Að mæta Jesú – Meeting Jesus

Ég var rétt í þessu að ljúka við fyrstu drög að kennslustund sem ég mun nota í Christ Lutheran, sunnudaginn 3. febrúar. Hún er núna í yfirlestri hjá kennaranum mínum í Ministry of Educating. Þetta er þriðja stundin af þremur í kennsluröð en hinar tvær voru sóttar í Æskulýðsefni þjóðkirkjunnar 2001-2002 og staðfærðar að aðstæðum hér í BNA. Áhugasömum til gagns og yndisauka þá er stundin hér, á ensku:

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FEB 3: MEETING JESUS? – VERSION 0.9

Goal
The goal of this meeting is to have the participants thinking about what it means to meet Jesus. Is Kingdom of God something that awaits us in the future or has it broken in to our present time.

Material at hand
– The song “I can Only Imagine” performed by MercyMe
– A CD player or other equipment to play music.
– Blackboard

Preparation
Be sure the music equipment works.

What we will do

I can Only Imagine
We start today’s session by listening to the song “I can only imagine”. And after the song we discuss the lyrics.

Discussion about meeting Jesus

• Have you thought about what Heaven is like? – Possibility of drawing / painting
• How do you think you would act when you meet Jesus up there?
• But if Jesus would come and attend church on Sunday, what would you do then?
• But if you would meet Jesus in the cafeteria at your School, what would you do then?

Reading from – Mt 25.31-40.

Tonight, Jesus Served hush puppies
On the advent before last Christmas I went with a group from Trinity Lutheran Seminary to New Orleans, helping and learning about disaster. The group wrote a blog while staying down there and I want to read from you one piece written by a person name Adam Forbes.

Last night, we a well-deserved and much needed “fun day” in the French Quarters. It was a great time simply enjoying the felllowship of the group & taking a break from seeing and talking about depressing things. The time was refreshing, renewing & renovating. But just when I thought the night couldn’t get any better….

I met Jesus.

The entire gang had dinner at Ralph & Kacoos, a restaurant with fine dining & even better service. Our server, Ryan brought us Cajun gator and excellent hush puppies, fresh from the oven. Throughout the meal, Ryan shared parts of his story; of moving to Maryland, and still dealing with his mother being in Texas, all while trying to get into nursing school. As we were talking on the way out…

I met Jesus.

Martin Luther once said that we are to be “little Christs” to one another, that when we serve others, we are kneeling for the “least of these” and serving Jesus. But all too often we overlook the other half of that imagery, for we’re not only to serve others as if they themselves were our Lord, but also that we see Jesus in other people.

Last night, I met Jesus through Ryan.

As Ryan concluded his story, 5 of us sem’ reps and Ryan joined together, standing on holy ground right in the middle of the restaurant and held hands and only by the power of the Holy Spirit, we thanked God and prayed for Ryan (I KNOW it was the Holy Spirit because 1. Lutherans do not pray outloud in public and 2. Lutherans really don’t pray in the middle of a restaurant).

As we left the restaurant, I was on a “spiritual high.” As we sat down for some great jazz at Preservation Hall, the first tune of “That Old Rugged Cross” reminded me just remarkable our Savior is, holy yet humble.

Yes, that cross is rugged, splintered and bloodied, but the cross is also empty.
God defeated death as a promise that from anything, there can spring new life.

I know Jesus washed feet, but tonight I saw Jesus serve hush puppies.

How do we meet Jesus – discussion

• How can we meet Jesus in our daily life?
• What can we do to make the Jesus-es we meet have a better life?

Commitment
Everybody is supposed to write a letter with one thing they plan to do next week to make Jesus life a little better today. They will get the letter back next Sunday (or at some other time) to remind them of their commitment.

Reading Revelation 21.1-7

Reflection
How is it in Heaven? What does Kingdom of God mean? The Bible gives us short glimpse of the future. The Kingdom of God, is where God’s will is in all things -everything is good and acceptable and perfect. Jesus calls us to bring the kingdom of God, into the present time. We are called to life in the assurance that God is with us. We are already part of the kingdom and should life our life in accordance to that. John’s vision in the Revelation will not come fully to being here on Earth, but we should strive to make because Jesus tells us too. Of course it is not easy, I am sure that John, exiled at the island Panos in the Mediterranean Sea, had gone through a lot of disappointments, he might even have thought that Jesus would come back in John’s own life time. But he did not lose his vision.
But whatever we do, wherever we are, we are called to serve Jesus in our neighbor, and by doing so bring the Kingdom of God; into the life of the people we meet.

Prayer