STUDENT MINISTRY: Is Sunday Important to You?
You’ll read why Sunday is important to Kaitlyn Dahler. She is a graduating senior at Fayetteville High School, and she recently wrote an essay for Composition II that I wanted to share with our readers:
The Best Day of The Week
The day has finally come — the day I get to see my favorite people, teach others while also being taught, be in control of something bigger than myself but also be in the moment and ultimately praise the One that gives us the opportunity to do all of these things. And when the service concludes, I’m already anticipating the Sunday to come.
One of the first things I look forward to, as I walk into church, is seeing the faces of my favorite people that I haven’t seen since the Sunday before, causing my face to light up with the utmost joy. The amazing leaders I get to learn from are so valued and loved because to have a church family that deeply cares about their surrounding brothers and sisters in Christ as well as their relationship with Him means more than they’ll ever know. Additionally, the friends I continue growing close to are enjoyable to be around. To join them all as we worship the Creator generates a massive feeling of overwhelming love and gratitude that is unexplainable. So, because Sunday is only once a week, I truly cherish the short time I am given to be with the incredible people I get to call my church family and closest friends.
On the first Sunday of every month, I have the privilege of teaching children three years to seven years old during the adult service with my mom. This time is spent reiterating what was taught during Sunday School, and it makes me extremely proud to see their eagerness to focus on the story, even though they just listened to it 20 minutes before. Getting to teach them each month has allowed me to discover special bonds that I never knew existed; bonds that are irreplaceable and that I will forever treasure, especially because I have been able to invest in their time and energy outside of church. I’ve attended birthday parties, gone to the trampoline park with them and watched their soccer games, and when it comes to an end, it melts my heart because they are so heartbroken to have to part ways. Many Sundays I am reminded of the times we’ve spent together and their wish to plan more things with each other, giving me another reason to love being involved in leading children closer to Jesus.
Similar to being able to teach children’s church once a month, I have the opportunity to run the visuals during our worship service twice a month, and I treasure those two weeks. For multiple reasons, participating in this is one of my favorite things about going to church on Sundays. Being part of the worship team means going to rehearsals to run through everything before the actual service, which is an hour and a half before anything at church starts. I absolutely adore getting to church early because I find that church goes by faster than I would like it to. If I had my way, I would stay at church all day, so when the day comes that I am in charge of visuals, it makes being at church feel longer and I savor the extra time I get to be there.
Something that I have discovered about myself through being in control of the visuals is that I find a great amount of delight in it. When first learning how to manage everything, I convinced myself that I disliked all things about being in control because I was afraid to mess up just about anything, but now that couldn’t be more wrong. I’ve always enjoyed music as a distraction or source of entertainment, but now I can truly appreciate it for the heartfelt messages behind each and every song, making worshiping through songs my absolute favorite way to give Him the honor and praise He deserves. As worship progresses, it puts the biggest smile on my face and captures my complete focus, diminishing the existence of a distraction from His endless love. Because this fear is now absent, I can also observe others as they transform the filled sanctuary into a space where only they and Jesus are present, and it is one of the coolest, most satisfying things to witness. So much seems to go into being in control of this crucial detail of the service, but I have found ways to make it much simpler so that I am able to truly be involved like everyone else.
While all of these individual events make Sunday the best day of the week, the actual element that makes them so great is that Jesus is centered around each one of them. He abundantly loves the people in my church, His righteous character is represented as I teach and invest in the children He has placed in my church, and He is the only one that deserves our praise.
We are more than capable of experiencing Jesus’ presence any other day of the week just as we do on Sundays, so we shouldn’t limit the attention we give Him to one day. We can equally give Him the same attention throughout the rest of the week, but it may look different when compared to a Sunday because of one thing — people! Being in the presence of the Lord individually, during the week, provides an excellent opportunity for self-reflection. But, being surrounded by the Spirit of the Lord with others around you as we are on Sundays holds such a great power and grants us the privilege of coming together as a congregation to worship the One that continually gives us a second chance at life, even though we left Him to hang on the cross and are so far from deserving what He selflessly offers us — His free gift of grace.
Our lives are full of depravity and bring nothing of worth, but Jesus overflows with goodness, mercy, forgiveness and, above all, love. He never ceases to chase after us even when we forget what He’s done for us, and His power is stronger than the darkness of the grave. There is nothing else in this world that can offer us such permanent gifts as these, so we should be abounding in thankfulness for the life given to save our own by giving our life away to glorify His. He offers Himself as a source of renewal and hope for a better future and chooses a world full of broken people to show them their worth in having a relationship with Him. When we place our faith and hope in Him, our world is completely changed for the better because He provides us with more than we could ever need, is with us through everything we face in life and, just like Charity Gayle said, He “Brought me from the darkness into glorious light” (lyrics from “Thank You Jesus for the Blood” by Charity Gayle on the album “Endless Praise”).
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Dan Carson
BMA Youth Department Director Dan Carson writes a weekly column titled, Student Ministry Matters, through which he inspires, challenges, and informs BMA of Arkansas churches and church staff about all things pertaining to student ministry.
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