St Pauls Wibsey WWJD This week 13 19
St Paul’s Wibsey WWJD This week: 13 -19 September ‘Belong, Believe, Become’
WELCOME TO YOUR WEEKLY ‘WWJD’ (What Would Jesus Do): activities for young people around the Bible. This Power. Point presentation will give you all what you need to think, read, sing and pray, alone or with others. The Presentation is divided in 5 parts: ‘The Bible’ (which gives you the text of the week and activities to read it more deeply); ‘Connect’, to actualise the text; ‘Explore’ to approach the text differently; ‘Pray’; ‘Live your faith’ with a challenge proposed for the week. Feel free to do all the parts, or only some: it’s your time. To listen to the songs, just click on the weblink, and watch on full screen.
WARM-UP
On a piece of paper, write down five invented scenarios of something that someone might do that would offend you and need forgiveness, from something trivial (e. g eating with their mouth open) to something very important (e. g. robing an important belonging). Do it before looking at the next slide.
Now think and write next to each scenario how many times you would be prepared to forgive someone for that offence.
Lord God, help us to understand how good it feels to forgive and to be forgiven. Help us to remember that you forgive us again, and again. Amen.
‘LIFT YOUR HEAD WEARY SINNER’ by Crowder
Part 1 THE BIBLE
THE TEXT
Read the text, then try to retell it with all the details that you remember. Read it a second time, and note the details you didn’t notice the first time. Matthew 18. 21 -35 (The Message)
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times? ” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventyseven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me, ’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything. ’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back. ’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant, ’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? ’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart. ”
QUESTIONS Go deeper into the text thinking about these questions.
• Is it easy to forgive an unlimited amount of times? What makes it easier or harder to forgive someone? • Is anything unforgivable? • Should we forgive when others aren’t sorry? • What is to stop us being taken advantage of, if we keep on forgiving people who wrong us?
STUDY
This week’s Gospel passage follows on from last week on theme of how to deal with someone who has committed some wrongdoing against you. Peter asks Jesus how many times someone should be forgiven, then offers his own suggested answer of seven times. Traditional Jewish teaching was that an offence should be forgiven on three occasions but not a fourth, so Peter is suggesting more than double what is normally considered appropriate. Jesus blows Peter’s suggestion out of the water by saying that someone should be forgiven not seven, but 77 times. This is not a suggestion that we should keep a tally but shows that we should forgive countless times. Jesus illustrates his point using a parable about a king forgiving one of his servant’s debts, but the servant in turn not forgiving the much smaller debt of a fellow servant. To get a picture of the contrast between the debts Jesus is talking about: if the fellow servant’s 100
denarii debt was represented in 5 p coins, it could be carried in one pocket. The servant’s 10, 000 talent debt forgiven by the king would take around 8, 500 people each carrying a bag of 5 ps weighing 30 kg. Jesus uses this contrast to show great the forgiveness offered to us by God is. This passage is very familiar and can become idealistic. But how might your life and your community be transformed if we lived with this attitude of forgiveness?
‘FORGIVEN’ by Crowder
Part 2 CONNECT
1. FORGIVING FAMILY Watch the story of Anthony Walker’s family forgiving those who killed him. In what ways does forgiveness ‘help the healing process’? How did the idea of ‘seventy times seven’ help the family to offer their forgiveness? What can we learn from their story? If you want, you can watch another story of forgiveness of Ray and Vi Donovan.
2. A GIFT TO OURSELVES How often do you think of forgiveness as a gift you give to the person you are forgiving? (Answer this question before going to the next slide)
Desmond Tutu said differently: ‘Forgiveness is a gift we give to ourselves. ’ • In what ways can forgiving someone be good for you? • What are the consequences of not forgiving someone? • Have you experienced the benefits of offering forgiveness?
Part 3 EXPLORE
1. SEVENTY-SEVEN A challenge for you: can you spot a list of 77 different things around you right now? What does that tell you about Jesus’ answer?
2. A MODERN RE-TELLING Think of a modern setting and characters for a retelling of Jesus’ parable. Devise a dramatic piece, focusing on the characters’ reactions to how they are treated at each point. You can watch here an example of a modern re-telling.
3. PICTURE POINTERS • How many sweets do you think are in the jar? • Is your ‘jar’ of forgiveness always full, like this one? • What things can we do to nurture a forgiving attitude?
Part 4 PRAY
‘TO THE TABLE’ by Zach Williams
PRAISE Loving God, we praise you that you are not like the man who refused to forgive, even though he himself had been forgiven. We praise you that you are a just God, who always forgives our sins when we truly repent. Amen.
‘SORRY’ Forgiving God, we thank you forgiving us when we say sorry to you: again, and for ever. Please show us how to be ready to say sorry to you, and to each other: again, and for ever. Please teach us more about your wonderful forgiving love: again, and for ever. Amen.
(Open your heart to God’s forgiveness)
PRAYER FOR YOURSELF God, I am not worthy, yet you love me. I do not deserve so much and yet I have it. I have many needs and before you I acknowledge them; fill my life with your presence, that others too may come to know your healing balm. Amen.
LABYRINTH Desmond Tutu compares forgiving someone to walking a labyrinth path – can it feel like we’re almost there, then we end up back near where we started. Print off a finger labyrinth, think of a situation where you have felt hurt by another person, and meditate on how you can forgive them, as you trace your finger to the centre.
PRAYER FOR OTHERS Jesus’ parables inspire us to pray for those who forgive us, for big things and small… for those who do not forgive, no matter what… for those who do not know how to forgive… for those who do not want to forgive… for those who have not been forgiven. God of forgiveness, for them all, we pray. Amen.
(Have your own prayers for others)
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name; Your kingdom come; Your will be done; on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and for ever. Amen.
Part 5 LIVE YOUR FAITH
If anyone does something that annoys, angers or upsets you this week, try not to react but stop, count to 7 and make a decision to forgive them.
‘YOU FORGIVE ME’ by Fearbusters Or here
SENDING OUT Help us, Lord, to always remember to forgive as you forgive us. Again and again and for ever. Amen.
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK! Most material is © ROOTS for Churches Ltd (www. rootsontheweb. com) 2002 -2020. Reproduced with permission.
- Slides: 41