Senior High Youth News
News about recent events and activities of St. Paul's High School Youth program
Sr. High Lock-In
Finding God at the Center of Life (and a Lock-in too)
Everyone started arriving Friday night around 8 p.m. for the lock-in at St. Paul’s. People kept drifting in for a half hour and bringing friends too, so we ended up with about 
20 youth and chaperones, all ready to have a good time. It was interesting, some of the newbies were pretty enthusiastic to be here, so we made them feel welcome and smiled and made nice.
We kicked things off with a few games in the youth room. We got a little carried away with a game called “Shuffle Your Buns” in which a person standing in the middle of a circle of people (sitting in chairs) tries to sit down, but of course, nobody wants to be too helpful, so it got a little crazy. Pastor Sandberg visited us for a bit, but wisely opted out of the games. After a short break, we continued with Kickball in the Parish Hall and a game called “Frogger” where a person tries to “kill” everyone else in the circle by sticking out his/her tongue like, you guessed it, a frog.
After a short intro to the lock-in by Paul and some toxic lemonade made by Sara and Ella, it was time to play a game of “Hide and Seek” in the church. At the word “go” everyone scattered out into the deep dark reaches of the church, while the “seekers” counted. It was pretty fun trying to find a place to hide. Why some people ended up outside, I don’t know, I thought it was supposed to be a “lock-in.” Anyway, they came back in, but nobody seemed to be able to find Matt! So, let’s just play another game, and he’ll come out eventually! Right? Well, that’s what we did, and yes, Matt eventually emerged, but he knows all the secret hiding places, so nobody can ever find him! We could have played “Hide and Seek” for another couple hours, but we decided to take a break.
After hanging out in the youth room for awhile, we divided into teams for a photo scavenger hunt. Paul gave each team a bunch of clues to find things around the church. Clues like, “Jesus said, “If anyone wants to follow me, let them take up their own cross and follow me.” The answer: a cross, get it, a CROSS, and there are lots of crosses around church. So off we went to try and decipher the clues, and yeah, it was pretty fun. Well, some teams found EVERY clue, amazing! While others decided to have a lemonade party in the kitchen, thanks to Sara’s rich blend of lemonade powder and um, more lemonade powder, well, it was pretty rich! Then the pizza came, and the game was officially over, so stop looking for clues already guys! Want some lemonade?
By now it must have been around midnight, and we all headed into the sanctuary. Shh, shh! Christine lit a bunch of candles up front and we sat around them and turned all the lights off, except the one for the Lord’s supper scene on the altar. We sang a bunch of worship songs like, “Shout to the Lord,” “Here I Am to Worship,” and “Sanctuary.” (Ben Zelle you’d a been proud of us!) Paul talked about living with “God at the center of life.” And Matt and A.J. got some drums and instruments out to play along with the guitars and singing. It was cool being around the candles, just us, and hearing our voices resonate in the big empty sanctuary. In between the singing, some people shared stories about their lives and their faith in God. Even some of the new kids shared, and it was pretty cool. I’d never heard some of them share much about their faith until tonight. Maybe it was the candles in the dark that opened us all up to share. Anyway, God was present! After a long time, we closed in prayer, and that went on for awhile too, and nobody seemed to want to leave. We finally ended with lots of hugs. It was pretty awesome, and we knew we had to do this again sometime really soon.
Anyway, the rest of the night was fun too. Some people watched movies. Matt painted in the dark in the youth room while the movie was going. A bunch of girls hung out on the stage and talked for a couple hours, then most everyone fell asleep, sort of, you don’t really sleep at a lock-in, unless you’re that guy Ethan, who was snoring so loud, Rachel and Hannah tied him up in his sleeping bag with a giant rope, so when he finally woke up, he couldn’t move, or get out, or anything. I think he made it to breakfast though, which was totally sweet btw, eggs, bacon, pancakes! Who gets up at 5 am to do that for 20 high schoolers? Oh Mrs. K, we loved it, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Well, that’s pretty much it. Except for the fact that we probably all slept most of Saturday. If you missed the lock-in, you’ll have to check out the next one. We’re planning another one for August 27th for all the new 9th graders. You have to be there!
~ RJF