Leader Guide

Theme
Forgiveness

Objective
We live in a world where identifying our enemies is not hard. These may be geographical enemies, or they may in our own neighborhood, classroom, or workplace. Students will identify the characteristics of one who loves his or her enemies and develop strategies of forgiveness and love for those enemies.

Warm Up
Hand out the Student Guides and give your group five minutes to finish the section, “The Enemy List.” When everyone has finished, have the students present their lists. Plan to make a master list on a whiteboard or newsprint. Use these questions to follow-up the time:
• What makes an enemy an “enemy”?
• In what ways do we make enemies even bigger enemies?

Transition
Say something like, “Identifying enemies in our world is easy. We hear about enemies in our news, through our friends, and from our family. Today, we want to identify those enemies, and more important, define the character of one who loves an enemy. Then we will strategize how we do this.”

The Song
Let your group know the song being played is by “The Brilliance.” Check out more information on this song and the artist at the listed website. Encourage your students to complete the “Key Points” exercise while they listen to the song. When the song has finished, have different group members share their responses. Follow-up with these questions:
• “Re-framing” is when we look at one thing and make it into another, which helps us to respond in a healthier manner. How does the writer of this song re-frame his enemy?
• What is meant by “Forgiveness is the garment of our courage”?
• Why is courage required to make peace?
• We are called to “open up our eyes” and see what?
• What are the wounds binding humankind now? List a few of them.

Bible Study
Say something like, “It does take courage to forgive and love people as God would. Jesus gives us very challenging words in Matthew 5:43-48. We are going to study them and get a picture of the person who loves all of God’s people.” Invite your youth to open their Bibles to Matthew 5:43- 48 and also to the section, “Enemies as Neighbors” found in their Student Guides. Have one person in your group read this passage and then give each student up to ten minutes to work on the exercise before coming back together. Work through each of the questions and ask the students to share their discoveries. Follow up the exercise with these questions:
• Why was Jesus’ call for us to love our enemies so radical?
• What did He mean by “persecute”?
• In what ways are we persecuted?
• Why is knowing that God treats everyone the same important (v.45)?
• “Perfect” in the Greek means “complete.” How does this change your understanding of the last verse?
• What would be your short list of traits characterizing the person who loves his or her enemies?

Wrap Up
Finish this time together by having your youth take a little solo time to recognize the enemies in their lives. Challenge them to first pray for that person or group of people and then to ask God to give them one step to begin loving their enemy. Close the time by praying for the group as they courageously step out to love the un-loveable.