New Beginnings
Friday, April 21, 2023, 5:00 PM
The middle of our diocesan youth mission statement is all about "[growing] the love of Christ" in ourselves and in our communities. Like a budding sprout requires loving care and attention to grow, a budding relationship with God requires believing in our own belovedness and returning that love to God through prayer and worship and by loving each other as we've been called to do. The New Beginnings program holds space for questions young disciples might have at this particular stages in their faith journey: what did Jesus do that was so special? Does God really love me no matter what? Are my relationships with friends and family different than my relationship with God? Or are they similar?
Each year, participants will hear what Jesus says about God's love in each of the Gospels. This year, we'll be led by a passage in the Gospel of Luke:
He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ (Luke 12:22-32)
New Beginnings is for middle school students in grades 6-8.
