My Sunday group finished week 3 this week, and spent a good deal of time talking about issues of suffering. We recognized that there are those youth who suffer in extreme/visible ways, but there are also youth suffering silently under various burdens and feeling quite alone. We also noted that many of the fears and sufferings faced by youth also stay with many people as adults.
One of the best insights was that our own youth recognized adults as being more confident and having identity. We noted that this confidence doesn't come from being an adult necessarily but from our faith, and that they can have such confidence even now.
(Note: my group will be starting week 4 - World Beneath, this coming Sunday but we are technically into our 5th week)
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Our Sunday group grew a bit which contributed to more lively discussion, about 8 in all, We will begin Week 4 discussion on March 1, 2009.
We reflected on some ideas from prior weeks. The "instant" world that both youth and adults live in offers empty opportunities for both groups to exclude the other. Everything is so fast and offers opportunities to tune the other out. There are no opportunites to interact and grow relationships. The fast paced world of youth and adults collide resulting in alienation between the two. Youth really seem to reflect the maxim - People don't care how much you know untill they know how much you care.
Youth suffer from the lack of security as moms and dads cheat on each other and abuse each other within the full knowledge of the young people - either in their own family or that of their peers. They learn to "not trust."
We talked about how it is difficult for young people to accept help (correction) from their own parents; and how helpful it is to have adult friends that take an interest in helping and encouraging them. We also recognized that young people are more willing to accept help if they see that there is something in it for them. Just like adults!
"Youth act with disrespect or arrogance out of fear and insecurity." We discussed that by looking past the youth's immediate behavior and continuing in an open attitude providing the opportunity for additional interaction, young people may hang long enough to establish a connection.
How can we help? 1) Look past obnoxious behavior to hopefully establish connection. and 2) Create opportunities to interact and interact with other adults, non- family members.
Our group is planning a "Game Event" Sunday afternoon, April 19th with both active (a badminton(?) tournament with adult/youth teams) and board games. We're thinking of pizza and snacks. Ruthie has booked us for April 19th.
Louisemarie
Week 4 - World Beneath, Part 1
2/22/09
Led by Juliette
I customized this study for the youth, so we went in a little different order. I'll keep the original numbering of the questions.
4. How is youth culture different from adult culture?
Youth Culture:
- up-beat
- use technology more (iPods, cell phones, internet, video games, tv)
- Difference in language
- the language of texting and using abbreviations such as LOL (laugh out loud)
- slang words such as ginormous, hecka, dude, like, yeah, so, tight, etc.
- Difference in humor
- Puns are out
- Youth many times use insults or sarcasm as humor
- Difference in style
- emo, goth, ghetto, scene, side bangs, skinny jeans (guys & girls), v-necks, little kids back-packs, Vans shoes, etc.
- Difference in music
- Rap, screemo, hardcore, punk (the youth thought that adult and youth musical tastes can overlap, and they said they have an appreciation for different styles)
Adult Culture:
They said that adults dress more professionally and look nicer, are slower to learn technology, write letters but will also use texting sometimes, are funny when they try to imitate kids (using their slang words or trying to be funny).
Next I had them do an activity. They got into pairs and came up with scenarios where an adult and a young person do not see eye-to-eye about something. Then they acted them out. Here are the scenarios they chose:
-Young person wearing a revealing shirt and her mom telling her to change
-Argument over a ping-pong rule
-Young person having their music up too loud and the mom telling her to turn it down
5. Points of connection between adult culture and youth culture:
- Both listened to loud music, had different styles, and were rebellious when younger (meaning adults went through similar phases when they were young)
- Rock Band (the video game) This came up multiple times. They thought this game was a great connection between adults and youth because it's a fun video game, but it also has a lot of music that adults like because it uses classic rock songs. (Louisemarie, this could be an idea for your game night if someone who owns that game could bring it to church and hook it up somehow...it could be another option in addition to your active game and board games. Or it could be for a separate game night...)
- Both adults and youth are dealing with the current era
- Listening, talking, and sharing with each other are needs of both adults and youth
We then talked more about the scenarios they acted out and discussed how the adult and the youth could have handled it differently - in general they thought the parent and youth could have been less confrontational and listened to each other better.
2. Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
- They thought this passage was about knowing and relating to someone, not necessarily just about becoming the same style
We kind of ran out of time, so next time I will share with them the action plans that the other groups came up with and we will discuss our own. Besides the action plan, we are going to take a break from the vision study this Sunday and do a regular bible study since we're sort of ahead of the other groups.
Thanks,
Juliette
Great work from both groups here. I like how the youth idea for rock band can be utilized in Louisemarie's idea for a game night. Perhaps you might consider getting these two groups together in some form and planning the event together (i.e. picking games, etc.)
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