We journey with Jesus during this Lenten time speaking God's justice even to the cross. We teach our young ones what is fair and what is the right thing to do. We hear often from them the phrase, "It's not fair", and so often we parents, aunties, or uncles will discuss the issue of what is fair.
We are grateful that God through Jesus shows us what is like to stand in the midst of his opponents and speak God's truth. We read the book of "Ruby Bridges" during KidStuff! and learned about how Ruby was able to go to school in spite of racism. Ruby's strength came from God, she prayed for the people who screamed at her every day.
Please God, try to forgive these people.
Because even if they say those bad things,
They don't know what they're doing.
So You could forgive them,
Just like You did those folks a long time ago
When they said terrible things about You.
Jesus' journey to the cross was not easy, he was ridiculed, mocked, and humiliated. This season, we are going again with Jesus knowing that it is not easy to go against the status quo or to advocate for God's justice when everyone else is going against you. We have seen and witness that over and over again in our Lenten Biblical passages, as well as our everyday life.
We want to pass on great God values to our children by bringing them to Sunday School where they learn about God's love through creating small gifts for those who are sick. We teach them how to share by contributing a dollar every Sunday for the Heifer project, to help those struggling communities to make a living.
The Youth Group experienced God during our Youth Alive and Spirit Quest at the Idyllwild Pines Camp during the President's Day weekend. We explored the "I am" theme. Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd." When the Babylonian defeated the Israelites the so called shepherds disappeared and left the sheep (people) in disarray. Sheep are vulnerable, they follow the leader even if he or she is leading them to chaos. Jesus uses the same metaphor, that he is the Good Shepherd, because the journey to the cross is difficult, the enemy will attack but Jesus will not leave the followers, he lays down his life for them. Jesus went to the cross to let the followers know that death does not have the last word. Christ rises to give us hope and strength for our christian journey.
May we follow the Good Shepherd in our everyday life together with our children and young people, because the Good Shepherd will not forsaken us.
Shalom
Pastor Lynette Fuka
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