Learning Objectives
- Participants will understand the gospel as that
which sets us free to serve our neighbor’s real needs, this freedom
as “vocation,” and vocation as something that is more spontaneous
and local than profound and universal.
- Participants will be able to listen attentively
to their “neighbor” in order to clearly hear his or her needs.
- Participants will value listening and simple acts
of service as legitimate ways of living out one’s faith.
Supplies:
- Radio (opening ritual)
- Candle (opening ritual)
- Mural Paper (Intro)
- Painter’s Tape (Intro)
- Markers (Intro)
- Index Cards (learning experience)
- Writing Utensils (learning experience)
- TV/DVD (reflection)
- “Listen” Video from 2008 Minneapolis Synod
Gathering (reflection)
- Bibles
Preparation:
- Place the radio and candle on a small stool or
table in the center of the gathering area
- Use the tape to hang 3 long (5-foot) strips of
mural paper in 3 different parts of the room. At the top of one
piece write Vocation. On the next write
Listening. On the last write Compassionate Justice.
- Place a handful of markers at the foot of each
strip of paper.
- Choose locations around your meeting area that
youth can safely go to in groups of 2-4 and listen. If conditions
permit, allow youth to go outside as well as inside. Write a
location at the top of each index card. These are the Location Cards
used during the Learning Experience. You will need one location for
every 2-4 participants.
- Make sure the video is ready to go.
Opening ritual
Begin with a radio and an unlit candle in the center
of the room. Tune the radio to a station that is barely coming in so
that all you hear is static and you can’t make out what’s being said.
Turn it up to a volume that makes it hard to hear a normal conversation
from across the room. Once everyone has arrived go to the center of the
room and without trying to speak over the radio say, "God, you are
calling us. Teach us to listen. Lead us in your ways." Turn off the
radio. Light the candle. And again say, "God, you are calling us. Teach
us to listen. Lead us in your ways."
Check-in
Go around the room and give each young person a chance
to share the best thing, the worst thing, and/or the most surprising
thing they heard this week. Make sure everyone has a chance to share,
including leaders.
Introduction
There are three sheets of paper on the wall. You'll
be working together to write a definition for each of these words:
Listening,
Vocation, and Compassionate Justice. Think
of it like Wikipedia where you can each add to what’s been written, but
you can’t erase what’s already there. Allow a few minutes for
person to go around to each paper and add to it. Feel free to ask
leading questions, but don’t give any answers. There will be time at the
end of the lesson to revise the definitions.
Learning experience
Divide youth into groups of 2-4. Give each group a
Location Card (see prep) and a writing utensil. At the top of your
card is a location. In a few minutes your group will be going
there and writing down all the sounds you hear. But before we divide up,
take one minute and write on the front of the card all the sounds you
think you will hear. Allow one minute for writing.
Before sending them out decide on how they will know
when it’s time to come back. If each group has a cell phone they could
set the timer on it for 4 minutes, or you could designate one group to
go out and collect people. Just make sure you have a plan for gathering
back before you send them out.
When you go to your location, flip over the card
and write down any and all sounds you hear on the back of the card.
Reflection
Once everyone has regrouped, go around the room and
let each group share what they thought they would hear and what they
actually heard. Note the differences between what they thought they
would hear and what they heard. Discuss discrepancies between
expectations and outcomes.
- What surprised you with this activity?
- How does this activity relate to our ability to
listen to others?
- How do our ideas of what we think we will hear
get in the way of what we will hear?
- How do these preconceived notions affect how we
listen to people that are different than us?
- Or those who we think are just like us?
Watch the
video “Listen” from the 2008 Minneapolis Synod Gathering.
Respond to the following quotes from the video. You
may read them, go back and watch them, or pause and discuss them as they
come up in the video.
- “There are people in this world who are mute, but
not because they cannot talk. But because we have closed are ears to
their voices” Pastor Luisa Cabello Hansel
(9:35 in the video)
- “...We need to lose our life in order to find it.
Listening has to do with an initial process of losing yourself in
the words, the ideas, the excitement, and the passion of another
person. So when we give ourselves to that other person in those
kinds of settings we can do great things together.”
Bishop Craig Johnson (10:07)
- “Listen and then see if God leads you to act.”
Bishop Craig Johnson (11:00)
- “Listening is how we show love”
Pastor Nancy Bence (11:08)
Scripture
Have the group look up
1 Kings 19:11-13.
Read through it together, and then follow it with this retelling. During
the retelling, youth should be quiet, relaxed, and have their eyes
closed. Read it slowly and pause often to allow them to visualize it.
Close your eyes and imagine this scenario.
You’re standing on a street. There are houses all
along it. Some are in poor condition, some are condemned, and some are
in the process of being rebuilt.
A large dump truck comes by. Its diesel engine is
rumbling and the debris in the back rattling.
A news helicopter flies overhead with the thump
thump thump of its propeller blaring down on you.
Then a group of 30 youth about your age go walking
down the other side of the street, laughing and yelling and singing
songs.
Now all of a sudden everything stops. Silence.
It takes you off guard. You look around. Not a
sound.
Then you hear a voice say, “What are you doing
here, (insert your own name)?”
“What are you doing here (insert a young
person's name)?” Continue adding names of
the youth present. Pause briefly between saying their names.
End in a moment of silence before continuing with the
discussion.
Discussion
- What motivated Elijah to listen?
- What did Elijah expect to hear?
- What prevents us from listening?
- What frees us to listen?
We’ve been talking a lot about listening. Now let’s
look at the other two words we’ve put up and figure out how these are
all connected.
First look at Vocation. Use some of the
following questions to help youth understand the importance of being
free to listen.
- What does it mean to be called? How is every
person's call unique?
- How does understanding who God has called us to
be set us free? How does this freedom allow us to be better
listeners?
- What are examples of call in this room?
- If we're trying to be who we aren't, will we hear
what God wants us to hear, or what we think God wants
us to hear.
- If we go to New Orleans to hear what we want to
hear, we’ll probably hear it; if we go there as God’s children free
to listen, what will we hear?
Now move to Compassionate Justice. Revisit the
quotes taken from the video.
- How do we know what people need? Who knows what
is best in any given situation?
- Are we agents of change or agents being changed?
When we minister to others does that ministry only move in one
direction?
- How is the term compassionate justice different
than simply saying Justice?
- What might uncompassionate justice
look like in New Orleans? What might compassionate justice look like
in New Orleans?
- What role will Compassionate Justice play in our
life as a faith community upon our return?
Wrap up
Go back to the definitions. Facilitate a brief
discussion to find out what youth think works and doesn’t work with each
definition. Key elements to each definition include, but are not limited
to:
- Vocation -- God’s call that frees us to
listen.
- Listening -- Putting aside our
preconceived outcomes to hear and comprehend the needs of others
- Compassionate Justice -- Our response to the
needs of others, discovered through listening, and accomplished through
the freedom of God’s call.
Vocation, listening, and compassionate justice are
three vital and beautifully interconnected pieces of our Christian life.
They shape not only how we approach our time in New Orleans, but also
how we live out God’s promises here at home.
Prayer
Have a volunteer stand by each definition to read it
as indicated.
God you are calling us (pause to read vocation and
the definition). Teach us to listen (pause to read listening and the
definition). Lead us in your ways (pause to read compassionate justice
and the definition). Amen.
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