Parables, Women, & Gifts: Week Four Follow-Up
For the month of May, students have chosen between three separate series options for YBF: Parables of Jesus, Women in Scripture, and Spiritual Gifts. For our last week, we ended up having a smaller group with people away for Memorial Day. As a result, the Parables & Women in Scripture class joined forces again, leaving the Women in Scripture lesson for another week. See below for a quick look at week three lessons from each series.
Parables of Jesus: Discipleship & Parables
As we've examined different parables, we have seen the ways Jesus takes everyday concepts and creatively uses them to make people think deeply and differently. Jesus doesn't just give us easy answers. He invites us into a deeper walk with him by forcing us to think in new categories. This week, we took some time to practice talking like Jesus by attempting to make our own parables. We encourage you to keep practicing yourselves! The point in all this is that Jesus intends for us to grow together. Let's not just communicate information - let's wrestle and create, bringing new life to old truths!
Parable Activity:
- Start with a theme - wealth, the Kingdom of God, Heaven, prayer, forgiveness, joy, etc. Pick something that you feel many people do not understand completely or that you have recently come to think about differently.
- Reflect on some images and/or experiences that you know a lot about. Which images or experiences are particularly powerful? Choose one that has some touch point with the theme or core idea from part 1. How can you present or frame this image/experience in a unique way that communicates your new perspective?
- Share your idea with others and reflect together!
Spiritual Gifts: Gifts in Everyday Life & Weird Gifts
For our final week, we discussed how our gifts affect our everyday lives. God gives us gifts of the Holy Spirit to extend the mission of the Kingdom of God. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn't just happen on Sunday mornings! We are given gifts to teach, encourage, heal, speak prophetic truth, lead, organize, nurture, etc. If we lean into the gifts of the Spirit, then all these gifts may be expressed wherever we are!
A note on some of the "weird" gifts: Tragically, our post-enlightenment culture has a difficult time accepting some of the less easily understood gifts - miracles, healing, speaking in tongues. And in a culture that glorifies the pursuit of happiness, people seem to dread the gifts of celibacy (remaining single and chaste) and martyrdom (witnessing unto death). Without going into too much depth, we want to comment on the value and purpose of these gifts in an attempt to reclaim their role in the Church.
While miracles and healing may seem magical and too wonderful to believe, we do well to remember that they serve a specific function - to minister to the broken and witness to God's power. To focus too much on miracles for the sake of miracles is to miss the point. God has many ways of ministering to the broken and many ways of revealing power. We should neither reject nor obsess over the miraculous. Speaking in tongues is perhaps the least understood gift in many churches. It is not simply the ability understand other languages - thought that does happen at Pentecost. It is a private, spiritual language between individuals and God that help to draw them closer. It helps comfort individuals and draw them deeper into God's love. And, when expressed and understood correctly, it is a great encouragement to those who witness others speaking in tongues in freedom and humility - not seeking attention but simply radiating joy and love. The miraculous, while by definition is not common, provides us a window into a life that is larger than ourselves.
Celibacy and martyrdom are also seldom understood, and people seem to always hope they do not have these gifts. It should be noted that these gifts are not about self-denial but about fulfilling ministry and witness. Being content with singleness frees people up to give more energy to direct ministry, AND it provides them the opportunity to prove that deep relationships and intimacy in community are possible without sexual relationship. That is something many have difficulty imagining. Martyrdom gives ultimate witness to God's glory. It is not necessary to die in order to be a witness, and pursuing death is certainly never encouraged! However, being faithful to death in the face of persecution is viewed as a gift and crowning glory for the martyr.
May we realize that all gifts and ministries of those who belong to God are uniquely helpful and necessary for a full witness to God's character in the world. Let's embrace our unique gifts and place within the Church and find our calling together!
Questions for discussion:
- What gifts do you tend to overlook or dismiss? How might they be important to the Church?
- What would it look like for the Church at large to be more open to the "weird" gifts?
- How can your gifts affect your everyday life? Are there ways in which you have separated your "church/God" life from your "work/public" life?