Last week, Bethany had a special week of chapel with the theme The Fruit of the Spirit. It is a traditional event that Bethany does every year called “Spiritual Life Week”. The purpose of this article is to help you review what we have been talking about.
On Monday Emma and Caroline, used their conversation towards the audience to lead us this week’s theme, “What is the fruit of the spirit?” And used a song to tell us the answer. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
On Tuesday there were students tell about their own experiences of the fruits of the spirit. Caleb, Emma, Mariah, Evan, and Carissa, each represented one of the spirits. They talked about how they see it in their lives or how they struggle to show it.
Emma said: “the active presence of God that is all around us all the time. It is the way that God works in the world. They are called the Fruits of the SPIRIT – because when we have a relationship with Jesus, the Spirit comes and helps us become more like Jesus.” I think this was the main point on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, we invited Berkey Avenue pastor Mark Schloneger to do a sermon. In his speech, he used his childhood, as an example of the fruits of the spirit. He has a bunch of certificates to show his achievements, but when he was in sixth grade, he had N for teacher’s recommendation. His main message was that, is God is doing something in us which changes us. The fruits of the Spirit are the results.
For Thursday, our last day of Spiritual life week, each student met with their mentor and have a conversation with guiding questions about this week.
- How do you think other people experience God’s love?
- What did Mark mean when he said that they are fruits, not seeds?
- Do you feel loved by God? How and when do you feel that?
- Do you feel a need to measure up to other people? How does this happen?
- Who helps you feel connected to God?
I think we should bring those question to our normal life, and remind us of the main message, How can you be a part of the Fruits of the Spirit?
By: Xudong Sun