Easter 2009 Thoughts

Two things really stuck out in my mind during the weekend as I celebrated the death and resurrection of my Lord, Jesus Christ.

Unity
On Friday, five different churches came together to worship and all the pastors played various roles at the service. My senior pastor noted that we are different doorways to Christ, but we are one body of Christ.

On Sunday morning at 7:15am, I was somewhat surprised to see many of our youth group students (and a few brought their moms to help) show up to prepare an Easter breakfast for church and non-church guests. It was a lot of fun and I got to spend time not only with the kids in a different environment, but also with their parents and share great things I've noticed about their kids. We came together for one purpose, everyone chipped in to do their part, and even their usual horsing around and banter was kept at a minimum as everyone concentrated on making the breakfast event happen. It was pouring rain outside, but it was all sunshine on the inside.

Urgency
I feel so blessed to be a part of a group of people who have a common faith and purpose in life. Because I got to see how beautiful Good Friday and Easter was this past weekend, suddenly I wanted everyone I cared about to experience what I had. For instance, two former youth group students came to help out at breakfast. They do not attend youth group anymore because of other commitments like dance class, basketball practice, or cheerleading competitions that occur on the same night as youth group is held. But, we had such a great time laughing and working together on Sunday morning. My vision is to have students tell their extra-curricular instructors and coaches that they couldn't come to class, practice, or competition because they have youth group to attend. We shouldn't be fitting God into our schedules -- we should be planning for God to be in our schedules. I understand that God will be with us in all circumstances when we let Him, but I would still like to see more people make deliberate time with God. I'm still working on this, too. How can I help make youth group become THE activity of the week? What can the church do?

(Thanks, T, for the photo.)