hiortdahl, Chicago, IL

Warm-up Question

Who do you admire and why?

What Makes Success?

The recent death of visionary Apple, Inc. co-founder, chairman and CEO Steve Jobs has spawned a national wave of mourning and reflection, not to mention iPhone sales. Consultant Carmine Gallo has identified “seven secrets” to Jobs’ success, summarized in an article from ABC News:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/steve-jobs-secrets-success/story?id=14692969

1. Do what you love no matter what it happens to be.
2. Put a dent in the universe.
3. Say no to 1000 things.
4. Kick start your brain by doing something new.
5. Sell dreams not products
6. Create insanely great experiences
7. Master the message.

It is natural and common for us as mortal human beings to reflect at times of death on the significance and meaning of life, whether one individual’s story or the collective experience.  Deaths of public figures enlarge the conversation, especially figures who are young and creative–who appear full of life, making their death feel like a surprise, even though we know that, ready or not, death will come at an undisclosed time for us all.   For some, the dread and certainty of death provides motivation for living life to its fullest and/or chasing after success while there is still time.

Discussion Questions

• How do you define success?
• Which of Jobs’ “seven secrets” most resonates with you?  Which one would you like to emulate more, and why?
• Have you experienced the death of someone significant in your life?  How did you and others react?  What meaning did you make of their life?
• What do you hope will be written about you after you die?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, November 6, 2011 (Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost)

 
Amos 5:18-24

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Matthew 25:1-13

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

The parable in this week’s gospel looks forward to a decisive ending.  Jesus changes his standard introduction “the kingdom of heaven is like…” to “then the kingdom of heaven will be like…” so that the disciples gathered around him will know that now he is talking future, not present.

The story focuses on readiness for the coming of the bridegroom, which the disciples would recognize as a symbol for God’s Messiah, the one for whose arrival Israel waited eagerly.  By presenting ten bridesmaids instead of one, Jesus shifts the focus from the community as a whole to individuals, who might (and do) prepare and respond differently.  Five bring extra oil along with their lamps, five do not.  The bridegroom is so delayed that all of them fall asleep.  A shout comes at midnight that the bridegroom is coming, so everyone scurries to light their lamps.  The five without oil ask for help from the five with oil, but all they get is bad advice:  “go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.”  In the frenzy of excitement, nobody stops to consider that the streets are dark and the dealers are probably closed, so the five “foolish” bridesmaids miss the bridegroom on their frantic wild goose chase for unavailable oil.

The first three of Steve Jobs’ seven secrets give us an interesting lens through which to look at the success or failure of our bridesmaids.  A heart (and a vision) clearly set on the bridegroom, even if not prepared with extra oil, would not settle for chasing after supplies or anything else when what it most truly wants is at hand.  And it is the wise bridesmaids, not the foolish ones, who say, “no.”  They are the ones who are ready for the “insanely great experience” of the wedding banquet, the kingdom come.

Yet this story doesn’t only teach us about ourselves, but also about the bridegroom for whom we wait and hope.  For one thing, our bridegroom doesn’t come on our terms or timetable.  Jesus is certainly taking his sweet time to return and end the human story, and most Christians in history will see death before they see Him.  With such a long wait, even the wisest of us fall asleep.  The story ends with a true warning that “you know neither the day nor the hour” (there are so many things we don’t get to know!), but it does give us a valuable clue about Jesus’ arrival.  The bridegroom comes at midnight, an hour of darkness when it is nearly impossible to see.  Two weeks from now, we will experience another story from Matthew 25 in which Jesus is hidden from view, and neither of its two groups (sheep nor goats) see him hidden in “the least of these.”  Could it be that the bridesmaids need the oil not so that they will see him, because they won’t, but so that he will see them?  (Notice how the foolish bridesmaids know the bridegroom, but he says he doesn’t know them…even though they were invited!)  Could it be that our hope is ultimately not in our hands, but in Christ’s eyes?

Discussion Questions

•  Where, when, and how do you see Christ?  How does Christ see you?
• Do you see other connections between Steve Jobs’ secrets for success and the behavior of the ten bridesmaids?
• To what requests and suggestions should you say “no”?
•  How does thinking about the fact that life and history will have an end make a difference for your life in the world right now?

Activity Suggestions

•  Ask a signficant, trusted older adult in your life (a parent, a grandparent, etc.) to share with you about preparations they have made for their death.  Have they written a will?  Have they made arrangements for a funeral?  Who and what have they identified as important after they die, and why?
• Write your own epitaph.  Assume that your gravestone is small, so your epitaph will have to fit in a Twitter post!

Closing Prayer

Come, Lord Jesus.  Focus us on what is most important, prepare us for your appearance, find us wherever we are, look upon us with compassion and understanding, and bring us at last into your joy.  Amen

Contributed by Jocelyn Breeland, Fairfax, VA

Warm-up Question

Would you make a good eyewitness?  Why?

Taking Notice

How perceptive are you?  In their book, The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons relate an experiment that sheds an interesting light on our ability to perceive events around us.

In the experiment, a man on a sidewalk in the middle of a college campus asks a pedestrian for directions to the library. While the pedestrian is giving directions, two other men approach carrying a door on their shoulders and, instead of walking around the first two men, they walk right between them, temporarily blocking the pedestrian’s view of the man to whom he was giving directions. At that moment, one of the men with the door switches places with the man who asked for directions, and resumes the conversation.

The pedestrian continues his directions, seemingly unaware of the change. In fact, although the original direction seeker and his replacement are wearing different clothes, differ in height by three inches, have different builds and noticeably different voices, nearly half of the subjects in the experiment failed to notice the switch.

This experiment highlights the phenomena of “change blindness.” We can miss even some pretty obvious changes in our environments when we aren’t expecting them.  This is just one of many ways in which our perception of the world around us can differ from reality. At any moment, our expectations, our previous experiences, our focus or lack thereof can have a dramatic effect on how we experience the world around us.

See this short video http://youtu.be/FWSxSQsspiQ of the Door Study in action.

[Note to Leaders: More videos from the research can be found here: http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/videos.html The Monkey Business Illusion (under two minutes’ duration) could be especially interesting when paired with this week’s Gospel message. Consider presenting it to the group.]

Discussion Questions

• Why do you think the pedestrian in the experiment didn’t notice the change in questioners?
• Being able to focus completely on a task has its advantages. Are there disadvantages?
• Have you had an experience where your memory of an event is different from that of someone else who was also there? Why do you think this happens?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, May 22, 2011 (Fifth Sunday of Easter)

Acts 7:55-60
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Today’s Gospel message brings to mind the words of the Cheshire Cat of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. He told Alice if she didn’t know where she was going, it didn’t matter which way she went.

Jesus wants to make sure his followers understand where they’re going. The promise was not just new life after death, but rich, satisfying life with Jesus right now. Knowing Jesus had made this promise must have been a comfort to the disciples in the difficult times during their lives and ministry, and it is a comfort to us as well.

Like the disciples, we know our ultimate destination – a place in heaven with Jesus, where we know and are known perfectly. We even understand, in a general way, that the road which leads us there is the path of trusting God’s love and reflecting that love in a godly life. But the road takes us through some difficult territory, strewn with obstacles and distractions. It’s hard to be certain that each step we take is leading in the right direction.  That’s why Jesus calls us to focus on him, on the example of his life and the assurance of his love. If we focus on Jesus, it’s easy to follow the plan that God has for our lives. Jesus really is the way, the truth and the life. He is all we need.

Discussion Questions

• How might your understanding of Jesus’ words be different from that of the disciples?
• In your own experience, how has Jesus been the way, the truth and the life?
• In verse 12, Jesus says “…and greater works than these he will do.” What does he mean?
• Is it possible to focus too much on Jesus in your life?

Activity Suggestion

One of the great works of Christian spirituality is John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. In Bunyan’s allegorical novel, Christian, an everyman character, makes his way from his home town, City of Destruction, to the Celestial City.  Along the way he deals with various dangers, characters,  and distractions such as Mr. Worldly Wiseman, the Slough of Despond, and Giant Despair.  Draw your own map of the Christian journey, labeling the challenges which you see as most significant for someone in your context as a young adult.  For example you might put in an encounter with “Miss Babbling Twitter”, representing the temptation to spend all your time on superficial things.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to show us the way. Help us to keep our eyes on him and to follow the path you have laid out for each of us according to your will. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Contributed by Jay Gamelin, pastor at Jacob’s Porch, a Lutheran campus mission to The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Warm-up Question

What are some rituals you do every day when you first get up; is there anything special you may do?  Is there something you do every night before going to sleep?  Where do these rituals come from?

We Shall Live!

photo by Carol Guzy/Washington Post

When the two women were trapped under the rubble, all was darkness.  The earthquake had flattened their university classroom in Haiti and the five floors above them were now on top of them.  Only the light of one cell phone showed the situation.  One woman had her leg trapped; the other had just a small pocket of space amid the rubble in which to move.  The two women had shared a class and knew each other’s name.  They became more than friends.  They were companions through a terrible ordeal.

For six days they took turns yelling for help.  When they heard voices they knew it was day.  When the voices were gone they assumed it must be night.  They had nothing to drink and just a few crumbs from a cookie to eat.  But the two prayed, sang hymns, talked about boys, and rested when they could.

After six days, one woman said to the other, “We are not going to live.”  The other encouraged her to hang on and have hope.  She began talking about their life ahead.  She spoke of the conversations they would have in a year, remembering this time together.  Suddenly, the world changed.  Light poured in and they were pulled out.  Malnourished, feeble–but alive, they separated on the way to health stations, hoping to see one another again.

One year later, the women talk and reminisce about the horrific time in that small hole in the rubble.  One woman is missing her leg; the other says she has nightmares.  But they laugh when they meet. They still talk about boys.  They remember that hope is what brought them through the valley of the shadow of death.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever faced need and not able to get what you needed?  If you have, how did this feel?
• If you have not, imagine what it would feel like to see others enjoying great wealth while you were hungry?  What would you do to support your family?  What if you were not able to do so?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, January 9, 2011 (Baptism of Our Lord)

Isaiah 42:1-9

Acts 10:34-43

Matthew 3:13-17

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

It is confusing: why would Jesus want to be baptized? This Jesus, who has done nothing but live righteously, comes to be baptized, to be “forgiven” of sins.  Clearly John sees this is not the way it should be and tries to stop the event.  But Jesus knows something about this holy moment.  Jesus knows that he is pointing the world to a whole new reality.  Jesus is becoming a model for what the rest of us are to do and be.

When Jesus was baptized, he did this to “fulfill all righteousness.”  Typically this means to be righteous under the law.  Jesus is following a “rule of faith” as a way of showing the rest of us what we are to do.  As Jesus comes up from the water, a voice declares that he is righteous and beloved, a source of pleasure for the speaker.  Jesus is made righteous.  The law is no longer the rule but is fulfilled in baptism.

Often we think this is a voice for Jesus alone, but it expresses as much what God thinks of us as what God thinks of Jesus.  When we are baptized, God is well pleased.  This is done to forgive sins, to be sure, but it makes us family.  We are made righteous.  We are brought from death to life, just as Jesus was brought from death to life.  Baptism binds us to God as Jesus was bound to God.  It shows us that Jesus’ path of suffering and hope is our path also.  Jesus becomes our companion in this journey, as do all who are baptized into God’s family.

The two women in Haiti were baptized by shared suffering into a relationship they had not expected, but it was being bound to one another that brought hope and life.  They lived together through the dark and found one another in the light.  Our baptism is about having a companion in our own darkness and knowing that light is coming.

Discussion Questions

• What is the darkest place you have ever been?  What was it like in the darkness?
• Were you afraid of the dark as a child?  What did you do when you were afraid?  How did this help?
• Think of a dark time in your life.  Who was there to be beside you?  Who was a person that helped bring light to you when you felt the darkness?
• How was this person Jesus for you?  What did this person’s actions tell you about how Jesus is at work in, through, and for you?

Activity Suggestion

“Though I walk in darkness…”

Materials:  Bandanas, cloth, or other way to make blindfolds for half the group.

Break the group into pairs.  Have each person in the pair take a turn being blindfolded and led by their partner. Explain to the group to take this exercise very seriously.  You are to be trusted.  Give the group a destination, perhaps to the sanctuary or other place that they must negotiate their way.  Then the other person is led back to where you began.  You can provide obstacles, or direct them to a tricky route to make the event more or less difficult as desired.

Process:

• Did you trust your partner?  Why or why not?  Were you surprised by anything they did or didn’t do?
• What was helpful about having a partner?  How would this activity be different if you did not have a partner?
• Name some folks in your church who you think are a role model of faith.  What is it about their walk that you admire?  How are they helping you in your walk?  What ways do they help “enlighten” (i.e. teach, show, help, provide an example) you when you feel like you are in the “dark?” (confused, not understanding, or being plain ole’ selfish)

Closing Prayer

God, we are your beloved and with us you are pleased.  Thank you for all you give us to help us in our journey, especially the people who join us in baptism to be your children.  Thank you for our role model, Jesus, who shows us the way.  Thank you for the role models in our friends and church members who lighten the path.  Hear us lift these role models up to you, aloud and in our hearts…. (allow time for names to be spoken or prayed for silently).  Thank you for these partners in hope and light.  We pray this in the name of our savior, Jesus.  AMEN.

Contributed by Jay McDivitt, Mequon, WI

Warm-up Question

What is one thing you have learned about “faith” from a grandparent and/or a parent?

Christian Kids Not Really Christian?

Kenda Creasy Dean, a professor at Princeton and author of Almost Christian, argues that more and more young people in Christian churches are embracing a “watered-down,” and not really “Christian” faith – something she calls “moralistic therapeutic deism” (MTD). MTD doesn’t reject basic Christian beliefs, but it doesn’t really encourage them either. Instead, MTD affirms that “God” created the world and is available to help you feel better when you’re down, but otherwise stays out of the way. God wants us to be nice and happy.  The God of MTD says good people who go to heaven. While these may be common assumptions about faith, Dean argues, these are not the historic claims of the Christian faith.

Why are kids embracing this watered-down version of the faith? Primarily because no one is taking their faith development very seriously. While parents will bend over backwards to drag kids to tutors, coaches, practices, and games to make sure that they learn or even excel in algebra, hockey, dance, soccer, or piano, it seems the name of the game for religion is to “expose” kids to faith – and hope they soak something up. Far from the radical commitments of the first disciples, many Christian churches assume that kids are doing well if they make a few good friends at youth group, have fun at camp, learn how to be nice, and avoid premarital sex or illegal drugs.

The problem lies mostly with parents, Dean argues: Too many parents don’t understand themselves why the Christian faith makes any real difference in their lives or in the world. They get “nice” and “good” – and, perhaps, “pure.” But they either didn’t grow up in the church or they were taught the same watered-down version of the faith.

What to do about it? The jury is still out. Many see a new passion growing among young people who want a faith that matters in a world that seems to be off balance. Others see an increasing decline in Christianity in North America that will bring faith practice here to the same low levels seen in Europe for decades.  One thing is for sure: Dean has started a conversation which will continue for some time as churches, parents, and young people wrestle with what it means to be Christian in the 21^st century.

Discussion Questions

• What do you think of Dean’s suggestion that Christianity has become mostly a religion of “nice” and “happy” people?  Does this sound like the Christian faith you see at church or in your home? Why or why not?
• Other than being “nice” and “happy” – and praying to God when you need help – what does it mean to you to be a Christian? What’s the real Christian faith, if the version Dean talks about is fake?
• When you think about the future, how do you want the next generation of kids (your kids or your friends’ kids) to learn about being Christians? What would you do differently from what you’re experiencing at home and at church today? What would you do the same?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, October 3, 2010 (Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:5-10

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

The disciples ask Jesus to “increase our faith!” How many of us have asked the same thing? When we read about tragedies around the world—or experience them ourselves in cancer, car accidents, or parents losing jobs—it’s hard for a lot of us to believe that God is real and doing good in the world. Faith gets rocked all the time, especially in the confusing and changing and crazy years of the teens and twenties.

Jesus’ response to this very normal request is surprising and a little bizarre: “If you had just a teeny-tiny bit of faith, you could move mountains.” Assuming none of us has ever told a mountain to move and had it obey, this seems like a rather strange exaggeration. Not all that helpful, at least on the surface.

But maybe that’s the point. Maybe what Jesus is saying is that the amount of faith isn’t what matters. We sometimes say “That woman is really faithful; she does x, y, and z for the church.” or, “I wish I could have faith like that guy; he’s always got the right answers.” That makes faith all about us—about how often we go to church, when and how we pray, what we do or don’t do on Friday night or Sunday morning, or how many Christian t-shirts or pieces of jewelry we wear. But if faith is all about us, then not only are we off track, we’re doomed.

That’s what is dangerous about the “almost Christian” faith that Dean describes. It’s all about us.  Faith becomes how we feel, about how nice we are – and God only enters the picture when we have a problem that we can’t fix. Then we pray “help me!” and hope God will show up and do something.

But that’s not what faith is all about. Faith is the hope that God has planted in us by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Faith is the trust that God didn’t just create the world—and occasionally shows up to fix things when we ask for help—but rather, God is turning the whole world upside down and inside out. God is the one moving mountains, destroying death, forgiving sin, healing divisions, and changing lives. Faith is the gift God gives us to see that “this is most certainly true” and the encouragement to tell the world about what we have seen.

Believing that God is turning the world upside down means that we will see, live, and talk differently. It means we will question more about “the way things are” and believe more about what God is doing. And it means we will have to practice seeing, speaking, and living the faith. Christian faith is a sheer gift, but it does not come naturally; it comes with practice. And practice takes patience and time.

That’s why it is so important for us to listen to our ancestors. Part of the problem of “MTD” is that it is all about “here and now” – it’s about my issues and my life. But Christianity is about the Beginning and the End; it’s about how Jesus is the first and last Word in creation. And that message has been given to us by those who have gone before us. The reading from 2 Timothy is a great example: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you…Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.”

By the gift of baptism, we have living in us the same faith that was given to our parents, our grandparents, and all those who have gone before us. It is solid stuff which makes bold claims about the past, present, and future of creation that go way beyond being “nice” or “happy.” And it is ours to live, to grow in, and to pass on to those who come after us. Since we believe that we “rely on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to God’s own purpose and grace,” we know that whatever we do with this gift, God will keep on giving it to us and to our grandchildren, now and forever. And thanks be to God for that.

Discussion Questions

• What is different about what your grandparents believed and what you believe? If your answer is “not a lot,” why? If it’s “a lot,” what do you think created the difference?
• When have you ever wished for “more faith”? What happened?
• What difference does Jesus actually make in your life? In your parents’ lives? In the life of your church?

Activity Suggestions

• Arrange for a few older members of the church to come and talk about thier faith life. What was confirmation like for them? Did they ever leave the church? Why or why not? What do they think is the most important thing for young people to learn about Jesus and/or the church? [Perhaps this is a good time to pair each youth with an older adult for a mentoring/prayer partner relationship, if you don’t have one already.]
• Make a “faith family tree.” Have them draw their family trees – including non-“family” members (such as godparents, etc.). Identify what each person did (or didn’t) teach them about Jesus and the Christian life.
• Write a letter to your kids/grandkids/godkids/nieces/nephews. Whatever you imagine for your future in terms of relating to the next generation, pick a kid that you will someday be responsible for. Write them a letter about what you want them to know, learn, and experience as a child of God.

Closing Prayer

God of our ancestors: you have planted in each of us the seed of faith. Help us to grow in a deep and meaningful relationship with you. Teach us the important stuff, and strengthen us to pass it on to those who come after us. Thank you for all the faithful people who have gone before us and for giving us faith, especially when it’s hard to believe. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.