Reflections from CEYC Liverpool Meeting: Unity and Fellowship
Last time I wrote, Bethan and I were preparing to head up to Liverpool for the CEYC day meeting. Well, now we have been, and I thought it would be good to write a couple of reflections from the day.
The day commenced with a time of worship, before splitting into groups to discuss confirmation. We shared experiences and explored how we each viewed confirmation, what we thought should be covered in confirmation classes and whether there should be a minimum age for confirmation, touching on the issues of infant baptism and admission to Holy Communion. We paused at midday to participate in Liverpool Cathedral's Eucharist, before catching up with old friends, and making new ones, over lunch. In the afternoon we debated a motion on confirmation and closed with a Bible study and time of worship.
The day was thought-provoking and allowed us to share opinions and come to an agreement on our view, as a Youth Council, on the nature of, and preparation for, confirmation. This is now being looked into further by the Church of England.
The two words that come to mind when I reflect on the day, are unity and fellowship. Even in our debate, there was very much a sense, beyond what we were discussing or debating, of a common love for God and for the Gospel and of the overriding importance of Christian unity; that, ultimately, each of us is a part of something much bigger, the worldwide Church of Christ. Secondly, the day reminded me of the importance of fellowship. We shared, discussed, disagreed, sought to understand other perspectives and thought about our own. I left Liverpool, both challenged and encouraged, by the conversations we had on confirmation and by the ordinary conversations I had in-between proceedings.
I find there are days when I feel my non-Christian friends don't quite understand me or when I feel like one person against the pressures of University life and the world - pressures to drink, pressures about image, pressures surrounding society's ideals - and on those days, I am going to try to hold onto the day in Liverpool, when a group of teenagers and twenty-somethings came from different dioceses, from the north and the south, from the east and the west (although, maybe not the west, given that Liverpool is on the west coast!), from school, from University, from the world of work and together discussed the mission of the Church.
What's more, is that I was reminded how the fellowship of Christians is not just something that happens at CEYC, but every week, on Sundays, at House Groups, at Youth Groups and how important these things are to me and how great it is that Christians can freely gather.
Have a great weekend,
Rebekah
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http://www.albandys.org.uk/go/reflections_from_ceyc_liverpool_meeting_unity_and_fellowship
http://www.albandys.org.uk/go/367