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Prior to today’s lesson, you will need to gather some
facts about New Orleans that you find interesting. You can use the
description piece written by Dr. Larry
Powell entitled “New Orleans: An American Pompeii”. You can also draw
from other books or Web sites. MSN
Encarta has a good introduction to the city, or go to the page of
New Orleans links at the ELCA
Youth Gathering Web site.
You will also need a candle in a candle holder and a
map of New Orleans. You will use these to decorate an altar that
will serve as the centerpiece for your group’s meetings each month. You
will also need one small rock per group member.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will begin to understand the
diversity, beauty, and importance of New Orleans.
- Participants will be able to identify the
spiritual significance of specific places in their lives.
- Participants will begin to care for New Orleans
as a specific location in which Christ meets real people.
Ritual
Begin today’s lesson by preparing your group’s altar
in the center of your room. The altar can be a small table or simply the
floor. It should be in the center of your group. Place the map of New
Orleans upon the altar and the candle upon the map. You might also want
to add a cross or other symbols that have become important to your
group.
Explain to your group that the candle in the center of
the group will serve as a reminder that God is present and active among
them. The map will serve as a reminder that Jesus Christ is present and
active in the city of New Orleans. Maybe this preparation of the altar
can be your group’s ritual, or maybe you have a different ritual you use
to begin your time together. Regardless, it is important to find some
way to begin your time together so that your group recognizes the
importance of what is about to happen.
Check-in
At the end of your ritual, give your group
approximately 1 minute in silence to prayerfully reflect upon their most
recent trip. Ask them to recall two things: a moment when they would say
they saw a glimmer of God’s grace, and a moment when they would say they
saw pain or hurt. Allow each group member to share their experiences of
grace and pain from their most recent travels. Ask the group what they
might learn from what was shared and how they might apply it to their
journey to New Orleans.
Introduction
Today’s lesson is going to introduce us to the beauty
and grace of New Orleans, but also to its pain and hurt.
Ask your group to generate a list of stereotypes that
they have heard about New Orleans. Once the group has done this, take a
moment to share with them some of the things you have learned about New
Orleans in preparation for this lesson. Ask the group members to add
things they know about New Orleans.
Experience
Play the following video clip from PBS’s American
Experience episode on New Orleans. You can
access
it on-line here. Click “Watch the Program” and then choose
“Chapter 1”. It is 3 minutes and 6 seconds long. If you do not have high
speed Internet you can probably order this video through your local
library or video store, or you can
purchase it here. It is a great introduction to New Orleans
before and after Hurricane Katrina, and it’s recommended to show it to
your group before your trip.
Discussion
Break your group into five equal groups (or divide
them in any other way you see fit). Give each group a sheet of newsprint
and markers or crayons. Assign each group one of the five questions
below. Ask them to discuss their questions and draw a representation of
their answer on their sheet of newsprint. After about 10 minutes, have
each small group report back to the large group. Allow members of the
large group to add their thoughts to each small group’s report. (Note:
These questions are designed to reflect back on the video mentioned
above. If you do not use the video, you will need to craft new
questions.)
- What exactly would America be without New
Orleans?
- Why is the future so visible in New Orleans? What
might that future look like?
- What are New Orleans’ gifts?
- What are New Orleans’ flaws?
- Why is New Orleans so important to the people who
live there?
After you’ve discussed the above questions, transition
into the next segment by stressing how important it is that your group
begins to think about New Orleans as a place where people live, go to
school, raise families, go to church, and die. It is a special place
that people call home. Point out to your group that when we travel, we
generally do not think of the places we visit as someone’s home, but
rather as a destination for tourism. Our plan is to enter New Orleans
this summer as humble guests who view New Orleans as the hometown of
many people and a place where God is at work in peoples’ lives.
Scripture
Have your group gather around your congregation’s
baptismal font. Before your read the text, remind your group that the
font is one specific place where we experience God’s presence and
activity in our lives. Tell them that the text you will be reading is a
story about the Israelites experiencing God’s presence and activity in
the midst of water.
Read
Joshua 4:1-24
- Ask the group:
- What did God do here? How did the Israelites mark
the spot?
- Why did they mark this spot?
Give each group member a rock and explain to them that
these rocks are symbolic of the places where we believe we encounter
Christ. Ask them to move back to your original meeting space in silence.
As they walk they should hold their rock and think of a place where they
have experienced Christ’s presence and activity.
Reflection
Once your group is back in its original meeting spot,
ask each group member to share a place that they would consider to be
“holy,” where they’ve experienced Jesus’ presence and activity.
Wrap Up
Remind your group that New Orleans is not just a
tourist’s destination; it is a real place where real people live. It has
historically been a gift to our country in diversity and culture. When
we travel there, we will enter as humble guests to the city ready to
serve, not as loud tourists ready to party and spend. Christ is present
and active in New Orleans and our trip there will be an opportunity for
us to enter into Christ’s presence and activity in that place.
Benediction
As a closing prayer, have each group member add his or
her stone to the altar as he or she adds one way that the group can
honor New Orleans and the people who live there during your trip.
Prayer
Close with prayer.
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