This week marks Rez Week for various Christian organizations on campus, or as a member of the band Feel Good Remedy called it during a free concert in the EMU Amphitheater Wednesday, “Easter Awareness Week.”
Rez (short for Resurrection) week continues tonight with a screening of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion Of The Christ” at 7:30 p.m. in Columbia 150.
The Onyx House will hold communion on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the EMU Amphitheater to commemorate Good Friday, which marks the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
“It’s gonna be a totally inclusive communion service for anyone on campus that wants to come,” said AJ Swoboda, the college-age pastor at Onyx House.
It will be the first time the Onyx House has held this event, which will replace its weekly Friday meeting that about 200-250 people attend, Swoboda said.
Other events this week included a prayer and praise service on Monday. On Tuesday, volunteers handed out free cups of coffee and cocoa with various stickers on the cups, including one that reads “Jesus is a Ducks fan.” The Wednesday concert featured music by Feel Good Remedy and Caleb Paul, and speakers Duck basketball player Matt Short and former Duck punter Josh Bidwell, who now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“We’ve been trying to put our minds together to tangibly show our love of Christ to the campus,” said Dan Lockwood of Campus Crusade for Christ.
Several booths were set up next to the concert, including a “confessional booth.” Curious passers-by would enter the booth, where a student would recite a confession “of sins that’s been in the name of Christ,” such as the Crusades, Lockwood said.
“In the world today, there is a lot of misunderstanding and even hatred against Christians being too preachy,” Lockwood said.
Rather than coming off as preachy, the students wanted to humble themselves by apologizing, Lockwood said.
“We haven’t been acting out the teachings of Jesus Christ as well as we could be,” he said. An example is when politicians use Christianity for political purposes, he said.
“Jesus didn’t get into that mess,” he said.
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