Middle School Compass Points for Feb 10

We believe Jesus is God in flesh, and we must, emphasize his divinity, but not to the exclusion of his humanity.
-Robert Sabin, pastor of Apostolic Bible Church, creator of the website www.whoisjesus.com
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
-Philippians 2:8 (from the Christian Bible)
(He) contended that Jesus Christ was simply a man. In other words, (Thomas) Paine was an enlightened Unitarian.
– Robert Ingersoll, 19th century agnostic, lawyer, and
philosopher
Jesus was fully human, no different than you or I, except that he made use of that humanity more folly than you or I ever will.
– Thom Belote, contemporary UU minister

This past Sunday, the middle schoolers talked about Jesus and their experience watching the musical video Jesus Christ Superstar. If your child wasn’t present when they watched the video, consider renting it from Amazon to watch together as a family.

The class had a lively discussion around the ideas:

• I think Jesus’ followers made him out to be something more than he was.
• Jesus wasn’t a celebrity in his time, only after his crucifixion.
• Jesus’ death occurred because of a political conflict, not a religious one.

The class engaged in a discussion about who Jesus was. Consider sharing your ideas with your middle-schooler. Here are the notes the teachers worked from:

Share with the participants the idea that Unitarian Universalists have differing views about Jesus. While generally accepting that Jesus was a man (and not God in human flesh), the importance of Jesus and his teachings varies from individual to individual. For some UUs, Jesus is probably the greatest man who ever lived and they try to live their life according to his teachings. They may even call themselves Unitarian Universalist Christians. For others, Jesus was a great man with an important message – but it is not necessarily greater than the messages of other “prophetic men and women.”  Perhaps our Unitarian Universalist view of Jesus can be described just as Jesus said to Pilate – he is who we say he is.