HEARTS OF STONE: Our God ofthe Presentation
Objective / Stage 4: Show teens how to live with doubt.God says, “Here I am” in our broken-heartedness. The Presentation shows our God in both hope-fulfilled and prophesied pain.
Supplies Needed / Final information and Leader Packets (if possible) for NCYC
Copies of journals for the leaders to study and prepare ahead of time
I will break their hearts of stone.Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.Whom shall I send?
ANNOUNCEMENTS / This is the 2nd to last meeting of chaperones before NCYC.Discuss any “personnel” issues between participants, leaders, and any other important schedules.Provide a copy of the workshops.They will decide at the next meeting with their teens which workshops the teens feel they should be attending.
Distribute a journal to each leader so they can potentially add/revise small group discussion questions for each day.
Discuss & decide on prayer card distribution and/or blessing with your parish.
Delegate any formation opportunities you will provide for your parish on the NCYC theme.
NEXT SESSION WITH TEENS / Review “Hype” (BASIC) or “Islands” (NEXT LEVEL.)
FOCUS & SOLITUDE
TEACHING
DISCUSSION / Play “Here I am Lord” while they read the Presentation (Luke 2:22-38) and reflect on their own (
What were Anna’s doubts?
What were Simeon’s doubts?
Did Joseph, Mary or Jesus have any doubt?
What role does “waiting” play in the Presentation of Jesus?
Have you discussed the teens’ doubts at all in your small group yet?
How have you responded to your own doubt in life?
Stage 4:Show teens how to live with doubt.
The lyrics of this week’s portion of Here I am Lord is about brokenness. When has God broken your heart?
NCYC will present a fire for the faith for these teens, but as leaders we must encourage them to not let their passion to make them self-righteous and judgmental. How is this possible?
When have your judgments on someone else been wrong?
The Presentation:Discussion
What reflections did you have on the presentation of Jesus?
The role of Simeon and Anna in Jesus’ life is tremendous. Imagine how they affected the attitude of Joseph and Mary. Once again, they are both filled with wonder at the response Jesus receives. First, shepherds and angels in the field finding him at his birth. Now, prophets at his presentation. The wonder will never end. How did this prepare Mary for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus? She knew that his death, the final milestone in his life, would also be just as his birth, his presentation – unexpected.
We have a God of surprises. A God who saves at the last minute. A God who transforms us. The Presentation teaches us about the grace of God that was with Anna and Simeon that enabled them to wait, to hold on and to finally meet the Christ – despite their brokenness.
Our God is a heartbreaker, and a heart-healer. The presentation also foreshadows the pain in Jesus, Mary and Joseph’s lives to come. That God breaks us in order to give us new hearts. In the novel “Ben Hur,” the author describes the Sanhedrin as those who looked God in the eyes and found there a God they did not understand.
God’s mystery doesn’t mean we can’t understand Him, only that it is beyond our understanding. We may be given the grace to comprehend, briefly, or the grace to follow through even without understanding.
How can you pass this message on to your small group as they head to NCYC? Why might this information and this side of God’s identity be useful to them?
Over, and over again, in the hymn we have been studying, God asks, “Whom shall I send?” God is sending you to the teens in your small group. They are broken-hearted. They are often stone-hearted. And so are you – so were you when you were their age. What words can you speak from your experience but, more importantly, what presence can you be to these specific teens, now that you’ve gotten to know them better?
Now that we are approaching our final session before NCYC, how do you feel sent to your small group? Why were you given these specific teens and why were they given you?
Optional: Leadership Secrets of Christ by Mark Hart
PRAYER / Sing quietly, three times:
I will break their hearts of stone. Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them. Whom shall I send?
Leader: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
Our Response is: Lord, hear our prayer.
Litany for Teens
For teens who are experiencing a break-up for the first time …
For teens struggling with infatuation …
For teens who feel God does not hear their prayers …
(Sing Here I am Lord chorus)
For teens and parents experiencing doubt as they wait upon God’s response …
For teens and parents who cannot see how God is working in their life…
For teens in our parish who cannot find anyone to lead them to Christ…
(Sing Here I am Lord chorus)
For parents who have lost a child …
For us – when we struggle to see what we can offer …
(Sing Here I am Lord chorus)
For teens who don’t think anyone cares for them…
For teens seeking a Jesus High rather than Jesus Himself, that we may find and lead them to the source of joy that does not fade…
For the parents of teens, that their transparency and gentleness in the faith will lead their family’s walk with the Lord…
(Any other intentions)