The Garden City Presbyterian Church Youth Cartel put together an awesome weekend for a 30 Hour Famine for World Vision. Their goal was to raise enough money to feed four Haitian children for a year, $1,440. World Vision estimates it cost $360 to feed one child for one year and GCPCYC and their friends raised $2,643.88, enough to feed more than 7 children.
They did it by detailing 15-18 cars on a hot Sunday afternoon in March, by babysitting, fixing computers, doing chores for members of our congregation, and by seeking donations from individuals. They set up a K-State/KU challenge for the congregation to vote with donations, with Pastor Denise donating the prize. Denise offered to dye her hair the team color of the winning school - only if the goal was reached. Denise has dyed her hair purple for the week, a week which included a meeting of Presbytery, Ministerial Alliance meetings, her turn at preaching for Thursday's Lenten luncheon, and Sunday worship!
The 30 hours of fasting began after lunch Friday and ended Saturday with communion, with bread they made themselves (oh, it was hard, smelling freshly made bread 28 hours into the fast!). But they were committed to learning what it meant to be hungry, and to work while they were hungry. Friday, they set up our sanctuary for a Christian band concert, with bands from Bible Christian, First Christian and First Baptist joining our 88 Hours band, and Marching in the Fall a band that Amy, the concert organizer, plays in. Steven and Trace did a great job on the sound board. Steve wrote the liturgy to be used between bands, and read part of it, with Amy also reading. Denise had lyrics up on the screen so we could all sing. It was so great to have youth and adults from all these churches singing and praising God together.
Unlike most activities at our church, there was NO FOOD, only water and juice! After the concert we played some games, held devotions in the chapel and were in our separate sleeping rooms by midnight. I think that's a record for lights out at a church lock-in! The nine youth and four adults who participated in the lock-in were up at 8:30 for - not breakfast - but juice, water and prayer. At 9:00 we split into two work groups, one to reset the sanctuary after the concert and ready it for worship; the other group to work in Fellowship Hall, preparing it for the evening potluck and celebration for our church's 125th Anniversary. At 10:15, our crew headed to the Habitat for Humanity storage building where a mountain of things were carried out to the curb, or to the dumpster, or re-organized in the 2-story building. It was heavy, dusty and hard work, carrying wood, appliances, sinks, concrete mix, 5 gallon buckets of paint, large rolls of carpet, etc. I was really proud of these kids - they worked hard, with no complaining, and took direction from the HFH people with a smile and willing hands. I pulled three nails out of a board, but my main job was videotaping the work and the growing mountain of stuff by the curb! As we were finishing, people in pick-ups were coming by to look through the mountain and carrying off much of it!
We took a water and juice break just before noon and decided that we should all go back to church, wash up and start making the communion bread. While the bread was on its first rising, we went out to wash windows for two church members - including celestory windows on one of the condos and a basement window well in the other. We also split into groups to clean two car interiors and to wash the windows on the outside of our building. About 3:30, or 27 hours into the fast, they were beginning to feel the effects of no food, but no one even tasted the bread dough as they learned about kneading bread and shaping the dough into rolls. Denise noted that the dough was well loved - sometimes four kids had their hands on the ball of dough at the same time! Giving instructions on working with the dough brought back memories of making bread with my mom. While the rolls were rising there was a game of Apples to Apples in the atrium. They really weren't interested in being in the kitchen while the bread was rising or baking - the smell wafted out into the atrium and that was enough! So I handled that part, but had them carry the four baskets of rolls into the sanctuary and place them on the communion table.
Denise had prepared a short but meaningful worship for us. Communion was such a meaningful way to end our fast. The bread was delicious in our mouths, and we took more than a pinch! When Denise poured the wine from the pitcher into the cup, she poured so that it overflowed out of the cup and onto the plate it was set on, and I thought of how God's love overflows in our lives.
So thanks to Alison, Kurt and Denise, the adults who were with the youth this weekend, who challenged us to think about being hungry for food, and hungry for God in our lives. And a huge thank you and congratulations to the youth who participated and accepted the challenge to go without food for 30 hours: Steven, Brevin, Gary, Kyle, Zack, Mary Lynn from the Presbyterian Church, and Josh, Michael and Jessi from First Baptist. Others who participated part-time included Amy, who organized the band concert, Trace and his friend Sam, and Austin from First Baptist. Thanks to all the bands, the parents and our Administrative Assistant, Jane. It was a great weekend to work as the hands and feet and heart of Jesus!
P.S. I'm still learning how to get photos & videos off the cameras and into a format that I can import into my blog.
