“Grace. What’s so amazing?”
Flyers with this phrase advertised the theme for Seek Week 2010, held 0ct. 12 – 15.
This attribute of God challenged students in various ways throughout the week.
The week featured many events, including Seek First, a worship night held on Oct. 12 in Stamps Courtyard, which kicked off the week.
Dustin Schanaker, senior, and Band: senior Caitlin O’Neil, junior Chris Hardy, junior Brian Botts and sophomore Jeremy McKee led the night, performing songs such as “How Deep The Father’s Love”. Scripture such as Matthew 27 was read aloud dur- ing this time to enhance the worship experience.
Throughout the week chapel speaker Matt Smith, lead pastor of Barabbas Road Church in La Jolla, CA, challenged students to think through and unpack the term grace.
Chapel services on Wednesday were dedicated to studying grace from the vantage point of man. Smith described how grace is completely absurd to those who are not receiving it. Grace has also been misused and has been turned into something that it is not.
“We’ve domesticated grace. We’ve made it prim and proper when it is messy and unfair,” Smith said.
Wednesday night, Oct. 13, a showing of Les Miserables was held in Stamps Courtyard. Amy Stumpf, associate professor of society and religion, introduced the film, which displayed “grace on the big screen”. Seek Week T-shirts were passed out at this event as well.
Night chapel held Thurs. Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. focused on grace from the perspective of God.
The week closed during chapel services on Frid. Oct. 15. Smith spoke on how we as God’s children display and illustrate grace in our lives through testimonies. Smith challenged students to display grace.
“If you do not look foolish to the outside world, then you are not exhibiting grace.”
The Prayer Chapel, located in the Eugene and Billie Yeager Center, led students through “A Walk Through Grace”. The walk featured five sections: grace for salvation, grace for the moment, grace for another, grace everlasting and grace for the Kingdom.
At the end of the walk, students were given opportunity to define what God’s grace means to
them by writing their thoughts and definition on a large canvas hung on one side of the chapel. Among many definitions, students had written “absurd” and “amazing”.
Seek Week, for some, is just another week in the semester. To others, it is a week of time allotted to Christ alone.
“Seek Week is different from other weeks because of the intentionality that can be found in students. It centers us and helps us focus. It helps us to lift our heads out of our books and then bow them in prayer together,” Kristina Osborne, senior and compassion ministries intern for the Office of Spiritual Life, said.
At the end of the walk, students were given opportunity to define what God’s grace means to y definitions, students had written “absurd” and “amazing”.
