CRU Update

Any significant event in one’s life should have a major impact on the way an individual lives and sees the world. Jesus’ resurrection is the most significant event in history, changing the lives of many, and the whole Christian faith hinges on this, as Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15. This is the idea we explored last week at CRU.

To begin with, Tom Wilson from CRU promoted CRU camps for this upcoming winter holiday, especially pointing us to consider registering for CrossTrain, a unique CRU camp aimed at assisting us to serve Jesus at School, with a focus on CRU groups. I would encourage any boys interested to consider these opportunities here.

Tom proceeded to read our passage as we drew to the end of our exploration of Mark’s gospel, reading Mark 16:1-8. Jayden Pan began the talk by asking us to consider how our lives would change after a significant accident, and miraculous survival. Would you be grateful? Perhaps more careful in future? He compared this to the way the women at the tomb may have reacted after finding it empty.

For Christians, Jesus’ resurrection is the most important thing, signalling that Jesus has defeated death and conquered the grave, which gives us the hope of eternal life. In the passage, the resurrection leads to the response of reverence and amazement. We need to remember that we were once dead in our sins but are now saved into a relationship with God. Jayden emphasised how all of us were created in God’s image for a relationship with our eternal Creator, and he urged us to consider the way our old selves are dead, but we are raised with Christ to live the resurrected life, drawing our attention to Romans 6:8. In light of this, Jayden gave us two main ways to live out the resurrected life, knowing that Jesus was raised from the dead. The first was to grow in our knowledge and understanding of God by reading His Word. The Bible tells us about the gospel of how Jesus died for our sins and tells us how we can live for Jesus. We can also pray that the Spirit will help us to change our lives and not return to our old ways. Secondly, Jayden mentioned sharing the gospel with others rather than “gatekeeping” the gospel, as Jesus is alive, and anyone who trusts in Him is saved!

Jayden closed by challenging us to consider one small thing we may be able to do, whether reading a chapter of a gospel, praying, or inviting a friend along to CRU next week.

Today marks the final CRU group gathering for Term 2. We hope that boys continue to read their Bible over the holidays, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back for Term 3 as we continue to dive into God’s Word, encouraging one another and learning more about Jesus.

Daniel Becker
Year 11