Senior High 1, 2010 Programs - Monday

Part 2 of the series... see the end of the article for links to the other installments.

Monday

As I said in part 1. One of my goals was to given the campers an overview of just what to have faith in. I handled that via Monday's program. It was a bit ambitious: Let's cover the whole story of the Bible in one program.

I was really excited about this one. There were a lot of moving pieces to it, video clips, re-enactments by campers, lighting, music. Below is just an overview of it. There were atmospheric videos while I was speaking and music to go along with it. 

The key idea was what I was talking about in the previous entry in my intro. What is the story God is trying to tell?

Stories
I introduced it by talking about the power of stories. And how if you skip the beginning and ending, that completely changes what the story is about. What if Return of the Jedi had ended with the emperor torturing Luke? That would change the whole story, but it doesn't end that way.

For humor, I brought in a few examples of commas save lives.

What if Narnia ended with the death of Aslan? How would that change what the story is about?

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

The trick of faith is to believe in advance what will only make sense in reverse.-- Phillip Yancey

Maybe you have taken step 1, accepting Jesus, but you have this feeling that there's more going on.

You see all of the suffering and disasters and wonder what is God's plan?

God is a mystery, but He's told us what he's up to through the scriptures.

There is a story being told, that you are called to take part in.

God is not looking for a messenger only, he's looking for someone to be the message. To be the message, you have to buy into the story, you have to understand the story.

In our culture, there are a several different stories about God floating around.

You may have heard some of them and thought to yourself, is this what I believe in? Is this what I put my faith in?

What was it that Paul believed in? He had great faith, and he suffered and was beheaded because of it. But what was it that he believed in? The resurrection of the dead and the renewal of all things.

In the Beginning
From there we went into this fantastic video about Genesis 1 and 2, and then a group of dancers create the world, and a tree is brought into the assembly hall.

I showed a clip from Rob Bell's Everything is Spiritual to show the campers some interesting characteristics about Genesis and the number 7.

And then I talked about creation as dynamic and ongoing, heaven and earth united in the garden, and God tells us to rule over and subdue creation, order it.

I had the campers order themselves by height. Bringing order to chaos, then we moved onto the end of the story.

In the End
As an example of what we tend to think of when we hear about the end of the story, I used the trailer for 2012. Why are we so obsessed with death and destruction? Is it because we have bought into the idea that there's no point in trying to bring about God's kingdom on earth because we don't know the end of the story?

I had campers read parts of Revelation 21 and 22.

So in the beginning there is a garden, and in the end there is a city, and what stands in the middle of both? A Tree, the tree of life. And where is heaven? Heaven and earth are the same place again. As NT Wright says, it's about life AFTER life after death.

In the Beginning... Part 2
So that's the beginning and the end. But now back to the start, where the creation develops a death problem when sin enters the picture. I used another the Free Fall video to pick the story up in Genesis 3 (stopping at 6:30 in).

Then we had the same dancers come up and complete the creative movement as Adam and Eve rebel, using Ya Leil by Sufjan Stevens as the background music. It was pretty chaotic at the end.

I then talked about how God says, "You can live how you want, or you can live how I created you to live." It's almost as if God says, "it's your choice." It's still our choice.

You can choose this tree, the tree of Life, or this one the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.

Sin is about the disruption of shalom. There was an order of things, a hiearchy, and humans couldn't abide by it. Bell actually makes some great points that I just didn't have time to go into. About how there's a hiearchy where nature is not God, though some try to worship nature. When you try to use nature to satisfy the needs that only God can fulfil, you end up with addictions, etc. Addictions are looking to the earth to provide that.

And sin is also not ordering the creation properly. If people on the other side of the world are starving. The problem is that we haven't properly ordered creation in such a way to fix that.

Going Deeper into the Story
I then used this video by NT Wright on Genesis 1-3 to begin to deconstruct the story.

There's a pattern that is happening here in the story. God sets up this good thing, and Adam and Eve blow it. God choses the Israelites as his people, and takes them into the promised land, they were slaves in Egypt. The Israelites take on slaves, they become just like what they escaped from. They blow it, and get kicked out of the Promised land. And now the point in the story where God steps in again.

Adam to Jesus
We looked at Matthew 1 and the lineage of Jesus and how it also has patterns of 7's, much like Genesis 1.

And we looked at how John was numbering Jesus' miracles and calling them signs.

John's Signs
In the Gospel of John, Jesus first miracle is turning water into wine. Prophets spoke of wine as a symbol of God's new world, and of the blessings and favor of God.

What are miracles? Glimpses of God's reality, of what it will be like when shalom is restored.

John 2
11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

1) Water into wine
2) Healing of official's son
3) Ch.5 begins with healing at the pool - 3rd sign
4) Ch. 6 Jesus feeds 5000 - 4th sign
5) v.16 walks on water - 5th sign
Then he gives some speeches, people desert him, goes to a feast, teaches, some division, and so on.
6) Ch. 9 - Jesus heals man born blind
7) Ch.11 Lazarus dies

Jesus does a sign for each day of the first creation, the 8th sign, Monday of the 2nd week, he resurrects from the dead, inaugurating the first day of a new creation.

God comes down, takes all the death and destruction, and takes it to the grave.

The Renewal of All Things
We then looked at some of the verses about God's plan to renew all things.

Matthew 19:28-30
8Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Acts 3
18But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ[a] would suffer. 19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

Colossians 1:19
19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

What God does through the Messiah is a peacemaking act on God's part to reconcile to himself all things.

The Importance of Beginning in the Beginning (again, I pulled this from Rob Bell):
If we begin in Genesis 3, we begin with what is wrong.
If we begin in Genesis 1 & 2, we begin with what was intended.
If we begin in Genesis 3, the point is the removal of sin.
If we begin in Genesis 1 & 2, the point is the restoration of shalom.
If we begin in Genesis 3, we emphasize what we are not.
If we begin in Genesis 1 & 2, we emphasize what we are to be.
If we begin in Genesis 3, the goal is to get off this planet, and leave our bodies behind
If we begin in Genesis 1 & 2, the goal is to participate in bringing order to chaos
But if you start at Genesis 1, the story is about the restoration of shalom, which includes the removal of sins. It extends to the ends of the cosmos.
If the story begins in Genesis 3, the fundamental posture is to remind people what they aren't. You aren't good enough.
If you begin in Genesis 1, you are a daughter or a son of a loving heavenly father.

Ritual - Choosing the Tree of Life
We then took part in a ritual to symbolize our committment to being people of the Tree of Life (making sure to be clear that it's not the other tree that caused all the trouble.) I had campers come up to an altar to receive grapes and have an opportunity to reflect and pray.

Poem - The Very Thought by Gerard Kelly
For a second night in a row, we had a poem by Gerard Kelly. And then the Mission Fund break.

Closing
I read this from the back (from Trees Nooma DVD notes):

Do you believe the Bible's story of creation is not just something that happened, but actually something that is happening?
Are we faced with the same choices as Adam and Eve?
We're told that we'll actively participate with God in taking care of the world that we find ourselves in. It says there'll be peace with each other, but that there's be peace and hamony with God, and in the middle of it all with be a tree.
How can we help God in taking care of the world?
Are you helping out?
We live between the trees, in a world drenched in God. And some people seriously ask, "Where is God?"
A better question would be: Where isn't He?

And then closed the program with this incredibly powerful video I found at The Work of the People.