Save Room for Thanks Living  It's Your Move Work Zone and High Way Groups Set Up: Before the meal set up the LCD projector. After eating show the DV8 clips & slides to start the lesson - 16 min. Announcements: No Chat Room this week, No Youth Thanksgiving weekend, Cookie Pick-up in 2 weeks! After the DV8 portion   Save Room for Thanks Living 3 min Say: Have you ever known anyone to be too thankful? If there's one thing teenagers (and all the rest of us, for that matter) need to be more mindful of, it's being thankful. It's really a very simple concept: Being grateful makes us content. Being grateful protects us from dangers like greed, lust, and envy. Being grateful helps us meet the needs of others and not be self-absorbed. Being grateful draws us closer in our relationship with Jesus. Know any teenagers who could use a lesson about thankfulness? God often uses other people to show us his love or to do his work in our lives. Even those of us who often say, "Thank you" can think of people we haven't thanked. Perhaps we realized late that we should have thanked the people, or maybe we plan to say thanks but just haven't gotten around to it yet. It might have slipped our minds, or maybe it didn't seem important enough for us to actually say, "Thank you." A number of people have said that the leprosy of biblical times was like AIDS is today-socially stigmatizing, family separating, lonely, deforming, and terminal. You'd think that someone cured of this dreaded disease would certainly be grateful. Tonight we're going to take a look at the story of ten cleansed lepers. Nine couldn't stop long enough to give thanks. This Thanksgiving, will you be able to save some room for thanks living? Break into Journey Groups   Moving In Work Zone & High Way  Ten Lepers 10 min Needed: 10 identical small gifts wrapped ina bigger container, instruction slips Set Up: Put all the smaller gifts inside a box/bag and wrap it so that it looks special! (Do no individually wrap the smaller gifts. Write instructions on slips of paper for each youth and put them in a bowl. - On 1 slip of paper: "Do not show this to anyone. Do not talk about it to anyone. Congratulations: You are the grand prize winner! Later when I announce the prize, come forward and claim your prize! There is a catch. If ANYONE asks you to share, you MUST give them one of the smaller prizes found inside, even if it means you will have none left for yourself!" - On 10 of the slips of paper, write the following instructions: "Do not show this to anyone. Do not talk about it to anyone. You are not the grand prize winner. Someone will be announced as a grand prize winner. Once the person has unwrapped the prize, go to them and ask them to share it with you. When they do, do not say ANYTHING. Do NOT say thank you or anything else. Take the candy and return to your seat. If you say anything after receiving one piece of the prize, you will lose it" - On the remaining slips of paper (one for each other person participating) write: "Do not show this to anyone. Do not talk about it to anyone. Something interesting is going to happen today. Watch carefully. Do not do make any comments until I announce that "We are going to discuss what just happened." After passing out all the slips of paper, make up a contest that ends with the one you gave the "winner" slip of paper winning. Start with something nearly everyone can claim. Raise your hand if you: - Got here in a vehicle tonight - Are a male (or female which ever your winner is.) - Others until you have the winner Award the prize and encourage the others to look at their papers if they aren't catching on. ASK:  - What was strange about what just happened? To the grand prize winner:  - How did it feel to receive the prize?  - Did you say any words of thanks for it? why or why not?  - How did it feel to have to give what you received away to everyone else?  - Were you upset that no one said "thank you"?  - Would you have felt different if someone has expressed a few words of thanks? To the 10 who received gifts:  - Did any of you receiving the candy feel bad about accepting it without expressing your thanks? To all:  - Why is "thanks" important?   Moving On Work Zone & High Way  Work Zone can break into smaller groups at this point. One Gave Thanks 5-7 minutes Read Luke 17:11-19: On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Sama'ria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then said Jesus, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well." Explain: Lepers were required to keep away from people in fear that others would catch their disease. The disease is quite terrible. They cannot feel anything. No pain, nothing. Because of this they get infections and injure themselves without knowing it. Then the infection spreads and they smell like rotting meat. They often lose fingers, arms, feet and other body parts. Lepers were outcasts. Their condition had made them unclean in the eyes of the public and the authorities. They were not allowed to join in with the rest of society. They could not touch anyone and no one dared to touch them. They could not touch anything that others would touch. Lepers were not allowed to mingle with the public in any way. If the lepers had tried to approach Jesus there would have been a riot. Instead, they kept their distance and shouted all together as one voice "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" In this way, Jesus was drawn to them. By what they had heard about Jesus, they knew that had the power to heal them. Jesus healed them, but then Jesus did something that may seem a little strange. He asked them to go to the Priests? Why? Because even though healed, people would want to have a public validation that they had  been healed. Only the Priests could do that. Priests were the ones who could inspect a leper and say, "yes, you are clean now, go free. You don't have to remain an outcast anymore". By this, Jesus not only healed the lepers, but also brought them back into fellowship with the community. ASK:  - How do you think our Savior felt as the lepers left?  - How do they think it felt when the one leper returned to thank Jesus for healing him?  - What are some things that have happened to you for which you should be thankful?   Moving Up Work Zone & High Way Thanksgiving Memory Game 10 minutes Have the youth complete the following two phrases.   - At Thanksgiving dinner I ate&ldots;  - This thanksgiving, I am thankful for... How to Play: 1. Everyone sits in a circle. 2. Start the game by choosing someone to say one of the phrases then add something you ate... (or would like to eat) 3. The next player must repeat what is said and then add something they ate. 4. Each player in sequence must repeat the previous responses in the exact same order then add one of their own. 5. Players cannot add something that is already mentioned in the list. 6. If a player makes a mistake, their response automatically becomes "nothing". 7. The game continues around the circle until it gets back to the original player. Play both rounds then continue. ASK:  - Was it easy or difficult to think of new things you were thankful for?  - Were there some things mentioned by people that were a surprise to you?  - Were there things in the list that were mentioned by other people, but that you were NOT thankful for?  - If you played this game every day, do you think your answers would change?  - If you played this game every day, do you think your life would be different? Your perspective?  - Why is an attitude of gratefulness, of thankfulness important?  - How does an attitude of Thankfulness change us? What effect does it have on the way we approach life and other people?  - How can you cultivate the habit of being thankful in your own life? High Way - Return to the Gym for Game & Closing&ldots;   Moving Out Work Zone & High Way  Dinner Table Upset  Needed: business cards with instructions for searching "Thankful" from the youth website on one side and "Turkey," "Corn," "Cranberries," "Pumpkin," "Squash," "Stuffing," and "Yams" on the other circle one item at a time on successive cards so that everyone has the complete list and one circle for their own. How to Play:  - Begin with the middle schoolers only, as high schoolers arrive add them to the group with their own cards,  - Set chairs in circle with the chairs facing towards the center of the circle.  - Have the youths sit in the chairs close enough to close all of the gaps.  - Select one to stand in the middle of the circle  - The person in the center will call out a food item related to Thanksgiving.  - When that food is called, all youths with that label must get up and find an empty seat vacated by another youth. The youth in the middle must do the same. Youths cannot sit in the same chair they vacated.  - The one who ends up without a seat is now in the middle and calls out the name of a food item and attempts to get into a chair.  - On occasion, the youth in the middle can call out "Dinner Table Upset" At this point everyone must get up and find a different seat.  - As a variation have everyone trade their card to the right from time to time to eliminate "Targeting".  - Each time a person ends up in the center they must share something they are thankful for.   Closing Work Zone & High Way Gather in the closing circle. Ask everyone to keep their cards from the game to do "Thankful" research at home.   Key Scriptures: "Thankful" research at home Say: As Thanksgiving Day rolls around, It brings up some facts, quite profound. We may think that we're poor, In search of even more, But in truth, our riches astound.   We have friends and family we love; We have guidance from heaven above. We have so much more Than they sell in a store, We're wealthy, when push comes to shove.   So add up your blessings, and forgiving; focus on God, not misgiving. Enjoy what you've got; Realize it's a lot, Save room for thanks living. Prayer: Our Father in Heaven, we give thanks for the pleasure of gathering together for this occasion and for family in the coming week. We give thanks for all that You've given us and the freedom to enjoy it all. We pray for health and strength to carry on and try to live as You would have us. This we ask in the name of Christ, Our Heavenly Father. Amen.  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Gather for this lesson: DV8 stuff, 10 identical small gifts (Blow pops) and a pretty big box/bag to hold it all in, instruction slips, business cards with instructions for searching "Thankful" from the youth website on one side and "Turkey," "Corn," "Cranberries," "Pumpkin," "Squash," "Stuffing," and "Yams" on the other circle one item at a time on successive cards so that everyone has the complete list and one circle for their own.   Discussion Guidelines 1. What is said in the room stays in this room. Confidentiality is vital to a healthy discussion.  2. No put-downs. Sarcasm and unkind remarks have no place in a discussion. If someone disagrees with another's comment, they should raise a hand and express an opinion of the comment but not of the person who made it. It is permissible to attack ideas, but not each other. 3. There is no such thing as a dumb question. Asking questions is the best way to learn. 4. No one is forced to talk. Anyone can remain silent about any question. 5. Only one person talks at a time. Each person's opinion is worthwhile and deserves to be heard. Listening is an expression of respect.   The Rules: - Be respectful of others - Don't be mean - Keep your hands to yourself - Stay in your seat - Understand there is a time and a place for everything   The UMYF Benediction May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you And be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you And give you peace. Shalom!