As many of
you know, the Gettysburg High School prom has been scheduled for April 19. This is, of course, the night before Easter
Sunday, April 20.
The purpose
of this article is not to criticize the superintendent, the school board, or
anyone else who was involved in this scheduling decision. I would have preferred, of course, that the
prom have been scheduled for a different day.
However, I’ve scheduled enough events in my life to know that doing so
is always a difficult thing. I know that
the school only has so many weekends available.
I also know that whenever you schedule an event, there will inevitably
be a conflict with something. It’s
impossible to please everyone, no matter what you do.
The people
I’d like to address with this article are the high school students in the
Gettysburg church. Now, I’m smart enough
to know that church newsletters are not exactly popular reading material among
high school students. So, I ask the
parents of those high school students to point this article out to them and ask
them to read it.
As many of
you know, Easter Sunday is generally considered, along with Christmas, to be
one of the two most important days of the Christian year. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the
Savior into this world. At Easter we
celebrate the resurrection of the Savior, who died to take away our sins and
rose again to give us the promise of our ultimate eternal life in heaven. These two events are at the heart of our
Christian faith.
When you’re
in high school, though, the high school prom is extremely important, too. I understand that. I’m fifty-five, but I’m not so old that I’ve
forgotten how important the high school prom is at your age. I want you to be able to go to the prom. I want you to have a wonderful time at the
prom. A high school prom can be
something you remember the rest of your life.
Is it
possible for you to both have a great time at the high school prom and be in
church on Easter Sunday? Of course it
is, if you choose to do that. It’s even
possible for you to have a great time at the post-prom party and still come to
church on Easter Sunday. And, of course,
it’s not just important that you physically be in church. It’s important that you actually come to
worship God, which is what we’re all supposed to do every Sunday in
church. You can do that, if you choose
to do so.
So, it
comes down to a choice. That’s what life
is all about really: choices. That’s what our Christian faith is all about,
too.
The choices we make reveal, both to others and to ourselves,
who we are and what we value. Most of
the time, it’s really not a question of knowing the right thing to do. It can be, but most of the time, we know what
the right thing to do is. We just don’t
want to do it. And so, we make excuses
for ourselves. We find ways to justify
our behavior. We know better, but we
find ways to convince ourselves that it’s okay to do things we know we should
not do and that it’s okay not to do things we know we should do.
That’s the case here.
You don’t need me to tell you that you should come to church and worship
God on Easter Sunday. You already know
that. The question is, will you do
it? Or will you make an excuse not
to? Will you do what you know you should
do, or will you come up with a way to justify not doing it?
It’s your choice. The
choice you make will reveal, to others but most of all to yourself, who you are
and what you value.
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