Session 9 – Turning tables

Session Plan

After gathering and initial prayer split into three teams and go to Building world for Pictionary.

How to play pictionary - the three teams race against each other.

1. One team member at a time is given a word to draw with blocks for the other team. A small line of coloured blocks are placed initially to help them.
2. The team leader whispers /w Bob The word is egg for example ensuring that only that person hears the word.
3. Teams will be in Zoom rooms so can shout out the answer but they should only type /tm red "It's an Egg" so others don't guess - all teams have the same words
4. RevKev will say Go! All teams should go as fast as they can. First team to finish the team leader should say "Finished"
5. Standard pictionary rules.
6. Second list to go through if they are too quick or we fancy playing again. /give winner potatoe as a prize

Word list from https://randomwordgenerator.com/pictionary.php

Pictionary - Guess who?

After much japes and hilarity we will then go to a place in villageraid to do our second part - the story of Jesus clearing out the temple.

Jesus clearing the Temple

John 2:13-17 The Message
13-14 When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.

15-17 Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture, “Zeal for your house consumes me.”

Gather your team in your building place. Higher in a dessert type biome is better (the temple was on a hill)

Jesus (with whip)

Although the passage above is from the beginning of John's Gospel the other gospels put the story close to Jesus crucifiction and as one of the chief irritations that cause him to be arrested.

Jesus went into the very large 'court of the gentiles' - this the only place 'non-Jewish' people could enter. The temple itself in the centre was for Jewish people only.

Jesus was offended by the profiteering and selling in what should have been a place for all to come to God. Non-jewish money was changed for 'clean' temple money. Sacrificial offerings were for sale. Clearly Jesus saw this as far more about money and profiteering that devotion to God!

Read to your team the words above.

Get building your  'temple' with sellars, animals, tables etc.

RevKev will send a message for the last part once your builds are complete.

In the last part allow everyone to be Jesus and wreck the place and clear out the sellers!

After this is done use plant pots and flowers to plant your own prayers (the courts we for us after all!)

Things to reflect on:

1. I wonder what you would have felt arriving in the temple after coming a long way to worship
2. I wonder what it would be to not have enough money to worship God?
3. I wonder what Jesus was feeling?
4. I wonder what we would have done?
5. I wonder if what Jesus did was OK?
6. I wonder what my prayers are worth to God?
7. etc!

We will end with coming together to pray our final prayer!

Reflections

This session went really well, especially since we had 26 in total numbers. The server coped admirably but did slow down a little as the number of animals in small spaces increased especially in the temples! I did /mvpurge villageraid all at the end of that bit and got rid of 690 entities! This was a good move. There is a plugin to increase performance when entities are packed tightly like this and I may install it as we seem to like having a lot of animals around! We have had some connection issues with the server but on investigation it seems the problem was very poor wifi at the players end.

We are working in teams better and good briefing is key to this. New players are reasonably quick to get that they need to join a team and how that works. Matching teams to Zoom rooms is working. Having an assistant to manage zoom is also incredibly helpful. So staffing looks like:

1. Zoom host
2. Team leader x number of teams

Today this was 1+3 with about 21 young people but It would be good have an extra leader floating and able to enter the zoom rooms etc to make sure all is going well.

We seem to be running from 5 to 630 pm. After that time the kids are hanging around and meeting in zoom rooms to let off steam.

Still some clashes when building but it is always good to use these times to talk about principles of cooperation and collaboration and reinforcing that is what we do here. Using the /whisper command is really helpful.

The pictionary went really really well. This was great fun and we must do this again. Apparently giraffe is really easy to guess! Luc and Josh set up lovely arenas.

The table turning in the temples went well too. Some groups worked well together. Mine didn't so well. But the end result was great. We managed to go from market place to planting prayers.

QueenKytty told me later in the week that they did the same passage at school. She also said ours was more fun! This is one good aspect we will be in sync with churches and schools that follow the lectionary, although common stories will come up. It will be interesting to hear more feedback on this as we progress. This is important too for making our connection to the inherited forms of church and the mixed economy.