A Sermon for the New Year

Last year, I made a New Year’s Resolution after the Youth Rally. Of all the thousands of people there, what I wanted to do more than anything was be one of the twenty-some kids in the back. The ones with long-sleeved shirts, running band tables and announcing the speakers. I wanted to be a part of the group that designed every aspect of the rally –the Conference Council on Youth Ministries. I made this resolution to motivate myself to complete the application this time, and get it turned in by March 3^rd. I got it turned in –then I waited. I waited until May. Then one day I got a letter. And, as many of you have probably figured out by my long-sleeved shirt, I was accepted. The meetings began. Planning was slow. And it seemed that every time we had another meeting, decisions had been made that we didn’t even get a say on. My CCYM buddies were getting a little irritated, too. But before we knew it, it was January. We were in Ocean City, meeting at the Carousel Hotel at seven p.m. on Thursday for a short meeting and a time of group prayer, followed by Communion and each of us being anointed to do Christ’s work before going to bed.

On Friday morning, once at the Convention Center, our Spiritual Director for the weekend had us stand in a circle and asked for several of us to share why we were there and what we wanted to get out of the weekend. My answer came almost immediately –I was there to serve. I was in the background not because it’s easy, not because I could be backstage with the bands, but because being there on team was hard. I was astounded by the responses from in the circle, but not in a good way. Not one of my high school peers had an answer to share, only the adults. I don’t know if they were waiting for someone else to share first like I was, or if they were doing some soul-searching, or if they just didn’t know why they were there. If they had been so caught up in the motions of being a Christian that they had gotten on team one year and just kept re-applying because they were expected to, not because they were getting something out of the weekend. My ponderings were cut short by our next duty –a prayer walk around the entire Convention center, praying over every chair and every room in the place. Even bathrooms. As crazy as it may seem, a lot of conversations take place in the bathrooms between friends or youth leaders that really help students come closer to the Lord. That prayer walk got me ready. It grounded me. It also helped me understand why out of all the events I go to in a year that the Ocean City Youth Rally always gets me closer to God. Why things always seem to fall into place that weekend and why my life doesn’t seem that bad. Because everywhere you go there, there’s prayer.

And then, the kids showed up. Over four thousand students and crazy youth leaders streamed in our doors to meet God. Meet God through all of us, all the speakers, all the bands, and through each other.

The first day had been awesome. People were getting pumped up, and we were all looking forward to going back to the hotel and taking advantage of our newly-fixed hot water heater. We had to get up much too early for a much too long day. True, most attendees stay up until two or three in the morning, but they have the luxury of a mid-day nap during free time. CCYM kids stay in the Convention Center all day. But it wasn’t ever about us getting enough sleep. It was about us getting just enough sleep so that we could continue doing our job –getting everyone else pumped up as they walked through the doors at eight a.m. Saturday morning. Our motto for the weekend was “If it helps one, then it was worth it.” So we did everything. We sung “Rise and Shine” and screamed “Welcome back!” or “Good morning!” to groups running across the parking lot to get inside. We high-fived and held the doors open for them and gave them directions. We did tiny little things that many people overlooked, but the ones who did comment “Wow, they’ve never held the doors open for us before!” made it all worthwhile.

On Saturday I made my first stage appearance. Bethany and I were chosen to sing onstage. Not because we’re good, because we’re belters. We were always singing snippets of songs that we barely remembered and we were singing loud. So we were sent on stage to sing Backstreet Boys, one of the super-famous boy bands of the 90s. The song –“I Want It That Way.” The crowd went nuts. Between my friends who were out there and our singing, Bethany and I were stars. So big that when we went back onstage ten minutes later to introduce Starfield, the lead singer started to sing the chorus. When I found out that I was supposed to be opening the evening session in prayer, I finally started to be overwhelmed. Why in the world was it me? Yes, I had volunteered to do it, but it seemed surreal. I was supposed to write a prayer in ten minutes that would get 4,500 people ready for the Saturday night session. The night of the altar call. The night more lives are changed than the rest of the weekend put together. What was I supposed to say? I headed for the Prayer Room. I got something from God. I ran it by one of the pastors on CCYM and it was approved. I go onstage by myself. The people start screaming out my name again, and when they died down I stood there and said “Please join me in a word of prayer.” And they stopped. Because it wasn’t about me, standing up there. It was about them, sitting down there. I read my prayer and walked off stage and the night went on. I wasn’t really a celebrity anymore. And backstage, I saw other non-celebrities. I saw Starfield watching WOW music videos through the big screen and heard their drummer say proudly to his group “I know how to play that song!” when a Kutless song started. They were just four guys backstage watching a movie, enjoying the show. All of a sudden when we were out in with the masses, we were celebrities. When I was selling merchandise at their booth, people mobbed me. When Starfield came out to their booth, they were mobbed. And we’re just ordinary people trying to work for the Kingdom.

I’m not really sure how many people apply to be on CCYM each year. How many want to be a part of the team that is credited for doing God’s work during that weekend. How many want to be in the background, seeing God’s hand and being able to pray for strangers and the forgiveness of their sins. I don’t know how many people who weren’t on CCYM that did that. But I saw them. In the bathroom with their friend, having that conversation about faith. Being Christ’s ambassador, one friend at a time. They didn’t need an all-access pass to do that.

In that same way, we all have that chance. The opportunity to show the love of Christ to our friends. To see God work through others. To be backstage in the workings of the Kingdom. And you don’t have to fill out an application. You don’t need a letter of recommendation from your pastor. The only thing you need from that application is the one thing that had been stopping me from completing it before –the testimony. You have to be able to see that God is working in your boring, everyday life so that you don’t have any doubts about God. Once you’re right with God, you can live for Him. You’ll get your all-access pass. You won’t have the fame, but it’s never been about that. It’s always just been about Him.