Sunday, April 12, 2015

Upside Down World

I'm working on a proposal for a youth curriculum lesson based on Acts 17 and 1 Thessalonians 1. The Acts 17 passage has that wonderful verse where Paul and his friends are accused of having "turned the world upside down." The people of Thessalonica didn't mean that as a compliment -- Paul and his fellow missionaries were proclaiming the gospel, and it had upset their whole way of thinking and being! (Sometimes having your world turned upside down isn't very comfortable!) But their words were truer than they probably realized at the time.

And what was true then is still true now. The gospel changes everything!

My dear husband gave me the terrific idea of having the kids look at an "upside down map" for one of the activities. If you've never had a chance to check out a map with a south-north orientation, do. It will blow your mind and get you thinking about the world in highly creative ways. It might humble you a bit too, especially as you ponder how many tacit assumptions we sometimes make about our place in the world based on the accepted construct of our maps.

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