These are slides that accompanied a live webinar discussion with the Youth Theology Network leaders, who are pondering how to transform their summer programs in a time of physical distancing.

1. Youth theology in a time of pandemic…
2 April 2020
YTN / FTE
Mary E. Hess

4. “life’s beauty is inseparable from its fragility”
Susan David

5. “be still and know that I am God”
Psalm 46: 11

6. what are the two biggest changes you’ve
experienced due to the pandemic?

7. principles for a new reality
• nobody signed up for this
• the humane option is the best option
• we cannot just do the same thing online
• we will foster intellectual nourishment, spiritual
connection, and personal accommodation
• we will remain flexible and adapt to the situation
Brandon Bayne

8. soul care
• C=create hospitable space
• A=ask self-awakening questions
• R=reflect theologically together
• E=enact the next most faithful step
Lewis, Williams, Baker

9. advice from those who live in isolation
• hope
• planning
• action
• play
• movement
• joy
• thinking
• feeling
• belonging
Josie George

10. things to remember pedagogically …
• authority, authenticity, agency
• ignite, curate, practice
• context collapse

11. ideas, feelings,
actions
• “Perhaps the most important aspect of
forming memories is the strong link
between cognition and emotion. It
almost seems black and white. If an
experience is emotional, we will seek
to understand it. If it is not, we won’t.
The emotion systems in the brain are
intimately involved with attention.
Things that stir our emotion get our
attention. This is one way we become
aware of our experiences, and when
we are aware we remember.” (Zull, 267)
• “One aspect of the brain, learning
theory, and knowledge is that it is
about the living person. People
remember their experience with others
more than any delivery method or
isolated searches.” (Zull, epilogue)

12. “they won’t care what you know until they know
that you care”

13. remember…
• don’t walk away from difficult emotions — create spaces
where you and your youth can express a range of
emotions (learning agreements)
• now more than ever is a time for compassion, for
“suffering with”
• model — and remember! — ““between stimulus and
response there is a space and in that space is our power
to choose, and it's in that choice that lies our growth and
freedom” (Susan David)

14. authority, authenticity,
agency
• digital media have caused
shifts in all three of these
modes of meaning-making
• build authority through building
credibility
• recognize the necessity of
story as an element in
authenticity
• create opportunities for agency
for your youth

15. don’t forget God’s agency!

16. moving into “physically distant” learning
• aim for social connection in the midst of physical
distance
• lean into context (share the spaces they are connecting
from, leave time for pets to wander through, for…)
• emphasize creative agency (examples at the end of this)
• music, film, stories, art — these are rich resources!

18. we are living in a time
of context collapse
finding ways to recontextualize, to
draw on existing “stories” and
unfolding/expanding them
theologically is key

19. exercises to try…

20. shared lectio divina

21. Ask the participants to read the selected passage using a shared,
slow and reflective reading method. You might wish to explain the
process in the following manner:
“We are going to read the text together as a group. I will begin by
reading a line or two and then stopping where I feel appropriate.
When someone else is ready, he or she reads the next line. Feel free
to repeat lines, words or phrases that strike you or you feel the need
to emphasize. You can go back and repeat or retrieve words or
phrases that have already been read, to emphasize them, but please
do not repeat words or phrases that have not yet been read as the
text unfolds. We will continue this way until the passage has ended.
Do not worry about long silences; rather be conscious of the silences.
Allow the silences to fill you with the words. We need the spaces
between the word to help us build creativity and understanding.”

22. image sharing

23. image sharing
• Quickly choose an image that you are carrying – it might be a photo
you’ve caught on your phone, it might be something on a piece of
clothing you are wearing, it might be a picture you keep in your
backpack/wallet/purse. For the next 60 seconds write down as
many words that you can think of that come to mind as you ponder
that image.
• Next, circle any of the words that are feelings, put a dotted line
around any that are ideas, and use some other marking to delineate
any that are actions. What, if anything, do these words offer you as
insight into your relationship with the Divine?
• Take a few moments to share with someone next to you, what
emerges for you from this brief meditation.

24. story circle exercise for groups of four

25. tasks for the story listeners
• One person listens for the facts in the story.
• One person listens for the feelings of the story.
• One person listens for the values in the story.

26. share a moment when you felt real hope

27. remember the timing
• storyteller shares a story for no more than 2 minutes
• person noting facts shares what they heard
• person noting feelings shares what they heard
• person noting values shares what they heard
• repeat this process for the next person in your group

28. story titling circle

29. the process (synchronously via zoom, etc.)
• tell a story (up to 2 minutes) of a moment when you felt real hope
• pause for 5 seconds
• storyteller turns around so they are not facing the screen
• listeners offer ideas for titles (up to 2 minutes)
• pause for 5 seconds
• storyteller accepts a title, or claims their own
• write the title on a shared document, repeat the process for each
person

30. the process (asynchronously)
• tell a story (no more than 500 words) of a moment when you felt real
hope
• email it to the group
• set a time by which everyone must have read it, and then responded
• listeners offer ideas for titles of the story by a certain day/time
• storyteller accepts a title, or claims their own
• write the title on a shared document, repeat the process for each
person

31. God glimpses

32. the process
• either ask people to have their phone ding them once
every two hours (or at least four times in a day)
• when it dings, take at least one or more photos from your
immediate environment
• choose three pictures — and you may add up to three
words — and put them all on one page as you consider
where you might be glimpsing evidence of God in your
daily life

33. theological reflection with a commercial
examples to use

34. the process
• choose a commercial to watch (examples here)
• watch it at least twice
• pay attention to what you are feeling as you watch it
• go through the reflection prompts afterwards

35. Connecting narrative to tradition
• emotional responses to a specific event, symbol, image;
what theme emerges? or symbol?
• what is existence like in this theme? what is life-giving
and joy-filled about it? what is broken and sorrowing
about it? what possibilities for healing and newness?
• brainstorm resources that resonate with it — from the
Bible, from the deep structures of your faith
• what insights emerge for you?
Killen

36. what are the principles in use here?
• a robust theology of grace
• God is always reaching out to us in everything and in every
way
• our own human thirst for meaning is in fact a thirst for God
• God is intimately caring and passionately involved in our lives
• revelation is ongoing, intimately touching our daily lives while
at the same time it is historically privileged in the gospels and
the theological heritage of the Church

37. media / sacred mapping exercise

38. media/sacred mapping exercise
• draw a map/blueprint of your home
• mark on your drawing where you experience the divine
(or perhaps what you experience as sacred)
• mark where you are engaging with media
• is there any overlap? what questions emerge for you as
you do this?
• share with a partner your drawing and reflection

39. what else?

40. specific issues
• “how to help teens shelter in place” (https://
greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/
how_to_help_teens_shelter_in_place)
• Josie George’s guide to being inside (she’s lived with chronic
illness: http://www.bimblings.co.uk/2020/03/15/inside-a-
guide/)
• principles for a new reality (included at InTrust: https://
www.intrust.org/Blog/entryid/775/principles-for-our-new-reality)
• “how to be your best self in a time of crisis” Susan David at
TED (https://youtu.be/Xgyh0juINNI)

41. ignite (engagement) examples
• glimpsing historical trauma through a piece made by a
youth collective in Idaho
• No Good Reason (Natalie Merchant records a song
written by a teen experiencing homelessness)
• using humor (What kind of an Asian are you?) to explore
micro aggressions
• James Cone’s ideas from The Cross and The Lynching
Tree through the anniversary of Strange Fruit

42. curate (representation) examples
• Enter the Bible (a basic biblical site by Luther Seminary)
• the Pluralism Project (Harvard)
• a Racial Justice Bibliography (weblog, in particular)
• a visualization of an argument for a “social Trinity” with
the “fusion of horizons” from Ricoeur (Steve Thomason)
• a visualization of US religious affiliation (Kyle Oliver)

43. practice (action and expression) examples
• wisdom in the age of information (Maria Popova in story)
• a retelling of the story of the woman at the well
• the Washburn Blackbox Acting program (young people
writing their own plays)
• the President sang Amazing Grace (Joan Baez sings a
song by Zoe Mulford)
• Bomba Estéreo - Soy Yo (music video of a young girl’s joy
and resilience)

44. citations:
Octavia Butler quote (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?
fbid=10107198550653720&set=a.10107181579663720.10737418
39.13954176&type=3&theater)
Ken Robinson quote (from the 16 February 2017, Toronto Catholic
school board livestream)
doonsbury comic (http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com/strip/
archive/2014/7/27, July 27, 2014)
naked pastor cartoon (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/
nakedpastor/2012/01/complimentary-rule-book/)
naked pastor cartoon (https://nakedpastor.com/2013/09/jesus-
takes-a-selfie/)

45. citations, continued:
enduring understandings (http://chronicle.com/blogs/
profhacker/files/2011/08/enduringunderstanding.png)
image of crown of thorns heart on bible (James Chan, pix)
connected learning (http://www.teachthought.com/
learning/connected-learning-the-power-of-social-learning-
models/)
zits comic (http://comicskingdom.com/zits, 12 December
2018)

46. meh.religioused.org
mhess@religioused.org