Sunday 5/3
Authenticity: An EDGE Night on Communication
Nothing gives me greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4
3 John 1:4
What’s Happening?
Dear EDGE parents,
Welcome to EDGE @ Home, your online resource for transforming our top-notch EDGE nights to fit into your living room! I am hoping that this newsletter can give you and your families opportunities to try new games, converse, and grow in faith. Please feel free to forward this on to any friends, relatives, or anyone else who might be interested.
The Edge Night begins with a Gather game where the youth have to guess what an image is based on a zoomed in portion of the photo. The Proclaim teaches the youth about the importance of being truthful in the ways they communicate with one another. During the Break, the youth discuss the different ways they share about their lives and then create their own social media post that communicates goodness and beauty. The Send concludes the Edge Night with stations where the youth learn about and try different forms of vocal prayer.
Dear EDGE parents,
Welcome to EDGE @ Home, your online resource for transforming our top-notch EDGE nights to fit into your living room! I am hoping that this newsletter can give you and your families opportunities to try new games, converse, and grow in faith. Please feel free to forward this on to any friends, relatives, or anyone else who might be interested.
The Edge Night begins with a Gather game where the youth have to guess what an image is based on a zoomed in portion of the photo. The Proclaim teaches the youth about the importance of being truthful in the ways they communicate with one another. During the Break, the youth discuss the different ways they share about their lives and then create their own social media post that communicates goodness and beauty. The Send concludes the Edge Night with stations where the youth learn about and try different forms of vocal prayer.
Gather
Each EDGE night begins with a fun game or activity designed to share the joy and enthusiasm that comes from a family gathering. Tonight's activity takes a look at the importance of perspective.
What Do You See?
1. Give each player a piece of paper and a pen.
2. Show an image that is zoomed in so only one element of the photo is visible.
3. Give the players 30 seconds to write on the whiteboard what they think the image is.
4. When time is up, zoom out of the image, revealing what the image really is. Award a point to any group that guessed correctly.
5. Continue this process with as many different images as time allows.
6. The player with the most points at the end wins.
Each EDGE night begins with a fun game or activity designed to share the joy and enthusiasm that comes from a family gathering. Tonight's activity takes a look at the importance of perspective.
What Do You See?
1. Give each player a piece of paper and a pen.
2. Show an image that is zoomed in so only one element of the photo is visible.
3. Give the players 30 seconds to write on the whiteboard what they think the image is.
4. When time is up, zoom out of the image, revealing what the image really is. Award a point to any group that guessed correctly.
5. Continue this process with as many different images as time allows.
6. The player with the most points at the end wins.
Proclaim
After the Gather, we pause to listen to a message on how the word of God impacts our lives and our community. These will take the form of short videos that you can watch as a family, or individually.
After the Gather, we pause to listen to a message on how the word of God impacts our lives and our community. These will take the form of short videos that you can watch as a family, or individually.
Break
Next, we Break open what we've learned by discussing it together.
Begin in prayer and then use the following questions for discussion:
Truth and Beauty
Challenge your child to come up with a social media post that will be shared on your or their social media account. This post should portray goodness or beauty. Use your smartphones to capture a picture for the post and work together to come up with a caption and hashtags. After the night, share the photo, caption, and hashtags online and don't forget to tag Anchor YM using: @Anchor_YM for Facebook, and @anchorym for Instagram.
Next, we Break open what we've learned by discussing it together.
Begin in prayer and then use the following questions for discussion:
- Do you think, in general, your peers/friends, celebrities, etc. share honestly about their lives on social media?
- When have you seen people be real and honest about their lives? How did that make you feel?
- When have you seen people be fake about their lives? How did that make you feel?
- Why do you think people want to be seen in a certain way?
- Do you have a social media account? On which platform(s)?
- What do you like the most about social media? What do you find the most challenging?
- In general, do you think people are truthful about their lives and portray them in an honest way? Why or why not?
- Why do you think people want to look a certain way on social media?
- Why do you think it is so hard to be honest and authentic on social media?
- How do you portray your life on social media? What do you post about the most often?
Truth and Beauty
Challenge your child to come up with a social media post that will be shared on your or their social media account. This post should portray goodness or beauty. Use your smartphones to capture a picture for the post and work together to come up with a caption and hashtags. After the night, share the photo, caption, and hashtags online and don't forget to tag Anchor YM using: @Anchor_YM for Facebook, and @anchorym for Instagram.
Send
Finally we are sent out renewed by a time of prayer and emboldened by a challenge. This week's prayer a choice between different forms of vocal prayer.
Vocal Prayer Stations
Introduce the time of prayer, using the following as an example:
By our words — whether they are ones we think, ones we say, or ones we write down — we can communicate our prayers. There are many different ways to pray; one way is vocal prayer. No matter the words we are saying, whether we are simply talking to God or saying different prayers we have learned, our prayers should always come from our hearts. Remember that we are human, both body and soul, so our prayers need to take some sort of physical form to help us grow in our relationship with God. This week at Edge, you will have the chance to learn about a few different types of vocal prayer. (CCC 2700-2704)
Night Prayer:
Welcome the group and use the following to explain to the youth what Night Prayer is:
Night Prayer is a part of what is called the Liturgy of the Hours. This is a collection of prayers that are prayed at different times throughout the day by all priest and religious and the other members of the Church are encouraged to pray them as well. Night Prayer is one of the shorter prayers and is prayed right before you go to bed. The Psalms that are chosen for Night Prayer are full of confidence in the goodness of God.
Together pray Night Prayer and teach the youth how to pray it as you go.
Finally we are sent out renewed by a time of prayer and emboldened by a challenge. This week's prayer a choice between different forms of vocal prayer.
Vocal Prayer Stations
Introduce the time of prayer, using the following as an example:
By our words — whether they are ones we think, ones we say, or ones we write down — we can communicate our prayers. There are many different ways to pray; one way is vocal prayer. No matter the words we are saying, whether we are simply talking to God or saying different prayers we have learned, our prayers should always come from our hearts. Remember that we are human, both body and soul, so our prayers need to take some sort of physical form to help us grow in our relationship with God. This week at Edge, you will have the chance to learn about a few different types of vocal prayer. (CCC 2700-2704)
Night Prayer:
Welcome the group and use the following to explain to the youth what Night Prayer is:
Night Prayer is a part of what is called the Liturgy of the Hours. This is a collection of prayers that are prayed at different times throughout the day by all priest and religious and the other members of the Church are encouraged to pray them as well. Night Prayer is one of the shorter prayers and is prayed right before you go to bed. The Psalms that are chosen for Night Prayer are full of confidence in the goodness of God.
Together pray Night Prayer and teach the youth how to pray it as you go.
The Rosary
The rosary is a traditional prayer in the Catholic Church in which we ask for the Mother of God, Mary, to pray for us and with us as we reflect on the life of her Son, Jesus.
At this time pass out rosaries to all of the youth and teach them how to pray the rosary and what prayers are said on each bead. Pick a mystery to reflect on and pray one decade of the rosary together.
The rosary is a traditional prayer in the Catholic Church in which we ask for the Mother of God, Mary, to pray for us and with us as we reflect on the life of her Son, Jesus.
At this time pass out rosaries to all of the youth and teach them how to pray the rosary and what prayers are said on each bead. Pick a mystery to reflect on and pray one decade of the rosary together.
Challenge:
This week, invite someone to pray a decade of the rosary with you. Pray for greater authenticity in the way we communicate with one another, particularly through social media.
This week, invite someone to pray a decade of the rosary with you. Pray for greater authenticity in the way we communicate with one another, particularly through social media.
EDGE @ Home is a production of Anchor Youth Ministry, and is available to shared for personal use. All resources form from Life Teen International, unless otherwise noted.
God bless and we're praying for you!
Zeke & EDGE Core
Laura Tibbs, Ben Cortes, Nora Aitchison,Matt Laws, Connor Schroeder, Jack Gustafson, Michael Gustafson
God bless and we're praying for you!
Zeke & EDGE Core
Laura Tibbs, Ben Cortes, Nora Aitchison,Matt Laws, Connor Schroeder, Jack Gustafson, Michael Gustafson