I know it is also Valentine’s Day, but Ash Wednesday is the more important holiday. So Happy Ash Wednesday!
If you don’t know what Ash Wednesday is, it is the day that Christians post selfies that look something like this:
File Photo
If the Selfie Project was still ongoing, I’m sure I would also partake in this ancient Christian ritual on the Instagram. However, since the Selfie Project is dead and unlike Jesus, it won’t be resurrected in 3 days.
Therefore I’m going to use my Ash Wednesday blog post to pimp 2 things.
#1. I’m working on a project for an upcoming Youth Group lesson on perception of Christians. To further the discussion I’m looking for volunteers to help me out. The process will cost you 5 minutes of your life. Max.
Interested?
Curious?
This is what I want people to do. Record a video of you answering the following 4 questions:
1. State your name
2. How were you raised, religiously speaking? Example: I was raised in a cult in Waco, Texas
3. How would you describe yourself now, religiously speaking? I currently
4. What do you think of first, when you hear the word Christian?
NO VERTICAL VIDEO!!
I’m serious about the no vertical video. If you send me a vertical video I will track you down and I will punch you in the throat. I’m looking for a diversity of opinion. Not a diversity of aspect ratios.
The average video has been about 30-60 seconds.
No profanity would be great as well, but I can edit that out. It just would be work for me. If I was interested in doing work, I wouldn’t be getting you to fill up the lesson for me.
Deadline is next Monday (the 19th).
This isn’t an attempt to whitewash people’s views. If your view of Christians is negative, be negative.
If you know anybody that would have an interesting perspective, grab them too!
If you are interested in participating, let me know and I will email you instructions on how to put your video in my possession.
Thanks in advance for your participation.
#2. I hope you didn’t think I was done talking about the Youth Group, cause I’m not. You like to eat food, right? Well it just so happens that tonight starting at 5:30, in the Boone First United Methodist Church basement, the Youth Group is serving a Spaghetti Dinner as a fundraiser for our mission trip to Houston. The cost is an at-will donation. So you can get a free meal if you are so inclined! Or you can donate a Hamilton or two or three to a worth cause!
If you are wondering, we will be doing the Protestant thang and serving sauce with meat in it. That’s how us Methodists roll. With meat. 365. 366 on leap years!
Then after you carb load, you can come to church with me and get your ash on. No pictures this year though. Respect the day man. It marks the first day of Lent. A 46 day period of fasting, repentance, prayer, AND self-control!
It is like what Jesus set in Matthew 6:1-6:
“Be [very] careful not to do your [a]good deeds publicly, to be seen by men; otherwise you will have no reward [prepared and awaiting you] with your Father who is in heaven.
2 “So whenever you give to the poor and do acts of kindness, do not blow a trumpet before you [to advertise it], as the hypocrites do [like actors acting out a role] in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored and recognized and praised by men. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, they [already] have their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the poor and do acts of kindness, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing [give in complete secrecy], 4 so that your charitable acts will be done in secret; and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.
5 “Also, when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to pray [publicly] standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets so that they may be seen by men. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, they [already] have their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your most private room, close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.
I’m pretty sure that verse is all about selfies. If you don’t like my interpretation, then to quote Shawn from Youth Group, “fight me”. But you know that I already have my fighting dander up because I want to throat punch all the vertical videophiles.
This is the part in the blog post where I post pictures of the Youth Group doing good deeds publicly on a mission trip to try to convince you to come support our mission trip, even if you don’t like spaghetti. Cause let’s face it, spaghetti ain’t all that, but remember crooked sticks can draw straight lines.
And if you are celebrating that other holiday, what could be more romantic than a spaghetti dinner in a church basement for a good cause? I mean if Lady and Tramp could make it work in an alley, I think you can make it work in a church basement. I will not play accordion for you though. I mean, I would, but I can’t play the accordion.
