I've said it before, and I'll say it again!!!! (but look back a year or more ago and you wouldn't see me say it)

MY YOUTH ROCK!!!!!!

Why? You ask? Well now, I'll just have to tell you won't I?

Ok, so here goes. Last year I took 8 of them to a retreat at my old church, St. Matthew's. They were blown away, their lives were changed. I mean it wasn't anything I did, I just got them there and some of them will tell you I FORCED them to go. I have to say I am glad I did because they were pumped, they were changed. It was a turning point for all of us. When we got back from that AMAZING weekend, they were ready to get this retreat started at our church. Unfortunatley we had to keep putting it off with all the changes, new pastor, etc.

After 10 months of waiting, the time was right, and we got approval to hold this retreat at SLR. The great thing about the timing of it all is we took some kids to Youth Rally and got them all fired up about church, Jesus, God, Mary and now they are ready to go on retreat. It's exciting. It's great to see kids just wanting to be at church all the time.

We have been meeting on a weekly basis for the last few weeks regarding this retreat. At times not everyone is at the meeting, but, with 20 people on the team, it's hard to work out all the schedules. Right now we have 19 kids signed up and I suspect many more will join us. But the team is so excited about this retreat!!! The parents are excited. The community is excited!!!! I am excited!!!! To finally see this AMAZING retreat come to fruition after wanting so badly to have it at the church, is blowing me away. The dedication of these youth, young adults and adults, is phenominal.

So what really got to me tonight? Well, tonight was the first time we ran through one of our prayer services. The one for Friday night....A Palanca of Love. Basically this prayer service is a re-enactment of the Passion. It's completely dark in the church with the exception of 2 strobe lights, some green lights in the "garden of Gethsemene", and the candlelight that marks the place where each "family" will sit.

Our Narrator, well, he narrates you see and is basically the voice of Jesus. Jesus walks around weaving in and out of the 7 "families" that will be present.

Then he will walk up behind the altar and will be joined by the Disciples and you see him breaking the bread and sharing the wine. Then he goes to the garden alone and prays......yet you hear him, and he's crying. (insert song here)

"It was then that I allowed them to capture me".......the silence is broken, not only by the Narrator, but by the 3 very LOUD very TALL (all of them over 6ft tall, with Jesus being 5ft 6), soldiers who are screaming at him, yelling at the retreat participants ("Is this your king? Is he your Messiah? Your Savior?), and "beating" and "kicking" Jesus, all the while, as the screams continue, you hear Jesus, screaming in pain with each blow, each hit with the "whip".

Moments later, the crowd begins to mock him and laugh at him. Not believing he is who he says he is. The Messiah, the son of the blessed one. Jesus is thrown around and beaten and forced to bear his cross. His mother and Mary Magdelene following him as he makes his journey to Golgotha, they too are crying, frightened of the events that are unfolding before them. Jesus struggles with his cross. The weight is too much for him.

He falls...........



And he falls......




and he falls.......


All the while the Mary's are crying, Jesus is gasping for air, and the soldiers continue to beat him and scream at him "Get UP". And then they crucify him. And with each hammer of the nails, Jesus screams. Mary cries out for her Son. And then Jesus breathes his last.

It was so powerful to see them do this. We did 2 run throughs. Once with E, giving them direction, and once without any words, except for those of the narrator. The second time, I was on the verge of tears. N was so believeable as he was beaten, and the Mary's were crying, and the soldiers were forceful. G had to take a minute after the second run through to get it together because he said it was tough to "be on the end of the whip that is beating Jesus"....It's so realistic that at some points, it becomes real for these kids.

I wish I could share it all with you, to put into words how powerful it was/is. But there seem to be no words. While I felt pain, and sorrow at the events that lead to Jesus' death, I felt great joy in the way my youth articulated it, without words. Just with their actions!!!! J.R. is the Narrator, but these youth are telling the story.

They were awesome tonight!!!!