Greetings and Opening Prayer

         Lesson Objective: To show young people the means that Jesus used to convey his teachings: Parables, Sermons and Dialogues.

         First - Group activity called Waiters’ Race, using the parables ‘The Arrogant Guest’ (Luke 14:7-11) and ‘Widow's mite’. The spiritist teacher must distribute small pieces of paper to the adolescents. Ask them to write what they would like to donate towards the "Spirit Movement" (fictitious gift; not necessarily financial). Collect the donations (slips) and put them in a box.
         The youth group should later be split into two or three teams. Place water jugs filled with water as well as trays and water cups on a table at the back of the room, along with empty soda bottles (600 ml). There should be water level marks on each of these empty soda bottles. The number of jars, trays and bottles should be equal to the number of teams. The number of cups available for this group dynamic should be equal to the number of adolescents.

         Explain the group activity called ‘Waiters Race’. One member from each team will write on the blackboard his/her name and what he/she wants to improve on them. As soon as this is done, he/she will take the water jar that belongs to his/her team (this should already be filled in with water). The adolescent will need to put water in the empty soda bottle until reaching the water level mark (minimum water level). He/she will need to close the bottle and put it on the tray with a disposable and empty cup.
         The adolescent will have to carry this tray up to the other side of the room where his/her team awaits. Once there, choose one of their team members to offer a cup with water. The one who was just served must drink all water that was poured in his/her cup. He/she will take the tray immediately after, go back to the starting point where the same process will be repeated by him/her. This routine should be performed until all team members serve and are served the cup with water.
         All teams should begin these activities together (simultaneously). There should be some obstacles throughout the route.

         The first obstable is placing chairs in a "zigzag", representing difficulties. The second obstable is a rope or string the adolescents should go over it (the rope must previously extended and be around 30 to 40cm above the floor). Tip: Use the legs of chairs to arrange the strings. This will represent pride, upon which the adolescents should pass over (figurative sense).
         The third obstable is a passage under a second rope or cord. This will represent good advices, for which should "lower our head" (humility). This cord should be around 1m to 1.20m from the ground and can be tied in the chair. After passing through the two cords, the adolescent should step in three circles drawn on the ground, where the following words should be written: Materialism, Selfishness and Envy. It’s only after going through all these obstacles that each youth will be able to ‘serve’ one of the members of his/her team.

         Observations on the dynamics:
         · The tray should be carried by the adolescents with both hands. They can’t at any time remove one of their hands from the tray and hold the cups or the bottle. The adolescent should go back to the starting point and re-start the journey again if something falls from the tray.
         · The bottle should be filled with water until at least the minimum level.
         · The adolescent who is being served won’t need to go through the obstacles once returning to the starting point.
         · The bottle after being filled (at least until the stripe) should remain closed well on the way in but also on the way back from the course.
         · If water remained in the bottle when serving your partner, the adolescent that was served should empty it into the jar and then repeat the same sequence of the former colleague.
         · The game will come to an end when all adolescents serve and are served water. The obstacles should be the same for all teams. The team who finishes all tasks first will win the game.
         · Material: jars, trays, empty 600ml soda bottles, duct tape, disposable cups (coffee/tea cups), string (cord), chairs and chalk.
         · Time for approximately for 12 adolescents: 15 minutes.

         Second: get all adolescents back in a large group and question them about their impressions from the group dynamics. Read the Parable of ‘The Arrogant Guest’ (Luke 14:7-11) and hear their comments.
         Once done, read the parable ‘The Widow's mite’ - taken from The Gospel According to Spiritism (Chapter XIII, paragraph 5). After reading, comment on the meaning of the history; lead the young group to reflect on the donations done at the beginning of the meeting (written on paper).

         Third: the conclusion of the meeting should be that the breadth and depth of Jesus teachings can be seen on these two passages.

         Closing Prayer

         Bibliography:
         * Parábolas Evangélicas - Rodolfo Calegaris.
         * The Gospel According to Spiritism - Chap. XIII; item 5.

         Spiritist Teachers: Ricardo and Maria Cláudia.

         Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.