Resource Review - "Sacred Space"

Sacred Space By: Dan Kimball & Lilly Lewin 176 pages $29.99 Published by Zondervan

OVERALL - A hands on guide to creating multi-sensory worship experiences for youth ministry (and probably everyone else too). Provides background concepts and outlines.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? Can I just say this was a very tough book to review? But for all the RIGHT reasons! I had to keep stopping to write down ideas that I wanted to use this summer in our camp program. Books of this kind tend to fall into two categories in my experience. They either spend all their time going into deep, academic style examinations of the whys and wherefores, or they assume that you're already as excited about the concept as they are and just start throwing ideas out right and left. I find both styles very unsatisfying. I'm a firm believer that we need to understand why we're doing whatever it is we're doing. Too often as a youth and sometimes even as an adult I sit in church feeling totally disconnected because I don't understand what's happening. On the other hand I also want a certain amount of hand holding as I start into something new for me. Help me get my feet wet before you toss me into the deep end (although getting tossed into the deep is in fact how I was taught to swim in real life, lol).

Well add a third category - the "Sacred Space" category. Because I think they got the balance absolutely perfect. The first 37 pages take you very carefully through the understanding of what this style of worship can offer. They take you through every phase (right down to using table cloths for each prayer station and why). They tell you what to do and what NOT to do all without being heavy handed or dictatorial (None of this "You MUST do it EXACTLY this way" mindset). They even have a chapter entitled "Baby Steps" that is about working your way into this slowly. The book includes a CD with a variety of resources so you can see exactly what some of the ideas should look like.

RESERVATIONS I wish there was some way of requiring people to read the first 37 pages at least twice before they jump ahead to the prayer stations. I'm afraid that folks will want to treat this as just another "program module" that they throw together quickly. In a culture that wants instant answers and solutions my concern is that folks won't take the time to really "grok" the concepts.

RECOMMENDATION Well by now you've probably guessed that I like this book. That's absolutely true. This book offers a way to approach worship that is new while still holding firmly to tradition. Folks in liturgical churches will probably feel more comfortable more quickly than those with non-liturgical backgrounds. In the end this approach is respectful of both understandings of worship. I have no doubt that folks on both sides of the liturgy line will also find at least some resistance to the concepts (the authors did so why not you too?) That's where the clear explanation of the grounding of the concepts in things like Scripture and Tradition are really valuable. You'll not only get some 140 pages of ideas already laid out for you but you'll be given the understanding to help create ideas on your own as well. A solid addition to any youth ministry library.

And I'm away

So it's finally here, my CREDO week. I'm looking forward to it but I'm a little nervous too. Always am before a trip. My hope is that I come back with a better idea of who am I and what I need to be. Out of that should grow an ability to be better at my ministry and work.

It's highly unlikely that I'll post during the week.

But I might.

Keep me in your prayers.

Peace

Weekend Update April 27- late!

The Week That Was - Hmmm, a quiet week. Car went into the shop and we can't figure out where the automatic transmission fluid is disappearing to. No spots in the parking space, no damp spots on the underbody. Curious.

Got swept from the volleyball "playoffs" in the first round. Not surprising. It was fun so I'll probably be back for that in the fall.

Went to a meeting on Saturday of the Youth Ministry Revitalization Team. As always this group did some good work when they were together. I think we're headed in a very positive direction. The plan is to have ideas and resources ready to present at Diocesan Convention in October. I think we can really pull it off.

Camp applications are starting to dribble in. Would love to get a whole bunch in (hint, hint to all you families in WNY out there!)

I've been working on clearing up the mess that is my address book(s). I've never really consolidated it in one place. Most of it was in one place then a bunch in several others. So I'm getting it all in one big file on my PDA. Now I'm in the editing and clearing phase. If I can't remember who the person is they get dumped. It's boring work but kind of cathartic as well.

The To Do List - This is such a catastrophe I'm just going to restart it after I get back next week. Right now it's making sure everything is ready for me to go away for 10 days or so. My whole world right now is CREDO,CREDO,CREDO.

What Am I Procrastinating About? - Still doing OK. Hmmmm less procrastinating with no To Do list. Or am I just not as aware of what needs to get done now so I just FEEL more productive?

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To?

Next up is "The Ayatollah Begs to Differ-The Paradox of Modern Iran" by Hooman Majd. Still working on this but really enjoying it. I'm getting a much more nuanced look at Iran and the various power groups there. It's not as black and white as we think. In some ways we are very much alike and in others totally alien to one another.

Working on some Sue Grafton novels as a way to relax. Liked "A is for Alibi" and I'm working on "B is for Burglar" and liking it a lot too. Gotta decide what's going with me to Florida (CREDO,CREDO,CREDO!)


Movies - No movies this week so far.

Music - Gotta load up my ipod with some interesting new stuff and good familiar stuff for the trip to Florida (CREDO,CREDO,CREDO!)

Next Up CREDO,CREDO,CREDO! As one of our priests in the diocese said to me today - You have to work twice as hard the week before and the week after to take a week OFF! In the meantime my lady wife and I are going to check out a local restaurant that a lot of acquaintances just rave about. Looking forward to a nice night out.

How Am I Doing Once I settle down for the trip I'll be fine.
Peace

The teenage song

I think both sides would find this accurate.



Thanks to madpriest

Resource Review - Fuller Youth Institute web page

Fuller Youth Institute Web site for youth ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary

OVERALL - Fuller Theological Seminary is a large (5,000 students)diverse (100 denominations from 70 countries) evangelical, multi denominational, international, and multi ethnic seminary in California that has established a research institute to do research to transform youth and family ministry. Some of the results of that research are available through the web site.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? Here is a resource aimed at going a little deeper in our ministry with young people. The folks at Fuller offer a wide range of materials (blog, e-journal, online articles, even audio feeds) on a wide range of subjects. I'm impressed with the level of attention they give to the transition from high school to college and its impact on faith. But that's not all. There are sections dedicated to Urban ministry, inter generational ministry and what they refer to as "Deep Justice" which is about service and working towards greater justice in the world. There's lots of research, even curriculum available for free. It's not something that you'll zip through quickly. Plan on spending some time to explore the web site.

RESERVATIONS There are no obvious reservations for me here. There can be some gaps in time between new articles and stuff but that's because it takes time to get all that stuff done.

RECOMMENDATION I'm always on the look out for quality information and ideas. Fuller is dedicated to offering ideas and answers that make a difference. I don't know that I always agree with them but what I've seen so far shows them to being honest and aimed towards helping youth ministry do God's work in the world. And I'll take all the help I can get on that front.

Thinking about kids

Big surprise right?

Two news stories just jumped out at me this week. First is the story of the mom who dropped her two battling daughters off at the side of the road and drove away. The details are the daughters are 10 and 12, mom is 45 and a partner in a NYC law firm. The girls were in the back of the vehicle fighting like siblings do. My bet is that there was a fair amount of screaming going on. So mom pulls over tells them to get out in the business district of White Plains and drives away. Some of the details remain unclear. It appears that the older child did "catch up" with the mom but the younger child didn't and had to be rescued by a good Samaritan. To me that says that Mom went out of sight. Now I have to admit to having done something similar. The kid could be quite a willful child (still can be) when she was little and would sometimes refuse to come when it was time to leave a store. After trying to get her to cooperate I would inform her that it was time to go and I was leaving. I'd then walk out of her sight BUT WHERE I COULD ALWAYS SEE HER. It usually only took a few seconds before she'd be "ready to go". I'd never leave her to stew or anything like that. I'm astounded to see that mom apparently didn't go right back for the younger daughter or that the older daughter would leave her little sister.

To me this says the whole family has major issues that need some serious work.

The other story is currently being heard by the Supreme Court of the U.S. It involves a 13 year old honor student with no record of misbehavior who ends up getting strip searched (down to her bra and panties) when she is accused of carrying a prescription strength ibuprofen. She was also told to "shake out" her underwear in front of the school nurse and one other (female) staff person. No drugs were found. Family sued school and it has made its way up the judicial food chain.

My first thought was - I'd lose my job. In fact I was hard pressed to come up with a scenario where I'd even consider doing such a thing to a youth. Drugs? Nah. Weapons? Hmmmm, probably not. If I thought, really seriously thought, that a kid had a really serious weapon I'd call the cops if they wouldn't hand it over. But just a suspicion based on another kid saying it? No way. I can not imagine how the school officials justified this idea to themselves. How do you convince yourself this is a good idea? Some of it no doubt grows out of the "zero tolerance" concept, which is one of the stupider ideas of the last 20 years. Zero Tolerance is zero intelligence, zero common sense and zero worthwhile.

Two stories. Both about not taking enough care of our kids. One by doing too little, the other by doing too much.

Sad.

Peace

Weekend Update April 20

The Week That Was - Really rather a quiet week. There was the Louisiana trip fiasco (see below) I'm sure to be hearing about that for years from the family. The car decided to act up (something is going wrong with the fuel gauge. Looks like $300 for parts and 3 hours work. It can wait).

I had a new experience in church! I was an usher for the first time ever. They were short handed so I got drafted. Got several double takes. I also discovered that releasing people from their pews to go up for communion is slightly more complex than I'd thought. It's all a timing thing and it changes the further back you get. Very educational. I don't seem to have brought church to a screeching halt.

Other than that I just plugged away. Did some cooking, fresh spaghetti sauce, spicy peanut chicken soup and a beer and cheese soup. First two were fine, last one needs work.


The To Do List - I've started trying to bring the to do list under control. Right now it's mostly camp prep and some spring visitations I need to arrange. Anyone want the youth missioner to come visit?

What Am I Procrastinating About? - Actually doing pretty well at this.

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To?Just finished "Mainspring" by Jay Lake. First of his I've ever read and really liked it. An alternate history kind of fantasy - England stills rules the Americas, but God is in actual fact the great watchmaker and the Divine mechanism isn't running quite smoothly. Our hero has to go fix it. Interesting stuff.

Next up is "The Ayatollah Begs to Differ-The Paradox of Modern Iran" by Hooman Majd. This takes a look at Iran and it's culture through the eyes of an Iranian American. Raised mostly in the U.S. Majd helps bridge the very different ways of looking at the world. This book is a joy to read and a real eye opener. I'm enjoying it immensely. More people should read this book. It gives a much more 3 dimensional picture of who and what Iran is.


Movies - Finally! "The Grapes of Wrath" John Ford's Oscar winning movie of John Steinbeck's classic look at the Dust Bowl years. The acting style is a little dated but Henry Fonda, John Carradine and Jane Darwell are worth the ride all by themselves. It's an interesting movie to watch in today's economic times as well. We still have a lot to learn about caring for one another and accepting the stranger among us. This was a great movie

Music - OK I just "discovered" Todd Snider so I know next to nothing about him. I like his sound and this song just put me on the floor. Please note that I do not condone his pro-psychedelic drugs comments (which are probably tongue in cheek) at the start of the video. Skip by them and groove to "America's Favorite Pastime" a song about one of the weirder moments in the history of my favorite baseball team.

Todd Snider "America's Favorite Pastime" @ Yahoo!7 Video

Next Up CREDO week. I'll be going to Florida for a week in early May. It's a program underwritten by the Church Pension Fund for clergy and lay employees of the church to help us find a healthier place to live and minister mentally,physically, spiritually and financially. I'm excited a little nervous.

How Am I Doing I'm OK at the moment.
Peace

Resource Review - "I Am Standing Up"

I AM Standing Up By: Luke Long 153 pages $9.99 Published by Zondervan

OVERALL - Stories from a self described "freak of nature" (Luke is full grown at 5 feet tall and by his description about as wide as a sumo wrestler). It's a funny walk through being different and living a life of faith.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? Luke takes a light hearted look at what it means to be different and some of the lessons he's learned. The book is a combination of quick stories, "freak factoids", "Stories with Uncle Luke" and comics that he's created as well. It's a funny, heart warming and very familiar tour through the painful process of trying to figure out who you are and where you fit in. Given his physique these issues are writ large (small?) in Luke's life. And he explores them all - "momentary hormone-induced stupidity", being picked for teams in phys ed, dates, friends, visits from angels and more. This book is perfectly aimed at middle school age (in fact the MS boys are gonna love chapter 12-The Peach Cobbler Story and chapter 18-Soiling Myself Shogun Style). You could treat the book as a book or just take it one chapter at a time. Each chapter has its own faith connection and Lang generally does a very nice job tying them with clear faith connections. Each chapter is an easy chunk (in a 153 page books he's created 27 chapters plus 6 other pieces)and could get some great conversations off an running. There are plenty of places for folks to connect with Luke's stories. As a parent I couldn't stop laughing at chapter 19- Cow Manure and Grace.

RESERVATIONS There are a couple places where the faith connections are awfully simplistic. Concepts like give everything up to Jesus and the pursuit of the kingdom. The ideas are certainly good but they are rather like jargon. Relying on quick pat phrases does nothing to help our young people really come to grips with a life in faith. I don't want to teach kids the cliches of faith. I wanted him to give a more solid explanation of what that means for the kids. I also got a little itchy with a small aspect of the story in the anointing of David. These are small things but because so much of the rest of the book is so GOOD these little things glare out a little more than normal.

RECOMMENDATION Once I got started reading this I wanted to finish it. Lang's stories all had a very familiar feel to me. Chapter after chapter I got the "Oh yeah, been there, done that" feeling. He reminds us that Jesus called the freak, the geek and the weak. The book isn't written as a youth program but it'll fit in very quickly. This would be a great place for a middle school group to start talking with each other. Plus you'll have fun reading the book and it just might make a huge difference for your young people.

For Lee

Because he loved photographing flowers. These are the first blooms in my yard and I thought of him.




Here's a daffy-dil! The first flower of the spring, right next to our front door.


I'm not sure what this one is - crocus? We've got a bunch of these and tulips that grow sort of right in the middle of our backyard. Part of the strange landscaping decisions of a previous owner.


This are little bitty guys about the size of a nickel, maybe a little bigger. These are on the opposite side of the house from the daffy. Don't know what they're called either.

Peace

I am an idiot

Well I am.
Helping the kid plan a post semester trip to visit some of the relatives.
Had it all planned.
Bought the tickets.
First leg is Buffalo to New Orleans, then New Orleans to Burbank and Burbank to Pittsburgh. Very neat and amazingly affordable.

Completely overlooking the fact that one set of relatives no longer live in New Orleans but in Shreveport.

WHICH IS FIVE HOURS AWAY, ONE WAY.

Needless to say we have a small problem.
Which I will figure out.
Right after I stop pounding my head into the floor.

And some of you people leave your children in my care.

Yeesh.

Peace

(Cartoon courtesy of ASBO Jesus)

Maybe the most amazing performance I've ever seen

Take a look at this lady. She is, without meaning to be mean in any way, a frumpy, overweight, middle aged woman. You will be agonizing for her as she prepares to walk on stage to perform on the UK's "Britain's Got Talent". But wait and listen.

Susan Boyle on Britain Got Talent
by dwarthy

She brought tears to my eyes. And what a choice of songs!

Oh and Simon doesn't tell a fib at the end.

Weekend Update April 13

The Week That Was -
I have no idea what happened this past week. It was like three short weeks all at the same time. I've commented on our experience at Jesus Christ Superstar. My lady wife and I checked out the Abstract Expressionist show at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. Who knew that Buffalo had played such a pivotal role in cutting edge art back in the day? Very interesting stuff. Then we went to the Aquarium of Niagara. It's very small but pretty cool. Kind of a starter aquarium (they'd probably HATE that description!) experience. Then picked the kid up from college for Easter break. Kind of took the rest of the week easy. Did some work, Good Friday off, helped the kid clean her room, Easter Vigil, Sunday Easter service (almost 300 people, very cool. Single service) then figure out that we CAN help the kid go on a big trip after school ends. Plane tickets for a round the nation trip are really cheap (three legs for around $300 total). Nothing else really exciting going on. Did have a long talk with the kiddo about her current book project where I totally messed up her plans then helped her figure out how to make it work.

The To Do List - The to do list crisis continues. I need to get away from the office for a while and just whip it into shape.

What Am I Procrastinating About? - The To Do List mostly.

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To?Kind of stalled with the books I'd been reading so I jumped ship and read Sue Grafton's "A is for Alibi". It was the perfect thing to read for a long weekend. I liked it a lot. Not sure if I'm going back to the books I was reading.

Movies - Nothing this week. Really didn't have much time

Music - No time for much music either. I did download a batch of free tunes from Paste magazine but haven't had time to unzip them yet. Did get a new set of speakers for the computer. Hope they sound good, they should.

Next Up Camp planning, working on an idea for a one day spiritual retreat, Credo prep, spring work around the house

How Am I Doing Feeling a little down but have decided I'm not giving in to it.
Peace

Resource Review - Joopz and Tatango

Joopz and Tatango- Text messaging services for youth groups

OVERALL - It's a two fer one this week. I felt bad about just doing Joopz (again) since I mentioned them last year before I started the 52 resources in 52 weeks challenge. Then I found Tatango which is a different way to achieve the same goal. And that's the ability to reach out to our young people with text messaging. These are oriented to mass texting which gives you the ability to reach the entire group all at once! Both have free and low cost versions.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? It's interesting to see two companies taking very different approaches to the same concept. Joopz offers web based texting that is two way (folks can respond to you), group messaging, reminder messages, and scheduled messages. It's a pretty straight forward service. The free service is very usable and their full service is only $19.95 a year! Tatango is a slightly different. It has more bells and whistles (for example you can send a voicemail to all your group members through the service). There's a very usable free service. The pay services (there are about five different levels) are more expensive while still being a fair value for all the options you can get.

With either service you'll get the ability to connect with your youth using the medium that they use most often. And the great thing is that you can do it from any computer anywhere! I've been experimenting with the text service the last couple weeks and it's very quick and easy. You can even divide the contacts so you can just text adult leaders, parents, youth or all of the above.

RESERVATIONS With Joopz it's the fact that you can't create a group larger than 10 people. It means multiple groups to cover everybody. It's a minor annoyance but it's an annoyance. For Tatango it's that the free service is paid for by small ads inserted at the end of your text. They are small 30-40 character (age appropriate) ads placed at the end of each text message. For a great free service you'll just have to choose your poison.

RECOMMENDATION I've been very impressed with both of these services. Take a look at both services and decide which one will work better for you. Right now texting is THE preferred way to communicate for young people. With these services you can get on the cutting edge with very little upfront cost to you.

A Night at the Theater - Jesus Christ Superstar

Three quick points before I start about Jesus Christ Superstar:

1: I love this show. It is one of my all time favorites and the second soundtrack I ever purchased (A Chorus Line was the first, hey it was the '70's).

2: I am fully aware of the show's shortcomings. It is emotionally overwrought and musically bombastic (Hey, it was the '70's). It's also not a great telling of the story of Jesus.

3: I can not explain how I reconcile #1 and #2. It's a Holy Mystery, deal with it.

We saw the national tour of JCS at Shea's in Buffalo last night. My lady wife, the kid and I all were in great anticipation of enjoying a long time favorite. It didn't go as planned.

So here is what we liked:

James Delisco as Judas. Well done, great voice.
Christina Sass as Mary Magdalene - a 2004 graduate of the kid's alma mater (Niagara University) and a lady with a fabulous voice.
Matthew G. Myers as Simon - another great singer
Choreography
Chorus They really gave a great performance.

Then there was what really ruined the show for us:

Caiaphas - they had the actor doing something weird with his voice. Caiaphas is a very low vocal role. But he ended up sounding like James Earl Jones on one of those throat cancer voice boxes. Really distracting. I'm not going to blame the actor but the director for this one.

"Church music-ing" the music - they slowed a fair part of the music down. Just like is often done in church. Everything at dirge tempo. It's a ROCK OPERA for the love of God! Don't know who should get blamed for this one.

Far and away the worst offender was Ted Neely who played Jesus. Where to even begin? Neely played Jesus in the film version of JCS, a film about which it is hard to say enough bad things. It's horrible (why does the promo copy keep calling it "ground breaking"? Unless they're digging a hole to bury it). It also appears to be the one big thing in Ted's career. And so this production is all about Ted. It should be noted that even in his 60's Ted can hit the high notes. Problem is that he couldn't sing in time with the orchestra, appeared to forget the words, did his best "Buddy Jesus" impression through the whole thing (I swear I saw him give the thumbs up at one point), and was generally a weak, aging, worn out Jesus. The show is all about Ted. He is planted center stage for virtually the entire show. Everyone else is dressed in dark colors (other than Mary Magdalene's red dress) while he is dressed in white so the spotlights that play on him constantly (even when he's not the center of the action in the scene) make him glow. The worst moment for that is during "I Don't Know How to Love Him" probably the biggest number in the show (during which Jesus is SLEEPING!). Ted was splayed center stage and lit making sure that you kept looking at him rather than Cristina. In other scenes he constantly mimes speaking to unseen crowds and gesturing towards them. Which distracts from the center of the scene. Or what would be the center except that Ted was standing stage center. Even his curtain call was light front and back. And the cover of the playbill didn't use the usual JCS logo, nope it was Ted. I spent most of the show with my head in my hands.

And whose idea was it to have Jesus ascend FROM THE CROSS?!?!?!?!?!!?

Can't say it was awful. The supporting cast was generally quite good. But a lot of directorial choices said community theater to me rather than national touring company.

And then there was Ted. Ted Neely is probably a very nice guy. The cast seems to enjoy being with him and he has plenty of fans. (I began to wonder if the production was paying claquers - professional applause shills. Ted got some "ovations" for things that weren't worthy of the acclaim that started with single voices, and I mean SINGLE voices, from the far reaches of the crowd).

But it was SO disappointing. Fortunately the kid has the original soundtrack cast on her ipod so we flushed our brains with that version on the drive home.

Peace

PS - In the comments is a note from Mark Baratelli. Mark is the actor who plays King Herod in the show. Given the negative nature of my "review" I give him a lot of credit for a very polite visit. As someone who had hoped to make the theater my life and spent my career performing on radio I know how much bad reviews suck. My hope is that the entire cast has a fabulous rest of the tour.

Resource Review - Youth Ministry Exchange (YMX)

Youth Ministry Exchange - A forum for people working with youth

OVERALL - Imagine a place where you can meet other youth ministers from many different denominations? A place where you can vent with relative safety. Even better a place where you can get ideas, bounce ideas off of others and discover a lot of new concepts for your ministry. Youth Ministry Exchange can offer you all that and an online community that "gets" you.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? A few years ago Youth Specialties ran its own youth ministry forum. Economics led them to drop it and a a couple enterprising youth ministers created their own. For me it was a great loss as the original had been a great community for me (nothing against the second forum they did a great job. I was just in a different place at that point). The latest version of Youth Ministry Exchange is the best of both. The forums, articles, reviews, free resources, job listings and more. There's even a section just for women in youth ministry. The best part is that all of it is available for free. There had been a membership fee but that's been dropped. So register for your free account and start to talk with some truly great folks all over the world.

RESERVATIONS Again, hard to find something to dislike.

RECOMMENDATION If you're looking for some community and you're comfortable online this can be a great resource. In the past sometimes the conversation could get a bit heated but that's the same in any virtual community. My experience has always been that there are many more faith filled, wonderful people than there are grumpy trolls. Take a wander through and see if there's anything to help you waiting there.

Weekend Update April 6

The Week That Was - This was a strange and varied week. Beginning with the bad news on Monday morning, it moved on to be frantic and fun and wonderful. So it was an interesting experience. Because I was on a short week getting the first two batches of camp apps had to be a priority. And against the odds I got them out. I should get the final batch out first thing this week. But it was fold, fill, fold, close, address and stamp over and over and over. When that was done I moved on to the Province II youth ministry network meeting in Buffalo. It was the first time the network had met here and I wanted them to enjoy the city that has become very special to me. A great group of folks - Pat Mitchell from NY, Ron Rhodes from Long Island, Kep Short and Debi Clarke from New Jersey and Roger Speer from the Virgin Islands (Kai Alston from Newark is also a great person but couldn't be with us). So we got our work done (we're looking at some leading edge stuff as goals), had meals at great restaurants (Anchor Bar with Bishop Garrison, Towne Restaurant (greek) and the Pearl St Grill), checked out Niagara Falls, got some walking in and shared lots of ideas and stories. Everything you could hope for from the group. Drove home on Friday feeling like the Queen City had be well represented (and the Diocese of WNY too)

Saturday was a great feel good day. I went out and bought some new clothes - in a SMALLER size!!!! Dropped a size in the waist and the old pants were just hanging on me. So 3 new pair of pants, new shorts for the summer and a new swim trunks. I'm not really that into clothes but the smaller size just made it feel great.

My lady wife and I scoped out a new restaurant just up the road (Sapore in Westfield) and came away very impressed. Palm Sunday at church, home for the Formula 1 race in Malaysia and a quiet evening the rest of the way. Baking some bread, movie night. Very relaxing.

The To Do List - I'm in a To Do List crisis and I need to confront that. It's been a month since I updated it and I'm losing track of projects. Seems like as soon as I sit down to work on the list I draw a blank on what needs to be added. Bad sign. I know I need to add the program stuff for Senior High since I will be leading that this summer.

What Am I Procrastinating About? - The To Do List mostly.

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To? Stephen King's Duma Key, is now done. An excellent read, I really enjoyed it. Plus it's made me thinking more about creativity issues again. Now I'm working on two books - Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations by David Warsh. The first is a radical, new, faith based way of approaching politics that is very different from the current faith based approach. The second is a history of economic theory. I'm reading it on a bit of a whim but it got pretty good reviews. I'm trying to fill in some gaps in my education.

Movies - Nothing this week. "Grapes of Wrath" is up next and I'm told I MUST watch "Say Anything". Been watching old Lovejoy episodes and the first installment of Ken Burn's "The War"

Music - Been hearing a lot about the group "The Decemberists" and got a chance to hear a little bit. Sounds like very much my kind of stuff. I'll have to dig around some more and find more to listen to sometime soon.

Next Up Final camp mailing, To do list update, some other camp related stuff and start thinking about Credo (less than a month away)

How Am I Doing The visit with the P2 folks was a great balm for me. I'm doing better. And that feels really good.

Peace

Province 2 meeting

I'm "away" for a couple days. All the way to Buffalo! The diocesan youth ministers in Province 2 get together twice a year for fellowship, idea trading, planning and more. One meeting each year is extended by a day to create a small "sabbath" event. We did our first last spring when we met in Newark and spent the day in NYC. It was a lot of fun as we rode the train into the city and checked out the NY Auto show.

So we're meeting in Buffalo. Dinner tonight is at my favorite Buffalo Greek restaurant- The Towne Restaurant. We'll do our business meeting first (work first then play) at the Diocesan offices tomorrow morning. Then it's the Anchor Bar for lunch (birthplace of the Buffalo chicken wing). The afternoon will be spent at Niagara Falls, then dinner at Pearl City Grill just down the street from the Cathedral. Then we'll all depart on Friday morning. So we get our work in plus I get to show off some classic Buffalo/WNY stuff to my friends. When I picked up the folks from the dioceses of NY and Long Island we needed to grab a quick bite so in keeping with the all WNY theme I took them to Tim Horton's!

These are some of the events on my calender I always look forward to. For folks in the dioceses of New York, Long Island, Newark, New Jersey and the Virgin Islands I just want to say you have some really awesome folks working in youth ministry. I hope you appreciate them! We'd love to have the folks from Albany join us but they have declined every invitation for years. Sadly Rochester and Central New York are without folks at the moment. Love to have folks from Haiti and the Convocation in Europe join us but the cost is just impossible.

So I'll be away from the office for the next couple days. I'll be checking in at the start and end of the day.

Weekend Update March 30

The Week That Was - I honestly have very little energy to do this after the news from yesterday(see post below). But I know Lee loved the daily details of what his friends were doing. So as with so many things at a time like this you carry on.

The end of last week saw me dispatch one of my least favorite parts of my job. The individual mailing for camp applications. It's a targeted mailing to past campers. And I have to do it all by hand, fold the application, insert health form, fold again, put on mailing sticker (to hold it closed), address label and stamp. Repeat 201 times. Many thanks to Fr. Eric for sitting and talking with me and helping out.

Went to see the kid get inducted to Alpha Zeta chapter of Delta Epsilon Sigma,
the scholastic honor society for Catholic Universities. You have to be in the top 10% of the junior or senior class based on grades to be invited to join. Smart kid. The ceremony for about 40 lasted less than an hour followed by a reception. Very nice.

The To Do List - Hasn't been updated in three weeks. That's very bad. I need to put that on my to do list to get done. Plus the Province 2 youth ministry network is coming to Buffalo and I'm the host.

What Am I Procrastinating About? - Congregational camp mailings. That must get done.

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To?Finished Scott McClellan's book "What Happened - Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception". It wasn't too bad. Now I'm reading Stephen King's Duma Key, his 54th novel and another #1 best seller. And I'm liking it a lot. I've never been into his scary horror stuff (Salem's Lot) but I loved The Dead Zone and The Stand. Good stuff.


Movies - Nothing this week. "Grapes of Wrath" is up next and I'm told I MUST watch "Say Anything"

Music - I've re-discovered a "local" band (they're from State College PA) that has been a long time favorite. Don't know why I hadn't put "Cartoon" on the CD player or the ipod recently but I remembered why I love them. Very folk, harmony kind of thing going on. Here's their MySpace page (my favorite here is "I Shall Carry Water"). I think you need to have Facebook to access this one from Kevin Dremel who is a member of the band. Check out the Angry Song. You can buy Living Room, the CD I've been listening to HERE

Next Up CP2 network meeting and the congregational mailings are at the top of the list.

How Am I Doing Saddened by the death of my friend, looking forward to seeing my other friends, hoping that the snow has made its FINAL appearance this morning.

Peace

Resource Review - The New Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education

The New Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education By: John P. Russell, editor 225 pages Published by Cowley Publications

(I've gone back and forth about whether to review this or not. I've just discovered that a new edition is scheduled to come out next month. I have no idea how much of what follows may apply to that edition or not. My hope is that the new edition will take care of my reservations but this version is still for sale and readily available. So please keep that in mind and we'll see if we can get a look at the new one soon.

OVERALL - An outline of the Christian year and holidays through the lens of the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? The first edition of this book came from a suggestion from the Children's Ministries Officer of the national Episcopal Church. The idea was to create a single volume reference for Episcopal educators that would be of use to everyone from clergy to lay leaders to enquirers of all ages and families. It walks you through the Liturgical calender starting with Advent and breaks each Holy day, season or week into teachable concepts. It includes discussions for all three years of the Common Lectionary so in its way it's quite comprehensive. Each segment has readings, themes associated with the readings, "Phrases for highlighting and Memorization", Key words, ideas and concepts, stories to tell, practice and liturgical tradition and formation in baptismal discipleship. The Holy Days and seasons get special attention and somewhat fuller treatment. While this is not a complete educational program, and was never intended to be, it is a fairly comprehensive outline.

RESERVATIONS Coming into this looking for resources to use with young people I was really hoping for something much more accessible. It uses a lot of church jargon (which if it is intended to be used by "enquirers of all ages" is a huge mistake). Sure you can figure a lot of it out just from context (why not just call them "readings" or "scripture" rather than "lections"?) but I'm not sure why you'd want to make new comers work that hard. Even for use by an educator it presents problems. They'll say that a word like "transfiguration" is important for that Sunday but you're on your own to define it. This is certainly not a book for a new teacher.

RECOMMENDATION Boy, I wanted to like this book. I really wanted this book to be a great tool to bring our young people deeper into what I believe is the greatest creation of Anglican worship, the Book of Common Prayer. Instead I got a dry, academic outline written too often in theological education jargon. The real problem I think is that they tried to be all things to all people. The book that is needed by seminary trained clergy is very different than is needed by an enquirer or a youth. Inevitably they had to tip in one direction or the other and they (perhaps quite rightly) tipped in the direction of the more educated/advanced person of faith. For that audience it might be fine (I still have doubts there) but for direct use by teens it's a total flop. As a tool for a youth leader it would be a good reference but only a starting point. You can certainly get some wonderful framework for teaching here but you're going to have to flesh it out.

My hope would be that some or all of this might be addressed in the third edition. My other hope would be that we could create something much more approachable for direct use by teens.

R.I.P. Lee McKinley Davenport

How can it hurt this much?

I met Lee, face to face, exactly once. It was no longer than it takes to eat breakfast and share a few stories. That's it. The rest of our friendship was done virtually through Beliefnet, our blogs and Facebook. There were lots of great conversations and a couple times when we were royally PO-ed with each other. Just like any friendship.

In a lot of ways we didn't have a lot in common. Southern boy-northern boy, he always said he was "nose bleed high church Episcopal" and me, well my favorite photo from a Eucharist shows a kid leaning an elbow on the altar. Pretty casual. I've been lucky to only have minor health issues, Lee had some whoppers. I could go on but our differences weren't the point. Lee was a bright, articulate guy with the same love for words I've always had. And that was enough.

We actually met right around the day he had his diagnosis, might have even been the day he was going to see the doctor. What I remember is that he wasn't in a real good mood but did his best for us. The kid and I were down in Lee's neck of the woods on a college trip and we arranged to meet our two friends, Lee and Kim. It's always interesting to meet online friends.

I was lucky enough to be included in Lee's circle when times got really hard and he needed folks he could trust. I'll treasure that trust as my most important memory and gift from Lee.

His life ended Sunday March 29, 2009. Too damn early. He was a full decade younger than me. He leaves behind family and friends for whom the pain is much sharper than it is for me. If it hurts this much for me I can not imagine their feelings.

Pray for Lee's wife Dawn and his parents.
Pray for comfort for Lee's friends, especially Kim.
Pray especially for Lee's children Ian and Bea.

A milestone and other news

I haven't reported recently on the weight loss because, to be perfectly honest, there hasn't been much to report. I was stuck, fluctuating up or down by less than a pound. It gets discouraging. So I've tightened down a little (and really only a little) on my diet while making sure that I'm eating enough calories and drinking a lot more water. Before the latest wrinkle on this journey (that being South Beach) I drank a fair bit of water every day. For reasons I can't explain I've really tailed off on that with the new eating discipline. There's no reason for it other than my focus has been elsewhere.

Then a couple nights ago I had the very strange experience of virtually full leg cramps in both legs. There was no reason for it, I hadn't done anything strenuous that day or even recently. The worst part was getting cramps in the muscles on both sides of my shin (the calf muscles in the back and the whatever-they're-called muscles in the front). Normally for a calf cramp I just flex my foot upward to stretch it out and slowly it goes away. Problem is that flexing the foot UP plays into the cramp on the front of my shin. Trying to find the balance point between those two began to make the muscles in my foot cramp. Not fun.

I know that one of the causes of cramps can be dehydration. So I'm back to knocking back water regularly. Wonder of wonders there's been no recurrence of the cramps AND I dropped over two pounds in the last week. Hmmmmmm, maybe we're on to something here.

I've now passed the 40 pound lost milestone. Which is an almost unbelievable number to me. Someone asked me this morning what was different this time compared to trying to lose weight before? This time was I really serious about it. In part because of words like pre-diabetes that I'm hearing from my MD. Add in passing 50 years of age, plus the very real value of the accountability of the weight loss contests I've been doing. Each week I have to weigh in and "call it in". I have to say that a TV show has been part of my success. I find the folks on Biggest Loser real inspirations. Compared to their health problems mine are nothing. If they can turn their lives around there's no excuse for me. I would never want Jillian as my trainer (sorry I don't take that crap from anybody for any reason. Give me Bob) but I have to admit there are days when I want to quit when I hear her voice in my head and I work a little harder just to shut her up! LOL! Plus having some real success breeds more success. I wasn't sure I could really lose 50+ pounds at my age. Now I KNOW I can and I'm going to.

Of course at the moment I look like I'm wearing my big brother's clothes!

Other news - Volleyball team won two out of three last night. I think that's a first for us this season. Strange first game though. Several folks either on or family of a team that played before us hung around court side and had a big family dispute. Never rose to yelling but since it was all of 8 feet off the court it was really distracting. And it went on for about 20 minutes! I have become one of the go to guys on the team for serving. Given that I'd NEVER played competitive volleyball prior to last fall I find that pretty funny. But I am very consistent with a quick overhand serve. The rest of my play is coming along as well.

Both cars will be in the shop this week. One for a pair of new tires, the other to get yet another hub replaced. This is at least 3 of the 4 possible, could be the 4th I have to check. All within a year. About $200 a pop now that I'm buying the part from an online retailer rather than ordering it through the dealership. Saves about $150 per. Then a couple of repairs I can handle at home once the weather gets a tiny bit warmer.

Well the sun is shining even though it's still quite cold at the moment. Have to remind myself could be out west where there's a blizzard at the moment.

Peace

Resource Review - Rethinking Youth Ministry

RETHINKING YOUTH MINISTRY - Youth ministry blog

OVERALL - Rethinking Youth Ministry is the product of two self described "progressive" Christians working in the Disciples of Christ church. This is a resource for youth ministers (rather than the more general tenor of mine which also includes resources for youth ministry)and covers a lot of ground.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? I read a lot of blogs. Can I be honest and say that most youth ministry blogs just don't grab me? But hey I'm sure people feel the same way about mine so it's all good. Brian and Jacob, the authors, are creating a resource with some real depth here. For example they've done a whole series on Lenten studies and practices that will be useful if you're just "discovering" Lent or have been observing it for years. There are many posts on spirituality, ideas, creative worship, community building and much more. It's offered simply as a gift to the larger community. And their live traffic feed shows that folks from all over the country have discovered it.

RESERVATIONS Ummmm, sorry can't really find one.

RECOMMENDATION Within days of writing the original review for this website they came up with an answer that I needed for our summer mission trip. This is a seriously useful blog with real world, hands on ideas that you can put to use right now. Some folks are going to see the words "progressive Christian" up above and stop reading. That's too bad because they'll be cutting themselves off from some great resources. I applaud the guys for being upfront about who they are. This is one of those sites you just need to bookmark, or do what I do and have them registered on my blog reader. That way I automatically get notified when something new pops up. Thoughtful, useful, prayerful. Can't imagine what else you'd want.

Weekend Update - March 23

The Week That Was - Oh it was a beauty! About mid-week I lost my voice (my vision of hell is me trapped, voiceless for eternity) caused by the head cold that has sunk its claws into me. I probably didn't help it by singing Irish folk tunes mid-week. I'd been invited to a parish to talk about youth ministry as part of their Lenten program (thanks St. Matthias!) and they did an Irish sing along after. Which I couldn't resist. Next morning, no voice.

The groundhog continues to evade me while making more holes. And the weather, which had promised that it would get a tiny bit warmer, has instead gotten colder. Oh frabjous day.

On the bright side I fixed two problems on my lady wife's car. One involved a little creative Bondo work. My father taught me the basics of Bondo for body work on cars and I've found it's very useful for lots of other things. House repair. Repairing trim pieces on car interiors. Felt very good to get that done. Did some cooking for the first time in a while (warming up food to eat is not COOKING. Cooking involves carefully selecting and preparing ingredients and then combining them with love and whatever level of skill I can muster. COOKING is an act of prayer for me these days). Made some spicy peanut chicken soup and some red pepper/garlic hummus. Bumped off a couple other small but satisfying chores around the house too. So on the whole not too bad.

The To Do List - I hate my to do list. There I've said it. Let's move on.

What Am I Procrastinating About? - Being sick and voiceless really limits a variety of things for me to do. I MUST get the camp applications done and printed this week. Everything else is secondary.

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To?Still reading Scott McClellan's book "What Happened - Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception". I keep thinking that I've lost interest then I get back into it. Need to move it along however.


Movies - "Hollywoodland" - Wow, what a cast! Ben Affleck, Adrien Brody, Bob Hoskins and Diane Lane (sigh, Diane Lane). The movie revolves around the death of George Reeves, the man who played Superman on the old TV series. Reeves probably committed suicide but the standard of police work around the movie industry back in the day leaves plenty of holes to poke at if you into conspiracies. Affleck's Reeves is a rather shallow, insecure guy who was alternately a really nice guy and a jerk. The director sticks closely to the known facts and offers three possible answers to what "really happened". The problem is he gets too cutesy at times for my taste and comes off trying to show off his chops. Allen Coulter was primarily a TV director and this was his first feature film. Brody's character of the detective is the real lead in the movie but I didn't really ever care that much about him. I wanted to see the Reeves story which is much more compelling. So great cast, solid script, and an OK movie. If you're into old Hollywood, if you remember George Reeves' Superman and you've got a lazy afternoon to burn you'll enjoy this one.

Music - Back to the no music routine. It's tough to get into it when you have to keep unclogging your ears. Just put the ipod on shuffle and took whatever came. I spent part of the week with Jimmy Buffett's "Barometer Soup" and part of the week with a Sesame Street song stuck in my head. No idea why. I'm thinking of checking out a girl group called "The Pepper Pots" a Spanish group (apparently) that does a ska thing. Got a pretty good review at SXSW this year.

Next Up Camp applications plus at the end of the week the kid gets inducted into a Catholic University honor society. Very cool.

How Am I Doing Still hanging in. Hopefully I'll make some forward progress this week.

Peace

A request to those in Junior High/Middle School ministry

I'm looking for some input from anyone who works with the Junior High/Middle School age group. We are in an assessment mode in our diocesan youth ministry.

We are looking at the question of middle school youth in positions of leadership. On one side is the impulse to insure that their voice is heard and to get them involved as soon as they are able to fulfill a leadership role. On the other side are concerns about developmental levels, attention spans and similar issues when it comes to leadership "process". We are interested in your experiences and thoughts on the subject. Any and all insights, thoughts and opinions are valued

Feel free to post in the comments, send me an e-mail, drop me a note of Facebook. Sorry no Twitter at the moment, lol.

Peace

Spring is Here?

Welcome to the first day of Spring 2009 at Maison DaYouthGuy. Yes, that's snow you see. Freshly fallen snow. The pile in front of the house is leftovers from the 275+ inches we received this winter. That's from the official total kept by our local village utility corporation. You can see the remnants running down the right hand side of the picture too in front of the fence.

Also note the flower boxes on the front of the porch. Oops you can only see the right hand one clearly. The left hand one is the black oblong behind the snow and next to the shrub. The weight of snow this year tore it off the side of the house, breaking the metal bracket holding it up along the way.

Such is spring in the W-N-Y.

In happier news I await with great anticipation the arrival of this little number and it's brother in brown. This is the Swift River Jeans belt from L.L. Bean, quite simply the best belt I've ever owned. My first one suffered a stitching failure after a good many years. The folks at Bean refunded the cost of the belt even though I couldn't remember how long I'd owned it or had any purchase paperwork. Since they're on sale (the cost of 2 is now only about $9 more than the original cost of 1) I'm getting a couple. They should be wrapped around my somewhat skinnier waist as early as tomorrow!

Meanwhile I'm without much of a voice at the moment (the peanut gallery will keep the celebrating to a minimum!). I've been lurking along the edges of a cold and doing a presentation Weds night followed by singing Irish folks songs just did me in. So I need to keep the talking to a minimum. Yeah, that'll work.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm headed to CREDO later this year. CREDO is a great program offered through the retirement fund of TEC to help clergy and lay employees of the church get healthier physically, mentally and spiritually. I know that it's a little controversial in some corners but it couldn't come at a better time for me. In preparation for the retreat you have to fill out a lot of forms so they know where you are (or think you are) right now. Last night my lady wife and I did the financial report. Which is LONG! The good news is that we aren't any worse off than I feared (in fact we're better off than she thought) but we're a long way off from being in good shape. Sigh.

But at least the paperwork is done.

Peace

Resource Review - Better Safe Than Sued

Better Safe Than Sued - Keeping Your Students and Ministry Alive By: Jack Crabtree 236 pages Published by Zondervan/YouthSpecialties

OVERALL - A complete (and I mean COMPLETE) overview of safety issues of all kinds related to youth ministry at virtually any level.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? Crabtree has 35+ years experience as a youth leader most notably with Youth For Christ. What he has created here is a must read book for youth ministers. Reading the stories provided brought back every oversight and injury that has happened in my ministry (more than a few of them happened to me!). It also made me think carefully about a couple of things we're still doing. While the author is quick to point out that the book isn't "complete" (meaning that it can't cover everything)it does cover everything likely to happen. Sections on staff selection, bullying, camps and retreats, traveling, sports for all seasons, accidents, even the death of a youth (which he lived through personally and right in front of his eyes. It's one of the most compelling and heart rending parts of the book). What I REALLY appreciated is the chapter devoted to theological questions related to safety in ministry. He takes on the whole issue of the sovereignty of Christ and the power of prayer and how they intersect with what needs to be done.

RESERVATIONS I'm not sure how you avoid it given the subject but the book becomes something of a downer after a while. It really becomes a case of "Oh my God, I don't want to read about any more accidents". In reality it's all a must read.

RECOMMENDATION If I were going to create an intro package for new youth ministers (which might not be a bad idea) I'd start with this book. Yes, it'll scare the pants off a certain percentage of them. That just might be a good idea. It forces you to think about an area most of us would probably rather ignore. Right up to the moment when one of our kids gets hurt. It's also a great resource if you've been doing ministry for a while. Not only as a refresher but because he includes a section on checking an ongoing ministry for its safety standards. Really good stuff.

Weekend Update March 16

The Week That Was - Last week seemed very busy. I have the class I lead at one of the local YMCAs on radio techniques. That's going well although we're stuck in transition mode. Not all the new equipment has arrived so we're trying to generate excitement while we still work with the old stuff. Doing video taping of a mid-week noonday service for broadcast on local access cable. After problems the first week that's gone much better. And then planning for our planning retreat. Which went mostly well I think. I got at cross purposes with one of my young adult leaders (we really weren't as far apart as it seemed and both of us got upset. Sorry Sammi!) and generated a ton of negative energy right at the end. I think we got that set (mostly) to right and came away with some excellent goals and objectives for the next three year cycle. Stayed at a nice Catholic seminary for the retreat (Christ the King). Love to go back and see it when the trees are in leaf and explore a little. Just a shade too chilly for much walking around. But I've been very tired since we got back. My lady wife was off at a vestry retreat at the same time so we haven't seen much of each other. We got to sit together at worship (a rare occurrence), then went out for lunch and held hands and spent the afternoon together. It was kind of nice. We're looking forward to taking a little vacation together sometime in the next couple months. We need some marriage time together.

The To Do List - Yes there's still the video and camp and all the rest of that. It's becoming clearer to me that what NEEDS to be on my to do list is a spiritual retreat. I find myself a little jealous of Marko who has made these kinds of retreats a regular part of each year. I'm trying not to covet my neighbor's spiritual retreat but I think I need to work on that. A good idea has already arisen on how that might be made to happen.

What Am I Procrastinating About? - I'm still stuck with my rocks and piles problem. Have I ever explained that saying? We use it in my family. All the tasks you have each day are represented by rocks. And all those rocks are stacked in piles which make up a larger pile that is your life. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the size of the pile and not know where to start. So you end up not doing much of anything. So the reminder to me is "Just pick a rock!". Start anywhere just to get started.

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To? Still working on "Soul Graffiti". Finished Jonathan Kellerman's "The Conspiracy Club". Really enjoyed it. Nice mystery story with a medical setting. Now I'm reading Scott McClellan's book "What Happened - Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception". An interesting read so far. Can't imagine the Bush fan club like it much. But then he's not making many friends with Clinton fans either so I guess you can say that's fairly balanced. Seems to be pretty up front about the good and the bad. Something different to read. It'll be interesting as a lead in to the next book on the pile "Jesus for President" by Shane Claiborne!


Movies - Watched a part of "Wedding Crashers" and then ejected the disc. Yawn. Sophomoric. Vulgar. Predictable. I really do have better things to do with my life.

Music - Finally listened to the Damnwells and liked them a lot. Indie rock with a kind of folk feel to it.
Also grabbed an old disc that's been sitting on my desk and popped it in. Little Feat "Ain't Had Enough Fun" from 1995. Little Feat have been around forever it seems (since '69) doing their blend of rock, blues, R&B, country and New Orleans funk. The band is one of those ones that are revered by many folks but were never a real hit. This particular album is long after they had waned as stars but I like every single cut on this album. Must be why I keep it around.

Next Up Finally can put the camp application at the top of the list. Got the last price and can move forward now.

How Am I Doing I'm hanging in. We'll see how that goes.
Peace

Weekend Update March 9

The Week That Was - OK, whoever has been making off with my weekends had better knock it off! One of the tough parts of this job is dealing with the fact that a lot of your events take place on the weekend. So finding the balance between home life and rest time and work can be tough. It just feels like I'm slacking if I take time off during the week (you remember the "work week"). But I need to be very intentional about that especially since I'm only paid for 80% of FT anyway (which is another fun thing to try and work with in youth ministry). This weekend was part work and part frustration.

I was supposed to run up and see one of my youth leaders in her final high school musical. Having never been to her HS I wasn't worried I have my new GPS which had been doing very well up till then. Weeeeeeeelllllll. Seems the street I wanted and the mailing address are actually in two different towns. So the GPS kept saying that no such street existed. Since I had no idea where to even begin looking I grabbed the cell phone and called the kid. She looked up the address online and got me headed in the right direction. After a missed turn and traffic I got to the school well after curtain up. I HATE walking in late (and some places won't let you). Besides by that point I was in such a foul mood (don't forget I'd driven 90 minutes to get lost) that I wouldn't have enjoyed the show. Word reaches me that she was wonderful. Next time I'm getting a back up map for trips like this.

Sunday was an organizational meeting for our youth mission trip this summer. We have 45 people (youth and adults) signed up! Holy Cow! So now we go crazy raising money. Pray for us. We're going to New Orleans at the end of July.

But that pretty much killed the weekend. The week before wasn't too bad. Although it appears a woodchuck is back under the house again PLUS we have a skunk living somewhere in the neighborhood too (maybe under the porch, sigh). My project with the one YMCA went very well on day one. We'll see how it goes the second week. We're in limbo since we're waiting on equipment.

The To Do List - Video project- still on the list but I tried to get some stuff done! The skies have been overcast and I didn't have enough light. This week I'm going to try and do some scripting. Prep for our planning retreat at the end of the week, hopefully get the camp brochures out,plus the new projects that have been dumped on me. Just the usual mad rush.

What Am I Procrastinating About? - I'm not sure it's procrastination at this point. I think I'm just overwhelmed by the pile of tasks. (Rocks and piles, rocks and piles)

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To? Still working on "Soul Graffiti". Finished the Ray Bradbury "From the Dust Returned" which is a collection of stories he did for various magazines that all relate to the same family. One of his rather spooky, quirky story cycles. Let's put it this way the artist who did all the graphics for the series and book was Charles Addams. Started and am blasting through Jonathan Kellerman's "The Conspiracy Club". I have no idea what's going on but then neither does the main character. I'm enjoying it.


Movies - None
Music - I'm still trying to get around to the Damnwells album I downloaded two weeks ago! Missed the new U2 album when it was on sale for next to nothing. Sigh.

Next Up First and foremost is the planning retreat. I've got about 5 days to work that out. Then a stock certificate and some mailings.

How Am I Doing Frazzled is becoming a lifestyle. I need some time off and I need to figure out when I can take it.

Peace

Resource Review - I Am Episcopalian

I Am Episcopalian -

OVERALL - This is a brand new site from the national Episcopal church (launched on Ash Wednesday!). It is nothing more than Episcopalians talking about why they are Episcopalians.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? This site is the soul of simplicity. These are videos done by everyday folks, lay and clergy, talking about their church. They span the spectrum of ages and it's all done in their own voice. Each video is quite short (all less than a minute as near as I can tell). Some are "cradle" Episcopalians, some arrived here from other places. What's interesting is that the selection isn't intended to be static. Make one of your own and upload it and you too can be part of it all! It's easy to navigate because there's not many choices (other than which video to watch).

RESERVATIONS There are only 29 videos (plus a promo video) and no where near enough YOUNG PEOPLE! We ought to be able to fix that quick enough!

RECOMMENDATION This is fascinating as a place to listen to other people's stories even if it's only the Reader's Digest version. The more I look at it the more I think it could be a great conversation starter as well. Imagine sharing the video with your youth then asking them to discuss their reaction to the aspect of church brought up by the person. I believe that discussions of what it means to be an Episcopalian are one of the areas of greatest need in our denomination. I hope this site grows and so does the discussion.

I can hardly wait

I've been a Star Trek fan since the earliest days. James T. Kirk has been a hero of mine since I was a kid. This gave me goosebumps.







h/t to Matthew McNutt

Ummm, did someone forget to tell me something?

So I'm sitting in my office in the parish house when I hear someone downstairs. Last I knew everyone else was out of the office. So I glanced out my window and saw this:'



Turns out it was just the semi-annual inspection and check of our fire system by your friendly neighborhood fire department.

This is the most exciting thing that has happened today.

LOL.

Peace

On being content

I mentioned a little while ago my Lenten discipline of trying to become more content. So with a week of Lent under my belt I thought I'd reflect (I promise I won't do weekly updates on my Lenten discipline!)

It's been easier than I'd thought and it's been every bit as difficult. It's easy to be content when things are going well. For the first several days everything went swimmingly and I thought "You know, this contentment thing is pretty easy once you get into the swing of it".

Then came a bump in the road. Followed by a glitch or two. And contentment got shoved back.

I can not express how much I want that feeling of contentment, even if its roots are still shallow. I want it to help hold me together on those days when the anxiety gremlins and angst trolls and the succubus of material desire come slinking into my mind.

So I remind myself of what is good, of the gifts that are here. I remember the opportunities that are still open to me even when some are denied. By trying to keep thankfulness first and foremost in my mind I hope to drive out the bad things and leave room for contentment to dig a little deeper into my soul.

I'm trying.

We'll see.

Peace

Weekend Update March 2

The Week That Was - The week was pretty quiet but the weekend got hopping. I dropped two more pounds on the weight loss program which was nice. It'll be interesting to see tomorrow's weight since I had a lot of "road work" this weekend and had to figure out how to eat properly. I think I did OK.

Bishop's Ball went well. Numbers were more "normal" than last year. Two of the local school districts had dances the same day. Whattya gonna do? The folks who showed up had a good time. The bishop and his lovely wife both looked tired by the end of the evening. Many thanks to the very hard working volunteers at Calvary!

I've taken to spending the night of Bishop's Ball at a hotel simply because 1: I'm tired, 2: it's a 90 minute drive home and 3: you can't trust the weather in February. So I got up Sunday morning at went to church at St. Paul's Harris Hill. Wonderful folks, very welcoming (but we do need to talk about how they integrate kids into the worship service).

Then I had some fun. I've picked up an extra little job mid-week (which is an "extra" day off for me since I'm at 80 of full time)and I'm doing some video taping for a Lenten program with our ELCA brothers and sisters. It's going to put some extra, non-budget money in my pocket which my lovely, intelligent and graceful lady wife (who spoils me whenever she can. Love that woman!)told me I could use to buy my very first digital camera. I've been a hobby photographer for more than 30 years and it's clear that digital was something I needed to get. So the kid and I hopped in the car and went window shopping (My lady wife doesn't like window shopping. She shops like a man - know what you want, know where it is, get it, buy it, go home). I knew what I wanted (at least 8 megapixels, 10x optical zoom and under $200) and low and behold I found it! The Fujifilm Finepix S1000. 10 megapixels, 12x zoom and on sale! I have LOTS to learn now! Very exciting.

The To Do List - Video project( how much longer can I put this one off?), prep for our planning retreat in two weeks, hopefully get the camp brochures out, just the usual mad rush.

What Am I Procrastinating About? - Apparently I haven't stopped procrastinating about the video project! Maybe this is the week.

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To? Still working on "Soul Graffiti", finished Angels and Demons. I've started a Ray Bradbury book and I've completely forgotten the title!


Movies - None
Music - Nothing new

Next Up First and foremost is the planning retreat. I've got about 12 days to work that out.

How Am I Doing Still feeling frazzled. There's just so many things I want to get done and I'm kind of stuck in neutral. I just need to grab and rock and go.

Peace

Resource Review - The Shack

The Shack By: William P. Young 256 pages Published by Windblown Media

OVERALL - This is a little different than the other resources I've talked about. This is a novel and right now a novel getting a lot of attention. The story approaches the questions of "What is God like?" and "How do I relate with God?". If you're looking for something to take a group a little deeper into their faith this could be an interesting tool for discussion. The book itself has been called everything from brilliant to heretical. I fall somewhere in between. I have some reservations about some of the theology here but I was challenged to examine the underlying reasons. One of the best things I can say about a book is "It made me think" and this one certainly does.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? This is the story of a man facing terrible personal pain (his young daughter is kidnapped and killed basically right from under his nose)and a personal experience meeting God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. During their time together they discuss God, Faith, Choices, Forgiveness, and a lot more. It opens up a lot of questions.

RESERVATIONS The early chapters are choppy and the writing style was irritating to me. But he quickly finds his rhythm and the rest of the book reads very easily. I also thought the "surprise" at the end was artificial but that may be just me. If you decide to use this with young people I would be very leery of using it with middle school aged kids. The story of the child's kidnapping and death while not especially graphic is quite powerful.

RECOMMENDATION This book could be a great discussion starter with the right group of young people. They've even provided a free study guide resource at TheShackBook.com. Take the time to read it fully before you start the program. Take a long look at the questions raised. And be prepared for some folks to get grumpy about it. But for that right group this is a resource you should definitely consider.

Confession time

It's time for me to confront an ongoing struggle in my life. It's a serious problem and one that is causing significant trouble for me. This has grown into a point of contention between my lady wife and me. My understanding is that sin is that which separates us from our proper relationship with God. I believe that this problem is rising, if it hasn't already risen, to the level of sin. It can be expressed quite simply.

I am not content.

In our American culture the proper response to that is "Good, you'll never get ahead if you're content". Our culture has come to believe that contentment comes only from the constant forward movement in pursuit of the next, the bigger or the better. But this pursuit is robbing my life of joy.

The reality is that my financial situation means that some gratification must inevitably be delayed for at least a while. It means that some dreams may remain only that. Even modest dreams may remain elusive, just beyond my grasp. Thus my pursuit is hobbled. Which means I'm not getting better, I'm not getting ahead. And so I'm certain that I can not be happy.

My eyes are focused on everything I don't have. I fail to see what I do have.

Family.
Friends.
Health.
Food.
Shelter.
Disposable income (not as much as perhaps I want but it's there and I use it)
Love.
Laughter.
I am employed.
I am employed at a job I enjoy.
My life is filled with luxuries (multiple cars, TVs, computers, more clothes than I can wear in two weeks time, specialty food and drinks, the list goes on and on and on...)

But I am not content. I fuss and worry. I'm angry. I'm overwhelmed. I'm depressed.

My lady wife just shakes her head. You see she has the gift of contentment. That's not say that she has everything she desires in the world. But she is content with what she has. A husband she loves. A daughter she loves and of whom she is quite proud. She has clothes and food and satellite TV and two pussy cats and a nice place to live. She works with people that she likes. And she is content. She wishes I could be content as well.

On Sunday at church our adult forum was about God and money and the relationship between the two. On the handout set in front of me I found this:

12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:12-13 NIV

It was like a bolt to my brain. I can't explain it any other way.

So I begin my journey to find contentment. To glory in the gifts and opportunities that have already been given to me. To remain open to the chance for something new to enter my life but to no longer be driven only by the pursuit of it.

In plenty or in want I shall be content. I shall live in that place where my lady resides and I shall honor her for her gift.

And I will thank God for it all.


The image is from UK artist Andrew Vaccari