Word from camp

In case you've ever wondered what camp looks like and what we do we thought we'd share a little. We've created a EYouthWNY blog and we're updating them as quickly as we can. This year we have one or two people assigned each day to journal our day's activities. We then publish their reports on the blog. In the next hour or so we'll get up to date with reports from Tues and Weds but the Sunday and Monday reports are already on line.

Below are just a few photos from Monday to give you a taste of our conference. More photos once we can update the other blog.

Peace

Resource Review - The Episcopal Handbook

The Episcopal Handbook By: Church Publishing Incorporated 256 pages $15.00 Published by Morehouse Publishing

OVERALL - "The Episcopal Handbook provides historical and theological information about the Episcopal Church alongside fun-filled facts and practical tips for being a churchgoing follower of Jesus Christ."

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? A couple weeks ago I reviewed "101 Reasons to be Episcopalian" and you could think of this as a companion piece. If 101 gets the conversation started the Handbook starts taking us a little deeper into the discussion. Again the tone is decidedly lighthearted. Chapters include - How to Survive a Baptism, What Are All Those Books in the Pew?, Is Coffee Really the Third Sacrament? and Why (Most) Episcopalians Don't Kick Dogs (Answer: because we care for God's creation). You also get more serious topics talking about the Creeds, the Bible, How to Pray, How to Tell a Sinner from a Saint, and Why the Episcopal Church Welcomes Everyone. And that only scratches the surface of the book. There has to be close to 100 short chapters that touch on just about anything you could possibly imagine. Not only to do with being an Episcopalian but with being a Christian too. It really does answer, or at least tries to answer, all those "dumb" questions that we so often never ask. We never ask not because we don't want to know but more often because we're afraid we'll look "dumb". I would have loved having this book to fall back on as a teen. Again not written as a youth ministry resource specifically I think it is a great tool for ministry with our youth.

RESERVATIONS Because they are willing to take on all questions it's inevitable that some answers won't be to everyone's taste. Questions about sexuality, evolution and the Bible will not be happy reading for some folks. In reality I think they express the common understanding and feelings of most Episcopalians and are consistent with the stated positions of the church (where they exist). On evolution they note the church has no stated position on the subject explicitly but most Episcopalians agree with it and the church has said that we believe that God can create in any fashion or form, including evolution. That kind of openness is an essential aspect of Episcopal culture. You're either comfortable with it or not.

RECOMMENDATION I'm going to add this to my still theoretical list of "Must Have" resources for youth ministers in the Episcopal Church. (Note I'm aware of similar Lutheran and Methodist Handbooks and there may be others out there too.) The book is fun and funny, easy to read while still being a source for serious answers to deep theological questions. Again as a way to show not only how we live as Christians but also what our Episcopal traditions and understandings bring to the table this book is a fabulous addition to your library. My bet is that most Episcopalians will learn at least one new thing about themselves as they read this book.

Resource Review - Bible Gateway.com

BibleGateway.com

OVERALL - A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages. A great easy to use tool.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT?I had completely forgotten about doing a review of this site simply because I use it all the time without thinking about what a great resource this has been. When I'm preparing for a class or a study of some sort I like to compare different translations of Scripture. Over the years I've found this to be a great way to dig a little deeper into the meaning of some passages or words. Languages do not translate cleaning from one to the next, no matter how much we want them to do so. Add in things like idiomatic phrases and, as one person once put it to me, "all translations are paraphrases". The problem has been having multiple version open on my desk while I'm trying to write, let alone having lots of different versions sitting close to hand when I need them. BibleGateway.com makes that much easier. You type in the section you're working on (you can also search by keyword or topic too if you're looking for a passage and don't know one off the top of your head). Then it's a quick process to look at it in any of the other versions they have. They have 22 versions in English from the KJV to NIV to Douay-Rheims to The Message and more. There's a button that will bring up some commentary for you, others to move you forward or back through that entire section of the Bible and a quick and easy way to print out what you need. The web page is easy to use and simple to find what you're looking for in either the Bible or web site functions.

RESERVATIONS There are two versions they DON'T have and it's a bit problematic for most Episcopal churches - the Revised Standard Version (RSV) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), since these are the most commonly used versions in our churches.. It's annoying. I've found other online sources for the NRSV (here and here) and an online version of the RSV (here). I'm not sure why BibleGateway.com hasn't been able to get the rights to use these versions. It would be great to have them all in one place but in the end I just prop my RSV up on my desk while I scan the online versions.

RECOMMENDATION Again a basic tool that you'll use over and over and over again. It's not perfect as noted (not all useful versions and limited commentary options) but it's hard to beat. Bookmark this one and all of sudden you'll start impressing everyone with your knowledge of the Bible!

Resource Review - 101 Reasons to be Episcopalian

101 Reason to be Episcopalian By: Louie Crew w/ Foreword by Phyllis Tickle 101 pages $9.00 Published by Morehouse Publishing

OVERALL - Gathered thoughts and wisdom from many different members of the church talking about what they love, admire, respect and are inspired by in the Episcopal Church.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? This is a tiny little book (4x6 inches and only 101 pages long) that you can read through quickly but will come back to ponder some passages over and over again. Most are a sentence or two long, none go longer than a single small page's worth. Some are funny, some are quite serious and deep. All express some small part of what it means to be an Episcopalian. My favorite is #52 from Mary L, Lyons of the Diocese of Olympia - "This is the only church that is as lovingly loony as your family". Yes, that sounds familiar to me! I have grown increasingly concerned over the last decade about how poorly we represent what it means to be an Episcopalian. Why do we do things the way we do, where did we come from, what speaks to us in this tradition that is different from any other? If we can't communicate those ideas to our youth then the denomination has no future no matter how well we may do other things. This book can be an interesting jumping off point for discussion about those issues.

RESERVATIONS Some folks are going to cherry pick through the quotes and get all outraged about certain folks who have been included. The editor Dr. Louie Crew will set off some, the Bishop Spong quote will certainly set off others. If you are looking for reasons to reject this book you'll certainly find them. Better than that why not think and discuss your reasons to disagree with whatever quote you may dislike?

RECOMMENDATION I'm really impressed with this book as an entry level volume for folks trying to find their place in our church. It's not written for youth ministry but I don't see why we shouldn't use any and all options in our ministry. What's great is that the reading is short and to the point (the shortest entry is three words). It's lighthearted without ever dropping into silliness, it's thoughtful without ever dropping into tedium. There, call that my simple reason for being an Episcopalian. I think that describes who we are at our best. Think about sticking this book into your back pocket as an easy discussion starter about being an Episcopalian. I think you'll get plenty of mileage out of this little book

Come to the Water

Along with my work in the Episcopal church I also work with the churches of the Southwestern Conference of the Upstate NY Synod of ELCA. It's been a challenge and a lot of fun along the way. Over the weekend we had an event with the local Lutheran camp and conference center (LCLC- Lake Chautauqua Lutheran Center). It's a great facility and we're trying to pump up the involvement of the nearest churches in its programs. So I led a group of 3-6th graders in the Bible study portion of the day. Those are a lot younger kids than I normally work with and I was a little nervous. Everything seemed to go very well and the adults were very complimentary about my teaching. The event was called "Come to the Water" and so I talked about water and its symbolism in the church. I used both the story of the Samaritan woman at the well and Peter walking on the water as examples. Plus did a little easy science by showing them how to float a paper clip on the water with no tricks (just God given surface tension).

There's a photo album of the event here photos of me courtesy of my friend and fellow blogger Tara at Uphill Idealist. I realize these are some of the first looks I've offered of the new, thinner me.

Peace

An intereting question

Adam McLane the tech guru at YS (and all round good guy) wrote a very interesting article about "What to Say When the Youth Pastor Leaves". He notes a behavior I'd never heard of before, folks being paid off to say they had quit when in fact they were being fired. It strikes me as an incredibly dishonest thing for a church to be doing and, as Adam notes, rather cowardly. Apparently the idea is that you're "sparing" the congregation and/or the youth pain if the pastor is leaving "voluntarily" and to ease the pain for the pastor you bribe him/her to lie.

I wrote the following in the comments then thought it might be appropriate for me to offer here on my own blog too. Here's what I said:

"Having said that let me note what happened in my last job (in the media not the church). I was offered the choice. I could quit or be fired. No mention of any penalty one way or the other. I chose to “quit” for the good of the staff. We’d lost several other key players (I left with 17 years experience and from a management post) within the last 6 months. Employee morale was in the toilet and in my considered opinion it would be better for the ongoing work environment if I “quit”. So I wrote my letter of resignation, packed my box, got hugged on and walked out. Was it a lie? From a plain reading of the situation yes. I did not leave voluntarily, I was out the door one way or the other (and in the long view thank God for that!).

So did I do wrong? I’m comfortable with what and why I did it. Be interested in other thoughts."

I have no doubt that my subterfuge was thin enough that everyone recognized it for what it was. My passion for my job and that company had in fact been the final straw that had pushed me out the door (note to self - don't tell consultants they're wrong, even when they are.) I was the "face" of my radio station and had been for over a decade. Unless I got a new and better gig I wasn't going anywhere. But I didn't think my co-workers, who had to remain behind, would be best served by having yet another long timer shown the door by management. Maybe I was wrong but as I said I'm comfortable with what I did.

Any thoughts?

Post Credo update

This is probably something I should and will do on a semi-regular basis. Part of the concept of CREDO is make good changes in your life. Another part of it is accountability and I decided to make this blog part of my accountability process.

So here's where we stand:

Goal #1 A Healthier Lifestyle - I have the basic concept of a sabbatical approved and I'm homing in on a concept. I'm working on my spiritual life (got a book on the writings of Julian of Norwich which I'm starting) and my exercise routine has kicked back in with the bike coming into play now. We've started the conversation about our finances as well. So I'm happy here.

Goal #2 - Expand and empower others in leadership. I'm working hard at handing leadership roles to other people. I think both I and they find that strange but we'll keep on working on it. I need to get started thinking about a leaders event for the fall. It's a start.

Goal #3 - Develop and expand projects for my communication gifts. Got a new piece of equipment to start that and I've been struggling to get it to work. Finally just did a work around and it works. Now I have to take the plunge. I did try something new and rather silly but it was fun anyway. I'll keep playing with this to make them better as I go along:



I'll have some more new projects coming up as well. These will actually have me in them (Scary, I know!)

Finally I've streamlined how I deal with my e-mail and that seems to be much more efficient. I've also consolidated my contact information into one central place and everything else has to come from that one central location. That's been a great help as well.

So just, wow it's been two months already and I'm still on track and working on my goals. Thanks to everyone IRL (that's In Real Life) who has supported me so far in this trip. Special thanks and love to my two ladies and my CREDO small group!

Peace

Translated Part two

Part 2

I mentioned earlier this week that Stuart Delony (above) had asked me some questions as a way to keep his blog active while he is away on a training trip. He broke mine into two posts (he did that with lots of other folks too!) and here are my answers (in my usual rather smart a$$ fashion) to the second two questions.

Part 1