Drive-in Movie Night

Dont' forget!!!

This Sunday, November 21st, is our "Drive-in" Movie night at FUSION Gathering from 7-8:30pm.  Bring your creativity as we build our "cars" for the drive-in movie using various recycled materials.  Prizes will be awarded for the best designs!  Then sit back in your new "ride", grad some popcorn and enjoy the movie!  By a youth vote on all the Pixar films, Finding Nemo, has won the title of our feature film!  Don't forget to invite friends along.



Week 8: Family

This week we discussed the virtue of family.  Our chalk board reflections were to draw our family trees!  We talked about the differences among our families, and the importance in knowing that we are all in God's family.  We watched two clips from "Finding Nemo" showing how Marlin was very protective over Nemo, but throughout the movie learns that he must let go of Nemo and allow Nemo to experience things on his own.  We then read Luke 15:11-32 (The Prodigal Son) and talked about the similarities and differences between characters in the parable and characters in "Finding Nemo".  We explored how God is much like the father in Luke 15:11-32, always welcoming us back with open arms and ready to celebrate our return.  So, in order to remember and celebrate the fact that God welcomes us home with celebration, we played a bunch of games since games are often a part of celebrating!  One of the funniest was our game, Cereal Face Relay, in which youth had to stick their faces in a bowl of water and then into a bowl of cheerios in order to get the cereal to stick to their faces.  Then they ran back and tried to get the cereal into their team's bowl without using their hands.  Check out pictures below (and more on FUMC's facebook page).  So I want to know, how have you celebrated being God's child this week?  Comment on this post with your answers!

Week 7 Discussion: Love

This week we looked at the virtue of love!  We played a hilarious game (Honey if you love me, would you please just smile?) in which few were able to keep a straight face!  We discussed the different Greek words used in the New Testament to describe love: eros, philia and agape.  We took a look at the difference in how our culture views love and how God loves us and calls us to love others (1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 1 John 4:8-16, Romans 8:35-39).  After reading Matthew 22:36-40, we used our new chalkboard wall to write and draw pictures of the ways we show our love for God, and the ways we love our neighbors.  Then we put our love of God and neighbor into action and wrote agape letters for the Honduras mission team leaving this weekend.  So, I want to know what you have done this week to show your love for God and neighbor.  Comment on this post with your answers!

 

Reminder!

Don't forget, we will not be meeting for Gathering this Sunday, October 31st!

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Week 6 Discussion: Justice

This week at FUSION Gathering, we discussed the virtue of JUSTICE!  We looked as Scripture passages like Isaiah 1:16-17, Micah 6:8, Matthew 7:12 and Matthew 19:16-30.  We talked about how God calls each of us to acts of justice though it may look different in each of our lives.  We looked at clips from "A Bug's Life" where Flick, the main character, seeks justice for his ant colony.  We talked about some of the similar injustices that are happening in our own world and how the churhc responds to them.  One thing (among many) mentioned was Operation Christmas Child.  So, together we spent the rest of our evening packing 50 shoeboxes for OCC and folding and preparing about 200 more boxes for others to pack!  A group of us also went out earlier that day to the Southside SPCA and volunteered with their open house.  Way to work for justice for ALL of God's creatures!  I want to know what else you have been doing this week to seek justice?  Comment on this post with your answers.

Week 5 Discussion: Adventure

This week we explored the virtue of adventure!  We took a look at a clip from "Up" and talked about how adventure is virtuous when we find ourselves trusting God and doing what we were called to do.  We reviewed the adventures of Moses that we talked about last week, and then looked at the adventures of Jonah!  Jonah went on his own adventure by not trusting and following God's calling to go to Ninevah and ended up being swallowed up by a big fish.  When Jonah finally decided to trust God and do what God called him to do, the people in Ninevah listened to God's word that Jonah spoke to them and were saved from destruction!  We took time to think about what adventures God may be calling us to today and in the future.  I asked everyone to continue to pray and reflect on this question throughout this week.  Comment on this post below with your reflections!

Then, we went on a little adventure of our own.  Teams of three and four looked up clues found in Bible verses to lead them to various locations around the church where they found their next clue!  Check out the pictures below of our adventures:

Week 4 Discussion: Courage

Last night we took a look at the virtue of courage.  We discussed that courage is the strength to overcome fear in order to do what is morally right.  We looked at the story of Moses and Joshua in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua.  God told Moses that he would not be able to cross the Jordan River with the Israelites into the Promised Land.  So, God called Joshua to be the next leader of the Israelite people and Joshua would be the one to lead them into the Promised Land.  God continually told Moses, Joshua and the people to "Be strong and courageous" because God knew it would take courage to lead and face their enemies.  Joshua had courage because he knew God would never leave him nor forsake him. 

We looked at a clip from "Cars" where Lightening McQueen shows courage in sacrificing winning the race in order to help a friend.  Then we looked at a clip from "The Incredibles" where Frozone, a superhero, is looking intently for his super suit in order to help the public from the danger of an enemy machine that is destroying the city just outside of his window.  While we know we don't have superpowers, there are situations in our every day lives where we are called to be courageous.  For example, standing up for a friend, standing up for our faith and beliefs, and having the courage to share God's love with someone else.  For a fun activity, we created our own superheros and decided what their name would be, what powers they would have, how they showed courage and we created their very own super suit!  Check out the pictures below:

Discussion question for this week:  How have you been courageous this week?  Comment on this post with your answers!