Youth and Young Adult Ministries

The Eastern Synod is finding new ways to engage youth and young adults in a meaningful way. Watch this for a fresh new vision for YAYA ministry.

Summer approaches, which makes it superhero season. Why not use the appetite our youth have for these summer blockbusters to teach a lesson in ethics? I am a big believer that the key to being a strong leader is knowledge, and for our kids that means teaching them the stories behind all the pop culture they are consuming. Here’s a great piece that ran in the New Statesmen, about how the comic book industry treated the same people who created Superman and all his fellow mega-stars, which basically amounts to paying them nothing and then trying them up in court for years while they tried to get a fair share for their creation.  While superheroes are the theme for this piece, it’s really a lesson in business ethics.  What should have happened? What would have been fair? What decision would they have made? Is there a place in business to be gospel-centred, when profits drive decisions? There’s a reason why business schools have started focusing on moral behaviour.  Strong, honourable leaders don’t just happen. http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/05/penury-swindlers-and-american-way-capitalist-legacy-superheroes

Too often our world is shaped by what we see on TV and in the movies, and here’s one dangerous example: what does drowning really look like? In fact, it’s nothing like the thrashing on the surface that is so often depicted on screen. It’s much, much more quiet which makes it hard to spot. In fact, according to this article now making rounds online, a lot of children drown within earshot and even sight of their parents or other family members because it’s hard to tell when someone is in trouble.  Here’s the article that tells you what to watch for, and debunks the signs of drowning. Everyone who is close to water should read it. You might save someone’s life.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/family/2013/06/rescuing_drowning_children_how_to_know_when_someone_is_in_trouble_in_the.html

We have a complicated relationship with power. We seek it for ourselves, but then, depending on the level of responsibility, we give it away. Sometimes we give it away to the wrong people and we passively let them run wild with it.

Recently, we have another tragic example of how power can go horribly wrong, with the suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons. Rehteah, as most of you will know, was a teenager in Nova Scotia, who killed herself. Read more »

After an intense and interesting study tour with Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, and a fair amount of catching up, I am grateful to be back.  Perhaps one of the most striking images from our trip together was the miraculous nature of the people we met.

I met an Arab-Palestinian youth from Bethlehem named Fadi.  He was born on the wrong side the separation wall.  The youth on the other side of the wall enjoy life comparable to Canadians the same age.  Fadi lives with very little that brings laughter and joy.  However, he does live with too much tension: the kind we can’t even imagine here in Canada.  The day that we met with him Israeli fighter jets flew overhead towards Syria.  The military tension was starting to boil over and everyone knew it. Their political, religious, social, economic, and military realities are so complicated and heated that one can’t help wonder how they have any hope at all.  And so I asked this young boy, “Do you wish you were on the other side of this wall?”  And this young Fadi, between the ages of my own two sons, said, “No.  I wish the wall was not there.  Maybe one day.  But for now, I have my family and my friends and we have fun.  Even on this side.”

Miraculous things happen all around us through the lives of people who do something to honour and add to the life of another person.  Don’t wait for the miracle to come to you.  Live the miracle that God is working around you right now.  It is only by living it that we will become a part of it for others.  Just like Fadi was for me.  Just like Jesus was for so many throughout the gospel.  Just like we are for others.

Children enjoy a tangible way to understand the stories of the Bible.  Here are a couple of Holy Week and Easter recipies that can help you share the story of this sacred time of the year in a fun and meaningful way.

Crown of Thorns Snack

You take some frozen bread dough, roll it out into strips, braid the strips together, form it in the shape of a crown, add some round edge toothpicks (for the thorns), sprinkle the top with spices (cloves, ginger, cinnamon), brown sugar, lemon juice and bake it …

Last Supper snack

Red & Green Grapes, Pita Bread, Cheese & apples

And for Easter Sunday, why not make some Empty Tomb / Resurrection Pastries?

Empty Tomb / Resurrection Pastries

You take a Pillsbury crescent rolls and roll the dough around a marshmallow (which represents Jesus’ body).  Add some melted butter or margarine to represent the oil Jesus’ body was anointed with and some cinnamon to represent the spices.  While baking the marshmallow melts and you have an empty tomb inside.

And here are some more Easter Snack ideas:

http://littleblots.com/LessonEaster.html

http://www.sundayschoolcrafts.com/Easter_Story_Cookies.html

Thanks to Anglicn Diocese of Ottawa Baptismal Ministry Formation Director Lisa Chisholm-Smith for sharing these ideas.

Sunday morning is a good chance to pass on all kinds of tips for parents. Perhaps it’s even just a line in the bulletin. Here’s a story that demonstrates the value of one safety trick parents may not have considered: giving your kids a code word so they know that the person picking them up from school or an activity has actually been sent by their parents.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/10-year-old-ontario-girl-uses-code-word-to-thwart-attempted-abduction/article9989954/

This being Lent, what is meant as a time of focused contemplation, here’s a great article about what not to do if you want to be happy. In the end, it boils down to the central lesson of the gospel: love others as you want to be loved. But here are some specific tips to get there. http://lifehacker.com/5991218/want-to-be-happier-stop-doing-these-10-things-right-now

Last October, a young woman named Malala Yousafzai was heading home from school in Pakistan with her classmates when two masked men boarded the bus. They asked for her by name, and when they identified her, they shot her twice in the face. The men belonged to the Taliban, and they had tried to kill Malala because she had been speaking up for the right of girls in Pakistan to get an education. She had been blogging anonymously for this cause with the BBC, but her identity was figured out. Malala almost died for her efforts.   Read more »

It’s hard to think of a time in which parents have been more focused on their children – providing them with the best opportunities, the best chance at a good education, the best extra-curricular activities. The term helicopter parent describes this new perspective: moms and dads flying around and over their kids making sure they are getting all the benefits.  There are many factors behind this trend: Read more »