October 10, 2009
Last night we finally jumped into the Bible as part of our group time. It was a bit of a challenge because the group was quite large. There were a little over 40 people there. But, it still was remarkable how the process worked. It is so much fun!
Basically, after we sang some songs for awhile, I asked four people to grab a Bible and read Genesis 1:1-2:4 together out of the Message Remix (I love this translation). I asked them to leave the room and begin preparing an interpretation done through acting. They decided on their own to include narration. While they were preparing for 10 minutes I had the rest of our group open to the same passage.
First, they read through the passage as many times as they could while the actors were prepping. I told them to just read the story until they were asked to do something different. So some got through the story a couple times and others might not have finished. The point was to begin reading quietly at one’s own pace. When I went out to check on our actors I asked one of my seniors, Brittney, to have the group read the passage aloud as a group.
She doesn’t know it but she did something brilliant. I was completely floored. So, there I was just outside the door to the youth room talking to the actors when I begin to hear the rest of the group reading in unison. It was awesome! I thought they might each read a verse or one person would read it by themselves but out loud. This created a very cool environment to act out the passage. Not that the energy level was low but it went way up by this simple process.
When they group finished reading, the actors entered and began to perform immediately. While they were performing the group was considering four questions that were posted on a white board. One of those questions was:
1) What did you notice for the first time in this story? (Thank you Echo the Story)
Just like the weeks preceding this week when we used pop culture stories, the group started pulling observations out that can only come from a close reading of scripture. Now, anyone that studies the Bible knows it isn’t always easy to read scripture closely. We tend to wonder about and only see the obvious or the same things we always see. Well, students were surprised that water was separated from water. Students were surprised that God was referred to as “us.” Students were surprised to find out that “man” being created was actually understood as “human” or male and female.
Another great movement took place. The students started correcting and challenging each other. I actually squashed this for right now because of the delivery methods of rebuttals but told them in the future we would be conversing about differences in our understanding of the story and the “facts” of the story.
Because of this conversation we were able to begin exploring questions like, “Does the story change or just the way we understand it?” I absolutely loved the process.
We closed our evening by considering the question, “How am I implicated by this story? Where do I find myself in this story?” Unfortunately we were short on time so we didn’t dive in a whole lot but one student was very insightful. Elizabeth pointed out that we were created to be stewards of God’s creation. If that isn’t a good ending to a Bible study…I don’t know what is.
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October 8, 2009
I’m really enjoying the whole storying process and the event itself. the last couple weeks have been a great learning experience as well as time of teaching.
The last weekend of September my church middle school group attended a NorthStar Church Network retreat called Spark…A Desire for God, A Desire for Community, A Desire for the Kingdom. It is always wonderful to create ministry programs with Josh, Stephen, and Kevin. We even had a couple more folks join us this time. Everyone did a great job planning the event (special shout out to Josh and Stephen). During the retreat we had three large group worship times. I had the privilege to speak during the first session on Saturday morning. I decided to try some large group storying.
First, I reenacted Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi. Besides having a blast because this is my favorite movie of all time I was able to introduce the camp to a pre-storying process. I did the following:
1) Created space for the congregation to interact with the story I was telling. They were a “laugh track.” I pointed to them and they’d become the “laugh.” This helps because I’m really not very funny and it gives them permission to laugh and interact. I also had them give me introductory “Star Wars” music. They were all singing at different times.
2) After I retold the story in my own way, I made room for them to shout out answers to questions such as, “Who likes this story?” “Why do you like this story?” “How could a character have done something different to change the outcome of the story?” “How has this story affected your life?”
I thought they might not respond to the questions but they were all too happy to shout out answers and even take it seriously. One student asked, “What would the story have been like if Luke killed Vader?” Another asked, “What if Vader didn’t kill the Emperor?”
After we did this short 15 minute process I began with the creation story in chapter 1 of Genesis. I ended up reading the story rather than acting it out (I had some other things planned but we had technology problems). After finishing reading the story I again asked the same questions to the group. This time I had them break into groups of 4-5 and answer them. The trick this time was that they had to start by summarizing the story to each other. They had to listen and recall what was read so that they had the story right. It was here that I learned one thing…I didn’t create a system for receiving feedback from this part of the process so I had to make one up. It seemed to work partially. It was a bit disorganized but still provided an opportunity for the small groups to hear each others voices.
Essentially, each group appointed a spokesperson. That person than shared their groups response to at least one of the questions. One spokesperson summarized the story, another was insightful and asked, “What if God had decided not to create this at all? What would be the purpose?” A second group asked, “What if animals were appointed to the place humans were?” These middle schoolers were completely immersed into the story. It was exciting to see and hear what they came up with.
Now some may figure that these aren’t important questions and I’d disagree with them, but what this does show is that our students can be taught to read scripture closely, ask good questions, and join in very important conversations. By reading scripture this way they are embracing the Bible as a means for possessing what my friends Josh and Stephen call a “portable faith.” Before we know it, a portable faith might lead to being a disciple! Who would have thought?
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