1/9 - Amnesia
Last night our teens took a big step forward in making their Faith their own - they explained their Faith to someone else. Emily, Tobiah, and I each took two students and pretended to have no knowledge of Christianity. We then asked our students to explain the Gospel to us. Suddenly, without the scaffolding of parents and teachers saying what to believe, each student could only rely on his or her own understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. This was a serious challenge and our students faced it well.
In one of his letters, the apostle Peter said: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have (1 Peter 3:15). It is a call for every Christian, to be able to explain what we believe and how this gives us hope.
If this is something you have never thought about before it is worth doing. If Christianity is just a set of rules telling us how to live well, it may be good, but not a clear source of hope. How do we explain that Jesus has changed everything? What does it even mean to say that He sacrificed Himself on the cross for us? What do we mean when we say that He is the Son of God?
It was wonderful to hear how many answers each student had. Some things were clear to everyone - Jesus died on the cross. Jesus transforms how we live. Jesus shows us what is right and what is wrong and points us to God.
Last night’s activity also hopefully sparked some questions. My group discovered that the Holy Spirit is not easy to explain and wasn’t exactly sure why we call Jesus’ death a “Sacrifice.” The rest of you probably have your own questions. Please, make a note of what questions you have after last night and seek answers. One great opportunity will be on the retreat, where we will be having an anonymous Q&A session.
Parents, I would love to give you a more thorough summary, but I suspect your kids will do a better job than me. I encourage you to ask them about it (you can forget as much or as little as you want). Come to think of it, what would happen if your kid played dumb and asked you about your faith? It might be a fun experiment.