Messy Lent
By Maggie Johnson Phillips
Lent is tough. It is a tough season liturgically, and it can be a tough season to teach to young people. Advent is much easier. Advent has candles and babies and shepherds and gift exchanges. We talk about hope, joy, peace, and love.
But Lent reminds us of our humanity. Lent teaches us that life is imperfect and messy. Perhaps that is the exact lesson that our young people need to hear most of all.
Being an adolescent is humbling and hard and messy. You are discovering who you are for the first time. You are asking big questions. You are trying to navigate the world of classes, friendships, social media, and more. They will mess up. We all do.
So, what if for Lent this year, we told our young people the message they need to hear over and over again – You are human. Thanks be to God.
Below are three exercises that will celebrate their humanity and remind them they can be messy. Life can be hard and holy at the same time. Let’s lean into it together.
Note:
If you want to combine all of these fun messy activities into one big “Mess-tival” (“messy festival”), it would be a great hit!
Exercise #1: Let’s Grow
Planting seeds and flowers is beautiful. It’s also messy. You get covered in dirt and grass and likely need to do a load of laundry afterwards. Nature reminds us that rarely are things as “decent and in order” as the flower beds that we plant in our front yards. They don’t grow in neat rows of the same color flower. Nature grows wildly and freely.
Today, let’s make some seed bombs. Seed bombs are random collections of seeds of various types (it’s usually a surprise!). Have the young people make their own seed bombs, and then take them home and plant them in a place near their house. Have them continue to see over the next year what actually grows. Where does God show up in the wild and free nature of growth?
Seed bomb ingredients:
• 3 parts sifted compost
• 5 parts sifted clay (local or clay powder sourced from a garden center)
• 1 part seed mix; wildflower mixes are great for this (the more random, the better!)
• A tray or bucket for mixing
• Water from a hose, watering can, or squirt bottle
Exercise #2: Slimy
Perhaps you have seen the trend on social media about young people loving to make slime. It seems bizarre, but there is a trend of taking eye contact solution and Elmer’s glue and turning it into a ooey, gooey mess.
So, today, let’s make a mess together in beautiful ways. A bonus for this activity is that for some neurodivergent young people, this could be a really great activity!
Slime ingredients:
• 8-ounce bottle Elmer’s white school glue
• 1 1/2 – 2 Tablespoons contact saline solution, more as needed (or slime activator)
• 1 Tablespoon baking soda
• Food coloring, optional
Exercise #3: Bake-off
Life never goes according to plan. Baking sweet treats also very rarely goes according to plan.
Have a fun, slightly competitive baking competition with your young people to show that
sometimes, even when you are working from an exact recipe, you never quite know how things
will turn out. I recommend buying some cake/brownie/cookie mixes so they can try to follow the
exact recipe together.
Bonus mission activity: Project Birthday Bag
Having a birthday cake to celebrate your birthday is a wonderful thing. We want everyone to be able to have a birthday celebration even if they do not have access to the ingredients. Find more information about Project Birthday Bag and how to donate here: Project Birthday Bag
About the author:
Maggie Johnson Phillips is the associate pastor for young adult ministry and worship arts at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas. She was raised in the pews of Second Presbyterian Church, Little Rock, Arkansas, and has previously worked at churches in Dallas, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia. She is a graduate of the University of Tulsa (B.A. in Psychology) and Columbia Theological Seminary (M.Div.). Maggie is a lover of liturgy, a fresh cup of coffee, conversations around the table, and the hopeful Church. When she’s not serving the congregation of Village, you can find her practicing yoga, reading a book from her never-ending list, going on hikes with her dog Charlie, or hanging out in the kitchen while her husband Sam cooks dinner.