Youth Sunday can be a very meaningful experience of youth ministry at the congregational level. Young people, many raised in the church, finally get the chance to address the body–from the pulpit. The insight that comes tumbling out can be staggering.
Of course, it can also be awkward. I once had a student introduce the routine period of silent confession by saying, “And now let the awkward silence begin.” Another student invented an energizer to the song “Happy” for the congregation to perform as the Call To Worship.
I spent yesterday afternoon on the phone with some of the Youth Sunday preachers. Their text is the transfiguration story from Mark, not the easiest story to say something about. I asked them all the same questions, and this blog post is to suggest a worksheet of those questions for Youth Sunday preachers to work through their text.
- How did you feel reading the text? Confused? Excited?
- What did the text make you wonder about?
- [For a narrative] Whose perspective do you take in the text? Is there someone you relate to in the story?
- How does this text relate to the one that comes right before it and the one that comes right after it?
- Summarize what the text is about in one sentence.
I think that would be a useful start for Youth Sunday preachers. What else would you add?
YoRocko! 