Love
definition of Love?
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Ash Wednesday
Tonight was Ash Wednesday. The beginning of the season of Lent.
It was a beautiful candlelight service. Ancient worship music. The solemn placing of the sign of the cross in ashes on each persons forehead to remind us of Jesus' death on the cross and more importantly his victory over sin and death in the resurrection. The ash reminds us of our mortality and weakness, but that Christ is the opposite, he is immortal and all-powerful (omnipotent). And he loves you. Through his death and suffering we have been offered a gift. The gift of salvation. If we accept it - we accept immortality with Him. A beautiful thing.
As the youth read the sacred scriptures for the service, I thought how significant it was. Jesus also stood up in his home church (synagogue) and read from the scripture. These youth followed in his holy footsteps and are playing a role in the epic story of life that we are all still a part of. We are in God's story of love and redemption. We are the children of Israel.
Luke 4:16-21
16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,
21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
After the service, a few of the ladies begged to run over to see Matt and Brent's indoor soccer game. So, we relented, drove through the slush and snow and caught the last few minutes of it. Brent should have a great black eye after a face to face conversation with the wall. Excellent job!
Grace and Peace to you!
It was a beautiful candlelight service. Ancient worship music. The solemn placing of the sign of the cross in ashes on each persons forehead to remind us of Jesus' death on the cross and more importantly his victory over sin and death in the resurrection. The ash reminds us of our mortality and weakness, but that Christ is the opposite, he is immortal and all-powerful (omnipotent). And he loves you. Through his death and suffering we have been offered a gift. The gift of salvation. If we accept it - we accept immortality with Him. A beautiful thing.
As the youth read the sacred scriptures for the service, I thought how significant it was. Jesus also stood up in his home church (synagogue) and read from the scripture. These youth followed in his holy footsteps and are playing a role in the epic story of life that we are all still a part of. We are in God's story of love and redemption. We are the children of Israel.
Luke 4:16-21
16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,
21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
After the service, a few of the ladies begged to run over to see Matt and Brent's indoor soccer game. So, we relented, drove through the slush and snow and caught the last few minutes of it. Brent should have a great black eye after a face to face conversation with the wall. Excellent job!
Grace and Peace to you!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
40 Days of what?
Lent. what is that? is that the act of loaning someone something? Or is it the stuff in your belly button??
Um..yes, but.... not what we're looking for.
40 days. (what are some other periods of 40 days or years in the Bible? Noah? Jesus? Wilderness? ring a bell?)
Main celebrations; Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter
Main themes; Repentence, Prayer, Baptism, Fasting, Communion.
We'll talk about all these in more detail in the upcoming weeks.
ASH WEDNESDAY
"Ash Wednesday begins the wilderness journey of Lent. Lent is about "roughing it," about letting go of what's distracting us and getting back to basics, individually and corporately. Ash Wednesday is the start of the Lenten journey of 40 weekdays (Monday through Saturday) that takes the church to the eve of Easter. Sundays are not included in the count of 40 days, as they are "little Easter" celebrations. The mood of Sunday services does not need to be penitential or "Good Friday" in feel. Remember, Lent is not primarily about the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Lent is primarily about identifying with and accompanying those who are being driven by the Spirit to make the wilderness journey -- toward baptism, toward reconciliation, or toward vocation. "
"What do you do WITH the ashes? If you’ve not used ashes before, here are a few simple tips.
The ash itself is a sign of mortality. As at baptism, the cross is the sign of Christ's death AND victory over sin and death. The sign made at baptism with water or oil that may not be seen is here visible to one and all during this solemn service of worship. It is a living reminder that we belong to Christ, or indeed that we are, in ancient Roman terms, his bond slaves, and he is our master.
Do not remove the ash during worship. The gospel texts for this service that speak of not showing our piety before the whole world mean that, but Christian worship is not public in that way. Encourage people to keep the ash in place during the rest of the service, including Holy Communion.
prepared four youths to read during the Ash Wednesday service.
Observers; Respect / Control
Stories / Questions
Um..yes, but.... not what we're looking for.
40 days. (what are some other periods of 40 days or years in the Bible? Noah? Jesus? Wilderness? ring a bell?)
Main celebrations; Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter
Main themes; Repentence, Prayer, Baptism, Fasting, Communion.
We'll talk about all these in more detail in the upcoming weeks.
ASH WEDNESDAY
"Ash Wednesday begins the wilderness journey of Lent. Lent is about "roughing it," about letting go of what's distracting us and getting back to basics, individually and corporately. Ash Wednesday is the start of the Lenten journey of 40 weekdays (Monday through Saturday) that takes the church to the eve of Easter. Sundays are not included in the count of 40 days, as they are "little Easter" celebrations. The mood of Sunday services does not need to be penitential or "Good Friday" in feel. Remember, Lent is not primarily about the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Lent is primarily about identifying with and accompanying those who are being driven by the Spirit to make the wilderness journey -- toward baptism, toward reconciliation, or toward vocation. "
"What do you do WITH the ashes? If you’ve not used ashes before, here are a few simple tips.
The ash itself is a sign of mortality. As at baptism, the cross is the sign of Christ's death AND victory over sin and death. The sign made at baptism with water or oil that may not be seen is here visible to one and all during this solemn service of worship. It is a living reminder that we belong to Christ, or indeed that we are, in ancient Roman terms, his bond slaves, and he is our master.
Do not remove the ash during worship. The gospel texts for this service that speak of not showing our piety before the whole world mean that, but Christian worship is not public in that way. Encourage people to keep the ash in place during the rest of the service, including Holy Communion.
prepared four youths to read during the Ash Wednesday service.
Observers; Respect / Control
Stories / Questions
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
(I'll fill in later)
Games
Lying
movie clips
Boy who cried wolf
Honest Abe
Faithful steward
Trust
White Lies
Games
Lying
movie clips
Boy who cried wolf
Honest Abe
Faithful steward
Trust
White Lies
Friday, January 18, 2008
Pay It Forward or "I see nice people"
This past Christmas, one special lady in our youth group shared with us a great story that happened to her family. They were not going to have enough extra money for gifts, but some appeared on their doorstep on a few days before Christmas. Kathleen shared this story at the Christmas Eve services and someone in the church generously donated some money and some turkeys to the family. The church also donated a gift card for groceries.
So, Kathleen recommended that instead of looking for who did this "random act of kindness", to "Pay It Forward". A concept from the movie of that title. It stars the kid who later saw "dead people". Hey, wait a minute...he died in that movie too.
We used Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan as a lesson. (Luke 10:25-37) We discussed some background to the story and characters (for example, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was quite rugged and dangerous, full of narrow paths and steep mountains. This place was infamous for crime - a bad neighborhood!, some good reasons the priest may have had for not approaching a bloody dead? guy on the side of the road, and what's a Samaritan anyway?)
Jesus did the ultimate "Pay It Forward". He looked out and saw each one of us and knew that we couldn't save ourselves. He sacrificed himself on a cruel painful cross to connect you and me with God himself. (think about that!)
So, Kathleen recommended that instead of looking for who did this "random act of kindness", to "Pay It Forward". A concept from the movie of that title. It stars the kid who later saw "dead people". Hey, wait a minute...he died in that movie too.So, we were planning on showing the movie in its entirety as a "movie night" but when I previewed it, it was PG13, and not totally appropriate for the "younger moviegoers", so we showed parts that explained the concept of generosity to someone that can't do it themselves and something that is quite a sacrifice.
We used Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan as a lesson. (Luke 10:25-37) We discussed some background to the story and characters (for example, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was quite rugged and dangerous, full of narrow paths and steep mountains. This place was infamous for crime - a bad neighborhood!, some good reasons the priest may have had for not approaching a bloody dead? guy on the side of the road, and what's a Samaritan anyway?)Speaking of characters, we had several actors within the group volunteer to do an impromptu skit of the the Good Samaritan. Excellent work, guys!
And thanks very much to Cheryl, one of our youth's mama who joined us for the evening and had some encouraging words to say. any parents are welcome to join us anytime!!
Stay tuned for many more activities this year. It's going to be fun!
and btw, if anyone's reading this...post a comment. I have no idea if anyone is reading this...or am I wasting my time??? I know I'm not...
Jesus did the ultimate "Pay It Forward". He looked out and saw each one of us and knew that we couldn't save ourselves. He sacrificed himself on a cruel painful cross to connect you and me with God himself. (think about that!)Now, go and share his love to others.
Pay it forward.
Luke 10:36-37
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Happy Happy New Year!
New Year's Greetings to everyone!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and I hope you are enjoying your break from school.
Although the weather was very cold, we did have youth group tonight. Lots of folks were out of town or had practices to attend, so we had 5 youths total! And we had lots of fun!
We discussed if anyone made any new years resolutions. One "resolution" or goal we have for the youth group this year is to learn more about the Bible. So, we spent most of the time at group tonight playing a DVD Bible quiz game. Congrats to Ashley, Rachel and Kate, the winning team!
Next week, most everyone will be back in town. We will have our postponed Christmas party, so spread the word and bring a fun gift to giveaway. Remember, don't buy (or steal) anything. Wrap it up and prepare for a fun gift exchange.
Also at Journey next week, we have asked Jenny to share her Christmas and life story, and then we'll talk about "paying it forward". We plan to watch the movie "Pay It Forward" the following week, Jan 16.
Stay warm and see you next week!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and I hope you are enjoying your break from school.
Although the weather was very cold, we did have youth group tonight. Lots of folks were out of town or had practices to attend, so we had 5 youths total! And we had lots of fun!
We discussed if anyone made any new years resolutions. One "resolution" or goal we have for the youth group this year is to learn more about the Bible. So, we spent most of the time at group tonight playing a DVD Bible quiz game. Congrats to Ashley, Rachel and Kate, the winning team!
Next week, most everyone will be back in town. We will have our postponed Christmas party, so spread the word and bring a fun gift to giveaway. Remember, don't buy (or steal) anything. Wrap it up and prepare for a fun gift exchange.
Also at Journey next week, we have asked Jenny to share her Christmas and life story, and then we'll talk about "paying it forward". We plan to watch the movie "Pay It Forward" the following week, Jan 16.
Stay warm and see you next week!
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