Hello Youth and Families!       

 

Over the past month we've been using James 2:1-9 as a springboard to discuss favoritism, partiality, seeing and noticing others who we might inadvertently overlook, and who Jesus noticed and spent time with.

 

FPC members have provided meals and served as conversation partners about their faith and their lives, we read and discussed passages from James and the gospels, and we used some examples (many suggested or given by the youth!) from movies, shows, songs, and books, highlighting examples of favoritism and assumptions about others.

 

This past Sunday morning, we concluded this concentrated topic by adding some film clips and wondering together what it may have felt like, and what it might mean, for Jesus' own brother (likely the author of the book of James) to suggest that we might not really know "our Lord Jesus Christ" if we "show favoritism." We were reminded that Jesus sought out the least and last, ate with those others disliked... and turned away literally no one who came to him. What a gift to share these conversations with this group!

 

[And on Sunday night, we played some epic rounds of Flashlight Monster!]

THIS Sunday:

4:15 - Youth Choir

5:15 - 7:15 - Dinner and Youth Group

Bill Buchanan - founder and Director of Youth Mission Co (which began as Asheville Youth Mission, housed in our building) will be making and sharing with us some New Orleans Jambalaya (including a vegetarian option), and will then lead us in some conversation and activities around poverty and housing and justice, particularly in Asheville.

I personally have been looking forward to this week for a long time!

--Bring or wear a jacket, hat, and gloves! It will be cold but we may be outside part of the time!

 

Finally: Intergenerational Mission Trip to New Bern! July 2-8

Please let me know, today or tomorrow (March 16-17) if one or more members of your family would like to come or talk more about coming.

[Full details were in last week's email]

 

These kinds of trips are among my favorite parts of youth ministry, and ministry in general.* They have the power to shape, form, and transform our lives by knitting together community through shared meals, laughter, service, and discussion. While I'd be hard-pressed to recall more than a couple conversations over decades of small groups and youth groups (as a youth and youth leader), I can vividly picture every work site and church host site fellowship hall, and hear so many meaningful discussions, from past mission trip experiences.

*(I enjoy creating and editing video recaps of these trips that participants can watch and return to years later, almost as much as the trips themselves!)


If you are on the fence - talk to me! ...and/or (even better) - call another FPC family who you'd love to come along, and decide to come together!

 

Don't hesitate to connect to talk about anything above, or anything else...

Grace and peace,

David









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