Couch Potato!

We had another crazy youth group event last night. I believe Mike thought I had lost my mind. After supper and worship we loaded two old couches from the youth rooms onto table trolleys and ran races in the parking lot. (I never realized that the parking lot wasn't level. There really is quite a slope to it.) The kids had a marvelous time as you can see from the pictures.

I suppose one might question why we engage in such a wild activity with the youth. "What does this have to do with God or the church?" we might ask. I actually wrestled with this myself as I prepared for the evening. This was a requested event by one of the youth who helped to plan the fall programs. I finally settled on doing a potato finding exercise during worship to add meaning. I gave each of the youth a potato to befriend while we sang songs in worship. At the conclusion of the singing I gathered the potatoes, poured them out on the communion table, and asked them to find "their" potato. Amazingly each youth was certain she or he had located the right potato. I then talked about how God knows each one of us intimately and can always find us.


That's not bad, but at the end of the night I decided that the real lesson for the youth was in the actual couch races. The joy and abandon on the faces of the youth as they pushed those couches around cars and cones in speed races, relays and an obstacle course was infectious. They were clearly amazed that I would allow such an event to take place. In fact, one youth emailed after the announcement about the event to ask if I was serious about my plans for the evening. I believe that, in the end, couch potato night was meaningful because our church allowed it to happen. Not all churches would smile at such activities that are pure fun. We do, and because we do, our youth know they are really welcome. It's that simple.