These Are Our Bodies: Young Adult Leader Guide: Talking Faith & Sexuality at Church & Home - Softcover

Carter, Heidi J. A.; Halley, Marcus G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0898690269 ISBN 13: 9780898690262

Publisher: Church Publishing, 2017

Synopsis

Faith formation resource for young adults on human sexuality.

Our inherent value and worth comes from God’s love for us, but our modern world is filled with sexual expression that too often leads us away from the life of Christ. As Christians seeking to live a life worthy of our calling and desiring to pass along these values to our children and youth, these books (Leader Guide and Participant Book) offer session plans with activities for Young Adults (ages 18–30) to explore issues of sexuality in the context of our faith, building on the foundational book of the same name and as part of the These Are Our Bodies program resource.

Session topics include: • Holiness • Intimacy • Covenant • Love • Biology • Communication • What is Sacred? • Power and Parity • Mind, Body, and Soul • Brokenness and Shame • Our Bodies: Currency and Creators

About this title

About the Authors

HEIDI J. A. CARTER currently serves as the Lay Minister Associate at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri. Ms. Carter has served numerous task forces in the Episcopal Church regarding human sexuality. With more than 25 years of experience in Christian formation focused on youth and adults, she is a past president of Forma and once diocesan formation leader. She also serves as the Director of Consultant Services for LeaderResources.

MARCUS GEORGE HALLEY serves as College Chaplain and Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. A 2015 graduate of the School of Theology at Sewanee: the University of the South, he has returned to his alma mater to pursue a Doctor of Ministry, focusing his studies on liturgy and discipleship as the seedbed for revival and renewal. His vocational interests lie at the intersection of mission, liturgy, discipleship, and justice. He lives in Stratford, CT.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

These Are Our Bodies For Young Adult Leader Guide

Talking Faith & Sexuality at Church & Home

By Heidi J. A. Carter, Marcus G. Halley

Church Publishing Incorporated

Copyright © 2017 Heidi J. A. Carter and Marcus G. Halley
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-89869-026-2

Contents

Preface, 
Introduction, 
SESSION 1: The World Yearns for ASSURANCE, 
SESSION 2: The World Yearns for CONNECTION, 
SESSION 3: The World Yearns for COVENANT IN COMMUNITY, 
SESSION 4: The World Yearns for EMPOWERMENT, 
SESSION 5: The World Yearns for MUTUALITY, 
SESSION 6: The World Yearns for RESPECT, 
SESSION 7: The World Yearns for LOVE, 
SESSION 8: The World Yearns for PLEASURE, 
SESSION 9: The World Yearns for WHOLENESS, 
SESSION 10: The World Yearns for MYSTERY, 
Appendix, 

CHAPTER 1

SESSION 1

THE WORLD YEARNS FOR ASSURANCE

He made darkness his covering around him, his canopy thick clouds dark with water.

— Psalm 18:11

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

— 1 Corinthians 13:12

OBJECTIVES

[] Participants will wrestle with traditional readings of the historical creeds of the Church and how they frame our understanding of God.

[] Participants will come away with a broader understanding of how the historic creeds of the Church function to frame our conversation on holiness and sexuality.

[] Participants will ponder the similarities and differences of "believe" and "trust."

SUPPLIES

[] pencils or pens (1 per participant)

[] candle and matches

[] These Are Our Bodies Young Adult Leader Guides (1 per facilitator)

[] These Are Our Bodies Young Adult Participant Books (1 per participant)

[] index cards (for use with the Question Box)

[] Question Box (or bag ...)

[] timer or stopwatch (cellphone timer works well)

[] easel paper

[] copies of the Book of Common Prayer (one per participant) or copies of The Nicene Creed, the Definition of the Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the Person of Christ, and The Creed of Saint Athanasius

[] markers

[] name tags

PREPARATION

[] Gather needed supplies.

[] Set up the room for the session. It is best to arrange the furniture in a way that facilitates group discussion.

[] Read through the entire session and make notes or conversation prompts.

[] Review the Guidelines (see pp. 14 and 21).

[] Review the explanation of the Question Box (pp. 15 and 28–29).

[] Create the name tags for the participants.

SUGGESTIONS

[] Review These Are Our Bodies: Foundation Book, Chapter 6: "A New Way of Understanding our Sexuality" beginning on page 47.

[] Young adults may readily understand the complexity of human sexuality or they may be reticent to do so based on any number of factors including religious and family upbringing and exposure to popular media. Do not be overly anxious if you ask a question and you find that people seem to be reluctant to respond. Offering ample time for people to contemplate provides room for ponderers and introverts to feel included. Give it time. Also, it might be helpful for you to model the responses you desire by an appropriate amount of sharing.

[] There is a mystery to our faith that we value, not just as Christians, but also as a church. We do not claim to know all the answers, and we welcome questions. As we begin to come together to have conversations, it's important to name, and claim, a space of openness.

[] Assurance is not a new concept for young adults. As everyone takes turns reading, listen and encourage exploration. Invite participants to listen for contradictions written about the nature of God as the historical creeds of the Church are reviewed.

[] As you prepare for this session, it might be useful to familiarize yourself with the language of a mystic, and how they approach the space between what we know, and what we don't. For example: "This darkness and cloud is always between you and God, no matter what you do and it prevents you from seeing him clearly by the light of understanding in your own reason and from experiencing him in the sweetness of love in your affection. So set yourself to rest in this darkness as long as you can, always crying out after him whom you love. For it you are to experience him or to see him at all, insofar as it is possible here, it must always be in this cloud and in this darkness."

ENTER

(10 minutes)

Welcome

• Welcome participants to the class. If time allows, you might do a brief check-in to bring people more fully into the experience.

• Distribute name tags.

• Hand one Participant Book to each participant in the class.

• You might also let the participants know what time you expect to finish and ask someone to be the timekeeper.

• Ask for a volunteer to light the candle to sanctify your time together.

Housekeeping

• The location of restrooms.

• The time you intend to end the session.

• The policy on phone usage during the session.

• Reiterate the commitment to confidentiality and group trust.

• Remind the class that you are mandated reporter.

Guidelines

Review the norms with which your sessions will be guided. Write each of the below statements on a piece of easel paper and ask the group to discuss what each means. This is a helpful exercise, especially if the participants are unfamiliar with one another, but feel free to omit it if you are pressed for time, as they are somewhat self-explanatory. (They are also found at the beginning of each session in the Participant Book.) After each guideline has been discussed, ask the group to agree to them as a way of framing your time together:

To encourage respectful dialogue, growth, honesty, and respect, we invite participants to agree to these guidelines. Please read together:

I will listen with care to others, and hold the stories and questions raised here in confidence. I will honor the vulnerability in others, and trust that they will honor the same in me.

I recognize that everyone comes to this conversation with different backgrounds, experiences, values, and views. I will respectfully seek clarification with other perspectives to add to my understanding, and if I disagree with someone I will do so carefully and lovingly.

I understand that in order for everyone to participate, I will need to refrain from talking too much, leaving space for others to speak before I speak again.

Opening Prayer

Together say the following prayer (found on p. 9 of the Participant Book).

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ENGAGE

(20 minutes)

Introducing These Are Our Bodies:

As this is the first session, introduce the goals of the program, how each gathering will be structured, and then share this session's topic.

• These Are Our Bodies is a program that gives us room to talk about human sexuality in the context of our faith. We are all God's children — loved and redeemed. Each of us is made in the image of God — good and holy. There is nothing we can do to separate us from the love of God. Forgiveness and grace are gifts given to each of us and are born from God's love for us.

• Our awareness of each other, our acceptance of our affection for each other as God's creations, and our delight in the special gifts that each of us brings to a relationship because of our sexuality — all these are evidence of the blessings that God intends for us in our dealings with each other.

• We will gather over the next several weeks to explore how we live this out in our complex world, listening to and learning from one another, and exploring what we believe as Christians can inform our behavior, relationships, and hopes for the future.

INTRODUCING THIS SESSION'S TOPIC: ASSURANCE

• Today's session is focused on assurance. We often live in a world of nuance and ambiguity — so how can we make decisions? We are going to use our historic creeds as a launching point.

• We will divide into smaller groups and each will need a piece of easel paper and a marker.

Divide the group into smaller groups of at least three people. Give each group a piece of easel paper. Once they have gathered, explain:

• Let's start with the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed is the creed we are probably most familiar with since we say it in church every Sunday. Let us say it together. You will find it on page 11 of your Participant Book.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his
kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

• Next let us read through two less authoritative statements of our faith: "The Definition of the Union of the Divine Natures in the Person of Christ" and "The Creed of St. Athanasius." These are located in the Book of Common Prayer in a section called Historical Documents of the Church on pages 864-865. If you do not have prayer books available, you can duplicate these historical documents in advance and distribute them to the group at this time. They are found in the Appendix.

• Do I have a volunteer to read one?

After these have been read, invite each small group to engage these three faith statements with the following questions (you may wish to write them on easel paper):

• What makes sense to you? What is confusing?

• Do you hear openness in these statements? Where?

• Do you hear certainty? Where?

• How might this impact how you interpret your faith?

Stay close to the groups (but do not join one) to help answer questions as needed. After ten minutes, call the small groups back together and invite each group to report what they discussed. After all have had a chance to share, continue:

• As we come together to have conversations, it might be helpful to begin by naming and claiming a space of openness. The openness that we are seeking to frame is an openness that is part of our Christian tradition. As unexpected as it might sound, this openness can be seen in places such as the historical Creeds of the Church.

• How does this challenge or nuance your perception of God, if at all?

• How does this challenge or nuance your perception of yourself as created in God's image?

After these questions have been discussed, shift the conversation back to the Nicene Creed for the next portion of the session.

EDUCATE

(15 minutes)

Say:

• Before we dig into the Nicene Creed for more wisdom around assurance, let's talk about the two Scriptures on page 12 of your Participant Book: Psalm 18:11 and 1 Corinthians 13:12. How do images like darkness, cloudiness, and dim reflections challenge our common notions of God?

Give the group time to ponder this question. After some conversation, continue with:

• Let's dig deeper into the concept of assurance, and how our faith has this concept at its heart.

• To do this, we will mainly stick with the Nicene Creed, but I encourage you to think about other statements of faith that are meaningful for you.

Read the following from the Nicene Creed:

We believe in God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

Continue:

• When you hear the word "believe," how does it strike you? What comes to mind? How does it make you feel?

Read this portion of the Nicene Creed regarding Jesus Christ, concentrating on the first sentence:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

Continue:

• When you hear the word "believe" how does it strike you here? What comes to mind? How does it make you feel?

Read this portion of the Nicene Creed about the Holy Spirit, concentrating on the first sentence:

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.

Continue:

• When you hear the word "believe" how does it strike you here? What comes to mind? How does it make you feel?

Read this portion that concludes the Nicene Creed:

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Continue:

• When you hear the word "believe" how does it strike you here? What comes to mind? How does it make you feel?

Allow time for the group to ponder and discuss briefly.

Continue:

• The creeds of the Church are not meant to be litmus tests for entry into the faithful community of God; rather, they are meant to be our communal story, a narrative of God's salvation story that each of us can claim and share in.

• The word "creed" comes from a Latin word (credere) which can be translated as "what I put my trust in."

• What does it mean to trust in something or someone?

Allow room for the group to ponder the questions, even silently. Invite them to make notes in the "Believe/Trust" diagram on page 13 of their Participant Book. Then proceed:

• To believe, or trust, in God means that we order our lives around the presence of God in our lives and that we allow God to lead us.

• To believe, or trust, in God does not mean that we have God all figured out. Scripture often describes God as a mystery or hidden. Our deepening relationship to God, and ourselves, often reveals more questions than answers. Instead of answers, what we are given is a framework with which to wrestle with very real questions about who we are, how we exist in community with others in the world, and how we relate to God.

• Let's read through the Nicene Creed as a group, substituting the word "trust" for the word "believe." Every line that begins with "I believe" will now be: "I trust in ..." Let us take a moment of silence to allow that phrase to settle in our hearts.

As a group, recite the Nicene Creed as prescribed above. Then continue:

• How did that feel different for you? Where did you find that comforting? Where did you find that challenging?

Leave room for the group to ponder the questions, even silently. Then proceed:

• The point of the historic creeds of the Church is to remind us of our relationship to God and God's story of love and salvation.

• We regularly remind ourselves that God calls us into relationship with God's self.

• God is a divine mystery and, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu suggests, "Words become an obstacle and a barrier. Instead, we need silence in the presence of God we worship and adore, to be emptied of ourselves and to be filled with God, and so to become more truly ourselves as we are filled with the fullness of God."

• Ultimately, trust is based in hospitality and the gracious offering of space for ourselves, for others, and God. As we go through these next few weeks, we are going to constantly be harkening back to this idea of holding and giving sacred spaces for others and ourselves as we wrestle through these important questions of how we relate to ourselves, one another, and God.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from These Are Our Bodies For Young Adult Leader Guide by Heidi J. A. Carter, Marcus G. Halley. Copyright © 2017 Heidi J. A. Carter and Marcus G. Halley. Excerpted by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Church Publishing
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0898690269
• ISBN 13: 9780898690262
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176