Last Sunday at Alive@5 we combined the story of Esther with clips from the movie "Brave" to explore courage.
Arrival activities were two challenges - 1. walk blinfolded along a plank suspended just off the floor. 2. try to throw nerf balls into buckets at the other end of the room.
Welcome and theme intro
Video - the first 3 mins of "Brave" to introduce the characters
Song - "We are travellers on a journey". This is in "All together Whatever", but we just sing the chorus, not the verse, and I've written extra words so there are 4 "verses".
Prayer of thanks - inviting people to name aloud people in our lives who are courageous, brave or strong
Video "Brave Clip #2" - 3 min clip of the Queen telling Merida how a princess should behave followed by Merida going riding for a day
Intro to Esther Story
Video - Esther from the Holy Moly series by Sparkhouse
Questions about the Esther clip
Intro to final "Brave" clip - where Merida makes her speech to the warring clans (video 5 mins 30 secs)
[This was a lot of video watching. We usually only show one clip if we use video, but I think it was OK)
Brief reflection on the theme and the videos
Bible - Psalm 31:1-5 CEV (We read this aloud together)
Activities
1. Videos - two video clips on the iMac, Belkin hub and 3 sets of headphones: The Story of Esther, Encircling Prayer
2. Art and Craft - again we just put out a pile of stuff and invited people to create something around the theme
3. Prayer station - Koala cards and an invitation to talk about when you felt the need for courage. An opportunity to light a candle and pray. (My Koala set is the same artist but just faces and a lot more cards)
Choose a face card. What feelings does it show?
Talk about a situation that causes you to feel this way?
Who needs to find courage in this situation?
What would be a brave thing to do in this situation?
How does it help to know that God is near in this situation?
Read this prayer together or make up your own.
Christ be with me, Christ within me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me
Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ to comfort and restore me
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger
Saint Patrick, 5th century
Light a candle as a reminder that God is with you always.
4. Puppets - an opportunity to work in groups of 3 or 4 to make up a story about being brave in a situation. They were given these scenarios and asked to choose one:
- someone is being a bully
- someone isn't telling the truth
- someone in cheating
- someone is feeling frightened
- someone is feeling lonely and rejected
We filmed the presentations on my iPhone and played them back for the whole group while we were eating.
Show and Tell - when we come back together we usually ask people what was significant for them
Song
Blessing
Bless us with the courage
to resist those who do wrong
to speak up for the weak
to embrace the lonely
to welcome the homeless
to state the truth in love
to learn from our mistakes
to live humbly with our God
Good turnout and a good evening, I thought. Now to work out what adventure story from the Bible we'll do next month and what movie to link it with....
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