Well, Well, Well 02-24-08 It's Your Move Work Zone and High Way  At 5 min. till start "The Distance" - Cake. (like Jesus & the woman and the well) When the song's done, welcome, & introductions, make announcements. Have prayer cards @ the tables. Caravan Parents Meeting tonight, Confirmation Retreat Friday Night, Chili Dinner next Sunday   Which Way Are We Moving Work Zone & High Way Begin with a large group Repent - DV8 Teenagers live in a world that glorifies human endeavor and achievement. By the time you finish grade school, most of you have learned to promote your strengths and hide your weaknesses. That's how to get accepted and admired. When youth watch others cover up mistakes, it's easy for teenagers to come to the conclusion that admirable people don't make mistakes . . . or at least don't get caught making them. But refusal to admit our mistakes distances us from God. It trivializes failings and leads to doubts about our relationship and standing before God. Romans 3:23-24 explains that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Repentance brings restoration. Only by turning from our failing and turning toward the salvation of Jesus can we be changed. This morning at church we heard about the "Woman at the Well" and how she represented a chipped cup. The Samaritan woman at the well was no angel. She was mixed up with a wrong crowd, this poor woman from Samaria had quite a reputation. She had been married five times and was living in sin with a man who wasn't her husband. Through her story comes the lesson that people shouldn't live for the pleasures of this world. The story also shows that a well of grace is ready to refresh the soul parched by sin and suffering and that Jesus comes to save the sick and to serve those who still need both physical and spiritual healing - not only the converted.   Moving In Work Zone & High Way DV8 illustration Still as one large group Needed: one quart warm water, laundry detergent, white vinegar, 4 big buckets, 4 white cotton bed sheets, Libby's (red) Juicy Juice, tables, small paper cups, Before the meeting, mix a stain-removal solution of one quart warm water, one teaspoon laundry detergent, and one tablespoon white vinegar in a bucket. Also, drape the bed sheets over a table. Do this shortly before students arrive so the water is warm. Form four equal teams and ask each team to stand around the sides of a table, facing each other. Give each player a paper cup. Pour juice into one cup on each team. Say: When I say go, the first person on each team will pour the juice into someone across the table's cup, then turn his or her cup upside down on the table and so on until the juice has been poured from cup to cup all the way around until only one cup remains upright and with at least some juice in it. The goal of the game is to finish the relay first-with at least ½ a cup of juice left. When the game is over, say: We've all made messes in the past. None of us is perfect. Imagine for a moment that these sheets represent your life, and the stains are the spiritual errors you've committed. Tonight we are going to talk about want it means to DV8 your life towards Christ.   Break into Journey Groups   Moving On Work Zone & High Way What A Mess Needed: Buckets with soaking sheets. (Work Zone splits into two evenly mixed groups) One sponsor immerses the sheets in the buckets of stain-removal solution let them soak while the other sponsors proceed with the lesson. ASK: * In what way are your failings like these stains? * How are they different? * If you were looking at your life through God's eyes, would it have more stains or fewer stains than your sheet? * Is a mistake the same thing as a spiritual failing? Explain. Say: When we make mistakes that offend God, we sin or fall short. Some of the sins we commit are visible, like the stains in the sheet. Other failings are not easily seen-either we're good at hiding them or we don't know we've offended God. Sometimes your spiritual offenses can be hard to detect. But it's important for us to recognize them, because admitting we're wrong helps us change our ways. Admitting you're wrong and determining to change is repentance. To repent means to DV8 - go another way, to be clean again.   Moving Up Work Zone & High Way Be Genuine Needed: Scripture sheet The "bucket & sheet" sponsor delivers one bucket and sheet to each group after removing the stains, dumping the water and wringing out the sheets  Say: Let's hear what the Bible has to say about God's ability to see your trespasses. Ask a volunteer to read aloud John 4:13-18.  John 4:13-18 Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly." ASK: * Why do you think it's important to tell the truth if God sees all our sins anyway? * What kinds of failings are difficult for us to see? -easy for us to see? * How does it feel to apologize to people? -to God? * How does it feel to have someone apologize to you when the person isn't really sorry for what he or she has done? * Do we have to be sorry for our sins before our relationship with God will grow? Say: No matter how good we try to be, we're all guilty of falling short spiritually. God wants us to be genuinely sorry for the wrongs we've committed. When we repent, he forgives us. In fact, God says he will forget our sins as though they had never happened! His forgiveness brings true healing and genuine change. Remember how soiled the sheets looked when we put it in the bucket? Every time someone goofed and spilled some juice, it left a stain. In the same way, our offenses cause spiritual stains. When we offend others, sometimes we can make amends, and sometimes we can't. But whenever we admit that we've done something wrong, and we are truly sorry, God promises to forgive us. Hold up the cleaned sheet!   Moving Out Work Zone  Snap-Snap Needed: rubber bands, dodge balls Ask a good-natured student in your group to stand, then lightly snap a rubber band against his or her arm repeatedly, apologizing insincerely each time you do it. Then ask your students to call out some insincere apologies they've heard that you can use so you can keep snapping their friend. When the ideas have reached an end (or ridiculous suggestions!) Say: Repentance is much more than saying "I'm sorry." It involves a genuine change of heart and action. ASK: * What's a time someone (don't name names!) told you he or she was sorry about something, but the offending behavior didn't stop? How did you feel? * Describe a time someone truly repented of something and changed. What was it? How did you feel when you saw it happen? * How easy or difficult is it for you to repent and make changes? Why? Say: Let's have some fun where everyone can be involved. The only "second chance" game I can think of is Dodge Ball. We've modified the rules a bit so everyone can have fun. Here's how we're going to play: two teams with equal numbers of boys and girls, only girls can through, players must never cross the dividing line, first team to completely eliminate the opposing team wins that round, to eliminate a player you must hit him or her with a ball or catch a ball she has thrown, Once a player is hit he must sit on the sidelines, If a teammate catches an opposing player's throw, their last player out may return to the game, hitting someone in the head doesn't count   Moving Out Work Zone  Forced Apologies A Possible Consequence for Young Norwegian Lawbreakers Read: A Norwegian government commission is considering requiring young people under the age of 15 who break laws to apologize to their victims. The commission's intent is to slow or stop a rising wave of juvenile crime in Norway, where young lawbreakers often don't receive formal punishment for their misdeeds. Without a legal system that jails or sentences youngsters, it's difficult to hold young lawbreakers accountable for their actions. Young people who vandalize or create public disturbances by fighting typically go unpunished. The commission wants to maintain the current legal system but somehow create accountability for lawbreaking. Forcing a youngster to meet the owner of a property he spray-painted with graffiti and to apologize for the act may be what it takes to keep the graffiti from being applied in the first place. At least that's the hope of the committee.   Discussion Ideas: * How effective or ineffective do you think this proposal, if enacted, would be at reducing crime? Why? * Compare being forced to apologize with true repentance-in what ways are they different? the same? * If you can, share a time you repented of something you did?   Save the last 10 minutes for closing as a large group. Come back together in Fellowship Hall    Closing Work Zone & High Way The Leader Closes: Sit as youth Gather in a circle.  Do the prayer cards Sum up the lesson Close In Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for being a merciful God who does not hold grudges. Thank you for not expecting us to be perfect and for being so patient with us. We're sorry for our sins. Thank you for removing them from us as far as the east is from the west. Help us to see our behavior, attitudes, and thoughts from your perspective so that when we're wrong, we can change our ways. In Jesus' name, amen.   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! Gather these for the Lesson: Prayer cards, one quart warm water, laundry detergent, white vinegar per 4 big buckets, 4 white cotton bed sheets, Libby's (red) Juicy Juice, tables, small paper cups, Scripture sheet, rubber bands, dodge balls