AN EDGE NIGHT ON GENTLENESS AND KINDNESS. KEY WORDS Gentleness Kindness

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1 RESCUE AN EDGE NIGHT ON GENTLENESS AND KINDNESS SCRIPTURE Isaiah 40:11 Romans 12:9-13 Ephesians 4:32 Colossians 3:12 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15 CCC YOUCAT 311 KEY WORDS Gentleness Kindness SUPPLIES NEEDED Small orange traffic cones Iron Man or Rescue drawings Iron Man light cutouts Blindfolds Slips of paper Pens MEDIA SUGGESTIONS YouTube: Iron Man 3 Spoilers: Pepper Pots to the Rescue? Beyond the Trailer by Beyond The Trailer YouTube: Pepper Potts wears Iron Man Suit by Sefhamdi17 RESCUE OUTLINE EDGE NIGHT GOAL The goal of this Edge Night is to draw upon the fun superhero example of Rescue to help the youth understand the fruits of the Holy Spirit of gentleness and kindness. EDGE NIGHT AT A GLANCE The Edge Night begins with a fun Iron Man themed game. It then transitions into the Proclaim, which uses the example of Pepper Pots, Iron Man s assistant, and her role as Rescue to illustrate gentleness and kindness. The Break gives the youth the opportunity to discuss the teaching and to plan to make random acts of kindness throughout the week. The Edge Night ends with an opportunity for the youth to pray with each other. ENVIRONMENT The theme for this Edge Night is based off of the Iron Man series, with Rescue (Iron Man s assistant) as the main focus. Decorate the room in red and gold using balloons or streamers. Print off or make life-size cutouts of Iron Man and Rescue/ Pepper Potts. Also, consider printing off different Stark Industries logos and putting them around the room. At the front of the room put up large signs with the words gentleness and kindness written on them. For more ideas for snacks or decorations search "Iron Man Party" on Pinterest. CORE TEAM FORMATION The fruits of the Holy Spirit of gentleness and kindness can often be portrayed as nice flowery attributes of nice people. But there is a lot more to being gentle and kind than just doing nice things. Gentleness does not have to do with being fragile, but rather properly using one s strength. It is not a lack of strength or power, but the ability to choose when and how to use it. Being gentle does not mean that you are a pushover; rather it shows greater strength and self-mastery. 56

2 Likewise being kind does not mean just being nice, but rather seeking out the best for others. To be kind is to show consideration and care for the other and to do what is best for them, even if it requires telling them a hard truth. All acts of kindness are done out of love and compassion, but they are not necessarily always the easiest things to do or say. Reflect on the following Scripture passage and the use the questions for personal reflection or discussion before the Edge Night: And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32) Would people consider you to be a gentle person? Why or why not? Do you act in kindness or do you just do nice things? Is there someone in your life who needs your loving guidance? How can you help them and act in kindness? What does forgiveness have to do with kindness? How can we help our youth to grow in these fruits of the Holy Spirit? TO THE PARENTS This week at Edge your child learned about gentleness and kindness, two fruits of the Holy Spirit. The fun example of Rescue/Pepper Pots from the popular Iron Man series was used as an example to illustrate these fruits. Your son or daughter learned that gentleness is learning how and when to use strength. They also learned that kindness is doing what is best for another person even if it means standing up to them to do the right thing. Here are some questions to ask your son or daughter this week about Edge: What are ways that you can be gentle and kind? How is it considered kind to stand up to someone when they are doing something wrong? What are some ideas you have for random acts of kindness? GATHER WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION (5 min) Gather in all the youth, introduce any youth who are there for the first time, and recognize any birthdays. Give a brief introduction to the night and begin in prayer. IRON MAN TRAINING (15 min) Supplies Small orange traffic cones Iron Man or Rescue drawings Iron Man light cutouts Blindfolds Break the youth into three or four small groups. Depending on the size of your youth group have more or less, but have at least two. Have the youth line up in a single file line and stand at one end of the room. In front of each line have five or size small orange cones set up in a straight line, about a foot a part. Then, at the other end of the room have a poster board of Iron Man or Rescue on the wall. Make cut outs of the Iron Man light, one for each youth, and put blue painters tape on the back of each one. Have one Core Member for each group and have him or her stand by the Iron Man cut out with a blindfold. Instruct the youth that this is a relay race. The first person in line must run and zig-zag in between the orange cones and get to his or her Core Member. He or she will be blindfolded by the Core Member and handed an Iron Man light. The Core Member will then spin the youth around three times, and he or she must try to pin the light on Iron Man in the proper place. Once he or she has done this he or she will take off the blindfold, hand it to the Core Member and run back to the line, zig-zagging through the cones again, and tag the next person in line to go and do the same. RESCUE OUTLINE 57

3 The winner of the game is not the group that finishes the fastest, but the group that gets the most Iron Man lights closest to where they should be on Iron Man or Rescue. PROCLAIM RESCUE TEACHING (10 min) This teaching can be found on pages 60 to 62. Here are the main points from the teaching: Gentleness is not the same as being fragile or timid; it is knowing how to properly use your strength. Kindness is acting in a way that seeks out the best of the other, even if it means correcting them with love and compassion. We are called to be patient with others and to imitate Christ in being compassionate and loving. BREAK SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (15 min) Break the youth into small groups, begin in prayer, and use the following questions for discussion: What do you think it means to be gentle? Is it different from the gentleness we talked about tonight? Where are some areas in your life that you need to be gentler? RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS (15 min) Supplies Slips of paper Pens Give each youth in the small group seven slips of paper and a pen. Have them write down on each slip of paper a random act of kindness they could do this week. It could be things like: unload the dishwasher without being asked, play with my sibling instead of watching TV, buy a treat for my friend, encourage my family to go to confession, etc. Once the youth have finished writing the acts of kindness, have them share a few of their ideas with the small group. Challenge them to put the slips of paper somewhere they will see them this week and pull out a random one each day and do the act of kindness that day. TAKING IT DEEPER: SMALL GROUP ADAPTATIONS FOR 8 TH GRADE: For the 8th grade youth who are looking to go deeper, use the following questions for discussion: Who in your life is an example of someone who is gentle? What makes them gentle? Are there certain situations in your life where you have to be gentle? What is an example? Who in your life is an example of kindness? What makes them kind? Do you think that being kind and being nice are the same thing? Why or why not? Would you be willing to stand up to a friend who is making a bad decision and tell them that what they are doing is wrong? How is this showing kindness? RESCUE OUTLINE What do you think of when you think of someone who is kind? Is that the same as the kindness we talked about tonight? Why are these fruits of the Holy Spirit important for our lives? Why are these fruits important for our culture? Do you see a lot of people striving for them? 58

4 SEND PRAYER GROUPS (10 min) Break the youth into gender specific groups of four. Give them each some time to pray with each other. Instruct them to sit in the circle and start with one youth and have them present a prayer intention to the rest of the group. Then have the other youth offer up the intention by saying a Hail Mary or an Our Father for that particular youth. Have them do this for each youth in their group. Have Core Members present and roaming the groups to help the youth stay on task and answer any questions. CLOSING PRAYER (5 min) Gather the youth back into the large group. Have any youth who are willing share with the group either an act of kindness they will do that week or what their experience was like praying with one other. Close the Edge Night by praying for an increase of growth in the fruits of the Holy Spirit of gentleness and kindness. The following are an example: Prayer for Kindness Lord help us to be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to us without coming away better and happier. Help us to be the living expression of God s kindness in our faces, kindness in our eyes, kindness in our smiles, and kindness in our warm greetings. Amen. (Adapted from Mother Teresa quote) Prayer for Gentleness St. Francis De Sales you who so rightly said, Nothing is so strong as gentleness and nothing so gentle as real strength please intercede for us that we too may live our lives with true gentleness. Pray for us to find our true strength, not in worldly power or physical strength but in the fruit of the Holy Spirit of gentleness and kindness. Amen. FURTHER ADAPTATION IDEAS If you cannot find enough orange traffic cones use blue tape to make X s on the ground to run around for the Gather game. If you have a large youth group, play the opening game as an upfront game. If you think that your youth would be more comfortable, keep them in their small groups and have them pray with each other in small groups. Notes RESCUE OUTLINE 59

5 RESCUE TEACHING KEY WORD DEFINITIONS Gentleness - Not abusing your strength; it is the act of being kind and mild, to not act violently or severely. Kindness - To show consideration and care, to do what is best for another even if that means standing up to that person with compassion and love. IRON MAN AND PEPPER POTS Tony Stark described himself as "a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist," but most know him as Iron Man, the one-man army with missiles and lasers tucked into every limb of his super-powered suit. This suit, which he built himself, can withstand the blast of a tank, outfly a jet, and has more firepower than most small countries. Pepper Pots is Tony's love interest and the CEO of Stark Industries and works as his right-hand woman. In the comics, she is also given an Iron Man type suit, which she names Rescue. In terms of weapons, it has none. It can fly and create electromagnetic force fields, but has no offensive weaponry whatsoever. This is because Pepper did not want any. She decided that if she was going to be a superhero she was going to do it without resorting to the same type of over-the-top violence as Iron Man. She wanted to focus solely on rescuing victims. GENTLENESS This decision that Pepper makes about her suit and becoming Rescue reveals that she is gentle, but that does not mean that she is timid. RESCUE TEACHING Many confuse gentleness with being timid or fragile. For example, a butterfly is not actually gentle; a butterfly is fragile. You have to be gentle with a butterfly, or else it will not live very long. Being gentle is about not abusing your strength; it is the act of being kind and mild, to not act violently or severely. Pepper Pots is an example of gentleness because she makes a conscious choice not to cause harm when she easily has the capability to do so. Key Word CCC

6 Outfitted in her suit, Pepper can lift upwards of 75 tons (that is more than a tank)! She avoids confrontations of violence and fighting super villains, preferring to protect and rescue civilians instead. She is cautious and intentional with her strength, as she could easily crush any human she is trying to help. She does not back down from those who do wrong but stands against them as a wall protecting the innocent. That is true gentleness. Key Word CCC 1832 Colossians 3:12 KINDNESS Like gentleness, kindness is often skewed. Most people think that kindness is synonymous with being nice. "Nice" is a very lukewarm description. "He's nice," could be translated as, "he has no real negative qualities that immediately come to mind." Kindness is a trait of God. To be kind is to show consideration and care. A kind person does what is best for another, even if that means standing up to that person with compassion and love. In a recent comic book series known as Superior Iron Man, Tony Stark began acting like the worst version of himself. He developed a body-perfecting app the public soon could not live without. Then he started manipulating and tricking his customers just to build his already massive fortune. He relapsed into alcoholism and started pushing away those who cared about him. Pepper begged Tony to stop his self-destructive behavior, but he refused. In epic comic book fashion, the two duked it out verbally while their twin suits clashed. Pepper tried to reason with the man inside the metal suit, but in the end it did not work. She resigned as CEO of Tony's company and left. Was Pepper being nice to Tony? Nope. Was she being kind? Yes! Pepper did not stand up to Tony because she was vengeful or because she thought him a villain. On the contrary, it was love that caused her to act the way that she did. She wanted to help Tony stop hurting himself and others. In the end, the two parted ways leaving a friendship and romance behind them. This was true kindness: putting the needs of the one you care about above even your friendship and reputation with that person. Ephesians 4:32 Isaiah 40:11 OUR LIVES Jesus Christ calls us to this same type of gentleness and kindness and, ultimately, to imitate Him in these fruits of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ too is gentle, but He is not fragile. He is kind to all and forgiving, but He is the keeper of justice. He calls us to Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ forgave you. We are called to lead others to Jesus Christ and His love with all gentleness, never forcing our power or beliefs on others, but leading them to Christ with love and compassion. RESCUE TEACHING 61

7 Perhaps you know someone at school who suffers from cutting, drugs, or alcohol. It takes heroic kindness - the kind that may even rattle a friendship - to tell them they are hurting themselves and telling a trusted adult about the situation. But doing so is truly an act of love. It is not always easy to be kind and correct the wrongs of others or to be gentle in our actions towards those who have done us wrong. But we are urged to "encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. It may seem daunting or too much for us to do, but by the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives these fruits of gentleness and kindness will continue to grow. Romans 12:9-3 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15 Notes RESCUE TEACHING 62

8 Notes RESCUE NOTES 63

9 RESCUE CHECKLIST EDGE NIGHT CHECKLIST EDGE NIGHT DATE: EDGE NIGHT TOPIC: CORE TEAM ASSIGNMENTS: Environment Opening Prayer Games Proclaim Closing Prayer WEEK PRIOR TO EDGE NIGHT: Hand out/ the Edge Night to the Core Members Assign duties to the Core Team Pick videos and/or songs Gather all the supplies Core Team the Edge Night Core Formation WEEK OF THE EDGE NIGHT: Prep for games and the environment Meet with the Core Member doing the Proclaim (if applicable) Videos: Songs: DAY OF THE EDGE NIGHT: parents the information about the Night and any announcements Gather and set-up for the night Pray! Notes RESCUE CHECKLIST 64

10 RESCUE EVALUATION EDGE NIGHT EVALUATION INSTRUCTIONS: Evaluation is a key to successful ministry. Use the following questions to discuss and evaluate your Edge Night. What is going well at our Edge Nights? What can we improve? Would you be interested in leading prayer, explaining games, or giving a Proclaim teaching? Was there one particular part of this Edge Night you did not think was necessary? What and Why? Are our Core meetings effective? How can I better serve you as a youth minister? What can we do to better serve our youth? RESCUE EVALUATION 65