Springing Into the New Quarter
Sunday
We kicked off the first week of Spring Quarter with Easter Sunday Service.
We also celebrated the baptism of three seniors during that time. This was a time where they got to proclaim their faith in God. Jenny got to share about her journey leading up to making the decision to enter into a personal relationship with God, and what came next as she tried to live out her faith. It was awesome to hear about how God redeemed her life and relationships through the years.
As we celebrated both Easter and these three baptisms, Josh gave a message on Matthew 28. The message touched on the account of the resurrection and the importance of that for the Christian faith. In light of what Jesus did for us, defeating death, baptism serves as a symbolic demonstration of us embracing his temporary death and ultimately taking on his eternal life. We got to witness this as all three seniors proclaimed Jesus as their Lord and Savior and were baptized.
Monday
The following day, we celebrated Josh’s birthday with a massive potluck all together, including some of Josh’s friends from college. His birthday was actually a few days earlier, and he celebrated it while in Guatemala with the rest of the team that were there to help for the mission trip.
We celebrated on Monday all together to commemorate his 40th birthday. One gem moment was seeing the relationship of Josh and his friends in action. They met while in college and have been friends for 22 years, even as they have moved to different places in California and beyond. We heard how they helped each other grow during their time together, and how they have kept up with each other and supported one another through the highs and lows in life. This is a testament to the strong bond and commitment that they have to one another.
Wednesday
Their relationship served as a reminder of what we talked about during our first bible study of the quarter which was based on Mark 2:1-12, the story of the paralytic and his four friends.
The topic of the bible study was, “Why you need something big to get close with people.” For the paralytic and his friends, the thing that was big was the belief that Jesus could heal the him and this was so big that his friends were willing to tear through the ceiling so that the paralytic could go to Jesus.
In more practical terms Josh talked about the different levels of relational closeness possible to us:
You
You and your significant other
You and friends
You and friends with a greater purpose
You and friends with a transcendent purpose
If you really want to experience relational closeness beyond common interest, it really hinges on something bigger, a shared purpose.
For Josh and his friends, they are all seeking to engage in ministry, having this transcendent purpose. Even when one of them is dealing with hardships, they are like the friends of the paralytic who carry the one who is on the mat. How can we grow to build such relationships? One easy way is hanging out with others in the church! We can do this by meeting up to read God’s work together, serving together, spending quality time together, etc.
Saturday
To end off the first week, we went to Lake Perris to take in the sun and enjoy the greenery after the long rainy season. We had walking tacos, played sports, and spent time together in this awesome lake not too far from Riverside. It was a great time of taking in the sun and having fun.
