Weird name? Possibly. I like it though. For some reason, I like to look at where words come from. Many of the faith breakthroughs I’ve had happened because I more completely understood a part of the Christian faith that I had taken for granted. Words that I had heard over and over simply didn’t mean much to me. Faith? Grace? Sacrifice? Repent? I could have given you a definition of these words, but they didn’t impact my life.
I remember hearing a definition of ‘repent’ that changed the way I lived my life. It means: “To turn away. To come back.” The Hebrew word for repent, (Shuwb, which is fun to say), literally means to walk the other way. Every time someone told me to “REPENT!” I thought I just needed to say I was sorry. But this new meaning literally turned me around. If I was repenting of something, I didn’t just have to stop doing it, I had to do the opposite. Repenting for yelling at my mom meant that I had to do the opposite of yelling. I had to start speaking lovingly to her. Repenting for lying didn’t just mean I had to STOP lying. I had to look for ways to tell the truth. I can’t even begin to tell you how much this changed my life.
So back to explaining this strange, strange name. Allasso literally means to change, to exchange one thing for another, to transform. Youth is defined by change. Some change that you want, that you look forward to. Change: your mom used to drive you to the movie to hang out with friends. Now you actually get to drive there yourself. Good change. Other changes are harder to deal with: friends change, romantic relationships change, your relationship with your parents change, your relationship with yourself changes. School gets harder, everything gets more competitive. So, change is sometimes tough. The word ‘allasso’ reminds us of the stage we’re in, gives us comfort that this is supposed to be happening.
Definition #2: To exchange one thing for another. I can’t tell you how many times a day that I have to stop and remind myself that what I’m doing (or thinking about doing) is NOT what Christ would be doing. He probably wouldn’t gossip. When I catch myself about to do something I shouldn’t, I have to exchange what I want to do for what Christ would have me do. So ‘allasso’ reminds us that we have thousands of opportunities a day to exchange the bad for the good, to exchange our ways for His ways.
#3: To transform. All of these choices we make everyday transform us into something. ‘Allasso’ reminds us that we are constantly in a state of transformation. It reminds us that what happens on our insides inevitably shows on our outside. True ‘allasso’ isn’t a magical event that happens one day. Allasso is the product of the million little choices you are faced with every day.
Lees Chapel Youth: how would this sound as a mission statement/goal of our youth group? How would this be as a youth group name or meeting time? Allasso....
Everyone: how does this sound as a life goal and mission? hmmm...
