Lent and What We Watch and Children's/Youth Ministry

Last week I wrote about “unplugging” as part of what we can give up for Lent to help us to stay better tuned in to God, not to mention to better our mental and general health.

It’s probably not realistic for most of us to go on a complete cellphone and facebook fast for Lent, although some people do choose to put limits on their use. I even saw an ad on facebook (which was probably a hoax) offering a huge amount of money to someone willing to live in a wilderness cabin with no social media for a month. I’m sure many gasped at the thought. I have to admit that much of my life I’m moving from screen to screen to screen (computer to laptop to tv to cellphone, repeat).

Given that a complete fast from “worldly” content is probably not in the cards, how do we exercise care with what we are taking in, whether from social media feed, e-mails, tv, online content, radio, movies, and even face to face in events we attend? Because what we take in affects us and how we think and respond to life. More and more evidence points to the harmful effects of pornography use and violent video games and movies, particularly as young minds are developing. What used to be considered soft porn is now commonplace in tv shows at all times of day and violent content is becoming more and more graphic.

If we make the choice to include video or computer content in Sunday school and other programs, we need to think carefully about why and about what percentage of overall time it is filling. How does it teach something essential to the learners? Is it a babysitting tool (usual at this time of year during long annual meetings) or is it something extending the learning in a medium they connect with and understand? Curriculum like Re:Form and Holy Moly use a video clip as a clear and concise kick-off to the topic that engages learners.

If you show a movie or clip, do you have permission to do so? Outside of bought curriculum, you are likely breaking the law to show something without a video license like CVLI (similar to CCLI but for movies). How do you prepare learners for what they will see? Do you ask questions of them – giving them things to watch for and think about to make the learning active? After, how do you debrief the experience? This can be everything from which character they related to most, to whether they understood what was said, to who acted the most like Jesus, to retelling the story in their own words, to considering similar situations in their own lives.

Lent offers a great opportunity to have real conversations about the world around us that doesn’t always reflect who God wants us to be. Without breeding fear and guilt, we can still guide learners to make wise choices about what they are consuming. How do they choose what they watch and listen to? Do their parents have to okay it? If they are going online or have a cellphone, what can they do to keep themselves safe? How do they handle peer pressure to watch something they don’t feel is right or they aren’t ready for?

Parents can be encouraged to set healthy boundaries to aid in this process. Too many parents take children to movies they clearly are not able to handle. Among other things, parents can set healthy limits on amount of screen time, set controls on what websites are available at home, and make an agreement about phone use and their having access to make sure it is appropriate (must be gauged to age and maturity).

There are many ways that we can find God on big and small screens, but Lent offers a rich opportunity to encounter our Creator in the simple beauty of creation all around us, in Christian community, and in spiritual practices. It is also a rich time to repent, or at least be more mindful, of the time we spend on things that do not necessarily honour God or ourselves or others. Instead, we can pray for guidance of what God wants us to see and experience that will draw us closer to Christ and give us wisdom and direction for the journey.