After going to the Rocky Mountain Synod Seinior High Youth Gathering, I want to give my thoughts on it. I met Bishop James Gonia and had a lot of fun there so I decided I may as well talk about what I experienced. This is going to be very sporadic but I just want to get my feelings out on this blog.
The theme this year was "Woven". You will probably be wondering as to what this means so here we go. Woven in the context of the Youth Gathering is how we as the Christian community are woven together in the image we call the Church. We had small groups in which we explored this theme.
I think that the Thomas Mass on Sunday was just beautiful. It really made me think about how much God actually loves me. Saying the Lord's Prayer before recieving Holy Communion was very emotional for me and in saying it, I will admit that I cried saying it. Also, at one point, I was saying the Hail Mary because I am someone who what some might call to be mainfesting the faith of the Roman Catholic Church. As I was saying it for I think about the third or second time, I just broke down because the Thomas Mass is something that for many people there, was just very emotional.
Many teens think that a guy always has to show that he is strong not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally and therefore, crying shows weakness but in reality, I believe it shows that they are either touched by something that is very beautiful, or they are in the midst of some struggle such as losing a high school football game during the playoff season.
As I bring this awkward Blog post to a close, I want to say a few things. For starters, You are enough. No matter how many people say that you are ugly, or worthless, or even a fail at life, you are enough in the eyes of God. What does the word enough mean anyways? In this context, I believe that God says that you are perfect just the way you are and in saying that, there is nothing that God loves more than to see you taking the time to say that someone is beautiful just the way they are because society has decided what beauty is and I think that we as people of faith should challenge that belief that you have to look a certain way, act a certain way, etc to be socially acceptable.
I wish you all a good night
-David
