Gathering for Rez Week

The South Mall of the University of Texas campus is usually full of students working on homework, playing games or chatting with friends on their way to their next class. On March 24 though, two large white tents occupied the open space. The smell of fresh coffee in the early morning had students buzzing around the tents. Anything free and caffeine related is an instant bonus among students.  Campus Renewal Ministries members stood under the tent handing out coffee and were engaged in conversation. It was their first year to be able to occupy such a popular space, and they were not letting this opportunity go to waste.

Resurrection Week – commonly known as Rez Week – starts on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter, the day Jesus rose up from the grave. This week focuses on his time from being welcomed in Jerusalem to being captured by the Romans and dying on the cross.

Rez Week has been held every year for the past 19 years at the University of Texas. Justin Christopher is the main leader of this event and co-founder of Campus Renewal Ministries. He assists in helping students plan the event, raise funding and find the main speaker for the it. While it usually takes place at the Gregory Plaza, this year the students had the chance to be placed in the limelight on the South Campus mall, directly in front of the university Tower. Every year the group has two main goals; to have an area for people to come together and discuss religion freely and openly with one another and the local Christian groups across campus to come to gather in celebration of Rez Week. During the day a multitude of events take place. From painting murals, to listing to Dan Kimball speak on the topic of “Re-organized Religion,” including a through look at judgment and hypocrisy.  Students can stop by any time of day, either for a warm cup of coffee in the morning, or for $1 lunch and $1 Bananarchy’s – a frozen banana covered in your favorite topping.

Leaders such as Ashlye Elizondo have been apart of Rez Week since her freshmen year. She started out as simply attending weekly prayer meetings and now into her junior year she is interning with Campus Renewal and was given the chance to work with planning the event. She explains “Rez Week is definitely open to everyone which is why we want to have it on a large open space on campus.  We also encourage and invite everyone to come out through many different forms of advertising around campus.  Like I said, we want to start conversation with all people…!”

Rez Week at the university ends on the Thursday before Good Friday, allowing students to go home and celebrate Easter with their family and friends.