MESSAGE FROM PETE
May 2008

FROM THE METROPOLIS YOUTH & FAMILY MINISTRIES OFFICE

Extreme Makeover: the Paschal Edition

By Pete Sotiras, Director

 By now, Pascha (Easter) has come and gone, but the effects of Christ’s Resurrection should still be with us.  Some of us consider Pascha as only one day of festivities and celebration and then it’s over and we move on with our lives.  However, this event is too monumental to be reduced to one day.  In fact, the Church continues the festivities for one week after Sunday.  It’s called Bright Week, or more accurately Renewal Week.  What does any of this mean for you?  How does Pascha and Renewal Week affect your relationships with friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, or school? 

 With Christ’s Death and Resurrection, we are recreated; we are transformed.  In other words, we are no longer what we used to be.  We are changed for the better and for good.  We are renewed.  We are like those broken homes on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition who need repair work because we too are broken and need of fixing.  With the help a team of designers, contractors and several hundred workers, dilapidated homes of families are completely transformed in only seven days.  They do the unimaginable.  That’s what Christ does with us.  He is the great Architect and Fashioner and He transforms us to our original beauty and makes us even better than before.  He does the unimaginable—he gives us hope, strength and courage.  He helps us conquer our fears.  He gives us purpose.  No longer do we have to succumb to peer pressure to fit in because we are secure.  No longer are we just a “piece of meat”, but we have value.  No longer do we have to starve ourselves to fit a certain body type or take steroids to succeed because our value doesn’t come from success in this world but through our relationship with our loving God. 

Our society is so fixated on external appearances.  It’s obsessed with looking and acting a certain way.  On Extreme Makeover, imagine if the contractors and workers only fixed the outside of the house and left the inside in its original state.  Would it matter?  Would be people still come over to visit the family?  That’s the problem with focusing on looks and superficial changes—it doesn’t focus on the most important thing about you—your soul.  No one wants to talk about it—it’s like the white elephant in the room.  Everyone thinks they’re always alone when they feel like there’s more to life than school, friendships and relationships.  Many people may feel alone when they ask the big questions: “Why I am on earth, what is my purpose, why don’t I feel happy, or fulfilled?  Why don’t I care?”  We ask ourselves these questions but we dismiss them as weird or we think that it’s just us. 

The fact of the matter is that we’re not alone in feeling like this—all of us do.  We are multidimensional.  Don’t sell yourself short.  Don’t put on an act—don’t limit yourself to the role of the jock, or the class clown, or the beauty queen, or the serious student.  You are so much more—but you can’t become so much more unless you start answering those big questions in life and unless you give attention to your spiritual life.  Take the opportunity to spend some time alone and just pray and listen to God.  Let God speak to your heart.  We are told by God, “My child, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways” (Proverbs 23:26).  Let God speak to you through the Bible, through your priest, or through a mentor.  Through the Resurrection, you’ve been given an Extreme Makeover.  Now it’s up to you to experience it.

[Youth and their families can contact Pete at: sfyouth@sanfran.goarch.org.  You can also view and download this article from the Metropolis Youth webpage at: http://www.youth.sanfran.goarch.org/]