NCYC09 CONVERGE Bible Study TWO

Bible Study # 02 UGLY [Curator: Rob]
Today's theme is about the fact that Jesus spent time with, chose, spoke out for and represented those on ther margins and calls us to the same margins!! That the Christian faith is not a selfish me first, consumer driven posession but is indeed an invitation to see others with Jesus eyes, to join God's mission in the world and it means getting UGLY!!

1. As people entered we had looped the Matrix styled countdown clock and backing with a darkened room. It reminds me that what we were attempting to do was engage the punters more fully than a 90min lecture or even a dialogue with multi-media would have... the great thing for us as a team is the way the group embraced what was offered, engaged in the options and gave great feedback to us and other leaders that asked!! We await the qualitative evaluation feedback but know ourselves that we 'did good!'
2. After the Matrix loop when people were 'in' we switched to the previously posted AV I had put together with "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay as a primer about our fragility and that none of us is 'invincible.'
3. Brief spoken intro to 'Ugly' [Rob]
4. A bracket of songs from Sam/Katie finished with a cover of "Not Pretty Enough" Kasey Chambers and it was as usual a distinctive rendering.
5. Somewhere in putting this day together there was inspiration that as Jesus surprised, cajoled and the disciples it had something in common with the great Aussie TV invention "Thank God You're Here" where actors, comics and celebrities are thrown into improv drama sketches with the task of responding for a laugh and Tom Gleisner the judge...
In this sketch Jesus was invited to walk through the BLUE DOOR and was greeted with "Jesus, thank God you're here..."

“THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE” DRAMA SKETCH
The ‘blue doorway’ is in place and a few disciples are together. Jesus arrives and [maybe even a show host introduces him and invites him to go thru the door]
JESUS enters via the door
James has one foot on a milk crate, Jesus is carrying one.
James: “Jesus! Thank God you’re here!
Have you seen the local newspapers, have you heard what people have been saying in Jerusalem?
This is outrageous!!”
Jesus: asks quizzically “James?”
James: [shows newspaper] “No, look…
What have you been saying to people?
And who have you been hanging around with?”
[pause]
Jesus: “Arrggh”
James: “Blessed are the peacemakers”, quoting the Torah back at the Teachers,
And who was that woman at Simon’s place the other night?”
Jesus: “Arrggh”
James: “Jesus, you are our leader…
some witty slogan on a t-shirt isn’t gonna bring in this revolution you know!
We didn’t leave our fishing nets to live on the edge…, we thought… “
[Jesus interrupts]
Jesus: “James, I called you, to live out God’s version of your life,
siding with those who struggle. Despite what people think,
life isn’t actually lived out on a DS Lite…”
James: “But…”
Jesus: “Look, when I said “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength…
and love your neighbour…
I bloody well meant it!”
James: “Crikey!!!
You mean your premis really is that you ‘represent’ Jahweh,
whose efforts to connect with humanity stretch back to and beyond Deuteronomy
in the Jewish scriptures you were quoting
AND that your comment about ‘being a servant’ is a POLITICAL statement about the seductive nature of power and how this God we worship is about giving up power, connecting ourselves with others by siding with them,
speaking up, not standing for injustice
and by being THE BEST PERSON WE CAN BE!”
Jesus: “Ah, yeah…, in a nutshell!’
Explainer: [interjects] [stands on a milk crate]
“G’day, I’m Nigel from the Explanation Company!!
Any questions? [brief pause ignoring any actual questions]
I’ve been hired to explain this drama. I think we’ve reached that point!...
My card… [hands blank business card to one ‘punter’ at front]
You see,
Jesus and his followers are heading for trouble, confronting the powerful in Jerusalem and speaking for life lived, not by the rules, but by love…
His hermeneutic (write that down and look it up later)
his message for you and for me today is…?
His message for you and for me today is…?
Mmm, well, Jesus showed who God sides with and who is not ‘far from a world lived according to God’s values…
Zack the Tax Collector, the woman at the well… we’ll call her Amber!,
people who care, who ask questions, who aren’t fooled by brand names and fashion,
People who see their own story, linked to everyone else’s story…
Jesus: “As I was saying James… sometimes we need to get UGLY,
to know our own monsters and to look beyond them in others!”
James: “Riiigght!”

6. BIBLE READING/s were pre-videoed on the Tour heading into NCYC just as another variation on someone having to read at length
Mark 10: 32-45 Mark 12: 28-34
7. TALK [Rob]
I will have to add these notes when they're written up but the theme was that we are invited to 'get UGLY' and that faith is not a gift we simply receive but a relationship we are invited to participate in by losing ourselves to gain life.... that those who want to be great need to be 'servant' and that living out the commandments to LOVE GOD and LOVE NEIGHBOUR are costly...
It included clips to illustrate the point [and typically went a little overtime...]
“Big Issue” clip from a doco from Melbourne found on Youtube
“Fall at Your Feet” clip previously posted about with Sam/Katie singing beautifully ala the James Blunt cover of Crowded House but to a backing video from my daughters annual ballet concert with a solo dancer from that night [spookily known to Sam/Katie from their Performing Arts High School here in Newcastle. All credit to Jessie Attwood.
I included my ongoping theme about the power of stories and us 'entering into the story' with a snippet from Phil Jamieson on 'Enough Rope' cut but leaving in his final song and the audience member reaction.
"Another Radiohead Fan" from Youtube is an advert about not jusging people outwardly and features a disabled person in a wheelchair singing along to 'monsters in my head' Radiohead, which would sound a little off-putting without suspending judgement.
We cut the clip from the film "Saved' where the girls try a drive by exorcism and Mary gets hit in the back with a Bible... "this is not a weapon you know!"

8. Originally the plan was then to have Sam/Katie sing "Ugly" Sugababes with a backing of the pictures I'd taken on day one of most people from our Bible Study as they entered the door...
9. The previously posted Google Earth Prayer which we ran but used the singing as its backing.
Peoples prayers had been entered and the big screen saw the globe zoom in and out to places like Gaza, London, Zimbabwe..... brilliant!!
10. Interactive Stations
a. Planned Geoff Boyce' 'WHITE LADY' DVD of the busker from Rundle Mall [who serendipitously was in Bourke Street Melbourne two days later] as an opportunity to sit and reflect
b. AFFIRMATION or Beliefs
Writing ‘I believe… ‘ statements on newsprint inspired by the Savage Garden song lyrics for 'Affirmation'
c. TELL-A-VISION video camera with responses to what people had been experiencing
Videos about how people would change the world
d. ‘THE LEAST’ A series of b&w pictures of those who might be seen as 'the least' were on the floor with a question/prayer opportunity
d. REVERSE BUSKERS Sam/Katie with a crowd
e. DESK LAMP/BIBLE with a light on one Bible and 200 copies of todays stories with a set of questions:
I'll find this file....
Large copy on easel
f. “2020” the Herd clip on loop with copied newspaper headlines on the wall and opportunity
for news headlines you want to see
g. MASKS write on both sides of the brown paper bag... Who you want to be/who you are
h. TEAR FUND PRAYER VIDEO the plan was to invite people to video theirs “I pray for…”
OR link to Tell-a-vision activity ???
i. ROAD LESS TRAVELLED Frost's poem on a poster... Write a verse> which road?
"Two roads diverge in the woods, and I, I took the one less travelled by..."
j. Floodlit TENT Post It notes on the tent re how we could ‘bring out the God colours and flavours
k. Callico CIRCLES for discussion/reflection as per # 01
l. LASER GRAFFITI as per # 01
m. PICTURES of YOU picture or scan of you & writing on it about taking up God’s mission
n. CLOCKS wall clocks props & newsprint sheet for writing about if you had one week to live…..
Add your thoughts
o. McLAREN VIDEOS about the Kingdom of God and the nature of power and justice
11. We planned a final live SONG and Matt Harding's Dance DVD from Youtube

Videos posted soon...