it's not always peachykeen

...from relevantmagazine.com....
"Student ministry is numbers-driven. If you don’t have a large number of students attending, you must be doing something wrong; either that, or the kids don’t think you’re cool. ...If your ministry isn’t growing, the parents will start clamoring for a new youth pastor, someone more entertaining, someone who doesn’t turn their kids into “radicals,” someone who will teach the kids to be “good boys” and “good girls.” " (The Art of True Rebellion)

I sometimes feel this way about my youth group, like we just do "fun" things and nobody's really challenged, and we're talked "at" and don't really discuss stuff. It's ministry and church, not entertainment. What if we started asking them what God's been doing in their lives, how they're living for God?

"The goal of ministry is to promote pure living, but to instill a heart for social justice as well."

I feel like our youth group is all about bringing our friends to fun events, and not really how to reach out to people and meet their needs even if we're uncomfortable with their lifestyles. This as in contrast to avoiding anyone who could "corrupt" us.

"We once did an event called “Destination Unknown,” taking the kids to an undisclosed location for a night of fun. Some members of our group were conspicuously absent. One mom reported to me that she didn’t send her children because, “We thought you would take them to some homeless shelter or something.” She went on to add, “By the way, when are you taking the kids to Six Flags? That’s the kind of thing they really like to do.” "

WHAT?!? We did a sort of Destination Unknown once, and it seemed like no one really knew what to do. There should be "training" (definitely NOT the kind found in the Jesus Camp movie) that gets teens into studying the Bible on their own, and growing closer to God, so that they will be prepared to live like Jesus did. Jesus wasn't about fun kitschy events.

"“Follow” is a verb. Something must be done in order to meet the requirements of the command."

You're going to have to work hard. You're not always going to be excited about the work you do. You're not always going to have a peachy keen life. It's a higher standard. You're not always around your friends. You're not always in your safe little Christian bubble. You're not always serving alongside the greatest of people. But we're, as a whole, not the greatest of people. We're called to serve others. We're part of the body of Christ. The hand can't say to the eye, "I can do your job better than you." It's not possible.

The end.

Mudhouse Sabbath

So tomorrow I'm in a book group to discuss Lauren Winner's book "Mudhouse Sabbath," and I'm just starting the book now (borrowing it from Laura). :) Here are some quotes I found interesting:

"In churches and homes everywhere people are increasingly interested in doing Christianity, not just speaking or believing it." (xi)

"Practicing the spiritual disciplines does not make us Christians. Instead, the practicing teaches us what it means to live as Christians." (xii) {idea that practice makes perfect? hmm...helps us to love God more, to love others more?}

"What this all boils down to (and boiling is another thing you cannot do on Shabbat) is do not create....Do not create anything at all, for one of the things the Sabbath reprises is God's rest after He finished creating." (6)

"The Hebrew word for holy means, literally, "set apart." " (9)

"Rest for the sake of future productivity is at odds with the spirit of Shabbat...In observing the Sabbath, one is both giving a gift to God and imitating Him." (11)

"To keep kosher is to infuse the simple act of feeding oneself with meaning and consequence." (17)

"The voice is talking not just about food, but also about people; the instructions are not simply to eat, but also to invite both Jews and Gentiles into the Kingdom of God." [Acts 10] (20)

"This God who is interested in how we speak, how we handle our money, how we carry our bodies--He is also interested in how we live with food." (21)

magazine quotes

I suspect few of us face hurdles to "quiet time" anywhere near the ones she overcame. Yet we often give up when challenged by far less. And we suffer spiritual anemia when we don't figure out a way or a time slot to make it happen. (on boundless.org)

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been examining my faith—what I believe and why I believe it. That process has produced a wide range of emotion and revelation. Having grown up under the tutelage and influence of Americanized, western religious culture, I discovered that much of what I believed fit quite nicely into my preference for order and organization. In fact, what I really discovered in my beliefs about God and how He fit into my life could be packaged quite neatly into parameters and institutional definitions learned within the context of what we call “religion.” I could place it all in a box marked “God Stuff,” and set it on a shelf, right where it belongs next to the rest of my organized life. (relevantmagazine.com, An Unrestricted Jesus)

When I looked at Jesus, He seemed more concerned with feeding the hungry. ....Jesus said sell everything you have and give your money to the poor. ...I discovered that Jesus was more interested in defending the weak and marginalized. I could go on, because my box was quite full. As I unpacked the box, and stacked its contents up against the Jesus I rediscovered in scripture, I soon realized that God no longer fit in that box. He was so much more than, and nothing like, the religious ideology I had packaged Him with. And I discovered that I have so much more to learn, un-learn and re-learn about my faith. (An Unrestricted Jesus)

Elizabeth's encounter with Zsófi reminds us that evangelism is not a science. There are numerous methods that can help get us started, but no single method "works" in every situation. On the contrary, the very nature of telling the message of Jesus Christ to people requires sensitivity, discernment, and variation in style. (Taking Love Next Door, boundless.org)

This passage has oft been quoted as the missions passage that calls us to evangelize the world. But Jesus isn't interested in us just preaching the gospel; He commands us to "make disciples of all nations." Our evangelistic task is never finished when someone prays a prayer or walks an aisle. Jesus charges us not only to introduce people to His grace, but to help them grow in Christ. (Taking Love Next Door)

Evangelism is all about love — loving a person enough to share the message of Jesus Christ with him and loving him enough to teach him the commands of Jesus, the truths of Scripture, the walk of faith. Loving him enough to disciple him. It is the responsibility of the Church by the Spirit to guide people from pre-Christian life toward maturity in Christ, but it is our individual responsibility to make sure we connect people to the church and to God's truth. (Taking Love Next Door)

"open your eyes and take a good look"

Isn't it a bit unnerving/crazy/weird when you begin to see how things keep coming up, and you see the possibility of what your life could be that you NEVER would've come up with on your own? Interesting things are going on, that I think God may be prodding me in a certain direction, and I can look back and see how events/people in my life have brought me to this point.

Sept/Oct 06 issue of Relevant:
"Are you going to seek God, trust that He has a plan (even if it's one you didn't know about), and follow Him? Or are you going to keep your head down and try to keep life how it is, completely missing something He might've been trying to talk to you about?" (14)

"Learn what it means to love broken people. Don't turn away from the things you don't understand....Don Miller writes in Blue Like Jazz that "something was broken in the world and we were supposed to hold our palms against the wound." That's it. We're called to stop the bleeding. We're called to change the world." (28, twloha.com)

23-24 "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."

34-35 Jesus said, "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn't you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I'm telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what's right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It's harvest time!

a crash course in youth ministry

This weekend I went to Maine for a kickoff quiz retreat with the Wollaston quiz team. To describe the weekend in a nutshell, I think I'd have to call it "a crash course in youth ministry."

First off, I was immediately thrown into my role as "district liasion" or whatever you want to call it. Prof had me start collecting registration money, and I had to also figure out who had already given me money. Next time around, I'm making a checklist.

When we stopped for dinner at Wendy's, we discovered that Pudge (the van) had an issue with a radiator hose. Post-dinner we practiced In Christ Alone and Prince of Peace out in the parking lot, trying to get the notes the best we could, trying to organize the parts the best way. We ended up staying there for quite a while as Prof made calls to decide on the best course of action. Mostly I helped maintain order, and as well bonded with the quizzers so that I was no longer, "Who are you again?" We did some crazy stuff, like dancing to Switchfoot, singing random camp-type songs, and going in out of Wendy's a lot. This kid Drew hung out with us while his dad tried to help us out. Sweetness. The quizzers connected with him and let him join in on the fun. That was really cool.

We did make it to Maine, thanks to a Nashua van. Speaking of Nashua, I need to go find a thankyou card. We got to bed pretty late, almost 1:30, and then got about 5ish hours of sleep.

During the day, I "scorekept" (kept tally is what I figured was best for their King of the Hill type quizzing) in one room. At lunch Lori recruited me to quizmaster in a different area. Though I wasn't too sure about doing it, I went ahead, and was able to trade off a few times and get a break. I thought at times I was being too strict with my calls on the answers, but Prof said I was doing fine. I added little study/quiz tips here and there, like making up your own questions in your head. This one kid from "Skow" (Skowhegan?) said that actually helped him move up a room. Wow. Quizmastering wasn't as bad as I'd thought, because I was doing what seemed to be a mid-JV level. I was also really tired. :)

Part of the afternoon I was with the quizzers studying, as they waited for the other team. One was getting antsy, so I kept trying to give him new ways of studying. I also had one quizzer mention "Akel-damia" (like macadamia) instead of Akeldama, as well as say that the men that appeared to the apostles were "two white men" and not "two men dressed in white."

Worship was really good, and I was thinking during the day about this: I was absolutely exhausted but yet God was still using me, and keeping me going.

Last night in one of our Wolly girls' rooms, a few of us stayed up late talking about anything and everything. Mostly dating, God's beginning, mysteries that we can only come up with more questions for, the da Vinci Code, and reaching out. Amazing.

After breakfast, we headed out to the Brunswick church: a very small congregation with about 40 people (yes I counted as we sang). Prof had us mingling with the congregation, and the people I met included the father of a pastor in Delaware, as well as the uncle of a girl from Second Willy last year. At lunch I sat with this elderly couple. Dick was so funny. I said something about pepperoni, and he called it snakemeat, saying rattlesnakes were around. Jennie was like, "Really!?"

On our way home, we stopped in Freeport at the LLBean place. That was pretty cool, and I returned my backpack (with a broken zipper) and got a giftcard to order another online. Now I'm back at ENC, hopefully going to bed in a little bit since I'm so exhausted.

So would you youth-ministry types say I got a good glimpse into what it is like being involved in youth ministry?

gutsy faith part 1

This summer, I got Gutsy Faith by Jeff Edmonson for free in exchange for a book review. Finally I am getting around to it, using it as my devotional book. I don't know that I've really worked through a book completely--I usually have had the topical teen devotionals, and just skipped around.

Chapter 1 (introduction of sorts): I think I'm going to like the format of the chapters, with stuff to reflect on both in the beginning and at the end. I'm looking forward to being challenged, and growing closer to God this semester.

I think some of the questions at the end of chapter 1 should be rearranged. Maybe to this:
What does it mean to you to have a gutsy faith?
Name at least five people in the course of your life whom you see as having a gutsy faith.
Do you think of yourself as a person with a gutsy faith? Why or why not?
What characteristics do these people possess that you would like to see developed in your life?

I'm not sure about the last 3 questions, the ones on page 15: They seem a bit ...out of place perhaps? I'm not sure if "If not, why do you want to develop those characterstics in your life?" applies to the people question or the self question. In other words, they just seem nonlinear to me.

back at college

Here I am, back at ENC, trying to get into the swing of things again.

Quote from something for World Lit: "It is only by participating in this divine life that mortal, fragile human beings fulfill their potential." (5)
"In the pre-modern world, when people wrote about the past they were more concerned with what an event had meant." (7)

My schedule looks something like this...
Foundations of Education
Teaching Composition
Linguistics
World (actually Western) Lit
Calc 3
also working at CAS, along with babysitting here and there.
Wednesday nights is Quizzing woohoo.

This weekend I have to read part of the Gilgamesh thing for World Lit...that class seems like it'll be really interesting and good....not to mention I have a bunch of friends in it. When I go home for Columbus Day weekend, I'm going to grab my AP Lit notebook to reference.

I'm not too keen on the Education class, primarily because I'm not 100% positive I want to be a teacher. Linguistics seems like it'll be really fun and interesting. The Composition class should be interesting...I haven't really had an English/writing course since senior year. Between these English-type courses, I am now getting conscious about my grammar/sentence structure. Oh boy.

I sort of have holes in my schedule--like Monday and Friday afternoons I'm not really doing anything. Despite the fact that I have to get up wicked early every day (7:15), it's nice because I'm done by 1pm. Maybe I should use that time to nap. That'd be smart.

The room situation is good...Magon and Shawn and I have a triple...quite interesting at times :)

Maybe now I'll do some reading or something. yeah. That'd be good.

rob bell = amazing!

Mmmm. Sounds like camp in my room (my windows are open).

Tonight, thanks to the cooler weather and the inspiration of Joy and I talking today, I went through a whole bunch of stuff in my attic. Old toys, school papers from middle school, etc. I have one box of stuff to give away, and 3 big trashbags that are each about half full of trash. Some of the stuff I found cracked me up. I still have yet to read my essays/creative stuff. I think maybe I oughta scrapbook some of them. That'd be fun, and a nice way to keep them.

Here's an interesting tally of things I found:
~ a Pog (remember those?)
~my Exodus scripture portion and quizzing stuff from that year
~a D.A.R.E. workbook with cartoon characters that are the same style as the Simpsons

Sooner or later I'll recover from this packrat syndrome of sorts.

But anyway, in greater news, I got to spend (part of) the weekend with people from the Easton church. It was amazing. Yesterday we went from the church to Arlington, VA....The highlights of the trip alone were taking pictures of things like the Pentagon (!) and a billboard that had a picture of a pig's head and "Does this billboard make my butt look big?" But our destination was to hear Rob Bell speak.

He was AMAZING. Whew. I can share some quotes and stuff but he talked about everything. For serious. "Everything is spiritual." And it wasn't a typical sermon type deal, with 3 main points or whatever. He just jumped right in when he got on the stage and said, "In the beginning...." and went on from there. AMAZING. Also hooray for dry-erase boards. "Yup." I took like 4 pages of notes in my journal, which I actually am almost finished.

As Jen put it (even though she wasn't there), he talked about "Life, the Universe, and Everything." haha.

On the way back we stopped at Carraba's for "dinner"--at this point it was about 8:30, and we didn't get seated till 9:30. Yikes. I had mezzaluna, which is some sort of ravioli type thing. I couldn't taste the spinach and Joy claimed there was chicken or something in there, that I wasn't sure I could taste. There were a lot of family stories shared at dinner. haha.

I spent the night at Pastor Kevin and Joy's (with only 7 week old Ryan there; the girls were elsewhere), and I got to hold Ryan a bunch while Joy got ready in the morning. Awww. They had cornpops there..."Spin the cornpops"

Lately people have been telling me they don't like babies. Have your own opinion, but having seen two baby boys this weekend (Ryan and 12 day old Roman), I must say, at first glance you can't tell them apart...cuz babies just seem to look the same. I've been babysitting 7 month old Cordelia, and just seeing the difference developmentally between them is crazy. Some babies are cute right away, or they're just cute because they're so little. Hm.

The service at Easton was pretty amazing. Something in Pastor Kevin's sermon I tied to both Brian McLaren and Rob Bell. Crazy.

And then, tonight, we watched this creation vs. evolution video. Rob Bell quote: "Faith or science? yup!" The movie had an intense "us vs. them" mentality going on. Crazy. I talked to Mom-Mom about it later (having Pastor Kevin's sermon in mind) and she said sometimes you have to have that separation, and can't always answer "yup"....Hmmm "Go go gadget brain!" and get ready for the fall! Yikes!

Let me just say today was a pretty fun day, and I'm really tired...here's how it went; a real update is coming tomorrow.

7:45 am Woke up, took shower, got ready to leave
8:30 am Left a few mins. early to go to Jocelyn's
9 am Got to Jocelyn's
9:30 or so, left Jocelyn's
10:15 Picked up Ben at Queenstown
10:45 I guess, got Darlene at the Scenic overlook

...parked the car...walked around downtown...a LOT...took pictures...laughed...ate at Chick & Ruth's...etc etc.

Then after that, around 3 I guess we left Annapolis. It took us half an hour to go from the Wawa on 50 to get over to the other side of the Bridge--what should've been maybe 10 mins with no beach traffic. I dropped Ben and Jocelyn off at Queenstown, went to a graduation party at Kristin's, went home, and then *deep breath!* went to babysit for about 2 1/2 hours.

..........edit..........

Wow, I was so tired last night I left my wallet in my pants pocket and forgot that I had put it there...until this afternoon.

Anyway, yesterday was a lot of fun. After getting Jocelyn, we were driving along and she told me to go right. So I went onto the right hand side of the road, but she was still insisting for me to go right. haha she meant left. Almost like Magon that night we were on the beach. We also saw some roadkill, which she thought was an armadillo, but I think it was a chicken....hence you can make some "chicken crossing the road" jokes.

Hmm let's see other interesting stuff....We wandered around downtown, looking in random shops...Darlene saw a little pottery bowl, that was so cute she said she wanted to pet it. They had what I figured were "chopsticks for dummies" but actually it was something to grab toast out of the toaster. We also went to a running store called "Gotta Run."

MD State House

We ate lunch at this "delly" called "Chick & Ruth's". I had a grilled chicken sandwich, Darlene and Ben had hamburgers, and Jocelyn had a "petite" salad--that was the size of a plate. We think the regular size would've been in another bowl we saw at the pottery shop. One time a woman came from behind us and we--well Darlene anyway--wasn't sure where she came from, and then realized she came from inside the bathroom. Haha.

We wandered around by the city docks...and took pictures of the boats in the harbor/river/whatever. Then we walked over to the Naval Academy, and walked to the chapel...that was cool. The stained glass windows on the sides as you walk up all have verses relating to the sea.

We then went back outside, and then down to the John Paul Jones ("I have not yet begun to fight") crypt, where his body is. It's basically this round room (I guess it's right under the rotunda of the chapel), kinda quiet and echoey, where a middie stands by the entrance like one of those Buckingham Guards--"I am going to glare straight ahead and freak you out and not at all break my stare or laugh". When I went there on a field trip years ago, some kids were being loud, so the guy yelled at them. It was kinda freaky.

So...Darlene and I had made it almost all the way around (Jocelyn and Ben were moving a little slower--I guess they were reading more of the stuff), when her cell phone rang. HAHAHAHA. The guy didn't yell at us; I don't even know if he looked our way. So Darlene's digging through her purse, handing me her wallet, her water bottle, her keys. But no cell phone. Finally it stopped, and then she discovered--it was in her pocket. LOL.

Kristin's party was pretty cool. I knew about 5 people there, the kids from QA. Scott's going to UMD to do Communications and Drama. Yay for him. And Megan's going to Washington College (right in town) for Elem. Ed I think.

Last night with Sarah and Hannah, I must have pretended it was Christmas about 5 times. We also threw these little parachute things a bunch of times. It was nice last night that the girls were getting along fairly well, and I didn't really have to sit and play actively with them the entire time (whew. finally had time to sit and rest)

Today John Mark's dad preached again, on the Samaritan woman at the well. This time I liked the sermon--except how he skipped a few verses "because they didn't relate to his sermon".

Oh, and here are some comics I especially liked today:

happy birthday Adam!

Not that he reads this, but today is my favoritest brother Adam's 15th birthday! Yay Adam!

I just got back from taking a membership class at my church. It was John Mark leading it, and there were about four of us in the class: me, an older woman, and a married couple. We spent a lot of time talking about "entire sanctification" (my conclusion: can people just agree on what words mean???).

The older woman was talking about how she used to be Catholic, and was trying to get my great-aunt to stop going to the Catholic church and come to ours. Geez...if they're happy there, growing close to God and being able to serve somehow, then let them go there. Catholics are still Christians. Something I did learn I think last summer was that maybe Catholics do their whole ritual thing because by doing it, that's how they recognize God's presence--and not necessarily by feelings.

And another thing, the Nazarene church is a "missional" church. But I just don't see what our local church is doing to "feed the hungry" and "clothe the naked" in this local area. Can't we just use the energy we spend on convincing everyone we're right, for serving others because that's what Christ did? We talked a little bit about how Jews aren't very accepting of Jesus as their Messiah, because He wasn't what they were expecting to see. But today, if Jesus were to come and live among us, would we expect him to be possibly homeless and hanging out with the people that most of us just pass on by?

If we can just apply that to our way of living...

(the following written on June 4)

I went to Bethany's graduation party yesterday...it was a lot more fun than mine was. We attempted to play volleyball, and then I watched people play wiffleball. I also realized I'd lost one of my rings, the one my dad got for me in Ireland...I'm hoping he'll get me another one.

Later on, we decided to go rent a movie...Bethany, Jess K (ha! she should be "J/K!"), Cassi and I went into Chestertown and got Memoirs of a Geisha but haven't quite finished it. One of the things that struck me as interesting was how they had their whole culture thing, with becoming geishas, while WWII was going on. It was so weird watching the movie, with all the Japanese actors, and then all of a sudden, the Western world breaks in and disrupts everything they knew. Hm.

Today at Mom-Mom's we had a birthday dinner for Adam, with mostly family there.