- Chris L. -

This past Friday, the Klesis frosh and seniors got to gather at Durant Loft to cap our week. It was great to see everyone again, after the seniors spent last weekend at beautiful Yosemite while the freshmen were at retreat in Santa Cruz. After starting our night with dinner, we heard from Isaiah, who spoke on Mark 2, a passage that we first reflected on over a few weeks ago at the Palace of Fine Arts. But this time, we were able to explore the text with a little more detail.

We focused on the state of the paralytic man in this passage, how he is so physically helpless, needing to rely on his friends for basically all of his basic needs. So that got us thinking, in what ways we feel like we’re pretty helpless in whatever situation we might find ourselves in. Then, just in case we didn’t get the picture, Alex L and Matt E kindly demonstrated what a state of helplessness might look.

But it’s ok! We didn’t just end it there, with Alex getting trounced by Matt. Just as the helpless paralytic had his four faithful friends to lift him up when he was unable to do so himself, Alex’s faithful roommates came to the rescue, and the combined forces were able to (barely) defeat the behemoth named Matt. Alex: once alone and helpless, but now supported by some partners in Christ.

Isaiah finished our time with the text with a challenge to each one of us: be the man on the mat. And be the faithful friends. We’ve been so blessed to be placed in a community of fellow believers that we can rely on and trust to help carry us through our most difficult times, and we also have amazing opportunities to bless others with our own willingness to step out and be a friend. Looking forward to seeing how we can live this passage out together this upcoming year!

In light of being a community to draw strength from one another, we ended our night with some absurd games. There were assassins, curtain-dropping, countdowns, wild accusations of cheating and many purchases made at your local pizza parlor and Toyota dealership.

Believe it or not, but this is a picture of 4 stores and their questionable management teams…

See you next week!

Post-credits scene…

Mark 2: Helpless, but in Community