For use with devozine meditations for July 1–10, 2011. Print-friendly Version
MAKING THE CONNECTION
“One of the coolest trips I ever took was a picture-taking safari to Kenya about twenty years ago. It was surprisingly inexpensive to stay in lavish facilities, to eat well, and to have a driver and game guide to host six people for several hours twice a day. The trip included a hot-air balloon ride early one morning, followed by a five-course breakfast (complete with china and crystal) in the middle of the Serengeti Plain. Needless to say, I was mesmerized—until I learned that the average salary of the people who were waiting on us was $50 a month and that they were extremely grateful for those tourism jobs because $50 was as much as an entire family (husband, wife, and children) working ten hours a day, six days a week, was making on average in that region at the time. The huge disparity between the haves and have-nots became shamefully clear to me at that moment.” —Will
MEET THE WRITER
Will Penner has been in ministry with young people for two decades in Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches, in public and private schools, and as a popular speaker at youth retreats, camps, and conferences. He has served as the editor of the leading professional journals of youth ministry and has authored and edited youth ministry curricula and numerous books. Most important, he is the husband of Christine Penner, Children’s Minister at First United Methodist Church in Dickson, Tennessee, and the father of five children ranging in age from two to nineteen.
STUFF YOU WILL NEED
- a copy of the “My Stuff” worksheet and the “How Rich Are You?” handout for each student. Feel free to download and to make as many copies as you need.
- several copies of the “Estimated Value Guide” to help the youth place a dollar value on their stuff
- pencils
- a few calculators or cell phones with calculators
- Bibles
- a needle and thread, or preferably a needle and a piece of thread for each person in the group
PLUGGED IN
+ Carbon Footprint asks a few simple questions, and then estimates your “carbon footprint,” the impact your lifestyle has on the environment. This is a great tool for making this theoretical issue personal and is useful for sparking discussion about how to decrease our use of the world’s resources.
+ Try using an online Investing Calculator. Type in a relatively small amount—such as the amount you could save by giving up eating out one meal per month or one trip to the movies, and find out how much that amount would generate if it were used as investment instead of spending. This could be useful in discussing savings as part of being wise and faithful stewards of our money.
CHECKING IN
Begin by distributing copies of the “My Stuff” worksheet and asking people to circle the things they own that appear on the list and to add others in the blanks provided. Then ask them to use the “Estimated Value Guide” to quickly estimate the value of their possessions. Distribute copies of the “How Rich Are You?” handout, and ask people to pinpoint where they are on the scale. Ask if they have ever thought of themselves as being that wealthy.
EXPLORING THE WORD
Scripture: Luke 18:18–27
Distribute Bibles. Invite people to read Luke 18:18–22.
Why did Jesus tell the man sell everything?
Why didn’t he tell everyone to sell everything? (It’s likely that this particular guy loved his possessions so much that they got in the way of his relationship with God.)
Say: “Jesus follows up the man’s question with a comment to his disciples about how difficult it is for people who put their faith in wealth to also be his disciples.”
If you brought needles and thread for everyone, distribute them now. If you brought only one, either hold it up or pass it around as you explain that the eye of a needle is the little round hole through which you put the thread. If everyone has a needle, ask people to try to thread the needle. If you want to make the exercise more challenging, ask them to fray the end of the thread a little and then to thread it through the eye of the needle. Explain how much more difficult it is to be useful to God when we lose our focus.
English teachers sometimes talk about a literary device called hyperbole, which is an intentional exaggeration to make a point. Putting a camel through the eye of a needle isn’t difficult; it is literally impossible.
Why would Jesus make such a strong statement about how difficult following him is for people who are rich?
Have you heard this saying: “Money is the root of all evil”? Many people misquote 1 Timothy 6:10, which says that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (NIV).
What’s the difference between the two statements? How does the meaning change?
Nothing is wrong with money. Money is not good or bad. It’s a tool, like a knife. A knife can be useful in the hands of a skilled surgeon, an accomplished chef, or even a trained boy scout. But it can be hurtful or even deadly in the hands of someone who’s clumsy or mean.
Ask people to look at their completed “My Stuff” worksheets.
What possessions feel like needs? Which ones feel like wants?
Which items would be the hardest for you to give up? Why?
Then ask people to look at their “How Rich Are You?” scales and to imagine sitting beside someone from a third-world country, a teenager who lives in a make-shift shack with no indoor plumbing, scavenges the city dump for food, and goes to the bathroom in a ditch on the side of the road.
What would a teenager from a third-world county say about how rich you are?
What would he or she say about your needs and wants?
SHARING IN PRAYER
Ask people to close their eyes for an imaginative prayer exercise. Take a moment or two to rest in silence before you begin. Then read slowly, pausing frequently to give people time to imagine.
“Imagine that you are all alone on a deserted island. You know that you will be stranded here for a year but that your basic needs will be provided—a cave for shelter, clean running water from a stream, plenty of fruit and vegetables growing wild, a couple of pairs of shoes and five sets of clothes. Spend a few moments painting this picture in your mind. . . . What does the water look like? . . . the shore? . . . the cave? . . . the trees? . . . What sounds do you hear—birds chirping? . . . waves lapping against the shore? . . . wind rustling through the palm trees? . . . What do you smell—salt water? . . . coconuts? . . . the warmth of the sun on your face? . . . a gentle breeze? . . . Try to imagine your first few days in this place. . . .
“Now imagine that you have been on the island for several months. . . . What stuff from home do you most miss? . . . Have you tried to construct anything new on the island? . . . What would you have brought from home, if you could have brought one thing? . . . three things? . . . five things?
“Imagine that at the end of your time on the island, you are walking on the beach with Jesus. . . . You ask him how you can be a better disciple when you get back home. . . . He responds, saying that you need to give up something you love in order to follow him. . . . What did he ask you to give up?”
Conclude with a prayer, asking God’s help in discerning how to be good stewards of our resources: “Lord, please help us to remember that you own all of what we call our stuff. Help us begin to consider every single purchase we make and each gift we ask for, to see them through your eyes, imagining all that we could do with our stuff to help other people who are in need. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”
TAKING IT FURTHER
- Compassion International is my favorite child sponsorship organization. Invite the group to consider adopting a child and making a commitment to stay active in his or her life for the long-term.
- World Vision has some of the coolest youth group initiatives for addressing third-world poverty issues. The 30-Hour Famine is a great place to start, but there are plenty of others. You might also want to check out B1, a 24-hour youth fasting event that raises money to empower the poor and to tackle the unjust systems that sustain poverty in our world.
- Consider doing a poverty simulation such as the one at “Mission Waco.” You’ll move beyond head knowledge about homelessness, and the experience will change you.
- If the group is interested in understanding how poverty affects modern-day slavery (especially sweat shops and human sex trafficking), join the prayer list at International Justice Mission and stay on top of efforts to free people from bondage around the world. (You also might want to consider using the video curriculum they created called The Justice Mission.
