The "white list"
Are you on the "black list" or on the "white list"? This is a question all of us need to answer. This is the challenge we launched this holidays. Maybe you know already that we are celebrating Easter later than the most people do, according to the Eastern Orthodox Church calendar. We had a full week of church services, a time for everybody to invite their friends, relatives, to celebrate the Resurrection together. Too busy for me... but I don't want to talk about this week. I remember only this Friday night. We called it the "Resurrection Night" even it was a day earlier. All our students were invited, but they also brought many friends, so we ran out of space very quickly. We didn't planned such a big event, but it seemed that our young people was eager to come to an apparently not interesting time of meditation, decision, hearing about death and hope in the same time... I thought they prefer to have a fun time, or some games, a short lecture about Jesus rising from the death and then to have a snack and spend the rest of the night away from home... That late Friday night proved to be a time that many of them will remember. I surely will.
We divided those three hours in three segments talking about three different resurrections. Jesus blessed us with His presence, so we became witnesses to His resurrection and, at the end, to the spiritual resurrection of many of those who were there that Friday night. I remember Rei introducing the key moment of the evening, the decision, like he never did before. He invited us to paint our name on a black wall like we're signing up on the life list, the "white list". Everything was black or white, even the way we dressed that evening. It was just a visual representation, but strong enough to realize that you cannot remain in the "gray". Soon, the wall was not enough, so the names mixed up, but who cares? Once you decided to put your name on the "white list' you're there and nobody can wipe you off except yourself.
I'm glad we had that special night. This is the youth ministry... to expose them to the Word of God, to teach them, to give yourself as an example, to challenge them, to create memorable events... and not the least, to offer them the possibility to "put their names on the white list". May that God bless all of us working in His field, our families, our churches... so we can all be on His list forever.
