More appropriate for older youth.

This activity would be a great introduction to a mission trip or volunteer work, particularly around justice issues.

Background

From the time Israel was a kingdom (around 1020 BCE) through the destruction of the kingdom and the dispersal of the people throughout the Babylonian then later the Persian empires, there were prophets who were trying to understand why all these bad things kept happening. The language they used was pretty brutal, telling the people that they were being punished for a variety of things. In our theological understanding today we might say it in another way; every action has a consequence. If you are cruel or take advantage of the poor, it will eventually be your downfall. In a cause and effect world, the prophets were trying to get the people to live out compassion and justice. They believed that if you didn’t, God would punish you. The God described by these prophets is an angry and scary God, perhaps not the way most of us would like to think of God today. But the underlying ethic of what the prophets were trying to communicate about how God wants us to live and care for each other is still very relevant.

Divide the participants up into teams or individually, depending on how many people you have and give each team one (or more) of the following scriptures, making sure you cover them all.

· The Book of Joel

· Amos chapters 1-4

· Amos chapters 5-9

· The Book of Obadiah

· Micah chapters 1-4

· Micah chapters 5-7

· The Book of Nahum

· The Book of Haggai

· Isaiah chapters 1-3

· Isaiah chapters 29-30

· Jeremiah chapters 7-8

Give each team paper and pens and ask them to skim through their reading and make notes on the following questions:

· What seems to piss God off?

· How does God want people to act instead?

When everyone has had enough time to get through their reading and make notes, ask each team to report on what they found and record it on a large piece of newsprint (there should be duplicates, so just put checks by anything that comes up more than once).

Review the newsprint list with the group.

Talk about each item that the prophets say pisses God off, and ask how the participants feel about it. Does it piss them off as well? Or do they think it’s OK?

Talk about what the prophets seem to be saying about how God wants us to act and live. Ask how the participants feel about it. Do they agree or disagree?

Deepening Faith: Youth Ministry Resources and Some Miscellaneous Advice

Rev. Lizann Bassham, Front Porch Spirit Press