INCREDIBLE
HULK
AN EDGE NIGHT ON PEACE
AND SELF-CONTROL
SCRIPTURE
Matthew 5:9
Matthew 21:12-17
Philemon 1:3
Hebrews 12:14
CCC
736
2633
YOUCAT
KEY WORDS
MEDIA
SUGGESTIONS
Peace
Self-Control
SUPPLIES NEEDED
• 15-30 various sized
cardboard boxes
• Red and black paint
• Two sets of Hulk Smash Fists
• Six (+) green balloons
• YouTube: “Hulk – ‘I’m
Always Angry’ 1080p” by
5teveHxCGaming
• Edge Video: "Word Fight"
(Edge Video Support 19)
300
395
396
INCREDIBLE HULK
OUTLINE
EDGE NIGHT GOAL
38
The goal of the Edge Night is to draw upon the fun
superhero example of the Incredible Hulk to help the
youth learn more about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
of peace and self-control, two fruits of Holy Spirit.
EDGE NIGHT AT A GLANCE
The Edge Night begins with some fun Hulk themed
games. The Proclaim uses the Hulk as the example
of what happens when you have no self-control and
the lack of peace there is when you cannot control
your emotions. The teaching encourages the youth
to practice their self-control and proper use of their
emotions and desires. The youth will have a chance
to discuss the teaching and act out skits about the
right and wrong way to react to situations. The Edge
Night ends in a time of prayer for an increase in the
fruits of self-control and peace.
ENVIRONMENT
Decorate the main meeting space with the colors
black and green. Get black and green balloons,
crepe paper, streamers, etc. Purchase or print off
different pictures of the Hulk and the Hulk smash
fist. At the front of the room put up large signs
with the words peace and self-control written
on them. For more ideas on decorations go to
Pinterest and search “Hulk Birthday Parties.”
EDGE SEMESTER PLANNING GUIDE
CORE TEAM FORMATION
Self-control is the ability to rightly direct and control
our emotions and desires. Peace will naturally follow
when we live lives of self-control and in accord with
justice and charity. It is important to remember that
emotions are not a bad thing, but how we direct
and act upon those emotions can be good or bad.
Self-control is central to the Christian life as it is an
act of self-mastery and the more we can master
our emotions and desires, the more we will also be
able to overcome our temptations to sin. In living a
life where we can control how we act, we will have
greater peace within us and in the relationships in
our lives. The more self-control is fostered in our
communities, the greater peace we will have in
our world. Jesus calls all of us to be peacemakers
(Matthew 5:9), but in order to have a greater impact
as peacemakers we must first make peace within
ourselves. Since self-control and peace are fruits of
the Holy Spirit they will naturally flow from our lives
the more and more we invite the Holy Spirit into our
lives and follow His promptings. Use the following
questions for discussion or personal reflection:
• How often do you let your emotions alone direct
your actions? What has the result of this been?
• Do you feel at peace in your relationships? Are
there over-dramatic friends you need to step away
from?
• What can you do in your daily life to practice selfcontrol?
TO THE PARENTS
This week at Edge we discussed self-control and
peace, two fruits of the Holy Spirit. We used the
example of the Hulk to demonstrate what it looks
like to have no self-control and how that leads to a
life with no peace. Your son and daughter learned
the importance of learning to control his or her
emotions before acting and discussed different
ways that he or she can practice self-control in daily
life. Here are some questions to ask your son our
daughter this week:
• What does it mean to have self-control?
• How do we find peace in our daily lives?
• What are some things you can do to control your
emotions and desires before you act upon them?
• Do you feel at peace in your life? What do you think
the root cause of this is?
(5 min)
Gather in all the youth, introduce any youth who
are there for the first time, and recognize any
birthdays. Give a brief introduction to the night
and begin in prayer.
HULK SMASH
(10 min)
Supplies:
• 15-30 various sized cardboard boxes
• Red and black paint
• Two sets of Hulk Smash Fists
To play this game set up two brick walls at the front
of the room by stacking the cardboard boxes.
Then call up two volunteers to “Hulk Smash” the
wall. Assign each youth their own wall and have
the rest of the youth participate by cheering the
loudest for who they think will smash down the
wall the fastest. Give each youth a pair of the
Hulk Smash Fists (these are boxing gloves that
look like Hulk hands – they can be purchased at
most toy stores, or you can simply use boxing
gloves). Time the youth to see who can smash the
wall the fastest; the wall will be officially smashed
down when no two cardboard boxes are touching
EDGE SEMESTER PLANNING GUIDE
OUTLINE
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
INCREDIBLE HULK
GATHER
To make the boxes look like a wall, paint them before
the Edge Night. To do this paint one side of the box
that will be facing out red. Once that is dry use black
paint and paint squares on the red to look like bricks.
If you do not have the time to paint the boxes you
can simply leave them the way that they are.
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each other. Play this with as many different youth
volunteers as time allows.
HULK BALLOON POP
(10 min)
Break the youth into small groups, begin in prayer,
and use the following questions for discussion:
Clean up the cardboard boxes and keep out the
Hulk Smash Fists. For this game bring up six
balloons. Again call up two volunteers to the front
to compete. Give each youth a set of Hulk Smash
Fists and three balloons. The point of this game is
to pop the balloons while wearing the Hulk Smash
Fists. The participants can only use their hands
(the gloves) to pop the balloons. They cannot step
on them or use any other body part to try to pop
them. The first youth to pop all three balloons
wins. Continue to play this with new volunteers
for as long as time allows.
Since this is another up front game, make sure
to have lots of crowd involvement. For example,
have all the youth jump up and down and cheer
for the one they think will win. Throughout the
competition continue to rally the crowd for the
participants.
PROCLAIM
“INCREDIBLE HULK” TEACHING
OUTLINE
(10 min)
INCREDIBLE HULK
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION
(15 min)
Supplies:
• Six (+) balloons
• Hulk Smash Fists
40
BREAK
This teaching can be found on pages 42 to 43.
Here are the main points from the teaching:
• The Hulk shows us the negative results of not
having self-control and letting anger take over.
• When we have self-control, we can react
properly and respond to our emotions and
desires, which will lead to peace.
• We can use every situation in our lives as an
opportunity for prayer and practicing selfcontrol.
• What do we learn from the Hulk about anger?
• Are emotions bad? What are we supposed to do
with them?
• How are self-control and peace related?
• What is your perfect idea of peace? Do you think
that is attainable?
• Why do you think Jesus wants us all to be
peacemakers?
• If you find yourself being overcome with
emotions what is one thing you can do before
you act so that you act rightly?
TAKING IT DEEPER: SMALL GROUP
ADAPTATIONS FOR 8TH GRADE
For the 8th grade youth looking to go deeper, use
the following questions for discussion:
• Do you think that you have self-control?
• How does self-control help us to overcome
temptations?
• Why is it important to be able not always to act
upon our emotions?
• Have you ever seen negative consequences of
acting quickly upon emotions?
• Do you have peace in your life?
• What robs you of your peace?
• What can you do to increase peace in your life?
Do you have certain friends who you need to
walk away from?
EDGE SEMESTER PLANNING GUIDE
• Why is it so important to have self-control? What
can you do in intense situations to practice selfcontrol?
SEND
CLOSING PRAYER
REACTION
(10 min)
(15 min)
Keep the youth in small groups and have them
use the following scenarios to act out skits.
Instruct them to make two one minute skits – the
first one should be a comical skit of what they
should not do and the second one should be a
skit of how they would practice self- control and
do the right thing. For example, if the scenario
was that someone at school walks past you in the
hallway and slams your locker shut in your face,
your first skit would be the wrong response and
you trip them or throw your books at them and
the second skit would be the proper response of
kindly asking them not to do that and calmly reopening your locker.
Here are some examples of scenarios – add to or
alter them as you see fit:
• Someone in class throws paper at you.
• Your younger sibling calls you a mean name.
• Your parents tell you that you cannot go out
with your friends until you clean your room.
Gather the youth into the large group and close
with a prayer for an increase in self-control and
peace. The following are suggestions for prayer.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Who said to Your Apostles: "Peace
I leave with you, My peace I give to you," regard not
my sins but the faith of Your Church, and will to give
her peace and unity according to Your Will: Who live
and reign, God, world without end. Amen.
Grant me the grace of self-control, That I may not
display any anger. Should I have such an outburst,
instantly remind me to seek amends, For such is
offensive to You. Anger is Yours alone to avenge!
FURTHER ADAPTATION IDEAS
• Have a few Core Members do examples of the
skits for the youth.
• Instead of doing the Reaction skits during the
Break, utalize the video "Word Fight" from EVS
19 and discuss what it reveals about the nature
of social media and how the fruits of self-control
and peace can help us to avoid these situations.
• One of your friends posts a mean comment
about you on social media.
• Your brother eats the last piece of cheese pizza.
INCREDIBLE HULK
OUTLINE
• You lose your favorite shirt.
EDGE SEMESTER PLANNING GUIDE
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INCREDIBLE
HULK
TEACHING
KEY WORD
DEFINITIONS
Peace - A freedom from chaos
and disruptions, a goal of the
Christian life. It is a work of
justice and charity and Christ
calls us all to be peacemakers
(Matthew 5:9).
Self-Control - The ability to
control oneself, particularly
one’s emotions and desires
and the responses to
them, especially in difficult
situations.
INCREDIBLE HULK
TEACHING
THE INCREDIBLE HULK
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It is difficult to describe Marvel's jolly green giant as a superhero.
Dr. Bruce Banner, AKA the Incredible Hulk, transforms into a
giant green monster whenever he loses his cool, thanks to some
exposure to gamma radiation. "Normal" Bruce is a compassionate,
mild-mannered scientist. But when he lets his rage take control, he
(almost literally) becomes another person. In both of the current
Avengers movies, and in many comics, he battles his fellow heroes
nearly as often as the villains. Hulk is a monster afraid of his own
power. When he lashes out, his explosive temper turned green
monster sweeps up innocent people in the crossfire.
PEACE AND SELF CONTROL
So how can we learn about the fruits of the Holy Spirit of peace and
self-control from the Hulk? Often in different stories and scenarios
we will see people who live out these Christian ideals, but sometimes
we can learn lessons too from those who live out the opposite. We
do not necessarily see the perfect example of what to do, but rather
the consequences of what not to do.
Anger is the Hulk's misery and it is a constant in his life. It robs him
of his peace. Self-control takes anger and hones it into a mighty
weapon. Self-control is not the opposite of anger, but rather it is
the ability to capture our emotions and properly direct and express
EDGE SEMESTER PLANNING GUIDE
Key Words
YouCat 396
YouCat 395
YouCat 300
Matthew 21:12-13
them. There are times in the Hulk’s story where he can to hone his
anger to defeat the bad guys – but it is wildly inconsistent. We can
see that his lack of self-control leads him to the misery of not being
able to control his anger. He cannot control who he hurts when he
becomes the Hulk, and this leads him into isolation and loneliness.
When we utilize proper self-control in all areas of our lives directing
our actions more and more to the good, we will be able to live in
harmony with others and with ourselves and we will find true peace.
It is important to understand that being angry is okay since it is a
natural human emotion, but losing self-control is not since that is acting
wrongly upon our anger. It is important to know that there is such thing
as righteous anger, which Christ exemplified when He got angry at the
money lenders in the temple. He flipped the tables and chased them
out of the temple. He knew that was the appropriate response for the
offenses they made against His Father’s house. He also knew what
was not the appropriate response, like blowing up the world, which He
could have done if He wanted to. In this case, Jesus had the appropriate
self-control to bring about the peace and order due to His Father’s
house. Righteous anger is okay because it is anger that sees injustice
and desires for people to be treated properly or to do the right thing.
Righteous anger ultimately desires the good of others, whereas anger
usually leads to hateful desires of revenge and destruction.
CCC 2633
There are times when we can channel our anger, sadness, or any
other emotion and turn it into a prayer of offering for someone
else. If we know what the right response is to a certain situation but
are tempted to lash out in anger or jealousy, we should step back
and take a breath. Think of someone who needs prayers and then
practice self-control to do the right thing.
For example, the next time you stub your toe instead of shouting as
loud as you can and declaring how much you hate all corners and
doors, bite your lip and think of someone you love who is suffering
(preferably worse than a stubbed toe) and say, "Lord, take this anger
in me for insert name of loved one here." When you do something like
this, you take your anger, and you turned it into a mighty weapon
of prayer and offering and placed it in the hands of the Almighty.
God will do amazing things with these little acts of prayer and selfcontrol.
EDGE SEMESTER PLANNING GUIDE
INCREDIBLE HULK
CCC 736
The Holy Spirit is at work in our lives and wants to teach us and
guide us to be people who have self-control. He wants to help us be
people who can properly channel our emotions and have the right
responses in different situations. When we can achieve this, we will
find peace in our daily lives since self-control usually helps us avoid
a lot of drama. We will also find peace within ourselves since we
will be able to control our emotions and responses better. To grow
in self-control, we need to become more self-aware of our usual
reactions to different situations, recognize them, and pray for the
wisdom to have the right reaction.
TEACHING
OUR DAILY LIVES
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INCREDIBLE HULK CHECKLIST
EDGE NIGHT CHECKLIST
EDGE NIGHT DATE:
WEEK PRIOR TO EDGE NIGHT:
____________________________________________
⃞ Hand out/email the Edge Night to the Core
Members
EDGE NIGHT TOPIC:
____________________________________________
⃞ Assign duties to the Core Team
⃞ Pick videos and/or songs
CORE TEAM ASSIGNMENTS:
⃞ Gather all the supplies
Environment ________________________________
⃞ Email Core Team the Edge Night Core Formation
Opening Prayer ______________________________
Games _____________________________________
Proclaim ____________________________________
⃞ Prep for games and the environment
Closing Prayer _______________________________
⃞ Meet with the Core Member doing the Proclaim
(if applicable)
Videos: ____________________________________
DAY OF THE EDGE NIGHT:
____________________________________________
⃞ Email parents the information about the Night
and any announcements
____________________________________________
Songs: ____________________________________
____________________________________________
CHECKLIST
WEEK OF THE EDGE NIGHT:
⃞ Gather and set-up for the night
⃞ Pray!
____________________________________________
Notes
INCREDIBLE HULK
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EDGE SEMESTER PLANNING GUIDE
INCREDIBLE HULK EVALUATION
EDGE NIGHT EVALUATION
Would you be interested in leading prayer,
explaining games, or giving a Proclaim teaching?
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Was there one particular part of this Edge Night
you did not think was necessary? What and
Why?
Are our Core meetings effective? How can I
better serve you as a youth minister? What can
we do to better serve our youth?
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EDGE SEMESTER PLANNING GUIDE
INCREDIBLE HULK
What is going well at our Edge Nights? What can
we improve?
EVALUATION
INSTRUCTIONS:
Evaluation is a key to successful ministry. Use the following questions to discuss
and evaluate your Edge Night.
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