Forgiven
By Caitlin Dudenhoefer

December 14th

This week’s life night was all about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. First, we split into 3 groups and played a game with a hula-hoop where the hula-hoop had to go around the circle without the circle being broken! After that, each group had to alphabetize themselves by middle names. After we played that game, core team member Chad Edwards gave a talk relating sin to vampires. Now, that may sound strange, but really it was a good analogy. Basically, sin is like vampires, and going to Reconciliation gets rid of them! If we keep the vampires in the dark, they will stay alive. But what happens to vampires in the light? (For Twilight readers, the correct answer is not sparkle!) They correct answer is they explode. So by "putting our sins in the light" through Reconciliation, our sins will be gone and we are forgiven! After this, we went into church and heard a short talk given by Jacob Schwerer about the Sacrament of Reconciliation and it's importance. We then reviewed the Examination of Conscience and after that we had an opportunity to receive the Sacrament. After Reconciliation, we all went back to the gym to enjoy a lovely dinner prepared by Mrs. London and Mrs. Puckrin. We even got a visit from Santa, telling us we were good boys and girls because he saw we went to Lifeteen!

Can I Get a Witness?
By Caitlin Dudenhoefer

December 7th

At Life Night, we learned about the Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles. A group of teens and Core Team members acted out a skit called St. Paul's Trial. As a person who was in the skit, it was a lot of fun to do, and I hope everyone enjoyed watching it as much as I enjoyed being in it! In the trial, Paul was found "not guilty" because even though he had killed Christians in the past, he had converted to the ways of God, and God changed his name from Saul to Paul, as we learned in the skit. After the skit, we played a "mingle game" to get in a small group. In our small groups, we talked about which letter of Paul would help us at different times in our life. Personally, my favorite Epistle is St. Paul's Letter to the Corinthians. My favorite is the "Love Chapter." After small groups, we ate pizza and salad to conclude our fun Life Night!

What’s Love Got to Do With It Anyway?
By Caitlin Dudenhoefer

November 23rd

At LIfe Night, Jeremy Miller and Meghan Blake talked to the teens about the four loves, based on the book by C.S. Lewis.  The four loves are Storge, Philia, Eros, and Agape.  Storge is the love family members have for each other, no matter how mad they may make each other sometimes.  The downside to this love is that you must be careful not to take it for granted and abuse it by doing things that hurt your family, with the automatic assumption that they will love you no matter how much we hurt them.  Philia is the love that friends or members of a group have for each other.  This includes people who come together in a group and do not know each other, but are united by a common goal.  The downside to this kind of love is that we must be careful not to become exclusive to those outside of the group.  Eros is erotic or romantic love, like between a girlfriend and boyfriend.  This kind of love is not necessarily sexual, but focuses on what you can give each other instead of get from each other.  The downside of this kind of love is that you must be careful that it does not become a "god" and the focus of your life.  Finally, Agape is unconditional love, loving someone who has seemingly no lovable qualities, and being willing to lay down your life for that person.  This is the greatest type of love and Jeremy used Christ on the Cross as the perfect example of Agape love. In order to achieve this kind of love, you must perfect the other three types of love. The downside to this love is you must be careful about becoming prideful. 

    After Jeremy spoke about the four types of love, Meghan Blake shared some quotes about true love and what it means.  My favorite was the quote by Mother Theresa: "Intense love does not measure, it just gives." After that, the teens and core team members broke off into small groups and prepared skits and songs illustrating one of the four types of love. The skits ad songs were well done and funny!  We even got to see Rachel Polinski rap!

    We hope you join us for the next Life Night! Please bring a friend and invite others to come to Life Teen too!