Youth Worship: Helping the Hurting [1st Sept]
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Today, we were treated to a great time with uncle Augustine Tan as he came to speak to us about Helping the hurting. The YF kicked off with youth worship where we had Deb Tan and Abigail playing on the Guitar and Synthesizer. It was a refreshing time of song singing, praising God and lifting His name high. They put up an item too which was entitled 'Love them like Jesus' which reminded us that there are people all around us who go through hardship and how we should just love them like Jesus would, to be near them and comfort them during times of pain and hurt.
Uncle Augustine began the session by seperating us into 2 groups and each group were given a big piece of presentation paper and markers. The task, to write out words that we would associate with the word 'HURTING'. After we decorated the paper with words like 'in pain, divorce, alone, broken, cry', he asked us to convert those words into a pictorial version of a person. So the two groups came up with very interesting drawings. One group did a man with a sad expression holding a mask which had a smiling face on it. This was to illustrate that many times, we can be hurting inside but choose to wear a mask of 'happiness' to avoid questioning or people's attentions.
The other group drew a person who had scars everywhere and was crying out of one closed eye. His shoulders were decorated with an Angel and a devil on either side showing how he had to make decisions and his wrist was bleeding because he probably cut himself just to feel the pain.
After that, we were asked to come up to the board and write out initials of people we knew who we could connect those words with. For example, if i knew a fren who was in pain, i'd go to the word 'in pain' and put his initials down. This was a simple yet effective way of showing us we all knew people who were hurting. To further illustrate his point, he broke us into even smaller groups this time, into pairs.
Of the pairs, one was blindfolded and the other was restricted from talking. The one who could see but not talk was to guide their partner who was blind to a certain location. This showed us that the blind person could feel unsure, uneasy, hesitant, insecure, blind and scared while the guiding person was in control and yet felt helpless at times.
Uncle Augustine said that when people are hurting, they can be like the blind person... uneasy, hesitant and scared. We should therefore slowly earn the trust of that person by keeping these things in mind. However, even if you weren't hurting, we sometimes feel helpless about what we can do for that person hurting.
Finally, he reminded us of Peter and John's example in Acts 3 about how a begger was healed by them.
"Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."
He told us that just like Peter and John, we should use the gifts and talents we were given to help others. But a side point he noted down was that Peter and John healed him... which was his real need; not giving him money.
Overall, it was a good time of learning and fun. On to next week's yf! Prayer Meeting: Trust led by Hsiao Yun