May Weekend 2016: “We are all God’s Children”

For grades 6 – 12 – Let us be inspired!

2016-2017 EYC Board

Over ninety youth and adults were gathered from around the diocese at Chanco the weekend of May 20 for a faith based retreat that’s focus was “We are all God’s Children.”  Eighteen of these youth and adults included our community here at St. Andrew’s.  There are nine youth leaders (the EYC Board) that put on these weekends for their peers and included two of our youth, Spencer Harrell, a senior and Audre’ana Ellis, a junior.  

The retreat was full of music, worship, youth talks, small group discussions, and more.  The topic talks were given by six of the members of the EYC Board who are 10^th – 12^th graders and they challenged us to think deeply about Building Community, Celebrating Diversity, Challenging Injustice, Striving for Peace, and Trusting in God.  These focus areas allowed the community to enter into thoughtful conversation that left us energized and eager to go back out into the world. 

At May Weekend each year EYC elections to the board take place. Two the nine elected were from St. Andrew’s.  Congratulations to Alex Ellis, a sophomore, and Audre’ana Ellis, a senior, who will serve on this coming year’s EYC Board. 

I would like to leave you with the below talk from one of our St. Andrew’s youth, Audre’ana Ellis, who is a member of the EYC Board.  May you too be inspired as were all of us.      

   -  Harper Lewis, Youth Director

Challenging Injustice by Audre’ana Ellis

Today I am here to discuss challenging injustice; but what really is injustice?  Injustice is the lack of fairness or the violation of the rights of others.  So many times when we think of injustice, prejudice, discrimination, and inequality we think about racism, but injustice is also found in gender, poverty, religion, and sexual orientation.  However the main focus today is on racial inequality.

Racism seems to be a never ending problem, not only in this country but the entire world: since the arrival of the first slaves until now with Ferguson and instances of police abuse of power in schools and on sidewalks.  People still can’t accept different colors of skin.

Everyone in this room, including me, knows that racism is a problem, but why do we not help change this issue?  A Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, once said, “Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.”  In this I believe he means that the worst thing you could do is to not care for something.  We are all God’s children, so why do we not care about one another?  God told us to love, love, love thy neighbor as thy self.  God wants us to actively pursue peace and justice to heal the brokenness in order for everyone to live in harmony.  Unfortunately discrimination and inequality are at school, work, church, on your sports team, or in your neighborhood.  But we can do something to change this, and take up the challenge!

I challenge each and every one of you to first accept that discrimination is a problem in society. Second, make a conscious effort to make a change:  whether it be making a friend who is a different color than you, making a club that recognizes the LGBTQ, learning about other religions in order to understand the differences between you and them, or acknowledge that girls and guys are both equally awesome!  Third, once you have made these changes get others to accept the challenge and make the world a better place.

So do y’all accept my challenge? If you accept the challenge repeat after me:  I accept the challenge to end injustice because we are all God’s children. Awesome!  Let’s end in prayer:

Healing God, stir me from my indifference.  Though the world’s brokenness sometimes feels overwhelming, give me strength to accept the challenge of pursuing your perfect peace.  Amen.