Hey gang. This is Kyle, not Paul. Tomorrow night we are finishing up our series on "Clique." We are continuing our look at Acceptance and Rejection. I am jumping off of Johnny's last thought two weeks ago regarding us being a set apart community. I loved how he said that we (Elevate) are the trendetters. What if the trend was that we were a radically accepting group of people? What if, all 250 of us students and leaders were passionate about accepting all people. What if we put our self-righteousness on the shelf and realized that we ALL are in need of a savior?
In my experience, we are taught that we must fight to protect ourselves. What if instead we made it our mission to include everyone? This is radical thinking to say the least. The only way to really break down cliques is to include more people. How realitic is this? What stands in our way? What if we just don't like someone? These questions lead me to think - is there ANYONE that Jesus doesn't like? I don't theologically have an answer for us, but I do feel that Jesus likes everyone, loves everyone. He does so much that he died for EVERYONE. As intense this is, I believe we are called and wired to reach out to people that we don't NATURALLY like. I think when we have that experience, it is the POWER of the Holy Spirit that leads us to a relationship with difficult people. Let us be passionate about all people in general and let's let that passion truly change our worlds.
Questions:
Follow Jesus:
1)Who did Jesus reach out to even though others wouldn't? (Lepers, sinning women, demoniacs)
2)How does the life of Jesus inspire you to follow him more?
Be For Each Other:
1)Who is someone in your life that you need to reahc out to more?
2)Who is someone NOT in your friend group that Jesus is asking you to seek out?
3) What keeps you from being FOR more people?
Look Beyond Ourselves:
1) How is reaching out to those outside of our comfort zone looking beyond ourselves?
2) How can our groups benefit from brining people outside our friendship groups in?
Reflections:
1) How was MEA?
2) When is time you felt accepted in the last two weeks? Rejected?
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10 comments:
hey,
I love the question about someone not in your frind goup jesus is asking you to seek out because,at least in my experiance this happens alot where there is someone I feel "called" to befriend and I know the girls are too because they have been talking about this girl so I might push them to accept her this week and bring her in with their friends!
Hey Everyone!
I really like the questions this week for rapping up "click". I think that accepting others and befriending those who are usually rejected from most people is one of the most important things God calls us to do. One of my friends from church and school went through a really hard time a couple of summers ago where she felt like she didn't have any place to belong or fit in, and people were constantly leaving her out. A big part of me felt that God was calling me to maintain my friendship with her, no matter how hard it felt at sometimes or how much others disapproved...and we are still friends today. I really hope that this lesson will help the kids see how they truly treat others and maybe see that certain somebody who others have been excluding...and hopefully they will find it in their hearts to befriend him/her and spread Jesus's love through that relationship. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow night!
Holly M.
Hey!!
I definately love this lesson because almost everyone will have the chance to befriend someone who they don't really know. I think this lesson will be good for my group because there is one girl in particular who doesn't know any of the other girls, and hopefully this lesson will push the girls to accept her more. Can't wait for the lesson tomorrow, see ya then!
<3 Alisa
I think we as leaders need to lead by example as Kyle said. I don't think there are leader "cliques" at CPC, but I do think they are just certain groups of people who hang around eachother at church. We should all try to reach out to other leaders and make new friends. If we are all a close group of leaders, maybe the students would follow too.
Like I said before, I think that the "Clique" series is going to be one of the most important and powerful lessons this year in Elevate. I was really moved by the thought that we (Elevate) could be passionate about accepting all people. I'm going to really strive to fulfill this amazing goal. I really agree that the only way to break down cliques was to include more people- I really hope that we can make this thought seem not so foreign but instead manageable. I hope to wrap up this lesson with success! -Amanda
This is a great topic to rap up the series with. I feel like this is something that everyone will struggle with through their whole life. There's always going to be that one person you just don't get along with or don't like or maybe doesn't have any friends and are rejected. We have to remember that we are no better than them and they are just like us. Jesus loved everyone and always had compassion for others. I feel like we can really learn from Jesus's amazing example. This will be a great thing to discuss in our small groups because the 6th and 7th graders will learn but so will we.
~Madeline L.
the girls in my group have been really moved to act more like jesus and accept these people which has been so cool to see because at school they really have this group to push them and "set the trend" for others. i think one of the things we need to keep in mind, like madeline said, is that accepting people can be a hard concept for us to follow too. and in order not to be hypocritical to the sixth and seventh graders in our group we must try to work on this harder ourselves which has definatly been something on my mind lately. we are all beautiful in gods eyes... so why can't we see eachother in this same perspective?
-lauren andruss
Hey! I think this is a good convo to look out for other people who have experienced rejection. In the middle school years there are a lot of people who need the comfort to know that someone accepts them no matter who they are. I hope this talk will help create a sense of community with the girls and become more confortable with each other which is a big step. See everyone tonight!-anna
I like these questions more than last weeks. I love how they connect our personal experiences, with god's experiences. I think that the students will see this connection and learn from it. My favorite question is number three because it is the hardest for myself to answer. Ther are many reasons, but I just can't put them together.
Blake
I agree. When we reach out to people we don't automatically like, often we feel good about it. Reaching out to others can help us.
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