Page 4 - TeenText Advent HS Charlie Brown Christmas

IV. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Remember, these are only suggestions. The most effective questions and activities— the ones that help participants connect their story with God’s story each week—are often those that are based on your personal knowledge of the participants and where they are. Listen carefully to their responses; ask follow-up questions that help them reflect on the text and their lives, right now, right where they are.
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GO DEEP
What’s happening in the story?
1. Where does Mary travel? Does she seem eager to get there?
2. What happens upon her arrival? How does Elizabeth react? How does the baby react?
What do you think this means?
3. What ‘blessing’ does Elizabeth offer? Why is this significant?
4. What is the overall attitude of these women? Of this passage?
5. What does Mary’s song seem to focus on? What acts of God does she recount? Who
has God acted in favor of?
6. How does Mary’s song celebrate justice? Justice for whom?
7. How is this baby a source of a new and different joy for the meek and lowly?
BE REAL
What connections can you make between the story and the world around you?
What kind of joy do new babies bring? Have you experienced this ‘joy’ in your family or community? How is Mary’s joy like this? How is it unlike this?
What about the joy of the Christmas season? How does the community around you celebrate the season? How does our culture celebrate this season? What is the focus of or the source of such joy?
Is this source of this joy similar to or different from the source of Mary and Elizabeth’s? Who are the meek and lowly in our society? How might Mary’s song bring them hope and joy?
LET GO
Be open to discovering how this story is happening in your own life.
What are you most joyful about during the Advent season? Gifts? Time off from school? Time with family?
Is this the ‘new joy’ that Christ brings? How is your joy like or unlike the new joy that Mary celebrates?
If you didn’t receive one gift and took away all the other sources of joy you named – what would Advent and Christmas look like for you? What would it feel like?
How does the ‘new joy’ Mary celebrates echo in your life? How can you remember and celebrate this joy during Advent?
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