Youth Group learns from Bible - shaves heads

Above all else, the youth group at Madison (Wisc.) Second Lutheran Church wants to follow the biblical model in all it does. Jeremy Thompson, youth pastor at Madison said, "Our youth are just amazing! They just want to be like Jesus in all they do! They know the bible is His Word, so they researched youth groups in the Bible!"

What the youth at Madison found was quite interesting and surprising. Jack Davis, president of the youth group reported, "We thought we would find examples of youth groups all through the New Testament. I was sure Jesus must have been part of a youth group growing up. The weird thing is that he seemed to have spent most of His time with His parents. I guess that's just the culture He grew up in."

Thompson and Davis were relieved to find at least one example of a biblical youth group. "It's not exactly what we were hoping for," exclaimed Davis, "but we are going to do our best to follow the example. I memorized the passage because it is so important to the health of our youth group. It comes from II Kings chapter 2."

"He [Elisha] went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, 'Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!' And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys." II Kings 2:23-24

Pastor Thompson and President Davis have wisely decided not to follow the example too closely. According to Davis, "We know that we shouldn't go around insulting the elderly. That's just not Christ-like or cool. Also, I know I don't want to be torn by a bear, whatever that means. So, instead, we decided that we would all try to be like Elisha. We decided as a youth group that the best thing we could do is shave our heads to look like him."

When asked exactly how shaving heads is honoring to God, Pastor Thompson answered, "We just want to be as biblical as we can be!"

No word yet on how many of the girls in the youth group will be shaving their heads.