|
|
|
UMYF Sunday Nights
This is the heart and soul of Youth Group. Each week, youth meet to grow together in their faith. Sunday programming has four main features: a meet and greet/hang out/enjoy each others company in a non-planned way time; a meal provided by parents; programming led by youth and guided by the Youth Minister; and a closing devotional.
Programming is built around the programmatic passages discussed above. Roughly speaking, the UMYF program calendar is built around Acts of Justice, Acts of Kindness, and Acts of Formation. That accounts for three Sundays per month. The other Sunday will usually be some sort of team building activity, with an occasional game night, or pool party, or bowling trip thrown in for good measure!
Fifth Sundays, occurring four times per year, will be dedicated to activities that involve youth and parents together. Other opportunities will be provided throughout the year for youth and parents to enjoy each others company and share their faith journey.
There is no Sunday UMYF on family weekends, such as Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Thanksgiving, etc.
Everything we do in Arapaho UMYF should fulfill one or more of Micah's admonishments: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. In 1743, Wesley articulated these principles in his Nature, Design, and Rules of the United Societies as follows:
First: By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind.
Secondly: By doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all.
Thirdly: By attending upon all the ordinances of God. We will refer to these as Acts of Justice, Acts of Kindness, and Acts of Formation.
---------------------------------------------------
Acts of Justice
It is instructive that Micah spoke of justice first in his list. Acts of kindness without corresponding acts of justice can many times ring hollow. If we build houses for the poor in Juarez while ignoring the causes of their poverty, we may be doing little more than making ourselves feel better about being in a position of tremendous privilege in God's creation.
No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night.
We know that every moment is a moment of grace, every hour an offering; not to share them would mean to betray them. Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to those who need us desperately.
And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Christians are called to just such passion for the 'other,' whoever they may be. Our incarnational theology teaches us that by standing up for the 'other' we are standing up for God and God's will for the world.
In Arapaho UMYF, we study issues of justice and explore what our response to them should be as Christians and United Methodists. Youth research and present issues such as the modern slave trade, the root causes of poverty, addiction, etc. This is in keeping with 'Our historic opposition to evils such as smuggling, inhumane prison conditions, slavery, drunkenness, and child labor, which was 'founded upon a vivid sense of God's wrath against human injustice and wastage.'
Sadly, many of the issues that prompted the beginnings of the Methodist movement in the 18th century are still problems in the world today. Our goal is not (necessarily) to make activists of youth. It is rather to allow the space to study the problems of the world and discern what should be our proper response as Christians and United Methodists.
---------------------------------------------------
Acts of Kindness
There is a Sufi story that could appear in any of the prophets:
Past the seeker, as he prayed, came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them, the holy one went down into deep prayer and cried, 'Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?'
And out of the long silence, God said: 'I did do something about them. I made you.'
Acts of Justice seek to remedy the causes of the pain and brokenness in the world. Acts of Kindness seek to soothe that pain and heal the brokenness where possible, reaching out in love to those in need to bring comfort, hope, and the message of God's love.
These are the types of things that Jesus talks about in Matthew 25:31-46, things like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and imprisoned. Jesus promised us (or warned us, as the case may be) that when we do these things (or don't do them), we are caring for (or again, not caring for) him.
These are the things that Jesus talks about in Luke 10:25-37, the parable of the Good Samaritan. You know the story, a man is beaten and robbed, left for dead by the side of the road. A priest and a Levite both pass him without stopping, but the Samaritan goes out of his way to help, bandaging his wounds, taking him to an inn where it is safe, and paying the innkeeper to look after him while he heals. Jesus asks which of the three was a neighbor to the man, and is greeted with the obvious answer the Samaritan. Jesus then closes the parable with the punch line, 'Go and do likewise.'
In Arapaho UMYF, we take that command seriously. We are doing likewise when we go on Mission Trip. We are doing likewise when we participate in all those fundraisers to support that trip. We are doing likewise when we do local service work, such as serving food at the Salvation Army, painting a hallway in the church, taking turkeys to shut-ins at Thanksgiving, selling pumpkins at Arapaho's Pumpkin Patch. And we have it on good authority that that's what we're supposed to be doing!
---------------------------------------------------
Acts of Formation
Spiritual formation is that process by which we deepen our relationship with God and Jesus Christ. Wesley called this process 'attending upon all the ordinances of God,' and listed as examples several of the disciplines practiced by Christians for the past twenty centuries: participating in public worship; partaking in the Lord's Supper; family and private prayer; Bible study; fasting; etc.
In Arapaho UMYF, we study these spiritual disciplines in an intentional way, reaching back to our rich faith heritage to connect with ways of nurturing our spiritual journeys. This process is older than Christianity itself. Indeed, early Christianity was known as 'the Way,' an image that vividly depicts what spiritual formation is all about.
Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Do not neglect the gift that is in you. Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
(1 Timothy 4:7b-8, 10, 12, 14a, 15-16)
We believe that not only are youth capable of developing a deep spirituality over the course of their time in UMYF, but that by doing so they become better leaders in the church for both today and the future. Studying and practicing the spiritual disciplines allows them to develop and nurture the gifts that God has given each of them, and deepens their relationship with their Creator.
Martin Buber tells a story of an early Hasidic Master who had a keen insight on spirituality:
Rabbi Zusya said "In the coming world, they will not ask me: 'Why were you not Moses?' They will ask me: 'Why were you not Zusya?"
Walking humbly with our God means developing a personal spirituality, learning how to be in relationship with God, and growing into the people God calls us to be.
|