Sis. Camille N. Johnson (Oct. '21): "Invite Christ to Author Your Story"

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 I love the analogy of letting Christ write the story of your life.  This is such a powerful way to think of our devotion to Father.  Unfortunately, this is such a difficult thing to do.

The Activity:

  1. Make sure that everyone has access to a copy of the talk either digitally or physically.
  2. Choose a section of the talk that feels like it fits the needs of your class.  In terms of length, it should be about 1-1 1/2 pages long.  For example, par. 11-18 ("Although asking a . . . stories with us") might be a good choice  
  3. Find the audio of this section of the talk and prepare to play it for the class.
  4. Explain to the class that you will play this section of the talk while they follow along.  As they do, they should choose a sentence, a phrase, and a single word that most stands out to them.  These do not need to be the same.
  5. Play the selection.
  6. After everyone has listened, go around the room and ask everyone to share the sentence that they chose without any other commentary.  They should just read the sentence they chose.
  7. Repeat step 6 with the phrase and with the word.
  8. After everyone has shared, ask the class members to reflect on what they discovered listening to everyone's chosen parts.
  9. Discuss these insights with the class.

Using the Activity:

This activity is built on a few principles.  First, by giving the class members specific jobs as they listen and follow along, it increases attention to and engagement with the text.  There is a power that comes when we pay close attention to the exact words of our anointed leaders.  Second, asking every class member to share in such a structured way increases participation by reducing the risk of participation.  When you are told what to look for and do not need to try and put into words your own thoughts and feelings, it makes it easier to participate.  When we participate, we exercise faith; when we exercise faith, we open ourselves up to increased opportunities to hear Him.

Of course, this activity could be carried out in a variety of ways, e.g. small groups, that would also work.  Finally, I want to point out that this type of activity always surprises me.  Hearing just words and phrases that others feel are important always opens the eyes of people to see the talk in a new way.

I hope that this activity will prove useful to you in your teaching.  God bless.

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