Nic woke up the teens this morning with a very interactive reading of 1 Corinthians 12. He had them respond with a specific action for key words in the scripture. They would stand, clap, stomp and yell out as they heard the scripture and responded to their cues. After the lively reading of the scripture, Nic reminded the kids that they all have a part to play as members of the Body of Christ. And then he asked, “Are you willing to finish what you started this weekend?”
“I know what God started, He is going to finish. But some of us are great starters but we aren’t great finishers,” Nic admitted. We can have a great momentum coming out of a weekend like this, with a lot of good intentions, and then we gradually lose our excitement. When things get rough, we tend to abandon our plan.
Fr. Martin began his session on Heaven, Hell and Purgatory by calling up a volunteer from the crowd and asking her if she is “saved”. “Raise your hand if you think this teen is saved,” he asked the crowd. He was impressed when only a few hands went up. Then he asked if she was redeemed. Many more people raised their hands. He nodded and then clarified, “We are all redeemed, but we are in the process of being saved.” Jesus died on the cross and paid the price for our sins, but we could still reject Him.
What happens when we die?
Our lives are brief compared to eternity. So this is what we should remind ourselves when we have to make the sacrifice to choose what is good and pure and holy. When we die we all have the immediate judgment. At the end of all time, Jesus will come back. There will be no more confusion about Jesus and there will be a final judgement.
For the women’s session, the men left the building so Lisa Cotter could just address the ladies. She stressed the importance of our female friends because being feminine can be complicated and only women truly understand what it is like to be a woman. We need each other. But how do we create deep and lasting friendships?
Three Types of Friendship
Aristotle said there are three different types of friendship:
Friendships of Utility– This type of friendship is based on someone being useful to you, like a friend from a class.
Friendships of Pleasure– These friendships are based on the fun times together (teammates, friends from a club, etc.)
Friendships that are useful or pleasurable are not necessarily bad, but as soon as the usefulness or pleasure is not there, the friendship ends.
Friendships of Virtue (Excellence)– These friendships are based upon doing the right thing at the right time, in the right way. These are deepest forms of friendship.
