Tonight we talked about prayer, the power in prayer, the need for prayer and the misuse of prayer.  “Did she just say misuse of prayer?”  Yes, I did!  Before you get upset with me let me explain what I mean.

We were discussing Matthew 6:5-13 where Jesus teaches how to pray.  He warns us about using prayer falsely.   Sometimes, we tend to pretend to pray because that is what people expect us to do yet, we are thinking about something other than prayer like…lunch.  Sometimes our prayers are spoken to impress the person we are praying with or around.

You see, Jesus taught us that God knows our need and he knows the heart we pray with.  Our pray is to be God focused and centered…not for show. It is important for students to know that heartfelt prayer is powerful.  We are to be in a spirit of prayer and devoted to prayer.

Take the Lord’s Prayer, so many students know it by heart.  Yet ask them what it means?  What are you saying to God when you pray the prayer?  You might find yourself surprised by the answer or lack of an answer.  It isn’t meant to be just another thing we can recite to say “I know it”.  Is reciting actually praying? What if you don’t really understand what you are saying?

How about when we say “I’ll pray for you.” and we don’t?  Is that misuse of prayer?  The message paraphrasing teaches us in Matthew 5 that we are to keep our word.  Not to use statements like these to sound more religious.

We took time to talk about each part of the Lord’s Prayer.  What it means.  The students took part in a prayer path that had them take each part of the prayer and reflect on it.   It was a great night of prayer and discussion.  You will find the scripture references below from tonights lesson.

Matthew 5:33 (The Message)

^33-37“And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.

Matthew 6:5-13

⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,^[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]’

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After a round of sickness this past week, I’ve realized I don’t have everyone’s email or cell numbers for sending out notifications. I am working on a email list along with updating all my cell phone numbers for parents. I know not everyone text these days but if you do…I would love to add you to our parent text. I will use the text and emails to communicate any upcoming activities, time changes, youth group cancellations, updates on how retreats and trips are going, etc. There will be cards coming home with the youth this Wednesday. If you could fill it out as quickly as possible and return it to the me at the youth office by April 13. This should help us communicate better and keep you all in the know on everything going on.

I also want to thank you for all the support you have shown our ministry. If you have any questions please feel fee to give me a call or drop me an email. You are welcome to email the information to me at jfleck@att.net.

Just a reminder: We have our PJ Party this Saturday from 6pm-10pm. Everyone has been asked to bring at least one pair of kids/adult(for teens) PJ’s. I’ve been told that walmart has them on sale for $3.00 a pair. These PJ’s will go to support local foster care homes and their children who don’t always have PJ’s to sleep in.

April 30th Mission Day

Register by April 13, 2011

$30 per person (Registration fee will pay for all supplies needed for the day, breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks and dinner.)

We will be leaving the church at 6am

Nashville experienced a major flood on May 4th, 2010. The city has made amazing strides to get Nashville back on it’s feet, however, volunteer efforts are not as strong as they were this last summer. 1 By Youth Nashville is a chance to bring beautification to an area of  West Nashville that is desperate for it. We are looking to provide a full day of service to make a HUGE impact to the community of West Nashville.
Not only are we going to bring beautification, we are also asking participant to bless this community with your SHOES! 1 By Youth is partnering with Soles 4 Souls to bring shoes to the neighborhood that YOU are impacting. As a Nashville 1 By Youth participant, we encourage you to bring shoes with you to donate. We will provide the total number of shoes donated at the block party, so bring as many pairs as possible! We can donate in a very deep way through this opportunity with Soles for Souls!
Every change that you and your teens make to this Nashville neighborhood with 1 By Youth will inevitably lead to more change and eventually a better place for people to live.
Nashville is just one of the cities in the movement that is 1 By Youth. Imagine neighborhood after neighborhood and block after block, these changes will multiply and change not only local neighborhoods…but entire cities!

Everyone needs to bring with them:
Water jug/bottle

Work gloves

Rain gear (just in case it rains)

Sunscreen

Long pants

Close-toed shoes

Thanks Again!

Jesse Fleck

Don’t forget to set your clocks forward before you go to sleep Saturday night. You don’t want to be late to church on Sunday. Speaking of Sunday, come and join us at the 11am service. Mrs. Margie will be preaching and I know the music will be amazing. It is a great time to worship our Lord together. I also need someone to run the power point since Aturina will not be able to attend. If you are willing just let me know! I hope to see everyone there!

This Wednesday, March 9, 2011 will be a bit different. Confirmation class is still as scheduled.  I ask all the youth to be at the church by 5:30 and ready to do something different to celebrate Ash Wednesday.    We will be done at 8:00.  I know you are wondering…what is Ash Wednesday anyway?

Ash Wednesday emphasizes a dual encounter; we confront our own mortality and confess our sin before God within the community of faith.  The form and content of the service focus on the dual themes of sin and death in the light of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ.

The use of ashes as a sign of mortality and repentance has a long history in Jewish and Christian worship, and the Imposition of Ashes can be a powerful nonverbal and experiential way of participating in the call to repentance and reconciliation.  This practice is the historic focus of Ash Wednesday observance and gave the day its name.

The Imposition of Ashes in the form of a cross is not intended to make us feel holier than others, but rather it allows us to name and claim our sin.  Then we embrace the power of the cross to set us free and to cleanse us from all inequity.  Let us  commit to make our Lenten journey together.

I hope to see all of you there!

This week we kick started our confirmation classes for this year.  We have a great group of eight confirmands.  Our discussion this week was on discipleship and what that means.

Some of the topics we talked about were devotion, worship and compassion.  What is devotion?  What does devotion look like?  What does worship mean?  What brings us together in worship?  It was a great day of learning and discussion.

Don’t forget our trip to see the Bishop.  We are meeting at 8:30am and will arrive back at the church by 1:00pm on Saturday, March 5, 2011.

Tonight we took a look at Genesis 22:1-18 The Message you know, the story of Abraham and Isaac.   We discussed Abraham’s obedience and then, the youth wanted to talk about how Isaac must have felt.  He was the one to carry the wood, flint and the knife for what was to be his death, a death at his father’s hand.  Wow…I can’t imagine how that must have felt.   How can you trust your father and have faith in him after that?   Can you imagine when his father asked him to go with him on a trip again, what the answer would have been?  It doesn’t talk much about how Isaac felt.  Confused?  Upset?

What about when they got home and he told Sarah what happened?  I can hear Isaac now “Mom!” He screams, running for the house.  “Dad tried to kill me and God had to stop him!” If she was anything like my mom, boy would he be in trouble.  He would be explaining himself on the answering machine because he wouldn’t be allowed in the house.  I don’t know if my mom would have believe the “God told me to do it!” defense.

They don’t talk much about what happened afterwards.  We often look at this story and see the obedience of Abraham.  Do we ever look at the forgiveness of Isaac?  Isaac is an example of true forgiveness.  The story tells us that he was tied down so he wasn’t just laying there letting this happen to him.  Bad things happen even when we fight for them not to.  We’ve all had someone wrong us.  Okay, maybe not tie us down for a sacrifice but I am sure there are some things that rank up there on the bad scale.  Do we let go and worship God with them as quickly and easily as Isaac did with Abraham?

When bad things happen do we forgive God or blame Him?  I can honestly say, I’ve had times that I’ve been angry with God.  I imagine Isaac could have been too.   God did stop Abraham before anything happened to Isaac.  I know if I was Isaac, I would be thankful that God stopped things when he did.  Do you think he was upset that God would use him as the test sacrifice in the first place?

We don’t hear to much about sacrifices these days.  When we do, it is usually in reference to Jesus the ultimate sacrifice.  It is because of God’s love for us that He did what Abraham would have…Sacrificed His son.  Thankfully, we no longer have to sacrifice as they did in the time of Abraham.   Yet, I am reminded that we still bring some sacrifices to God today.  We may not call them that but that is what they are.   Don’t get me wrong, we don’t lay lamb at the altar but we do lay our own lives down.   Piece by piece we give God a part of us.

When we commit to following Christ, we realize that our lives have to change.  We begin to sacrifice things that are not in His will for us.  It isn’t all at once.   It’s a process that begins with accepting Him as our Lord and Savior and continues as we grow in who He teaches us to be.

I am reminded every time I take communion of God’s loving sacrifice of Christ.  What an amazing gift we receive.  Yet receiving isn’t the only thing for me.  When I take communion, I offer myself to God piece by piece.  Not only receiving but also leaving behind another piece of myself to be filled with Him.

Abraham was ready to sacrifice anything for God.  I think we all long to be as obedient as Abraham.  I can honestly say, I am not.  I want to be!  I long to be!  Yet, I’ve still got a really long way to go.  So I guess you could say I am more like Isaac confused, wondering what just happened and thankful that God intervened to save me!