Bad bosses
10 mins
Find a film clip where someone in authority abuses their power. This could be something like A Wonderful Life (the avaricious Mr Potter), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Dolores Umbridge) or Zootopia (Assistant Mayor Bellweather). Whatever film you choose, make sure it’s suitable for the age of the young people in your group.
Show the clip and ask the group what they would do if they were one of the characters being mistreated. Is there anything you can do to stand up to the person abusing their power? Go on to think about the villain themselves: what motivates them to act in the way they do? Try to draw out some reasons around selfishness, self-interest, greed, self-protection etc. Can the young people identify any love in this character?
Unfair games
10 mins
Play a simple game together, but weight the game in favour of yourself or a team. For example, referee a team game such as dodgeball, but always rule in favour of one team, making up increasingly unfair rules as you go. You could play the card game called president (or ‘The Great Dalmuti’, which requires a special pack of cards), which is weighted in favour of the winners.
After a few minutes (or after you’ve had enough complaints of unfairness), ask the team / players you penalised unfairly how it felt. What about the players you favoured?
Key point 1
God loves everyone equally, so if we show favouritism to one group or another, then we are not loving others as God does, or loving others as we love ourselves.
Micah's Prophecy
10 mins
Give out the copies of Micah 2 and plenty of felt-tip pens. Explain that Micah was a prophet of God in the eighth and seventh centuries BC. He told the people of Israel and Judah what God was saying to them. And God was not pleased.
Ask the group get into twos or threes and read through the passage. They should try to identify the examples of people acting in their own interests, and underline those in one colour. In another colour, they should underline what these people want to hear. And in a third colour, they should underline what God says will happen to them.
Once all the groups have finished, gather everyone back together and compare what you have discovered. What makes people act in this way? Why don’t they want to hear what Micah has to say?
Compare Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:43-48 to the behaviour God speaks against in Micah 2. How are the people of Israel and Judah showing or not showing love to others?
Modern-day Micah
5 mins
Ask: Who acts like the people in Micah’s prophecy today? Who are the people who steal, cheat and kill for their own gain? Spend a few moments discussing who today’s equivalents are. Have the young people ever acted in a similar way? What would Micah’s story look like if the people in power loved their neighbour? How would that look for today’s equivalents?
Key point 2
In Micah’s prophecy, as in many of the others in the Old Testament, God is criticising those who make a show of following his law, but bend and break the rules at every opportunity for their own gain. There is no love in the way they treat others. Are we the same?
What should we do?
5 mins
Say: Micah’s prophecy was damning for the leaders of Israel and Judah, but there was a way back. However, God didn’t want the people to go through the motions - he wanted them to make a difference.
Read Micah 6:6-8 together and ask what God expects us to do. What does this mean in today’s culture? How can we show God’s love to others by seeing justice is done, showing mercy and walking humbly with God? On a large sheet of paper, write down all the ideas that the young people have. Select some ideas that you might be able to undertake this week.
Write down your ideas on post-it notes and stick them on another sheet of paper. If you did meeting guide two, then stick the post-it notes on the same sheet of paper you used then, to keep an ongoing record of your prayers and actions. Keep coming back to this sheet of paper to see how God has answered your prayers and helped you in loving your neighbours practically.
