-Jillianne Booth
03.28.18
Beginning to finish up the self-reflective, lamenting, solemn time that is the season of Lent, Palm Sunday offers us a more blissful occasion in the life of our worship. And there is something palpable and absolutely inspiring about the movement of the Holy Spirit in the celebration that is our Easter worship!
But what about the week in between the two? Holy week! A week that is most profound and meaningful in our Christian journey. Without Jesus, after all, would there even be much of a point to this Christian journey we have committed to? It's a week most easily skipped over because of busy-ness, Spring Break vacations, beautiful spring evenings, and because it is just not necessarily the most pleasant of a worship week ... and don't even get started on the quantity of worship services - there are just SO many (two and three a day at some points in the week)!
Talking to our teens about Holy week can be tough because it is gruesome, hard to understand, and uncomfortable. I mean, come on, who wants to touch another persons feet ... much less wash them on Maundy Thursday? And we don't like to think about or picture the beating Jesus surely endured or nails being driven through his hands and feet. And why in the heck would I get up and go to church a 3:00a.m. to participate in a prayer vigil?
Nevertheless, Christian discipleship calls us to go to the cross ... and sometimes that means propelling (read: dragging) our teens there.
I read an article this week from the Fuller Institute that imagined and highlighted several of the emotions that Jesus must have experienced during this week: disappointment, betrayal, and dread. Good news for parents trying to establish some connection to Jesus with our teens in Holy week (read: dragging our teens to the cross) ... these are emotions that adolescents understand. The fact that "Jesus can empathize with them and is present with them in these challenging emotions" truly humanizes Jesus to teens in ways that can help them move deeper in their relationship with Jesus.
Don't believe me? Just ask your teen to name some disappointments, betrayals, and dread that they experience with their peers, the world, and even you! Seriously! Create a safe place for them to talk about their feelings! You can create this safe space by practicing the following tips:
1. Do not judge! Have a "Botox brow" and not matter what - do NOT become defensive about what they tell you.
2. Just listen, listen, listen! Shut your mouth, for the most part, but be empathetic when appropriate ... "I remember when I was your age and something like that happened to me ...")
3. Do not try to fix it for them! You probably can't anyways plus from the perspective of many teens - you know nothing.
4. Do your best to relate their feelings back to Jesus! Connect them to Jesus by giving examples of what disappointment, betrayal, and dread you imagine He experienced. You may want to think this through ahead of the conversation.
Sunday night at youth group, our students participated in a modern day stations of the cross written specifically for teens. This presentation was done in PowerPoint with images on the screens! (You can check it out by clicking here). When we got to station 7 (Jesus is Nailed to the Cross), I was flabbergasted by the reaction of several of our students to the pain and treatment that Jesus received. It was as if they had never imagined what it was like for the nails to pierce Jesus' body. The grimaces on faces clearly spoke to the fact that they could not imagine that anyone would spit on Jesus. It was like they were hearing the story from a different perspective for the first time.
So, share the story. Make Easter have an even more profound connection for your adolescent! Look at the gruesome graphics and edgy modern day interpretations. Have open and frank discussions with your teen. Journal about or draw out the scenes and help your youth make an application to their life. Go to the media your teens are using and do a search for Holy Week or #holyweek. To these ends, here are a couple of resournces:
Passion Song - The Story of Hoy Week on YouTube
Holy Week Journaling Prompts for Teens
