Dear Abbot
This is the place where the Rev. Demery Bader-Saye, Missioner to the Youth of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, PA,
& special guest clergy, will post answers to questions sent in by you!
Do you have a question about the bible or faith
that you've always wondered about? Is there a difficult situation in your life about which you would like some thoughtful?
Are you sensing a call to ordained ministry and want to know more about it?
Email your questions to Demery at
dbader-saye@diobeth.org. Tell Demery in your email if you would like
to remain anonymous online. If so your name will be kept confidential and will not appear online with your question.
*Special thanks to Bishop Paul for suggesting the name "Dear Abbott" for this page. Watch out "Dear Abby!" - we're moving
in on your territory now...
Our first questions! This comes from John Zukowski, a volunteer at Trinity, Bethlehem:
Hi Demery,
We're doing a program for teens in late January at Trinity (Bethlehem). We're calling it "Sprituality in Pop Culture." We're showing an episode from "The Simpsons" and some clips from some movies including one of the "Harry Potter" movies. Since you've had some experience with young people we thought you might have some tips about how to encourage some discussion.
Here are a few general questions:
1. How do you connect a Biblical passage to a lesson? Do you ask students to compare a passage to what they see in a film clip? How do you put the two together?
2. Sometimes kids can go off on tangents when they see something pop culture. How do you keep them focused on the spiritual theme you're trying to get across?
3. How do encourage students to look for spiritual themes in things outside of what you're teaching? Do you tell them to go out and look for such things?
4. It's difficult sometimes to find time to show an entire movie. Do you find that clips from movies can work well? Especially if they haven't seen the movie already?
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Hi John,
Some good questions, to be sure! There is a wonderful youth ministry resource called Reel to Real, which would be a big help for you. I think that when you look at the way the Reel to Real curriculum is set up you'll see how these kinds of lessons are done. They give lots of ideas for how to use clips -- and what clips to use for each movie -- and also how to use the whole movie, as well as games and activities that tie into films. They also have some neat movie retreat options for using a few films over the course of a weekend! Here are my initial responses to your questions, though.
1. How do you connect a Biblical passage to a lesson? Do you ask students to compare a passage to what they see in a film clip? How do you put the two together?
I find it helpful, often, to focus less on the direct comparison of film to scripture and instead to focus on the themes that you want to bring out, both from the Bible and from the film -- and to focus some questions around those themes. It is usually at the end of the discussion or experience that I would bring the specific passage in as a way to pull it all together. There is a kind of exclamation point effect when the passage is read after seeing the clips and discussing themes -- and helps them to really hear the scripture and see it freshly through the lens of the film. Another option is to simply read the passage or passages at the beginning and 'leave them there' as a kind of canopy over the event and then, after viewing the clips/film and having the discussion, to come back to the scripture at the end. When it is time to bring the scripture in, it helps to have a couple of different kids to read the passage aloud - and to ask the youth to listen for a word or phrase that really jumps out at them in light of the film they just viewed. After the scripture has been read a few times - have a few moments of quiet reflection and then ask the youth to share what word or phrase jumped out and them - and why.
2. Sometimes kids can go off on tangents when they see something pop culture. How do you keep them focused on the spiritual theme you're trying to get across?
The first thing to say is that it's so good to let the kids feel their excitement about having a pop culture thing appear in church! It's something they can relate to - something they know something about -- and that is really fun for them. So some amount of 'tangent' time is okay. But it is also okay, after a moment or two, to turn the focus back to your theme. I think kids are most likely to go off on tangents when the leader is not clear about the goal of the discussion. I know that's been true for me -- if I go in a little fuzzy about how I'm going to bring the themes out, the discussion flounders a bit. But when I take some time ahead of time to identify what themes or ideas I really hope for them to get from the film - and to choose the passages I think relate to the film... and even to write out discussion questions (though Reel to Real provides those questions for you!), then the conversation goes really well.
3. How do encourage students to look for spiritual themes in things outside of what you're teaching? Do you tell them to go out and look for such things?
Great question!! One of the best gifts the church can give its people is helping them to see their whole world through the eyes of faith. In the past there has been such a separation between things of the world and church. But lately there is a whole movement happening - which I truly believe is Holy Spirit-inspired -- to look for God in every part of the world, in every story, every interaction and facet of life. So I love that Trinity is asking these questions and thinking in this direction. A good recent example is a film we used for Happening, the diocesan Sr. High retreat held at Kirby house each year. We used a clip (the whole film is actually pretty crude and raunchy in spots, though funny) from Talledega nights. There is a great scene where the two main characters are trying to say grace before the meal and they get into an argument about what Jesus is really like. One of them likes to see Jesus as a tiny baby - 8 lb. 6 oz. baby Jesus and the other likes to imagine Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt because "it says I'm formal but I'm here to party". Anyway -- we developed a theme from just that scene that carried us through the whole weekend: How do you like your Jesus? We spent more time talking about Jesus at Happening, and how we see him and connect to him and relate to him than ever before. And -- we transformed a film that is questionable -- but one most of the kids had already seen in its entirety, mind you -- in such a way that they will never be able to see it again without remembering their church retreat.
There is another REALLY wonderful curriculum I'd encourage you to look into which gets at your question exactly. It is called Every Picture Tells a Story: 48 Evocative Photographs Inspiring Reaction and Reflection. It is 48 black and white photos taken by a photographer who went out in the world with the question, where is God in the world? It comes with a booklet full of ways to use the photographs and scripture in discussion. A few years back, after using the curriculum with a group for several weeks, I took the curriculum one step further and gave the kids in my group disposable cameras and told them to go into their world and take pictures of where they see God in their lives. I had them drop the cameras off at a local photo shop and had their rolls of film developed in black and white. At our last meeting of that session, I brought their photos and small photo albums for them to decorate... and in our closing worship service that night, as a surprise, I did a slide show, using the best 3 pictures from each person -- put to a secular song which they would recognize -- and told them that they had created the sermon with their pictures, with their eyes and hearts seeing God in their lives.
When I was in a parish I often asked kids to bring a favorite song with them to Sunday School or confirmation class or youth group. If they could/would type out the words ahead of time and bring the CD, that would be best. And we'd take time to listen to the song - to ask that person why it meant so much to them, and for the rest of us to reflect on a word or phrase that jumped out at us from the song. Especially in the context of confirmation class, it was great to hear their responses -- because a lot of times they could pick out things in a song that related to a Bible story we had read or were reading as a group.
4. It's difficult sometimes to find time to show an entire movie. Do you find that clips from movies can work well? Especially if they haven't seen the movie already?
Clips can definitely work. As I mentioned above, Reel to Real does a great job telling you which clips to show - and also helping you to remember what information you need to fill in between the clips to help those who haven't seen the whole movie know what's going on.
So thank you for your questions -- I hope I didn't go on too much. I love this stuff -- this is the stuff that transforms lives for kids! It's what helps us connect with them and their world and to be present to them in the things that interest and excite them. I'll look forward to hearing more as you develop your program!