cow tipping: wrestling with youth ministry

Happy? (Middle School Beatitudes Series)

The Happy Meal: The unending pursuit of happiness is symbolized by the Happy Meal, a stroke of pure marketing genius. Every child wants to be happy and Happy Meals send the message that all it takes is a little plastic toy that comes as a gift with your hamburger. And don't parents also want their kids to be happy? After all, the kid has to eat anyway, and it seems like a small, convenient thing to do to bring a little happiness to a child's life (or at least to avoid anticipated unhappiness!) In a matter of minutes, the half-eaten hamburger is thrown away. In a matter of days, the plastic prize is broken, lost or entirely forgotten. But no matter: there's always the next Happy Meal, and the next. Meanwhile, kids are being groomed to be good consumers, to have the kinds of desires that will keep a Happy Meal culture humming along. Yet whatever happiness this pursuit may bring is unstable and short-lived. (Cameron Lee, Unexpected Blessing, p. 26)

I think the visual for this series will be that of the Happy Meal (not just because Oak Brook is the international headquarters for McD's). The Beatitudes usually translated as "blessed" can also mean "happy." Lee unpacks happiness as a culturally-loaded word. Culture and media tell us what it means to be happy. It seems like something we can attain if only we buy the right stuff, fill our lives with important activities, and hang with beautiful and powerful people. It is no accident that "happy" shares the same root word as happenstance. Happiness basically means I'm luckier than you. Happiness isn't earned, it is a blessing of God's grace. Even those who are not happy by earthly standards can still be called blessed, and the dawning recognition of this will transform our happiness.

NOTE: I will start this series January 6th, so I welcome your feedback (good, bad, and ugly) as I get ready to unleash this on middle school students.

Middle School Beatitudes Series

The middle school ministry team and I have decided to write a Beatitudes series for 2008. It will coincide with the launch of our summer mission project registrations and our first shot at the World Vision 30 Hour Famine. I've done more than a few studies on the Beatitudes, but a recent book has changed my perspective on Jesus' teachings. Cameron Lee's Unexpected Blessing: Living the Countercultural Reality of the Beatitudes is a challenging read. The Beatitudes are not a set of moral rules or a how-to manual. Nor are they "Eight Simple Steps to God's Blessing". Instead, Cameron Lee sees the Beatitudes as a window through which we may view the kingdom of heaven. He illustrates the nature of this kingdom by contrasting each Beatitude with the ways that middle schoolers self-centered culture tugs at them.

I think I'll try to post my outlines and thoughts as I write this series over the next month. I invite your feedback and ideas as I go. If you have any good resources, please shoot them my way!