Respond CYP

Respond to the Word

A range of activities for Children (C) and Young People (YP) based on Mark 13.1-8

You will need: two strips of wood about the length and width of a ruler (3cm x 30cm), drill, bolt, nuts and washers; a music stand.

As everyone knows, a suspended weight on a rigid bar is the basis for all mechanical clocks.
A pendulum follows set rules of physics: it swings from side to side at a regular rate. Find someone with good craft skills to help assemble this pendulum. Type ‘chaotic pendulum’ into Google for a range of examples.
First join the two pieces of wood together to make one long rigid bar about 55cm long. You will need two nuts and bolts to hold the ends joined together. Drill a hole at the end of this long bar and put a long bolt through it. It should be loose for the pendulum to swing freely. You will need a stand to hang this from – a microphone or music stand is ideal.
With your group, observe the regular motion as the pendulum swings from side to side.
Now remove one of the bolts that join the two strips of wood together, and loosen the other bolt so that it swings freely. It will help to have washers between the strips of wood. This will be a ‘chaotic pendulum’, because the two sections interfere with each other’s motion. With the joint in the middle, it all goes haywire!
Encourage the youngsters to observe that the top section can't move regularly, because the bottom section keeps pulling it in different ways. And the bottom section can't move regularly because it is suspended from something that is moving.
Remind the group that sometimes chaos happens. What we have to do is work out how we best deal with it.

To think about the things we can always depend on

You will need: pens; access to the graffiti wall you prepared on 4 and 11 November.

Ask the children what things we can always depend on, and what do we depend on them for.
Write these on the grafti wall around the ‘WHAT RULES?’ heading you made in Prepare the space.

Breaking down our false securities

You will need: boxes (shoe or cereal boxes); thick marker pens.

In today’s reading, Jesus gives a warning to the Temple authorities that their way of life – their false securities – is about to come crashing down. The idea is to get group members thinking about what things we rely on that are actually false securities.
Ask the youngsters to think of things that our society relies on, but that we shouldn’t depend on (such as money, popularity, technology). Write each response on the side of a box using a thick marker pen. Pile the boxes on top of each other to make a wall, with all the false securities facing the front.
When you have finished, dramatically knock down the wall to symbolise bringing down our false securities.
Emphasise to the group that, unlike these things, we can always depend on God, for God can never be knocked down.

An activity on not being led astray

You will need: a blindfold; some obstacles.

Ask for a volunteer to be blindfolded. Lay out a series of obstacles across the room. (Make ‘safe’ obstacles – sheets of newspaper would be enough.)
Stand the blindfolded volunteer at one end of the room and ask the group to call out commands to guide him/her across the room avoiding the obstacles. As they do this, the leaders call out opposite instructions to try and lead him/her astray.
Discuss with the group this game of trust – the volunteer had to trust their peers and not be led by the other shouts. Who can we put our trust in, and what can lead us astray?

A game of frustration

You will need: any game that needs parts to play it properly.

Invite the group to play the game. It might be a board game or a block-building game.
Let them play for a while. Distract people with something else, perhaps a conversation or move to another part of the room. Have someone remove some of the essential elements of the game.
Go back to playing the game.
Encourage the group to try to play without the missing elements.
Alternatively, you could play a block-building game, such as JengaT^M, and then prompt one of the group members to have a mock temper tantrum and knock it all over.