Do you do rememberance day wih the young people you work with?
Does it hold importance to you?
I have led many assemblies in schools for remeberance but one really stands out.
We took Frank from our church and interviewed him and he told his story of being caught by the Germans and escaping 3 times, one as part of the escape the “Great Escape” film is based on.
This is an unusual reflective service that stems from a medieval liturgy. Tenebrae is Latin for shadows and it is sombre service of communal repentance for the sins that made the crucifixion necessary.
The basic idea is the church or room is lit with candles which are gradually put out as the service procedes until the congregation or group sit in total darkness.
If you are of the Anglican tradition then you are probably used to the giving of Palm Crosses on Palm Sunday but other traditions may have never used them.
A Palm cross is a simple cross made from Palm Leaf they are a powerful symbol and can be used creatively.
Journalling is such a powerful tool for seeing how God is at work in your life and Advent is a great oportunity to introduce it to young people.
It is tradional a time of waiting, preperation, quiet reflection and anticipation of Gods mystery, what a great time to get young people expressing themselves in a new way.
Journalling is keeping record of your spiritual thoughts, prayers, thoughts, ideas, things you have read or things people have said to you.
Give examples to the young people of your own as an idea.To get them started you may want to produce a small book for the month with a suggested Bible passage.
Entries do not have to be long and could include things they are thankful to God for.
Things that struck them from the passage or others they read.
Reflections on what Christmas means to them, prayers, poems, art.
It is best not to dictate that it should be like this exactly as that stifles creativity.
For many it can be a time that starts a habit that then continues and it is a great spiritual discipline to build.
For some this may be to hard so why not try a group blog where the group can all add their entries and read everyone elses.. These can be set up for free and passwords set so only the group can access etc. This can be really powerful and gives you as a leader real insight into where your young people are at.
This is a great way to help make sure that the season does not get lost in the media swamp.
For this you need a large canvas and a good artist, A whole wall in the room you meet in would work well, in church would be good start to each week if all ages meet together. <P>
The idea is that each week as you are giving your talk the artist is building up a picture, the secret is that each week a part may be revealed but that it does not come to completion until the forth Sunday at the climax of your talk. <P>
The twelelve days of Christmas starts on Christmas day and ends on the 6th of January (Epithany).
Epithany celebrates the baptism of Jesus and the visit of the wise men.
This idea uses twelve as the key and works best if you give some teaching and set the challenge before hand.
Heres how it works:
Take 12 days
Take 12 Readings
Take 12 minutes each day
Bring 12 thoughts and reflections
The idea is that each young person takes twelve minutes each day to spend with God. In that time they are to read and reflect on the days reading which you have prepared for them and record their thoughts. On January 6th hold a service / meeting where everyone comes and shares 12 things they have got out of this time.
Encourage the young people to be creative in how they present these and you will end up with a powerful service and a group that have had a profound Christmas.
Of course do not forget to do it youself and allow the service to be fairly unstructured and free a this will add to the whole experience.
This does need an element of preparation but prep that is well worth it.
The idea is to put on a meal / party on New Years Eve that honours young peoples achievements over the previous year.
These could be faith achievements, but is also good to reward things like unsung heros; those that work in the background setting up etc everyweek.
It is also a great way to honour volunteers (extra timers) that give so much.
The more you go to town the better as it makes it more memorable.
We had fake oscars that were given out with a small gift but it is the speech of why they are being honoured that has the most impact and the appreciation from everyone else.
This does need a fair bit of forward planning, to think about those you wish to honour and sorting out the event.
Invites work well and these need to go out well before so people make it a date.
You can finish the proceedings with a rededicating everyone to God for the coming year.
If you just can not face doing this on New Years Eve then why not put one into your calender at another point.
Feeling appreciated and thanked is so powerful and always worth the time.
It is important with young people to make sure some do not feel left out or rejected but this is more in how you comunicate what the event is about and not to difficult with some thought,
