Made You Alive

Overview

• Icebreaker: “Two Truths and a Lie “or “What’s Your Secret?”
• Bible Reading: Colossians 2:6-19, CEB
• Discussion Questions
• Active Learning Activity: All the Things I Can and Cannot See
• Prayer

Note to the Teacher

The key phrase in this Scripture (for this lesson) is “So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught.” The sermon's focus is how “we are called to keep living: the alive life [... by being] rooted in the teaching, in the knowledge of the faith shared by so many and in so many ways.”

The icebreaker challenges youth to test their knowledge of their classmates. The discussion encourages them to think about how they are living and whether they align more with the world’s desires or with God’s. The activity invites the youth to reflect on their self-image by comparing all the positive traits they can and cannot see within themselves with some of the endless ways God sees them.

Times are based on a fifty-minute lesson period but may be adjusted.

Icebreaker (10 minutes): Challenging what we know about one another.

Option 1: Two Truths and a Lie (No Tech, No Prep)

Take turns going around the room. Students say three phrases about themselves. Two of those statements must be true, but one must be false. The other classmates guess which statement is false. Challenge students to make the game difficult – the more absurd the truths are, the harder it will be to spot the lie. They should also focus on facts and experiences they've had that not a lot of people know about.

Option 2: What’s Your Secret? (Low Tech, No Prep)

Supplies: Index cards or small pieces of paper, pencils/pens.

Give teens an index card and something to write with. Have them write down three surprising facts about themselves that they don't think anyone else in the room knows about. If they're struggling to think of something, you can suggest prompts like “favorite movie,” “farthest place you've traveled from home,” “favorite dinosaur,” “food you despise,” “what you want to be when you grow up,” “a celebrity you'd want to be friends with.” Collect all the cards. Mix them up and draw them out one by one. Read the cards and have the students guess who wrote them. Tell the students that when you're reading their cards, throw off their friends by guessing someone else. The aim of the game is to challenge the students to see how well they know one another while also (hopefully) learning something new about their classmates.

Optional: To make it more interactive, write the names of everyone in the class on a whiteboard (or on papers taped to the wall. When you read the cards, everyone has to stand under the name they are guessing. This gives students an opportunity to move. It also could result in some unconscious peer pressure if students change their guesses depending on what others are doing around them. (Peer pressure and the pressure of doing what the rest of the world is doing is part of the discussion later.)

Bible Reading (5 minutes)

Our Scripture reading comes from the epistles (letters) of Paul. In this passage, Paul (or the author of Colossians) is telling the church that life comes from Christ. We are filled by him, buried and raised by him through our baptism, forgiven, and made alive by him. We should not focus on living by the world’s standards but through the faith and grace of God who knows us and cherishes us deeply.

Read Colossians 2:6-19.

Discussion Questions (15 minutes)

Themes: Peer pressure, social expectations, living our lives in faith.

• What makes life worth living? How easy do you find it to think about those? Are they easy to attain? Why or why not?
• What would a perfect life look like for you? Is there such a thing as a perfect life?
• What are some things society tells us we have to do to be successful? (examples: go to college, go to grad school, get married, have two kids and a dog, etc.)
• How are the things you want out of life similar and different from what society expects of you?
• What do you think it means to be “fully alive in Christ”?
• What do you think Jesus meant when he told us we need to be in the world but not of it?
• Have you ever experienced peer pressure – someone pressuring you to do something you didn’t want to do? What did you do in that situation? What do you wish you had done differently?
• What are some ways we can stay rooted in our faith, no matter the social pressure or how much the world changes around us?

Active Learning Activity (15 minutes): Reflection on self-image.

Supplies: Paper, pencils, red pens, colored pencils/crayons/markers, Bibles.

Throughout our lives, “too many people think they can read your soul, know your thoughts, and then prescribe just what you need to be better, stronger, smarter, prettier, whatever. We’re right to be skeptical.” Instead of listening to these mostly condescending and often conflicting voices, you should “see yourself through the eyes of the one who loved you more than you can comprehend.” This isn't always easy to do. It takes a lot of practice. And more often than not, our harshest critic will be ourselves. Let's take some time to speak life into the way we view ourselves.

1. Give everyone a piece of paper, something to draw with, and coloring supplies.
2. Have them turn the paper so the longest edge is on top (in landscape rather than portrait).
3. In the CENTER, they will draw and color a picture of themselves, leaving room on both sides.
4. On the LEFT side of the page, have the students write down all the POSITIVE things about themselves that they can see when they look in a mirror.
5. On the RIGHT side of the page, have the students write down all the POSITIVE things about themselves that they CANNOT see when they look in a mirror (examples: creativity, kindness, intelligence, bravery, humor, empathy, leadership, etc.)
6. Now, have them look up 1 Peter 2:4-10.
7. Instruct them to use a red pen anywhere on the paper to write down how God sees them: a living stone, chosen, valuable, a spiritual temple, holy, a cornerstone, unashamed, honored, a believer, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own possession, God’s people, a witness to wonderful acts, called out of darkness into his amazing light, worthy of mercy.
8. Encourage students to write the date on the back and keep the paper to look back on whenever they feel down or unsure about themselves. Tell them they can always add to it as life goes on.

Prayer (5 minutes)

Close the session.

Pray with the students, asking God to keep us grounded and growing in faith.

You can also ask if anyone has any joys (things they want to thank God for) and any concerns (things they want to ask God to help with). Ask different students to pray over each joy and concern to encourage participation from everyone.

Supplies Needed:

• Index cards or small pieces of paper
• Pencils/pens
• Full-size paper
• Red pens
• Colored pencils/crayons/markers
• Bibles