Well, this was our first week of youth services with me, your mild-mannered youth leader Darryn, running the "show."  Thing got off to a good, though small start, but I expect them to grow as we come together.

First let me say, Youth Camp is coming soon!  We will be deciding next week when we are going to camp this year.  Camp starts on June 8th and runs every week for 4 weeks.  We plan on having fund raisers to help the kids pay for camp this year, starting with a Spaghetti Dinner on April 26th right after the service.  This will be a donation only dinner so come and enjoy!

We are also planning a youth night the last Friday of the month.  Pizza, games, music and fun.  Bring your friends, tell them it's FREE!!!!!

This week we talked about being together as one.  The teens had a job to do, a puzzle to put together but there was a catch.  They each only had two pieces of the puzzle and they were blindfolded!  None could complete the puzzle alone.  It was interesting how they went about constructing the puzzle, because is was nothing like I thought it would be.  They were grabbing pieces from each other and fighting over who would put what together.  Nothing at all like any churches I know!

I think that was the point of this whole exercise, being as one, in one mind with Christ.  How many times has a group of "like minded Christians" fought over the simplest of things instead of working together in one mind as one body.  Paul talks about this in 1st Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 12:12, 14-19 MSG
(12)  You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts--limbs, organs, cells--but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. (14)  I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together.  (15)  If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so?  (16)  If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body?  (17)  If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell?  (18)  As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.  (19)  But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster.
We are all a part, we all belong, not just in youth, but in children, adults, seniors, leaders, lay people, workers, intercessors, and on - and on - and on.  We are valuable as individuals, but in God's Kingdom our value is greater by being a part of the whole body
1 Corinthians 12:27 MSG  You are Christ's body--that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything.
Let me close then with this thought.  If you are walking through the house in the middle of the night, lights off so your don't disturb anyone and you stub you little toe, what do you do?  Do you scold your little toe and say, "Toughen up!  Stop whining!  Your only bruised not broken!" or do you immediately stop, reach out and grab your foot trying to comfort the little toe that was hurt.  If in doubt, ask a "friend" to stomp on your foot and watch your reaction.  Our immediate response is to comfort our hurting member; to do everything we can to relieve the pain and care for the part, no matter how small it is.  Why then does the "body of Christ" not respond that way when one of it's members is hurting.
1 Corinthians 12:25-26 MSG  (25)  The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't,  (26)  the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
My goal for our youth is a team of teenagers that are a family, looking out for each other, praying for each other, caring about each other.  We are missing many of our family in the youth, and it is my prayer that they will return.  They are sorely missed.  Just like the missing letter from the puzzle this week the teens put together, we are not complete without ALL our members.

Pray for us as we grow our body within the body.
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