Our church had Rally Day last Sunday. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, that is when we switch back from the summer schedule of earlier worship services to slightly later services and resume education hour and begin our program year concurrent with the school year. For Rally Day we hold a Mission & Ministry Fair for the various groups and committees to showcase what they do. We also introduce the Sunday school teachers, register kids and youth and then have a picnic in the afternoon for everyone to socialize and reconnect with folks that you may or may not have seen much over the summer.
So today was the first official day of Sunday school and tonight was the Youth Fellowship Group's kickoff event. Needless to say, this is one of the big days each year for me in my role as Director of Youth Ministries.
For the education hour I combined the Middle School and High School classes and had all the teachers, Becky and myself lead a special service to celebrate (or contemplate - for those not so enthusiastic) the new school year. It is a service that I got from a book called The Book of Uncommon Prayer, Volume II by Steven L. Case. I tried this last year for the first time and it seemed to go over well, so I decided to do it again this year. The service itself talks about new beginnings and how it is a matter of how you choose to look at things and that once you have begun you simply must choose to keep going. The scripture passages are the first few sentences of some of the most famous stories in the Bible starting with creation, going through both testaments and ending with the Resurrection. The focal point when the youth enter the room and all during the service is a wall constructed of paper from floor to ceiling and one side of the room to the other. This wall symbolizes all that is holding them back, keeping them from their potential and more literally last year. To emphasize this point Becky and I made the wall out of last year's flip charts. There were notes from Sunday school lessons, brainstorming sessions for Youth Sunday Planning, stuff from our 30 Hour Famine and more. This is a picture of last year's wall.
So after hearing the beginnings of all these stories and having the "wall" explained to them we cut a door in the "wall" and one by one the youth are invited to come forward, step through the wall and proclaim "God makes all things new." After a closing prayer the group (especially the middle school boys) really gets a kick out of the more cathartic and violent tearing down of the wall. (Note to self - next year must have Pink Floyd CD on hand to play the "Tear Down the Wall" refrain at the end of The Trial for new ad libbed ending) We then had some donuts and fruit while we did introductions and talked about what we would be doing in the coming months. There is definitely room for improvement, but all in all it was well received and a good start to the year.
After worship service I received well wishes for surgery from more people than I can remember. I also got to spend time with Hayley, Connor and their mother Lisa while they waited for their foreign exchange student.
Tonight we had our first Youth Fellowship event in the courtyard of our church campus. There were 12 youth and 3 adults in attendance and we had a great time getting to know each other with the help of a really cool beach ball that I was introduced to last month by some other youth workers in the Baltimore Presbytery. The beach ball has questions randomly written all over it. We formed a circle and tossed the ball around. When it came to you, you had to introduce yourself, read the question that was closest to your thumb and then answer it. The questions ranged from - "Do you prefer the Mountains or the Beach, defend your answer" to "What's the best advice that you got that you wish you had taken?" to "If Jesus where to come to your town, where do you think he would spend his time?" It was a big hit and I'm sure we'll get a lot of use out of it. For dinner we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. I gave Donovan a ride home and got to see his brother Dan and confirm that he is psyched for Confirmation Class this year and that he still wants me to be his Confirmation Covenant Partner.
A big thanks to Lisa Allison for serving as burger flipper and dog turner, for the parents and youth who sent along side dishes, cup cakes and other goodies, and of course to Becky, who does more things than I can list.
Things could have gone smoother and there are definitely areas on which I would like to improve, but the overwhelming feeling I have after today is "I love my job." I can't believe I get paid to participate in something I love to do, interact with some really great people, and eat good food. How lucky am I?
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