AROUND THE TABLE Dignity of the Family

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1 AROUND THE TABLE EDGE NIGHT OUTLINE SCRIPTURE & CCC: Genesis 1:27-28 Genesis 2:24 Joshua 24:15 John 3:16 Ephesians 3:14-15 CCC CCC CCC SUPPLIES NEEDED: Family Trivia Questions or Power Play Game Prizes for Trivia Game Movie Clip for Proclaim Handout A: Letter to My Family (page 31) Pens Handout B: Prayer for the Family (page 32) GOAL The goal of this Edge Night is to teach the youth about the dignity of the family so that they learn that in the community of the family we are called to love, forgive, and pray. The youth will also learn that we are all part of the larger family of God. EDGE NIGHT AT A GLANCE Tonight we will talk about the dignity of the family. In a document from the Church called Gadium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), the Church tells us this about the family: The well-being of the individual person and of human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life. The family is the first and most basic unit of society. The family unit is where we are to come to know God and to be nurtured and thus form communities of faith. The Church teaches that the family is the Domestic Church and the foundation for Christian life starts within the family. Jesus came into the world through the way of the family. The Holy Family is an example to every human family to learn about love and charity. As Catholics, we are called to defend the dignity of the family. This night starts off with a family dinner where each small group will have the opportunity to share around the table. As we move into the teaching for the night we will discuss the dignity of the family, the example the Holy Family gives us, and that each person is part of the family of God. The break will give the youth an opportunity to reflect on their family relationship. The night will close with a prayer for the family. BEFORE THE NIGHT Get volunteers to help with the opening dinner activity. Preview and set up the video clip for the teaching. Have the teen giving the witness practice it for you and other Core Members ahead of time. ENVIRONMENT The environment for this night is the family dinner table. Have tables and chairs set up for each small group. If your meeting space does not allow for this set-up, have a dining room table and chairs at the front of the room and disperse other home décor around the room couches, family photos, pillows, end tables, lamps, etc. GATHER OPENING MUSIC See song suggestions in Media Suggestions sidebar. W E LCO M E & INTRODUCTION 1. Welcome and introduce new teens. 2. Recognize and celebrate any youth or Core celebrating a birthday by singing Happy Birthday. 3. Present a brief overview of the session. OPENING PRAYER This prayer should be based on the overview of the session. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and understanding about the theme/topic for the night. 26

2 FAMILY (SMALL GROUP) DINNER HIGH/LOW Start this night with a family dinner. Have each small group sit at a table with their Core Member. This could be something as simple as having a box of pizza for each table or a more elaborate meal served by parent volunteers. During dinner, groups should play the High/Low game. Each person takes a turn sharing what his or her highest and lowest moments of the day (or the week) were. PROCLAIM SCRIPTURE PROCLAMATION 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 VIDEO Begin the teaching by showing a clip from the movie Cheaper by the Dozen. Suggested clips (to be shown together): Frog at breakfast scene (8:45 11:45) followed by Mark runs away scene (1:23:30 1:25:41). PROCLAIM TALK Family can mean many different things to each person here. You may think of the people who live in your house. You may think of your grandparents, aunts and uncles, or a favorite cousin who lives far away. Tonight we are going to talk about the dignity of the family and what God s purpose for the family is. During our Edge Night about our dignity we learned that dignity means being worthy of honor or respect. We discussed that every human person is worthy of honor or respect because God created each of us uniquely and lovingly. The family is worthy of honor and respect because it is a gift from God and made up of God s people. A man and a woman are joined together in the Sacrament of Marriage and become one flesh. Through the gift of the sacrament they are to be fruitful and multiply. Children are a blessing to the married couple from God. The Domestic Church God created families to live in love! The family is the Domestic Church the first place that you learn about the faith, the first place that you are loved, where you learn to pray and forgive and other important Christian values. This may bring up images of perfect little children sitting around the table complementing one another, obeying their parents, doing all their homework, eating all their vegetables, and going out to help the neighbors. You may feel like you can relate more easily to the chaos from the family in the movie clip than to what I just described. The truth is every family encounters a range of emotions and a variety of experiences every day: fighting over the bathroom, teasing your siblings when someone gets in trouble, feeling disappointed when your needs are not met, or laughing uncontrollably about something that happened at the breakfast table. The family is the place where our lives are lived and, even in the midst of the imperfections and the ups and downs of daily life, the call is to strive for holiness in our family in each relationship, in each interaction. The Holy Family God gives us the example of the Holy Family to show us the way. Jesus came into the world through MEDIA SUGGESTIONS: Song: Big House by Audio Adrenaline (Hit Parade, Forefront) Song: You Know Who I Am by Matt Maher (The End and the Beginning, OCP) Song: Hold us Together by Matt Maher (Alive Again, Provident) Song: You are More by Tenth Avenue North (Light Meets the Dark, Reunion) Video: Together Team Hoyt by Igniter Media (www. ignitermedia.com) Movie Clip: Cheaper By The Dozen (times listed in the Proclaim section) 27

3 NOTES: AROUND THE TABLE EDGE NIGHT OUTLINE a family! He shows us the value and beauty of family relationships. The Holy Family is not spared the hardship and difficulty that we at times face in our own families. Mary and Joseph traveled through difficult circumstances at the end of Mary s pregnancy. There was no place for them to stay when Jesus was born. Mary had to give birth outside surrounded by animals. After His birth, Jesus parents had to flee to Egypt to keep Him safe. When He was 12 years old, Mary and Joseph lost Jesus on a family trip, and Mary was present through her Son s crucifixion. God understands any trial, any difficulty we face in our own family, and He is with us. Can We All Just Get Along? We may experience hurt or brokenness in our own families. We may argue or say hurtful things to our brothers, sisters, or parents, or perhaps someone made a promise that they did not keep. We are not perfect and our parents and our siblings are not perfect either. We can take comfort in knowing God our Father is always there for us. Mary our mother prays for us and guides us to her son Jesus. It can be tempting to hold onto our feelings of anger or disappointment when somebody hurts us, but remember what we hear in 1 Corinthians 13: Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quicktempered, it does not brood over injury. If we are truly seeking to live in a community of love through our families we must be patient, we must be kind. We must not brood over injury, which refers to not holding onto those hurt emotions. We must forgive, we must think of the others in our family and treat them with goodness and love. We Are Family the Church Each of us is also part of a much bigger family: the church community the family of God. Here we can continue to be nourished in faith, encounter our brothers and sisters in Christ, and be instructed by the priests our spiritual fathers. Here we can grow deeper in our understanding of the Christian values we first learned at home. We experience the Sacraments, an outpouring of God s grace, through the Church. The Church family is a home and a family for everyone. Witness Talk My Family Have a high school teen share about his/her experiences in his/ her family. Depending on the needs of your group, you may want to have someone who comes from a divorced home share about how God worked in his/her heart even through the hurt and brokenness of divorce. BREAK SMALL GROUP PRAYER As your small group begins, say a prayer for the group and the activities for that session. SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION In your small group discuss the following questions: 1. What is the dignity of the family? 28

4 ADAPTATION IDEAS: 2. Why does the Catholic Church believe that the family is so important? 3. How does the Holy Family s example teach us how we should treat our own families? 4. What part of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 do you feel you need to focus on the most in your relationships with your family? 5. What does it mean to you to be part of God s family? 6. If everyone in your family does not go to church, how can you encourage them? LETTER TO MY FAMILY Give each student the Letter to My Family (Handout A on page 31). The students will pick a member of their family to write a letter to. This is an opportunity for the young person to express gratitude to a member of his or her family for the love they have shown him or her and can also be a promise of prayer to pray for that family member and the family unit as a whole. SEND CLOSING PRAYER Have each small group gather back in the main meeting space and sit together as a family. Each person should be given a Prayer for the Family handout (Handout B on page 32). Allow a few minutes for each young person to share with his/her small group a specific prayer intention for his/her family. Then, as you lead into the closing prayer, have the groups stand in a circle. Encourage them to be mindful of lifting up one another s intentions as the large group prays together the Prayer for the Family. SUMMARY CHALLENGE Before the middle school youth are sent home they will be challenged to remember: 1. Every family has dignity because our families are a gift from God and every member of the family in created in God s love. 2. The family is a Domestic Church where we first learn about love, faith, and Christian values. 3. The Holy Family inspires us by their example of love and community. While our families may not be perfect, we can learn to love each member in our family as God loves us. 4. This week take time to pray for your family and for each relationship. You can also pray for a family that you know is going through a difficult time. TO THE PARENTS OF Tonight we learned about the dignity of the family and how God gives us our family to learn about love. The Catholic Church tells us that the family is the most basic unit of society and necessary for our development as a human person and in our faith. When we receive our Baptism, it is into a family. However, there are challenges and difficulties we face in our families. Tonight we focused on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 to

5 ADAPTATION IDEAS: At the end of the night hand out Holy Family medals and encourage the youth to ask for the intercession of the Holy Family to pray for their family. (Holy Family medals available at catholicprayercards.org.) Invite a priest or deacon to come and bless the medals, the youth, and their families. This would be a good night to have a Parents Night during the Edge Night. Invite parents to attend or have a separate session and bring the families together at the end to pray together. If you are unable to start this night with a small group family dinner, start the night by having each small group come up with a family name and a family crest. You can still have them share their highs/lows of the week as part of this activity. AROUND THE TABLE EDGE NIGHT OUTLINE talk about how we can strive to live in this love and get along better with those in our family. We also looked at the example that the Holy Family sets for us. At the end of the session we took time to pray for our families. Questions for the ride home: 1. What did you learn tonight about the dignity of the family? 2. How does the Holy Family set an example for us? 3. What are some ways that our family can spend time together and remember to pray for each other every day? If you are unable to show the movie clip, have the speaker share a fun or interesting family memory with the group at the beginning of the talk. 30

6 LETTER TO MY FAMILY Handout A EDGE NIGHT HANDOUT INSTRUCTIONS Take time to write a letter to a specific family member. This is an opportunity to express your gratitude for the love that you have received in your family. This can also be an opportunity to promise to pray for your family. Dear, Love, 31

7 PRAYERS OF Handout B EDGE NIGHT HANDOUT 32