The objective was to explore how we can worship God in everything we do in our regular day to day. Everyone was given a packet of Scriptures for them to look up, read and reflect on as they went about their activities. Eight stations were set up:
Clay: Read 1 Corinthians 12:4-20 about Spiritual gifts. Make something with the Play-Doh provided representing one of the gifts God has given you and that you can use for God.
Yawp: Read Psalm 47 about making noise for the Lord. From Walt Whitman: "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world." Your barbaric yawp is like your battle cry, how you announce yourself to the world. Stand out on the patio and sound your barbaric yawp, shout your battle cry, shout with a voice of triumph (Shout as loud as you can).Rest: (Psalm 16:9) Rest is connected to being close to God. (Psalm 38:3) Similarly, a lack of rest: being uptight, stressed, worn out is connected with being distant from God. Read Psalm 23 and take some time to close your eyes, lay down, and rest.
Names: Take some time to walk around and read some of the many names given to God in the Hebrew Scriptures. These names give us insight into the kind of person God is. You may want to look up the scriptures listed with each name.
Create: Read these 6 scriptures about God's love and respond to them as you see fit: write a story, a letter, a poem, draw a picture, or craft things up as you see fit using the items set out (Romans 5:8, Psalm 36:5-7, Lamentations 3:22-23, Romans 8:38-39, 1 John 4:19, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
Stars: Don't watch the whole thing, but sit with this video and explore the vastness of creation and the incredible science that is often overlooked...The video was a production of Answers in Genesis and gave a tour of the galaxy and the universe beyond from a Biblical foundation with a Scientific approach.
Compete: Read Deuteronomy 8:17-18 and John 15:5. Then read the testimony of one of these Christian athletes (Albert Pujols, Tony Dungee, Ladanian Tomlinson). Then challenge someone to a brief game of ping-pong or foosball.
Bread: Read Deuteronomy 8:3, 17-18. When they work the ground for food, it is the Lord who provides the strength to have that food. When food is picked off a tree with no effort at all, it is the Lord who has provided the nutrients for that food to grow and be available. When we pray for a meal, perhaps it is not to put a sort of spell on the food to make it good to eat, but to thank God for the blessing that it is. Eat a piece of bread.
Now, to my thoughts...
- I have found that nothing ever goes entirely as planned. The best thing to do is plan the best you can, anticipate differences, and roll with things as they happen. Tonight was no exception.Tonight was our kickoff. I knew (because I planned it all) that tonight was going to be very laid back. As I was praying for the students and watching them make their way to the various stations, I thought it seemed an odd way to have a kick-off: not with a bang, but with solemn worship. I don't think I have any regrets about doing a kick off that way, it just seemed counter to what might be expected. I think it set a good tone for the coming year: we are about worship, we are about acting boldly, we are about learning about ourselves as we learn about God.
- I was planning on the night being solemn, silent and reflective. It was reflective. I started hearing a lot of chatter going on in various parts of the room. I saw one thing I didn't like: groups who packed together and never split up while others wandered alone. That only happened for a little bit though. Before too long, the chatter I was hearing was a group of girls discussing the verses they were reading, it was a group of students getting to know and welcoming a couple of new students over a shared activity, it was a couple of guys talking about the information from the creation video. I got something different from what I expected, but I think I got something more than I expected. I think we can do it better, but I am excited about what I saw happen.
