Today I attended church at Oakhurst Pres. and was blessed to witness their Youth Sunday Service. Today being Earth Day, the youth chose to focus the worship service on Earth Day, with the title of the sermon being, "Reflections of the Youth on Earth Day." For the proclamation of the word, the youth used a combination of video interviews (of the congregation) and two youth reflections delivered from the pulpit.
I'm sure Dr. Watkins would have enjoyed the video portion in which the youth interviewed congregants the previous Sunday on several questions concerning how their faith relates to environmental consciousness and how they try to be good stewards of earthly resources.
The use of technology in the sermon was great, but the part that impressed me the most was when 2 young teenage girls shared from the pulpit their own personal reflections on how we as children of God should care about the earth and be good stewards of it. I was especially struck by the first teenage girl who was so well spoken and PREACHED a word from God to us as listeners. Honestly, I felt like I was sitting in my "Intro. to Preaching Class," listening to one of my colleagues here at CTS.
The Holy Spirit was most certainly guiding this young lady in her preparation and delivery as she dug deep into the text of Genesis 2:4-18 and challenged the congregation. She highlighted Genesis 2:8, where "God created a garden"...she described God as a Gardner who then created Adam (and all human beings) to care for the earth and tend to it also as gardners. She reminded us that it is so easy to be disconnected from the earth & the food that we eat daily (how it was produced, what chemicals were used, the wages the workers who helped process the food receive, etc)...then she challenged us to "Put on our gardening gloves and get back to work!"
Walking away from this service, I was reminded not only of how important it is to care for the earth that God has blessed us with; I was also touched by how vital it is to have youth involvement in the body of the church. Maybe Youth Sunday should not be just 1 or 2 special worship services each year, but maybe youth should be involved in the leadership of the congregation weekly...today's youth are the next generation of leaders in the church body. Let's make youth a priority by engaging them in both worship services and also the daily life of the church body of Christ!
The Holy Spirit was most certainly guiding this young lady in her preparation and delivery as she dug deep into the text of Genesis 2:4-18 and challenged the congregation. She highlighted Genesis 2:8, where "God created a garden"...she described God as a Gardner who then created Adam (and all human beings) to care for the earth and tend to it also as gardners. She reminded us that it is so easy to be disconnected from the earth & the food that we eat daily (how it was produced, what chemicals were used, the wages the workers who helped process the food receive, etc)...then she challenged us to "Put on our gardening gloves and get back to work!"
Walking away from this service, I was reminded not only of how important it is to care for the earth that God has blessed us with; I was also touched by how vital it is to have youth involvement in the body of the church. Maybe Youth Sunday should not be just 1 or 2 special worship services each year, but maybe youth should be involved in the leadership of the congregation weekly...today's youth are the next generation of leaders in the church body. Let's make youth a priority by engaging them in both worship services and also the daily life of the church body of Christ!
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