A bit of a series…

If you’ve ever been to a Walk to Emmaus, Chrysalis, Kairos, Tres Dias or other type of cursillo, you’ll understand how much impact just knowing God loves you can have.  Today, in our high school chapel, I got to be the speaker for the first time.  I decided that, after some heavy “Come to Jesus” chapels, where kids were urged to make a decision about Jesus (not that that’s a bad thing), I felt that to let kids know that God is there with them, in there lowest and roughest times, could have a huge impact.  I think I may have been right.

Today, the first of three chapels in a row culminating in Good Friday, was all about our storylines.  I must admit, I took the idea from my training for Kairos prison ministry, but this is how it went:

I started with a quote from my personal favorite hymn, “O, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus”.  Then I played “God Believes in You” by Pierce Pettis (the Jill Phillips version from Writing on the Wall).  A cursory listen to the song just screams “perfect teenager-encouragement song”.  For our students, I think the most important line is “When you swear you don’t believe in Him, God believes in you.”  A bunch of our students come from Christian backgrounds but many have abandoned a once-professed faith.

Then I shared a storyline from the Bible – that of Nicodemus.  If ever there was someone who has a neat story-arc in just three scenes, it’s old Nic.  He goes from proudly announcing to Jesus, “We know…” to humbly honoring Jesus at the cross by helping Joseph of Arimathea give Jesus a proper burial.  I emphasized that God believed in Nicodemus; He didn’t give up on him in that first awkward, embarrassing meeting.

Then I shared my personal storyline – all my ups and downs.  I tried not to go into too much detail, but I wanted to be real to them, authentic and transparent.  I felt that, once I got down to it, I had a lot in common with what I’ve learned about so many of the kids.  I’ve been in that place where, even though I had walked with God, I swore up and down (like many of our kids do) that I was definitely not a Christian, thank you very much!  Or I’ve been angry with God.  It was neat to be able to speak so openly with the kids.

Afterward, I invited the kids to create their own storylines on a sheet of paper.  They folded it in half (like a hot dog bun).  That crease was “normal life”.  Then the kids created a line that went below or above the “normal” line, recounting good and bad times in their lives.  I’ve done this activity many times in both “Christian” and “Secular” contexts.  I don’t think these kids had ever done it, that I could tell.   They seemed to be having a good time with it.

Afterward, I talked to them about those down times, those times when God seems oh, so far away.  I explained what I saw: that I knew exactly how I got way down low – a lot of me and other people.  But how did I ever get out of those times?  God brought me out.  I thought about this too late, but the song “God Believes in You” has a line that would have been a perfect explanation of our storylines: “In sorrow you sow, but in joy you’ll reap…”  We sow the seeds of real blessing by going through the times only Jesus could carry through.  After, when He brings us up and out of it, we reap tons of lessons, wisdom and, well, joy.

Next week, we’ll be heading into Holy Week, as Jesus prepares to show us the full extent of His love.