Trust and Commit

The Senior Highs have begun to explore the theme of identity and how our faith is formed, influenced, maintained, and challenged.  As the group gathered on Sunday after a gorgeous day of weather, the energy in the room was contagious - warm weather plus shorts and flip flops plus the promise of summer vacation made for a happy group.

Delving a little deeper into "Who am I?" we focused that evening on trust and commitment, beginning with a group exercise that found us seated back-to-back on the floor, linking arms with one another.  First in pairs and then as a whole group, we worked together to push ourselves into a standing position - success!  It was a particular joy to see how the kids coached each other so that every person was included in the group's overall success. 

 We reflected on times that it is hard to trust others, and when it is easy.  We remembered people from the Bible who trusted God, and who did not (including Simon Peter; Noah; Daniel; Moses).  We talked about times we find it easy to trust in God and commit to the relationship we have with God, and when it's really hard.

Unable to resist the pull of the beautiful weather, we took a break halfway through and headed to the playground with pitchers of water in hand.  We didn't tell the kids the plan until we reached the enormous, recently-delivered mound of sand, where we divided them into 3 groups and tasked them with creating any kind of sand sculpture they could possibly imagine - in just 12 minutes.

Some took the challenge quite seriously, and related their sculpture to our discussion, creating a bridge that represented trust and a triangle representing the Trinity:

Others had a rather....unusual interpretation.  This group created (as they described) a toilet and a volcano:

And the third group had more of a representative creation of a village, with several castles (and watchmen?) on a hilltop overlooking the village below:

One thing was certain:  the sand sculpting was great fun.  And so, too, was the swinging.

Returning back inside, we gathered for the first of many "Faith Fishbowl" conversations in which kids had the chance to write down (anonymously) a question they have about faith, religion, God, or life in general, and we'd try to tackle at least a few of the questions as a group.  Admittedly, there was some grumbling at the start.  (Write something down?  Is this school or something?) But with perseverance and a little coaching, they delivered some amazing questions: poignant; thoughtful; important. 

• Why do people believe in God?
• Do you have to go to church to have faith?
• What makes faith so hard?
• What do you think saves you or gets you into heaven?
• Why are people so afraid to talk about their faith?
• Does everyone have a purpose to live?
• What, exactly, is a sin?  How bad is unacceptable?
• Isn't the point of religion to inspire people to make the world a better place?  If people can do that without faith, why is religion necessary in the modern world?

How timely (and perhaps rather uncanny given the Boston Marathon bombings that would occur the next day) that the statement we tackled last was the following:

I don't understand why people can do something "evil" in the name of God or religion...

And while no one has claimed responsibility yet for the bombings, the discussion that we had on Sunday night was still very relevant to what was yet to happen as we sought to make sense of why bad things happen to innocent people.   

These questions, and these kids, hold the promise of so much more important dialogue.  They serve as a reminder that our deepest convictions and beliefs often form from the challenges and questions we put them up against.