The Messiah as Son of God

This week we talked about Jesus' identity as the Son of God: both fully human and fully divine.  We started out with a little game called "I am...".  Each person received three squares of paper where they wrote down three different thing about themselves that were fairly specific (i.e. NOT I am a girl, but maybe I am into dance).  Then I shuffled them all up and re-distributed three to each person.  Their job was to tape the three descriptions onto the backs of those they thought they belonged to...without talking!  After finishing each person checked their taped descriptions and left on those that were correct, and tried again with those that were incorrect, this time being able to talk to one another and ask questions.  We learned that in many ways, those descriptions that were taped on us that were not the ones we wrote still described us pretty well!  Since most of us there Sunday night knew each other fairly well, we were able to figure out which descriptions belonged to which person without much thinking.

Just like there are people we know well and people who know us well, there were people who lived and walked with Jesus who knew him well.  Just as we know and can describe our friends and family members, these friends of Jesus could do the same with him.  Some of those people were those who wrote the first four books of the New Testament, called the Gospels (or good news).  They wrote about Jesus' life as they saw it and from the stories others told them about Jesus.

This week we looked specifically at Mark's Gospel, because one of Mark's goals was to emphasize to his readers that Jesus was and is the Son of God!  We discovered that throughout Mark there are four key witnesses to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.

The first one we see in passages like Mark 1:9-11 and 9:2-8 where God, God's self, serves as a witness to Jesus being God's Son.  The second we see in Mark 3:10-11 and 5:1-7 where demons and evil spirits serve as a witness, recognizing Jesus as God's Son even when others around Jesus did not!  The third comes from Jesus himself in Mark 14:32-36 and 55-64 where Jesus names himself as God's son.  And the fourth we see in Mark 15:37-39 where the Centurion or Roman Guard who was guarding Jesus' body on the cross gives witness to Jesus being the Son of God.

In some ways it seems like it would be easier for us to believe that Jesus was half human and half divine.  But we know that this is not the case.  Jesus was both 100% human and 100% God/Divine.  It doesn't seem to make sense, and it is a hard concept for us to grasp, but it is a true and holy mystery!  Without Jesus being fully human, he would not have truly suffered on the cross.  Without Jesus being fully divine, he would not be able to forgive and reconcile us from our sins.  Both are necessary and both are part of Jesus' nature as God's Son.  The youth will continue to ponder, pray and ask questions about Jesus as the Son of God throughout this week, and we will seek to wrestle with those questions when we gather again. Do you have any questions about Jesus as the Son of God?  Comment on this post with your thoughts and questions!

Here's a look at Sunday evening:

Don't forget THIS SUNDAY we will be helping collect donations at the end of both worship services for Souper Bowl of Caring.  And Sunday night we will not be having a regular FUSION Gathering meeting, but will be having a Super Bowl party at the Watson's Home!

The Messiah as Servant

This week we talked about Jesus' identity as a servant.  To get us ready for reading Isaiah, we played a version of Rock, Paper, Scissors called Lawyer, Jury, Judge!  We read Isaiah 1:2-18 like it was a court case where the prosecutor is bringing charges against Israel accusing them of their sin.  Then the Judge gives some background for the case.  And the defense attorney tries to defend God's people.  We see in this passage that despite Israel's sins, God is gracious and is willing to forgive them.  This isn't always an easy task for us to do when others are mean or harmful to us.  But God encourages us to forgive others and ask for forgiveness.

Later in Isaiah, there are 4 passages often called the servant songs.  We took the time to travel in groups, reading these servant songs and reflecting on several questions about each passage.  Through each of the servant songs, we see a better understanding of the characteristics of Jesus, the messiah, as a servant.  Someone who is kind, patient, forgiving, and ultimately, willing to give his own life in order to set us free of our sins.  We thought about ways we can be like Jesus as a servant this week.  What's something you can do to be a servant to others this week?  Comment on this post with your responses.

The Messiah as King

This Sunday we focused on our understanding of Jesus the Messiah as King!  We knew that the Israelites were waiting for a king...one that would make things right again among the nations.  So we spent time exploring this understanding of salvation through a king in Jesus.  We first took a look at two Psalms: Psalm 2 and Psalm 89:1-18.  We took time to look more closely at each of these by making notes and writing marks on them.  We circled key words, put question marks next to things we didn't understand, we highlighted phrases that stood out, we drew pictures of certain words or ideas, and we drew different emotion faces next to things that made us feel particular ways.  We really enjoyed this method of studying Scripture and plan to continue to use this method of reflecting on Scripture in our daily lives!  We talked about the similarities and differences between the two Psalms and what stood out to us about them.

Then we took a look at 2 Samuel 7:8-17.  In this passage, God is making a covenant with David through the prophet Nathan.  We see that God promises that an eternal king who God will call son will be born out of David's family.  The youth were excited to realize that God is talking about Jesus, and that Jesus is from the line of David!  How awesome that many many generations before Jesus was born, God is already promising to David that the true King that will reign for eternity and bring about true salvation will be one of his descendants!

What better way to end our evening than with a Royal Triathlon!  We participated in a three-part relay of royal games!  First, a king or queen must demonstrate perfect posture and balance, so we had to race balancing a book on our heads.  Second, a king or queen must dress in the finest clothing, so we had to put on jewels, a headpiece and a fine piece of linen and race up and back before the next person put on the attire.  Third, it is said that kings and queens eat from a silver spoon, so we each had to balance a cotton ball on a spoon held in our mouths and race up and back to see which team could collect the most cotton balls at the end of a time limit!  It was a lot of fun and quite amusing.

This Friday, January 20th, meet us at Sunchase for a FUSION Youth night at the movies!  Be there at 6:30pm for the 6:50pm showing of Joyful Noise (rated PG-13).  Bring extra money for popcorn and a drink if you want snacks.  See you at the movies!

Pursue Series: The Messiah as High Priest

Welcome back after the holidays!  This Sunday we began a new series called Pursue: Knowing the Messiah.  Throughout this series we will be exploring the ways the Bible describes and helps us understand who Jesus is.  This Sunday we talked about Jesus as the High Priest.  We looked at Leviticus and saw that the priests helped people atone for their sins through animal sacrifices, and the high priest specifically represented all of Israel before God.  Then we see in Hebrews that Jesus is described as the ultimate high priest.  Through Jesus' sacrifice of himself (not other animals), we are cleansed of our sins and fully forgiven.  This is the ultimate sacrifice!

In creation, God made God's masterpieces, including humanity.  But through the original sin of Adam and Eve, we have become a sinful people.  Just as an art masterpiece can be marred by imperfections, we too are marred or imperfect because of sin.  But, through Jesus the messiah as the high priest, there is hope that we can be restored through Jesus' sacrifice of himself.  Even though we are sinful people, we must remember that we are still God's masterpieces through our restoration by Jesus' love and forgiveness.

Join us next Sunday as we explore Jesus the Messiah as King!

The Advent Conspiracy: Love All

We've talked about worshipping fully, spending less and giving more this Advent season...but what does it look like to love all?  If we are truly living in to God's calling on our lives, we will not only make it a point to spend time and do something special for our family and friends this Christmas.  We will also spread God's love to those we don't know...those who are often considered "the least of these" (see Matthew 25:31-46).  Before going up to watch the children's musical, we thought together of various ways we could  love all not just this Christmas, but into next year.  We brainstormed many local and global ideas of ways we could meet needs in our own community and around the world.  Then we decided on one local project and one global project we were going to commit to as the youth of Farmville United Methodist Church in the coming year!  The youth decided as a local project they wanted to fix some warm meals for those in need.  And as a global project, they want to collect and donate kids clothing and shoes for children in need around the world.  We will spend time after the new year working on details on how we are going to spread God's love in these ways!  I am so proud of our youth.  They are passionate faith filled teenagers that really want to make a difference in this world.  They jump at opportunities to do mission work and consistently share God's love with those around them.  They have embraced this Advent Conspiracy and are thinking about how they can "do Christmas" differently this year.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.  May God bless you and your family, and may you share that blessing with everyone you see.  Peace!

A few pictures from the Children's Christmas Musical: Silent Night, Holy Mice!

The Advent Conspiracy: Spend Less & Give More

Christmas has turned into a lot of this: Consumerism.  We easily fall into the trap of worshipping during Christmas by buying a lot of stuff.  Stuff that is often pretty impersonal and ends up in a closet, attic, or garage shortly after the hype of Christmas is over.  This Advent season, our youth are thinking about ways that we can celebrate the real reason for the season: the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ!

We've all received impersonal gifts in our lives...that fruitcake from your neighbor, the t-shirt that immediately goes in the pile to give to goodwill, or maybe that book that you know you will never read.  I'm willing to bet, though, that you've probably been the giver of some of these impersonal gifts as well.  That co-worker that you just feel obligated to get something for or your crazy Aunt who you never know what to get.  Impersonal gifts are just so easy!  No time or energy goes in to them.  They are convenient.  And often, they are exactly the things that the stores and TV commercials and advertisements try to persuade you to buy.

But what if Christmas looked differently?  What if we started spending less on the impersonal stuff that doesn't mean anything to anyone (giver or receiver), and started giving more in ways that please God, share God's love with others and mean something to both the giver and the receiver?  What might that look like?

Well maybe it would look like buying a chicken or a pig through World Vision to help a family in need and purchasing it in honor of one of your family members.  Maybe it would look like spending time with a friend or family member that could really use the company this holiday season.  Maybe it would look like creating a photo album of favorite pictures of you and the recipient.  Whatever it looks like, it's probably going to cost you in time and energy, but isn't that what God calls us to?  God doesn't ask us to buy each other stuff.  God asks us to be present with one another, to reconcile broken relationships, to be in community with one another, and to serve one another.

And God calls us to go beyond our own families and friends to share God's love with everyone all around the world!  What might that look like?  On Sunday night, the youth drew pictures of what God's love might look like to give to kids living on the streets in Uganda, Africa.

As you prepare your hearts for Christmas this Advent season, I challenge you to re-think the way you will do Christmas this year.  How might you give relationally rather than impersonally?  How might you spread the love of God this Christmas by spending less and giving more?  Enter the Christmas story, and spread the good news that God sent his son to live among us and truly be Immanuel, God with us!

Don't forget to register for the Farmville District Youth Retreat by this Friday, December 16th at noon!  The retreat is January 6-8th at Blackstone Conference and Retreat Center for youth in grades 7-12.  Contact me if you need a copy of the registration forms!

High School Conference Retreat

We had a blast at the high school conference retreat at Eagle Eyrie this year!  We ate good food, worshipped with a great speaker and band, packed over 800 hygiene kits, had some awesome small group time, made new friends and played some great games!  Check it out: