We Are Steel Falcon

If you've been wondering where I've been... for the past week I have been at camp with my Jr. High students. We were at Creekside at Forest Home (where else?) taking in the beauty of nature in ways that only Jr. High kids can and processing together some pretty important concepts. The theme was perhaps my all-time favorite; "We Are Steel Falcon." Rather than try to explain it myself, I'll let you read their explanation from the website.
"This summer we will meet Steel Falcon, a band of four childhood friends who have been together for years. They’ve had hits and not-so-hits. They’ve experimented with various genres: pop, rock, country, folk, hip-hop and more. As their story unfolds, we discover who they really are. As we learn about Steel Falcon, we will answer Jesus’ question:
'But what about you?' Jesus asked. 'Who do you say I am?' – Mark 8:29
Campers will grow in their relationship with Jesus as they learn to proclaim him as the Messiah. Come to Steel Falcon Summer 2012."

So it was sort of a "rockumentary" theme used to explore identity--our identity, the identity of Jesus, and what it means to be more than just a fan but a follower.

We all have our ideas, in fact we are saturated with them, of who Jesus is. We all think of a different nuance, we all have varying images that come to mind. And while there may not be just one correct way to think of Jesus (just like everyone experiences a concert differently), there are definitely some wrong ways to think about Jesus, some misconceptions, some images that are just not really at the heart of who Jesus is. Some of these images may be fine in and of themselves, and we may be able to squeeze Jesus into the role in which we picture him, but they're not Jesus' "true sound," they're not his authentic identity.

I Loved the theme and it really made the question accessible to the minds of my students. As we followed Steel Falcon as they tried to conform their identity to the perceptions and sensibilities of their culture and as we watched them eventually come around to their true sound, we were able to liberate Jesus' identity, in a way, from our own perceptions and sensibilities to get an irresistible, though challenging, glimpse of Jesus' true identity so that we could conceive of what it might mean to follow Jesus.

We had some great conversations and a whole mess of fun! Here's a link to a really great highlight video which captures, I think, the essence of our week at Forest Home: "We Are Steel Falcon": July 1-6

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