underground Weekend by Naomi S
21 February 08
Are you ready to be a martyr for Christ?
It is certainly a scary challenge, and one we were faced with this weekend. So many people give up their lives for Jesus, would we be able to do the same? I’d love to be able to say that I know without doubt that I would, but in all honesty the whole idea leaves me petrified. The Persecuted Church puts all it’s faith into God because they have nothing else and we should aspire to be more like them. While most of us are never going to sacrifice our lives for Jesus, we still need to give them to Him! Not living for the world but for Jesus Christ.
Another challenge put to us this weekend was that of forgiveness. We all know that Jesus died on the cross for us that our sins may be forgiven, and that is, quite frankly, the most incredible thing. But we are also called to forgive those who hurt us. When we say the Lord’s Prayer we ask Him to forgive us as we forgiven those who have sinned against us but to put this into practice can be exceedingly hard. Again we can learn so much from our persecuted brothers and sisters’ example. They are able to forgive the very people who cause them so much pain and hurt. One woman in particular who we heard about visits the killers of her husband regularly hoping that they will come to know Christ, saying that this would be revenge enough! We wrote down the name of someone who had hurt us who we wanted to forgive and put the names onto the bonfire later that night. As the paper burnt I felt a sense of relief.
We are used to some sort of crazy game at underground, and this year was no exception. We were split into teams, or rather churches, and had to complete a sort of treasure hunt, which included wine (rather Ribena), bread and ultimately a bible. This was made harder by the secret police that would come out of now where and capture you. While it was great fun to be running around in mud (my shoes were completely ruined!) it was actually really scary knowing that someone could capture you at any moment. Yet this is how it is for many Christians every day, living in fear of getting caught. At least we had the luxury of knowing we would simply be taken inside for a cup of tea, and would go back out 5 minutes later. At one point I was hiding in a hedge on my own with the bible we had managed to get and I was thinking at least the games over soon, then I can go safely inside with the bible. But for those who live like this it doesn’t end!
Amongst all this there was the usual which we have come to expect from an underground gathering. Amazing worship, a serious lack of sleep (although I got far more than usual which is scary, I’m obviously getting old!), crazy dance offs to the Sugar Hill Gang, many Haribo being consumed as well as sailing or rather pedalos on the lake. I’m still a little confused as to how no one fell in!
Naomi S