Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried

Acting out Mark 15 was a great experience for the teens.  The really got into it.  Of course it is a story that most everyone had heard before, but acting it out like this helps one see things a little differently.

Apostles' Creed Week 6

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended to the dead.  On the Third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting."
Review

“Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried”

Read Mark 15:1-39 using The Voice translation and have the teens act it out.
Pilate
Jesus
Crowd (everybody)
Soldiers
Some in the Crowd
Chief Priests and Scribes
Bystanders
Centurion

Why do you think the creed mentions Pontius Pilate?
Dates the crucifixion
The early church insisted on distinguishing themselves from many of the cyclical religions of the time - the death and resurrection of Jesus is not the same as the mythology surrounding Osiris, who was linked with the flooding and retreating of the Nile (a cycle), nor of those surrounding persphone and the reasons that there are seasons.
Jesus life, death and resurrection happened in a particular time.

What do you think the significance of Jesus suffering is? (There are a lot of ways to answer this, so I am not looking for one specific answer).

We’re going to watch a clip about the ugliest woman on the internet.  Her name is Lizzie and she has a rare genetic disease that prevents her from gaining any weight.

Split into smaller groups:

How would you have felt if you were Lizzie and 4 million people thought you were the ugliest person on the planet?

Do you think God can use suffering such as Lizzie’s for good?  Why or Why not?
Follow up: How is God using Lizzie in the midst of her suffering?

Have you ever felt similar things that she described - like you were worthless, like you were “literally being punched over and over and over,” that nobody loved you or cared for you, or that you had nothing to offer?

In what kind of ways did Jesus suffer in the text that we read?

How did God use Jesus’ suffering for good?

Read Romans 8:28

This doesn’t say that God causes our suffering.  But it says that God works in the midst of our suffering.

What are some examples from your life of ways that God has used suffering for good?

What trial will you let God use in your life this coming week?

Regather

Hebrews 4:14-16 (review from last week)

Jesus has been through life and suffered greatly.  He walks beside us in our suffering.  This is why it is so important that we talk about Jesus as fully God and fully human, as we talked about last week.

God doesn’t cause suffering.  Human sin causes suffering.  Disease and death are here because of our sin.  Even when bad things aren't a direct consequence of our sin, it is still a result of the Fall, of humanity's sinfulness.  And it is God who continues to work things together for good, who is continually pulling all of creation toward himself.  And Jesus entered into that resulting in a powerful demonstration of God’s resurrection power, which is what we’ll talk about next week.

Close in prayer.

This week, I adapted a great lesson from source4ym.com. http://www.thesource4ym.com/DiscussionStarters/Discussion.aspx?printerfriendly=true&id=69

Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary

The teens got a kick out of the skit that we did.  Both of our volunteers got really into it, which helped make the lesson fun.  It's difficult to make a somewhat dry creed come alive.  So if you have some ideas, feel free to share in the comments below!  Thanks for reading.

Apostles’ Creed Week 5:

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended to the dead.  On the Third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting."

Review of previous weeks

Conceived By the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary

Matthew 1:18-25

What does it mean to be a virgin?

What do you think this would mean for Mary’s reputation?

What about Joseph’s reputation?

Luke 1:26-38

What does this passage say about Jesus (other than the virgin birth)?

Considering what this would do to Mary’s recommendation, what is significant about Mary’s response?

First, it is important to point out that this isn’t about biology.  The writers of scripture were largely unconcerned with science - that’s something from Modernity.

Ancient biology believed that the man provided all the important stuff and the woman only provided a safe place for the baby to develop (the womb).  

In other words, this is not saying that Jesus was half God, half human.

This is about the uniqueness and special circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth.  This is one of a kind and unrepeatable.  Only this child, this one “will be called Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32).

This is about Phil 2:5-8, God became a human.

So we can say, along with Christian doctrine, that Jesus Christ is fully God, 100% God.

Matthew 4:2 (Jesus Hungered)

Luke 22:44 (Jesus suffered, physically and emotionally)

Luke 11:33-35 (Jesus mourned/wept)

John 19:28 (Jesus got thirsty)

John 19:34 (Jesus bled real blood)

In our day, we argue that Jesus is divine against society that believes he was just a fine human being.  But in the first couple of centuries, there were many people who believed Jesus was not human, but only appeared to be human.  He was God and walked around in a spirit body.

But Jesus felt all the things we felt - hunger, thirst, pain, compassion, suffering.  

So we can say, along with Christian doctrine, that Jesus Christ is fully human, 100% human.

So how does this work, how is Jesus 100% God, 100% human?

It’s not about biology (or math)! It’s about who Jesus is - He is God walking amongst us humans.  He is God emptying himself and becoming a human for a purpose (phil 2).

So why do you think it is important for Jesus to be fully God and fully human?

I know that to our modern minds, it sounds preposterous to say that God became a human being.  For those of us who have spent a lot of time in the church, we really don’t stop to pause about how strange this is.  But why is it necessary for Jesus to be fully God and fully  human?  Why is it necessary for God and God alone to do God did in Jesus? (Here, I’m hoping they can recall some information from last week about how God came to do what no human could do).

Hebrews 4:14-16

*Call up 2 volunteers for a demonstration*

Have the teens act out the following situation.

The two teens are best friends and have been for years.  One friend betrays the trust of the other.  (S)he stabbed the other in the back and blabbed all of the other’s secrets to anybody who would listen.  Then (s)he cheated with the other person’s boy/girlfriend.  Then, (s)he kept all that the other had ever let him/her borrow over the past few years, refusing to give anything back.  

What would it take for these two to have reconciliation?  One is clearly in the right.  The other is clearly in the wrong.  So what would it take for these two to be best friends again?

What is the difference between Jesus and humanity? (Jesus is without sin)

So to go back to our illustration, which one was “without sin” (at least in this situation, who was in the right)?  

But that person experienced similar temptations and similar opportunities to be sinful as the other, right?

So the teen who was in the right could empathize with the backstabbing, cheating, stealing friend regarding the temptation to sin.

So what would it take for him/her to forgive this other person?

What does Hebrews 4 have to say about this?

The teen who was in the right would have to give up herself, give up her pride, give up her right-ness.  She would have to give up everything that made herself respectable and righteous to bring about reconciliation.  Everybody would wonder why they became friends again, why there was reconciliation.  Everybody would wonder how and why she could ever trust the friend again.  And there is nothing that the friend could do to bring about forgiveness unless the one who was in the right was ready to empty herself of all that made her, “her.”

What does verse 16 say again?

“Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

So it’s vital that God came down to become a human and walk amongst us, and its vital that Jesus was fully divine and fully human.  Only if this is true do we have hope of a relationship with God.  Only if Jesus is “conceived by the Holy Spirit” and “born of the virgin Mary,” can we truly have reconciliation with God.  

Time of Questions

Salt and Light: Matthew 5:13-20

ME*
Did you guys have a favorite cartoon as a kid?
My favorite Cartoon growing up was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I still watch that occasionally on Saturday mornings.  I’ve got two older brothers.  So naturally, when three boys start watching a rambunctious show like Ninja Turtles, we start emulating their behavior.  Well, one of us, I don’t remember which one, said, “Guess Again Double Ugly,” to another brother.  Oh boy was my mother angry!  So for the next several weeks, we had to watch the Ninja Turtles on mute because we started looking too much like the turles and not enough like Christ.

TRANSITION
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to for us to be the same as the world?  

WE
We see sobering statistics about the similarities in divorce rates between regular church-goers and non church goers.  
We are just as busy as those outside the church.  We only pause on Sundays half the time for worship.  We’ve forgotten what it means to take a Sabbath and to rest in the Lord.  
We watch the same movies, the same T.V. shows, and read the same books as the world.  We’ve become fluent in pop culture.  
Pop culture not your thing?  How about politics?  Instead of talking about Christlikeness and asking ourselves how to be faithful in an increasingly anti-God nation, we talk about Republicans vs. Democrats, conservative vs. liberal, as if either of those parties will ever be the path to Christlikeness.  
Politics not your thing?  How about sports?  All too often we demonstrate that sports are the most important thing to us.  We’ll miss times of corporate worship for both our own personal participation in sports and for national sports.  Nascar Race?  Football Game? Super Bowl?  I saw a sign on a church this week that said, “Yes our worship last week was more exciting than the Super Bowl.”  That made me laugh - so was my post-super bowl nap, for that matter.  
All too often, there is no distinction between us and the world.  Even worldly people do good things.  I saw a blog the other day about the top 25 most charitable celebrities.  Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus were both on there.  Two people that I would not consider models for anybody in this room.  Yet they do good things.  
This is a major problem for much of the North American Church, and often, for us, for me.  
And then there is the other side of the equation.  There are those of us who try so hard to be distinct.  We think it is up to us to save the world!  We think it is up to us to single-handedly lead Baker City to Christ, and every time we fail we take it personally and promise “to try harder next time.”  
Sometimes this plays itself out similar to the self-righteous pharisees.  Everybody in town knows we go to Church, because we are constantly looking down on them for not going to Church, but we’re not friends with any of them because we could never be friends with someone who smokes or dresses “like that.”  
A seminary friend of mine worked at Starbucks part time while going to school.  Occasionally he had to work Sunday mornings and they would let him go at 10AM where he would rush to church to worship with us.  He would get so frustrated by the people, always well dressed, presumably for Church, that came through on a Sunday morning.  Quite often, he would get a tract from one of these nice Christians.  And sometimes one of them would ask if he went to church.  Well he would get pretty frustrated occasionally, because these people he encountered would assume he wasn’t a Christian because he had to work Sunday morning.  And sometimes they would ask him why he had to work, why he couldn’t just take Sunday off.  He always responded, “Because of customers like you who want their latte on their way to worship!”  We can be so self-righteous and judgmental, us Christians.  And we can try so hard to be good, to do good works that all the world will see.  Too often, its so that people will praise me, or see what I have done, rather than what God is doing.
These are the two sides of the coin that our passage is struggling with today.

TRANSITION:
And this is where our Scripture comes in.

Read Matthew 5:13-20

Prayer

TRANSITION:
In the first part of our text, Jesus tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth.

God
You see, there is nothing that Jesus’ disciples - and if we are Christians, then we are included in this statement - there is nothing that we did or can do that makes us salt.  We are salt because we follow Christ.  This is who we are by nature - we can’t help but be salt!
This is all about usefulness here.  Salt had several uses in Jesus’ time - uses still around today.
First, salt is a preservative.  They used to use it extensively to preserve meat.  Today we use it mostly in canned goods and other food products with a really long shelf life.
Second, salt kills.  Have you ever put salt on a slug - it’s a little cruel, but it kills the slug in seconds!  What about rinsing a wound with salt water, or gurgling your mouth with salt water when you have a sore throat.  It cleanses the wound and kills the bacteria.  It kills the yucky stuff and makes things clean.
Finally, salt is used for taste.  It accents the taste of whatever it is mixed with, and adds a little something.  Can you imagine popcorn without salt?  What about cookies? Or Pancakes?  A little bit of salt is necessary not only for our pallets, but also for our bodies - we need some sodium to thrive.
In other words, salt exists to stay off death and accentuate life!  I think that this is what Jesus was getting at.  Christians are the salt of the earth.  They are the ones who stay off death, who clean wounds, who go to those places of the earth that stink and rot, and help to get rid of whatever is causing that stink and rot.  And then they are the ones who preserve life, who make life tasteful.  Christians are called to bring out the natural beauty in this world God created, and to bring out the best of our culture, bring out the best in people.  
Stay off Death…. Accentuate God’s glory…
Christians are the salt of the earth!  What a high calling that Jesus gave his disciples.
But as we said earlier, sometimes we forget who we are, forget what our calling is.  You see, “salt a centimeter away from food is of no use; Christians who do not live and work for persons outside themselves are worthless” (Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12.  Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1987, 158.)  They are tasteless and will be completely ignored by outsiders.  They will be “thrown out and trampled under foot,” not even noticed as those on the outside go about their day-to-day lives.  
Christians have lost their identity if they lost their saltiness.

The next section, Jesus calls his disciples the light of the world.  This, also is quite a bold statement.  In John, Jesus says he is the light of the world.  In other words, by our very nature, we reflect Jesus to the world and are the light of Jesus in those dark places.  
I love how Jesus just throws this out there.  He doesn’t qualify it - you are the light of the world if….  He states it as a fact.  And then goes on to say that lights are made to be seen.  Just as nobody lights a lamp and then covers  - that would be a useless lamp - so also God is not going to cover us up.  
In the beginning of chapter 5, in the Beattitudes, Jesus states that it is the lowly, the poor, those who mourn, the humble, the hungry and thirsty, those who show mercy, those who bring about peace, it is these ones who will see God, inherit the earth, be called sons of God - all of these will know God.  
None of these types of people forces themselves into situations.  They don’t make themselves into the things they are.  They take the road of obedience, service, humility.  And it is these ones who participate in God’s kingdom.  Those who try to get there by their own strength - those who stomp on other people to be the leader of the servant committee, those who do good deeds and then do everything but buy out an ad in the paper to tell people about them, these aren’t the ones who inherit the earth.  The meek do!
And those who are trying to earn their way to heaven through their accomplishments.  Those who think they can plant the seed, water it, and make it grow all by themselves, those who - often self-sacrifically - are doing whatever it takes out of a sense of guilt or shame or anything other than reverence and worship of God, the one who works harder than everybody else does not inherit the earth!  The meek do!
You see, it is God who creates us to be salt, God who creates us to be light.  It is God who has already made us useful.  God did not create us to be hidden, but created us to penetrate all the dark places of the world, all areas of society, and to let the love of Christ be known.  It is not up to us to create the light or to show ourselves off.  All we have to do is embrace our identity and act like who we are.  
Then, then, all the glory will be given to the one who deserves it.  And we will rest assured knowing that this world is a better place - a place full of beauty and life, a place full of light - because of who God is, and not what we do or don’t do.
It took me a while to understand why the lectionary includes this last part of this passage in today’s text.  Then it hit me.  These two analogies that Jesus makes are two sides of the same coin.  Some of us don’t embrace our identity.  We become saltless salt.  We try to hide our lamp under a basket.  Jesus is telling us who we are.  You are salt!  You are light!  Others try so hard to be salt and light, often to boost ourselves up, but also sometimes just unconsciously trying to earn our way into God’s favor.  We’re like a spotlight instead of a lamp.  A spotlight is not the metaphor Jesus is using here.  That just hurts people’s eyes - it doesn’t reflect Jesus!
You see Jesus tells us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the “Law and the Prophets,” - a shorthand way of saying the bible of his time.  And we may be tempted toward throwing everything out and declaring that grace is king.  
“We can do whatever we want because we are free from the law!  Jesus has come to grant freedom!”  But as Paul says - all things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial (1 Cor 10:23).  If you serve me in this manner, you’ll be trampled in the ground, unnoticed by the world and useless to anybody.
On the other hand, some of us are still strapped to the law.  The Pharisees get a bad rap - but they only wanted to be holy.  They understood holiness as following the letter to the T, even if it meant hurting people along they way.  They weren’t all bad, they just misunderstood holiness.  And Jesus is saying, you’re not the one who makes yourself light; you’re not the one who makes yourself salt.  It is I who created you to be like this and it is I who make you shine in the world.  If you serve me in this manner, you will be least in the kingdom of God.
Instead, embrace my righteousness, the righteousness which I give you, the righteousness and lawfulness that stems from love and focuses on the spirit of the law.  I have made you who are, I have made you exactly what I want you to be, and if you embrace that, I will make the entire world a better place for my glory and you will get to be a part of that!

TRANSITION:
What great news!  So what does this mean for you and me?

YOU
Does the world know you are a Christian?  Have you lost your saltiness  Do you live your life in such a way that you are distinct from the world yet at the same time make this world a place full of life?  Or are you useless to the world, does the world simply pass you by as if you aren’t even there.  Do you stay off death and accentuate life?
For those of you who identify with this, know that God has created you to be salt!  You are salt and God is there to help you become salty once more.  You are light, and God wants nothing more than for your lifestyle to be a beacon of light for all the world to see God’s glory.  
Pray that God would put you in places that need to be purified, places that need to have beauty and good and God’s light.  Pray for the courage to say no to aspects in our society that we need to reject, and for wisdom to know which places in this city that we need to accentuate that bring glory to God.  Pray that your home would be a light where all of Eastern Oregon knows the love of Christ dwells.
On the other hand, have you bought into the lie that you are only a part of the kingdom if you can work hard enough?  Are you doing, doing, doing, simply because you are trying to make up for sinful things in your past, or because you think you aren’t good enough?  
Or are you so intent on doing that you, like the pharisees, just need to stop and see that you’re trampling all over people in the name of God!
For those of you who are so intent on doing that you’ve forgotten it’s God’s job to let your light shine, and God’s job to make you into who God wants you to be, know that it is only the righteousness which Jesus gives you that lets you participate in his Kingdom.  It is only when we are meek, humble, and obedient to Jesus Christ - not when we do, do, do, - that we get the incredible opportunity to be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 
Pray that God would reveal to you who He is calling you to be and the person into whom he is shaping you.  Pray that your home would be a light where all of Eastern Oregon knows the love of Christ dwells.

WE
If we as Baker City Church of the Nazarene can embrace our identity as salt and light, can you imagine what this town would look like?
Perhaps more people in town would be free to worship on Sundays because we made our coffee at home!
Perhaps there would be more doodling during Church as people strove to create works of art that glorified God.
Perhaps this church would be the first place in town where prisoners come when they are released from the jail.
Perhaps your family would be the place where others turn to when they need a safe place to simply be.
Perhaps waiters would be excited whenever one of us visits their restaurant because they know we treat them special and tip well!
Perhaps those who have no family in Baker, the orphans, the widows, the divorced, the outcast, the single parent, these people would know that this is a place where life, beauty, and love can be find in Christ Jesus.
Can you dream with me church?  Can you dream with me what it means for us to be the salt and the light of the earth!

Pray with Me.

Benediction:

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:15-17).  Amen.

Listen Here

*The "Me-We-God-You-We" Format is borrowed from Andy Stanley.  This was preached Sunday Morning Worship, 2/09/14

And in Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord

Week 4 had a little bit more of me talking than usual.  I don't like to do that on a regular basis - I prefer to have more interaction.  But even when I do more talking, there are still times for great interaction and for questions.  I lost some of the more restless teens, but the majority were really engaged.  I am always looking for different ways to present the Gospel message, ways that make the Gospel understandable to teenagers.  Let me know what you think of this way of breaking such good news down.

Apostle's Creed Week 4:

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended to the dead.  On the Third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting."

Review of last week

“And in Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord”

Mark 1:1-3, 9-15; John 20:24-31

Let’s talk about the person of Jesus Christ.

Review: What is the difference between believing in a person and believing that a doctrine is true? (Belief in a person requires relationship, loyalty, mystery [a person is more complex and God infinitely so], persons are moved by others; belief that a doctrine is true only requires intellectual assent, doctrines can be fully known, doctrines are immovable).

According to the Creed, who is Jesus?

Why do we care?

“Let me tell you a little bit about this Jesus, for those of you who may not know him.”

When did Jesus walk this earth?
What does Jesus mean?
God saves
What does Christ mean?
Anointed One - Messiah
How do we say that Jesus is the Son?  Of whom is he the Son?  (“The Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth”)

“You see, we declare that the Father and Son are both God.  We’ll talk a little more about God as Trinity in a few weeks, but for now, I want each of you to know who Jesus is.”

“This Jesus, who is God, came down to earth, walked among us, served humanity, and then died.  Over the next few weeks we are going to look at these things and other specific attributes of Jesus.”

“You remember a couple weeks ago, when we talked about The Prodigal Son?  We said that the best way to know God the Father is to look at Jesus, the Son.  Then we looked at a parable that Jesus told about God’s love.”

“It’s hard for us to know what God is like.  But when we look at Jesus, we have concrete actions and pictures that he gives us about who he is, who God is.”

Have somebody read John 15:13

According to this verse, what is the greatest way one can show one’s love?

Say something like:
“This same Jesus, the Son of God, the one who is God walking amongst us humans, died so that you and I can live.”

“You see, humanity has tried to do it by ourselves.  For thousands of years, humanity tried to be like God, we tried to do things our way.  Many tried to be good and tried to choose what they believed was right.  Many more chose evil and selfishness and did whatever it took to make themselves bigger in the eyes of others.  Yet whatever the motive, ultimately not even one of us could do good, could change the world for good, could make our lives matter.  The good works passed away.  The evil only led to more evil, more unhappiness.”

“Each of us is caught in this state as long as we try to do it ourselves.  Each of us is bound to screw up, to spend life searching for meaning only to find only emptiness and hollowness.  When we do something good, we quickly realize their is so much more to be done and what we just did is fleeting.  We are plagued with the knowledge that we will never measure up, never be good enough or strong enough or clever enough to find satisfaction.  Our actions only lead to more evil, more unhappiness, more sin.”

“And this is where it is so important that we believe in Jesus Christ.  God came down and did what nobody else could do.  He lived that life of complete satisfaction, complete obedience to God, complete good.  Where did this lead him?  Death.  He lived this life of service, of goodness, and complete other-centeredness, and it led to being killed by those who believed only in promoting themselves.”

“We’ll talk more about this in a couple weeks, but I must mention it now, too.  You guys, we know that Jesus did not remain dead.  God raised him from the dead, making it possible for us to participate in him.  We no longer have to worry about whether we have done enough good to make a difference, or whether anything we do has meaning, or whether there is any meaning to our life.”

“Our meaning is found in Jesus Christ.  Our good works find meaning and longevity in him.  Our happiness is found in him.  Our identity is found in him.”

“He is called Jesus Christ - remember, “God saves”, and “Anointed One” - because he came to be faithful when we couldn’t.  God came to save us because we could not save ourselves.  God’s anointed one died so that we can live and live life to the fullest.”

“We hear from society that lots of things make you happy.”
If appropriate timing, ask, “What kind of things does society tell you will make you happy?

“But look around you.  Do you see a lot of happiness in people, or do you see a lot of depression, violence, and sin?  It is only in God that you will find true happiness, true fulfillment.”

Close in prayer.

Creator of Heaven and Earth

Week 3 of the Apostle's Creed sparked quite a bit of conversation.  Most teens really understood what it means to talk about God as creator and how we can learn things about God from creation.  I had two teens who just could not understand how we could know anything about God from creation.  This brought the conversation to places I had not imagined, but we had some good discussion.

Apostle's Creed Week 3:

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended to the dead.  On the Third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting."

Review of last week

“Creator of Heaven and Earth,”

1:1 “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth” (NRSV.)
Who created everything? (God)

Is there anywhere in God’s creation that you find yourself especially aware of his presence?
A particular sight? Place? Work of Art? A person?

If we did not have access to the Bible, what would we know about God from the world around us?

1:26-30 “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29 God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.”

What is the vocation of all humanity?  What is our vocation?  Vocation = calling/job/life’s work

If we are made in the image of God, after whom do we model our subduing and ruling of the earth?

What does it look like for us to rule the earth and take care of the earth in the image of God?

Stewardship:
Manage and Care for another’s property
Who’s property are we managing when we become stewards of creation?

Let’s brainstorm ways we can be faithful stewards of God’s creation:
(My teens answers: Recycle, treat others with respect, treat ourselves with respect, enjoy God’s creation)

One of the ways we are good stewards of God’s creation, and one of the ways we live out our identity as “made in the image of God,” is by creating things.

Art is a great way to honor God!

Slideshow of art.  I included:
Sistine Chapel
Starry Night
Random piece of contemporary Christian-themed art
Martin Luther King Jr (he uses the art of speech, among other things)

We are going to create a work of art as a youth group tonight.
On a large piece of Butcher Paper, outline a large picture (I used a fancy cross)
Cut up the butcher paper into one piece for each student (I estimated 16 and had exactly 16 students.  I would not recommend cutting it that close!)
    Label the back of each paper so you know how to reassemble the piece of art once everybody is done with their piece.
    Have each student take a piece of the art and draw on it however they choose.  My only instruction was to draw in the lines.
    We taped it on the wall immediately afterwards, but will have to transfer it to a poster board for it to stay.

Regather and close in prayer.