04-27-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 27, 2023
This Sunday is Youth Sunday! It is a great Sunday, and not simply because I don’t have to preach. It is a great Sunday, as we have the opportunity to witness our youth giving expression to their faith. Since coming to CCCC, and specifically under the leadership of Rev. Mariah Newell, Youth Sundays have been powerful. What we’ve experienced in recent years puts to shame the Youth Sundays I oversaw as a Youth Minister. But even the biggest flops under my leadership were celebrated by the congregation I served, a sign of grace. The old saying from George Bernard Shaw, "Youth is wasted on the young," is entirely inaccurate when I think of the youth at CCCC. The compassion and care and convictions of our youth are being used well and faithfully. In II Timothy 1:7, we read: "God didn’t give us a spirit that is cowering but one that is powerful, full of love, and focused." The spirit alive within our young people is powerful, full of love and focused. Thank God!

We give thanks, O God, for the amazing people who choose to serve you in love, but today we are especially thankful for the children and youth who provide a strong witness to your goodness and grace, a witness from which we adults can learn. Amen.