Hello. After a week off from in-person meeting due to local COVID concerns, we returned to an in-person session on Nov. 11. Due to smaller than average attendance, we decided to hold off on resuming the series on Revelation and instead looked at a different book of the Bible.
We’ll kick off with a Newsboys song that has been popular with our youth group in the past:
Prayer needs continue to be a priority, and those in attendance shared a number of prayer needs on Nov. 11.
Obviously, COVID continues to be a concern on a number of levels, especially as schools start to see a rise and the holiday season is coming soon. Please pray for our schools, our front-line workers and those impacted in other ways that may not be as visible on the surface.
Sally had the next in her series of treatments on Nov. 11. Please continue to bathe her, Pastor Paul and the entire family in prayer. We prayed for the extended Hartley family, a variety of health issues our immediate teen group is facing, new jobs and new drivers, new babies on the way for at least three people connected to our church and a variety of other needs.
We also prayed for the Eia family, not just for Trina’s cancer situation, but also for a recent interview and a magazine story package heading into the holidays that features the importance of faith in dealing with tough times and a new perspective on the holidays. Annette Sprenkel took the magazine cover photo and the prayer is that this article impacts people throughout the state during the next couple months. The magazine will be available starting the week of Thanksgiving.
Again, because of the odd times and the lower-than-normal attendance at the Nov. 11 youth group, we didn’t delve into the next topic in the Revelation study series. To check out previous installments and all of our online youth lessons, click here.
Instead, we revisited our youth Sunday School topic from this past week, starting a weekly Sunday morning look at the book of Esther from the Old Testament. We talked about the themes of the book, the main characters and what God may be teaching us from a book that doesn’t reference God at all. To help kick off the conversation and dive into the passages, we watched this video overview first:
Of all the verses that help drive the story of Esther’s courageous attempt to save the Jewish people from harm, this one specifically rings true, not only for the story itself, but perhaps it provides a question we should be asking ourselves as Christians today in the midst of a chaotic situation.
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” — Esther 4:14 (NIV)
Esther ultimately risking her life for the protection of her people. Trina Eia courageously shining God’s light through her times of trial, including in a personal magazine piece that will be read by people throughout the state. These are just two examples of people who rise to the challenge of a difficult situation because God put them in a position to spark change and impact others.
What can you do to follow such a lead? Are you taking advantage of opportunities to speak to friends who may not know the love of Christ? To peers who may be struggling through the uncertainty of COVID restrictions, school schedule changes and other concerns and desperately looking for something (more specifically someone — like God) constant and safe to latch onto within our current storm?
As the Newsboys shared in their “Symphony” song, God gave us a voice and a freedom and a joy that we don’t want to waste. What ways can you make your life a symphony of bringing glory to God? Another song that challenges us to step up and do something more than simply sitting back and letting life go by is “Do Something” by Matthew West:
For those who hadn’t heard, Sight and Sound in Lancaster’s current show is “Queen Esther.” We are looking into the possibility of a group trip to see the show … depending, of course, on COVID regulations and realistic timelines. More info will be shared soon about the opportunity if we are able to make it work out and what the cost would be.
