2014-2015 Youth Group Theme: JOURNEY
We'll regularly be adding material to this page, including a review of each session and other resources to enrich and equip you for your journey, so bookmark the page and come back often!
Teens & Parents can use the resources on this page in a variety of ways.
A synopsis of each group session is posted below.
Youth & Leaders, please add your insights, questions, and resources to our ongoing discussion on the Youth Journey Blog.
Check out the tentative schedule of upcoming sessions on the Youth Group Home Page.
Parents, find additional resources to support the spiritual life of your teen on our Parents Group Page.
Teens & Parents can use the resources on this page in a variety of ways.
- If you regularly attend youth group, these resources offer a review and material for further thought and conversation throughout the week.
- If you miss youth group, these resources allow you to catch up on what you missed.
- If you rarely or never attend youth group, you might still use or adapt these resources for your personal use at home as an individual, as a family, or with your own small group.
A synopsis of each group session is posted below.
Youth & Leaders, please add your insights, questions, and resources to our ongoing discussion on the Youth Journey Blog.
Check out the tentative schedule of upcoming sessions on the Youth Group Home Page.
Parents, find additional resources to support the spiritual life of your teen on our Parents Group Page.
Session 1: Mapping your Life
September 7th (Leader: Sylvia)
This year is all about journeys. One useful tool in charting a journey is a map.
Skim the books on your shelves. Which of your favorite non-fiction books include maps? Which of your favorite fiction books include maps?
Maps can help us navigate both literal and mythological landscapes. We can map physical journeys through the world around us, and we can map spiritual journeys through the world within us.
Spiritual practice for this leg of our journey: Create a map of your life, on which you can chart your own journeys through the coming year. The map can include real places (school, home, work etc.) as well as symbolic places (places of danger, rest, challenge, fun, etc.). Decorate a small person figure so that it represents you. Attach your person to your life map (using blue tape so you can easily move around and reposition yourself on your map.) You may create other figures, as well, to represent other significant people you encounter on your journey (family members, friends, mentors, etc.). Send a picture of your finished map to Sylvia, and we'll add it to our slideshow (above.)
This year is all about journeys. One useful tool in charting a journey is a map.
Skim the books on your shelves. Which of your favorite non-fiction books include maps? Which of your favorite fiction books include maps?
Maps can help us navigate both literal and mythological landscapes. We can map physical journeys through the world around us, and we can map spiritual journeys through the world within us.
Spiritual practice for this leg of our journey: Create a map of your life, on which you can chart your own journeys through the coming year. The map can include real places (school, home, work etc.) as well as symbolic places (places of danger, rest, challenge, fun, etc.). Decorate a small person figure so that it represents you. Attach your person to your life map (using blue tape so you can easily move around and reposition yourself on your map.) You may create other figures, as well, to represent other significant people you encounter on your journey (family members, friends, mentors, etc.). Send a picture of your finished map to Sylvia, and we'll add it to our slideshow (above.)
Session 2: Intro to Pilgrimage; Prayer Walk #1
September 21 (Leader: Megan)
The practice of pilgrimage is common, not only in Christianity, but in most world religions. A pilgrimage gives an outward, physical expression to an inward, spiritual journey. People may undertake a pilgrimage for a wide range of purposes: as a quest for enlightenment, a duty, or even a penance.
Spiritual practice for this leg of our journey: Go outside and take a short walk (~20 minutes). You may wish to begin your walk with the 4-fold journey prayer, below. Keep complete silence as you walk. Notice what draws your attention as you walk. Which of your senses are most active? What do you notice around you? What do you notice in your body? What do you notice in your mind and/or spirit? Do you feel an urge to do something as a result of something you noticed or experienced on your walk? Share your experience on our Youth Journey Blog.
The practice of pilgrimage is common, not only in Christianity, but in most world religions. A pilgrimage gives an outward, physical expression to an inward, spiritual journey. People may undertake a pilgrimage for a wide range of purposes: as a quest for enlightenment, a duty, or even a penance.
Spiritual practice for this leg of our journey: Go outside and take a short walk (~20 minutes). You may wish to begin your walk with the 4-fold journey prayer, below. Keep complete silence as you walk. Notice what draws your attention as you walk. Which of your senses are most active? What do you notice around you? What do you notice in your body? What do you notice in your mind and/or spirit? Do you feel an urge to do something as a result of something you noticed or experienced on your walk? Share your experience on our Youth Journey Blog.
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Session 3: The Spiritual Journey, Part 1
October 5 (Leader: Sylvia)
All people are on a spiritual journey. Different religions, cultures, and traditions employ different images, texts, and rituals to describe and navigate this universal human experience. In a great many traditions, including the Christian tradition, this universal spiritual journey has been described as a journey of four paths, or stages.
For each of the four paths on the journey of the human spirit, we can identify:
For example, in the Christian tradition we might see the 4-fold spiritual journey this way:
1st Path
Challenge/Question: CHANGE/ How do I face change?
Landscape: Mountain
Spiritual Practice: Letting go
Spiritual Text: The Gospel of Matthew
2nd Path
Challenge/Question: SUFFERING/ How do I move through suffering?
Landscape: Stormy Sea
Spiritual Practice: Waiting
Spiritual Text: The Gospel of Mark
3rd Path
Challenge/Question: ENLIGHTENMENT and JOY/ How do I receive joy or experience union?
Landscape: Beautiful Garden
Spiritual Practice: Opening and Receiving
Spiritual Text: The Gospel of John
4th Path
Challenge/Question: GROWTH THROUGH SERVICE/ How do I continue to grow and serve?
Landscape: Long road
Spiritual Practice: Serving
Spiritual Text: The Gospel of Luke (and Acts)
Spiritual practice for this leg of our journey: Which of the four paths, listed above, do you feel you are on right now? (You may be on more than one path at a time, in various areas of your life, but one path is usually dominant.) Which challenge, question, landscape, practice, or text do you feel drawn to today? Spend some time (either in your imagination, or in real life) hanging out in the landscape connected to that path (mountain, sea, garden, or road). While you're there, ponder the challenge, question, practice, or text connected to that path. What comes up for you? Take some time to journal, sketch, or pray about it. Share your experience on our Youth Journey Blog.
All people are on a spiritual journey. Different religions, cultures, and traditions employ different images, texts, and rituals to describe and navigate this universal human experience. In a great many traditions, including the Christian tradition, this universal spiritual journey has been described as a journey of four paths, or stages.
For each of the four paths on the journey of the human spirit, we can identify:
- A central question, or challenge that we face at that stage of the journey
- A landscape (that serves as an icon or metaphor for that stage of the journey)
- Spiritual practices and prayers to sustain us at the stage of the journey
- Spiritual texts to guide us through that stage of the journey
For example, in the Christian tradition we might see the 4-fold spiritual journey this way:
1st Path
Challenge/Question: CHANGE/ How do I face change?
Landscape: Mountain
Spiritual Practice: Letting go
Spiritual Text: The Gospel of Matthew
2nd Path
Challenge/Question: SUFFERING/ How do I move through suffering?
Landscape: Stormy Sea
Spiritual Practice: Waiting
Spiritual Text: The Gospel of Mark
3rd Path
Challenge/Question: ENLIGHTENMENT and JOY/ How do I receive joy or experience union?
Landscape: Beautiful Garden
Spiritual Practice: Opening and Receiving
Spiritual Text: The Gospel of John
4th Path
Challenge/Question: GROWTH THROUGH SERVICE/ How do I continue to grow and serve?
Landscape: Long road
Spiritual Practice: Serving
Spiritual Text: The Gospel of Luke (and Acts)
Spiritual practice for this leg of our journey: Which of the four paths, listed above, do you feel you are on right now? (You may be on more than one path at a time, in various areas of your life, but one path is usually dominant.) Which challenge, question, landscape, practice, or text do you feel drawn to today? Spend some time (either in your imagination, or in real life) hanging out in the landscape connected to that path (mountain, sea, garden, or road). While you're there, ponder the challenge, question, practice, or text connected to that path. What comes up for you? Take some time to journal, sketch, or pray about it. Share your experience on our Youth Journey Blog.
Session 4: The Spiritual Journey, Part 2
October 19 (Leader: Sylvia)
As we move through our lives, facing challenges in our outer world, we also face challenges in our inner, spiritual world. The spiritual challenges we face fall into four main categories, or "paths" on our spiritual journey:
1-The challenge of CHANGE
2-The challenge of SUFFERING
3-The challenge of JOY & CONNECTION
4-The challenge of PERSEVERANCE & SERVICE
Spiritual practices for this leg of our journey:
A) Think over the past week. Which spiritual challenge best characterizes the inner challenges you have been facing lately? Which challenge connects most with your life today? The challenge of CHANGE? SUFFERING? JOY & CONNECTION? PERSEVERANCE & SERVICE?
B) What are your favorite song(s) this week? What song(s) do you want to put on "repeat" and listen to over and over again? Make a list of your favorite song(s) from this past week. How do these songs relate to your spiritual challenges? How does each song relate to CHANGE? SUFFERING? JOY & CONNECTION? PERSEVERANCE & SERVICE?
C) Find a verse from each gospel that speaks to the challenges on the spiritual journey.
Look in MATTHEW for a verse that speaks to the challenge of CHANGE.
Look in MARK for a verse that speaks to the challenge of SUFFERING.
Look in JOHN for a verse that speaks to the challenge of JOY, ENLIGHTENMENT, or CONNECTION.
Look in LUKE for a verse that speaks to the challenge of PERSEVERANCE or SERVICE.
Using the search tools from the Oremus BIble Browser, you can search for any word or phrase in any book(s) of the Bible. When you find a verse you like, click "show passage" to read the verse in its larger context.
Share your favorite verses and songs on our Youth Journey Blog page.
As we move through our lives, facing challenges in our outer world, we also face challenges in our inner, spiritual world. The spiritual challenges we face fall into four main categories, or "paths" on our spiritual journey:
1-The challenge of CHANGE
2-The challenge of SUFFERING
3-The challenge of JOY & CONNECTION
4-The challenge of PERSEVERANCE & SERVICE
Spiritual practices for this leg of our journey:
A) Think over the past week. Which spiritual challenge best characterizes the inner challenges you have been facing lately? Which challenge connects most with your life today? The challenge of CHANGE? SUFFERING? JOY & CONNECTION? PERSEVERANCE & SERVICE?
B) What are your favorite song(s) this week? What song(s) do you want to put on "repeat" and listen to over and over again? Make a list of your favorite song(s) from this past week. How do these songs relate to your spiritual challenges? How does each song relate to CHANGE? SUFFERING? JOY & CONNECTION? PERSEVERANCE & SERVICE?
C) Find a verse from each gospel that speaks to the challenges on the spiritual journey.
Look in MATTHEW for a verse that speaks to the challenge of CHANGE.
Look in MARK for a verse that speaks to the challenge of SUFFERING.
Look in JOHN for a verse that speaks to the challenge of JOY, ENLIGHTENMENT, or CONNECTION.
Look in LUKE for a verse that speaks to the challenge of PERSEVERANCE or SERVICE.
Using the search tools from the Oremus BIble Browser, you can search for any word or phrase in any book(s) of the Bible. When you find a verse you like, click "show passage" to read the verse in its larger context.
Share your favorite verses and songs on our Youth Journey Blog page.
Session 5: Journeying with Scripture
November 2014 (Leaders: Thomas & Kerri)
As we journey through the month of November, Thomas is helping us dig into scripture. We've been following the journeys of two characters, in particular. Samuel (from the Hebrew Scriptures) and Paul (from the New Testament.)
Spiritual practices for this leg of our journey:
Take some time to read the story of Samuel in the scripture passages below, then reflect on how Samuel's story might connect with the stories from your own life.
1 Samuel 3
* What surprises or intrigues you about the story of Samuel's "call"?
* Have you ever been called to do a task that you weren't sure you were up to?
* Have you ever felt like God was calling you to do something?
* Have you ever been in the position of having to deliver bad news to someone?
* Have you ever felt caught between two different authority figures?
1 Samuel 8-9
* The people want a king to be like the other nations. Why do you think it's so important to be like other groups or like other individuals? How is this human struggle evident in your life or the life of people around you?
* Samuel tries to talk the people out of their desire for a king with a logical argument. When was the last time someone tried to talk you out of something using reason? How did that go for you? Is reason the best way to persuade you? Or are you best swayed by emotion? By the sharing of a personal story?
* God finally relents and tells Samuel to let the people have a king. Is this characteristic of the God you know through experience and through study - a God who lets people have their own way? Whatever your answer, are you cool with that? Do you prefer that God's will prevail or do you appreciate the freedom to make choices (and mistakes)?
* Samuel has just anointed Saul king but we haven't read about how his kingship turns out. How do you think this story of King Saul is going to unfold and end, given the way it started? Are you familiar with it already? Where does this story fit into the bigger story about God and God's people?
Share your thoughts on our Youth Journey Blog page.
As we journey through the month of November, Thomas is helping us dig into scripture. We've been following the journeys of two characters, in particular. Samuel (from the Hebrew Scriptures) and Paul (from the New Testament.)
Spiritual practices for this leg of our journey:
Take some time to read the story of Samuel in the scripture passages below, then reflect on how Samuel's story might connect with the stories from your own life.
1 Samuel 3
* What surprises or intrigues you about the story of Samuel's "call"?
* Have you ever been called to do a task that you weren't sure you were up to?
* Have you ever felt like God was calling you to do something?
* Have you ever been in the position of having to deliver bad news to someone?
* Have you ever felt caught between two different authority figures?
1 Samuel 8-9
* The people want a king to be like the other nations. Why do you think it's so important to be like other groups or like other individuals? How is this human struggle evident in your life or the life of people around you?
* Samuel tries to talk the people out of their desire for a king with a logical argument. When was the last time someone tried to talk you out of something using reason? How did that go for you? Is reason the best way to persuade you? Or are you best swayed by emotion? By the sharing of a personal story?
* God finally relents and tells Samuel to let the people have a king. Is this characteristic of the God you know through experience and through study - a God who lets people have their own way? Whatever your answer, are you cool with that? Do you prefer that God's will prevail or do you appreciate the freedom to make choices (and mistakes)?
* Samuel has just anointed Saul king but we haven't read about how his kingship turns out. How do you think this story of King Saul is going to unfold and end, given the way it started? Are you familiar with it already? Where does this story fit into the bigger story about God and God's people?
Share your thoughts on our Youth Journey Blog page.
Session 6: Sacred Journeys
January 2015
This month there's a series on PBS called Sacred Journeys that documents pilgrims from a variety of spiritual traditions on six different spiritual journeys throughout the world. Explore their stories at http://www.pbs.org/sacredjourneys. Check out all the currently available videos and clips at http://video.pbs.org/video/2365284756/. Preview the series below.
This month there's a series on PBS called Sacred Journeys that documents pilgrims from a variety of spiritual traditions on six different spiritual journeys throughout the world. Explore their stories at http://www.pbs.org/sacredjourneys. Check out all the currently available videos and clips at http://video.pbs.org/video/2365284756/. Preview the series below.
Another PBS series worth checking out is Walking the Bible. This video series is based on Bruce Feiler's book, Walking the Bible, in which Bruce describes his perilous, 10,000-mile journey retracing the Five Books of Moses through the desert. When we can walk in the footsteps of others (literally as well as figuratively), their stories come to life for us in a whole new way!
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Session 7 Journeying with the Parable of the Good Samaritan
February 2015
Read Luke 10:25-37. (The Parable of the Good Samaritan)
Make a list of the characters in the story.
Take a 5-30 minute walk in silence. As you walk, imagine you are traveling the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. As you walk, try to adopt the perspective of each character in the story. Imagine: what are they thinking? what are they feeling? what is their motivation?
After your walk, take some time to journal or discuss your insights with others. What came to mind as you walked? If you were to re-cast the parable with characters from your real, modern-day life, who would the characters be? Who would you be?
Share your thoughts on our Youth Journey Blog page.
Read Luke 10:25-37. (The Parable of the Good Samaritan)
Make a list of the characters in the story.
Take a 5-30 minute walk in silence. As you walk, imagine you are traveling the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. As you walk, try to adopt the perspective of each character in the story. Imagine: what are they thinking? what are they feeling? what is their motivation?
After your walk, take some time to journal or discuss your insights with others. What came to mind as you walked? If you were to re-cast the parable with characters from your real, modern-day life, who would the characters be? Who would you be?
Share your thoughts on our Youth Journey Blog page.
Session 8 Beginning the Journey of Lent
Watch "Ash Wednesday & Lent in 2 minutes". Take a short walk to meditate on the questions below, then journal or discuss your thoughts.
- What is one thing you learned?
- According to the video, Lent is about three things: 1) Repentance 2) Renewal 3) Community. Which of these three themes resonates most strongly for you? Where do you most feel a need for Repentance, Renewal, or Community in your own life?
- Traditionally, Christians have embraced three spiritual practices during Lent: 1) Prayer 2) Fasting 3) Giving. What practice might you commit to for the 40 days of Lent that might help move you towards the Repentance, Renewal, or Community you seek?
- Share your ideas on our Share Lent blog.
Session 9 Lent Madness--Saints to Inspire your Journey
Wherever we go, we never journey alone. According to the Christian tradition, the "Communion of Saints"--our fellow pilgrims in faith, both living and dead--walk with us, pray for us, and inspire us on our journeys.
One fun way to learn about some of the saints who might inspire us on our journey is to play Lent Madness! For each of the 40 days of Lent, Lent Madness presents two saints who are in competition for the "Golden Halo." Each day of Lent, go to lent madness.org to learn about the saints and cast your vote for the winner!
One fun way to learn about some of the saints who might inspire us on our journey is to play Lent Madness! For each of the 40 days of Lent, Lent Madness presents two saints who are in competition for the "Golden Halo." Each day of Lent, go to lent madness.org to learn about the saints and cast your vote for the winner!