12 hours of church
(Most of my readers will be here looking for news on the Moderator Candidate event last Friday. It went really well – and I want to give it more time than I have right now when I write it up. So today you get other news.)
Yesterday, I spent 12 hours doing church stuff.
First, I got to church a few minutes early so that I could return and put away the tablecloths from Friday’s event.
Then I got roped into preparations for Confirmation Sunday. I helped settle the confirmands and get them busy filling out surveys on the whole process, and then got sent on an errand to get an older youth or two to help sell hoagies that the Boy Scouts donated to us. Those sales benefit the summer’s mission trip and trip to Montreat.
The Confirmation portion of the worship service was wonderful. We received 11 9th graders as full members of the church. Each was invited to come forward with their mentor, and in pairs they were received through kneeling and laying on of hands by the pastors, their mentors and the youth director. Then the congregation read words of welcome as one, and we followed with the hymn “Here I Am, Lord” (one of my favorites from Camp Johnsonburg). It was all very moving.
After the service there was cake and such celebrating the confirmands. There was a little unpleasantness as an attendee (former member married to a still-member) behaved badly and scared some people, but after that the room turned brighter. Later the confirmands, parents, mentors, and a few others like me gathered to close out the process with recognition of the mentors and confirmands and prayer.
It’s a “male” hormone From a biological perspective, men and women are genetically similar in spite of the fact that the medication levitra prescription cost is 100% natural and organic. It helps in reducing debility in any part of the body including penile. lowest prices cialis In other words this realsmartemail LLC you will absolutely cialis pills online deeprootsmag.org get rid of all kinds of difficulties regarding email and stuff. Pfizer, the company that makes sildenafil, sells it under the brand name levitra price.Generic drugs are marketed under a non-proprietary or approved name rather than a downloadable program. I left that to go to the Lawrenceville Main Street Jubilee street fair. The church got a table at the Jubilee for the first time in years. The primary purpose was so that my Project Open Door team could survey the community to find out how they perceive the church. We gave away cookies made by church members and asked many adults and children if they could spare the time for a 5-question survey. In 4 hours we managed to complete something like 100 to 150 surveys! Our goal had been 50 or so surveys for all 3 events that we chose to be at, so this was wonderful. There is some good feedback in all that data. The only downside to this afternoon is that the gray skies and cold temperatures gave me false security, and without a hat my poor bald scalp got scorched. It’s not that bad today.
Then back to the church for an hour or so of downtime. I changed into my evening clothes and had time for about an hour nap before it was time for the youth group activity.
Our Senior High youth group partnered with two other churches in the area through Presbyterian Youth Connection to clean up the path along the Delaware and Raritan canal in Lawrenceville. Confirmation hampered our numbers, but our church fielded 4 adults and 1 youth. Another church brought 2 adults and 2 youth, and the 3rd church fielded 3 or 4 adults and about 20 youth. We worked for about 30 minutes and cleared an area about 20 feet wide and 400 feet long. It was tough because the terrain was a steep bank from the road down to the path, and then another bank to the canal. We found a few interesting items among the 7-11 coffee cups, soda bottles and beer cans – one gay porn DVD, a “teach your child French, age newborn to 2” CD, and an entire purse that was stolen from the nearby mall 5 months ago. We hauled out about 8 or 9 full bags of trash and about 3 or 4 of recyclables.
After that we headed back to the Lawrenceville church and had pizza with the entire group. This was followed by a short discussion and devotional on Earth Day and stewardship of the earth.
Then I went home – arriving almost exactly 12 hours after I had left in the morning.
It was a good day.
Prayers and Celebrations – Confirmation
I’d like to request your prayers and celebration for the 11 confirmands who will be meeting with the church session on Wednesday evening. Ditto for their mentors.
Working with the confirmation class this year has been very rewarding. I’m very impressed with the depth of faith and knowledge of things churchy coming from class members. Their mentors have been involved and have been helpful participants in the classes (and undoubtedly with their confirmand – I haven’t been there so I wouldn’t know).
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Please pray for them as they face the big scary (not really) session, and then are confirmed on April 27.
Youth Sunday
Youth Sunday today went very well.
All of the sermons (we have three youth do 5 minutes each rather than asking one to do 15 minutes) were well-written, full of examples linking the message to the text, and well-delivered. (You can listen to the sermons HERE.) The music was up to standard as usual. All of the folks playing other parts (doing prayers, readings, ushering, etc) did well. The adult message was particularly funny.
The sanctuary was decorated with origami cranes, hanging on fishing line. The cranes were handed out to the congregation last week as flat pieces of paper, and the congregation was asked to write prayers on them. We then folded them into cranes and created the art. Congratulations to Peter and his team for conceiving and completing the idea.
Congratulations to our seminary intern David Berge – Youth Sunday was his main project for the internship.
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I got to participate a bit in front of the crowd in contrast to last year’s behind-the-scenes work. I played djimbe (an African hand drum) on one anthem. I also did a plug for Project Open Door’s request for members to invite others to the church and then fill out a survey (so that we can see how we’re doing on hospitality) with Jeff Vamos. In preparing for the 1 minute skit, we decided that Jeff was the ham and I was the cheese.
I also participated in the laying on of hands for a new deacon (elected in January to fill an unexpired term).
The youth should be commended for their hard work. One adult who attended the service was heard to say that Youth Sunday just keeps getting better every year. Last year was hard to top.
Malaise
I’m sorry I haven’t written lately. I’ve been busy at work, busy outside work.
I’m also having one of those weeks (heading towards months) where everything is going just a little wrong. Nothing is seriously wrong. Nothing is seriously right. Everything is just a bit off kilter.
Work – as I’ve noted previously, the company is up for sale. Just today I heard two different rumors listing different companies that want to buy us – one possible and one unlikely. The senior management committee that approves IT projects just deferred a decision on a major technology change that we want to make. If they turn that down completely, I probably need to either find a new job or resign myself to being caught in a technical cul-de-sac (like COBOL programmers were 10 years ago).
Home – Home is generally OK. I wish that Carolyn and I shared more common interests – so that we’d end up spending more time together. I don’t want to grow in the wrong direction. Finances are being pinched just like everybody else between tiny raises and huge cost increases in everything else. As I said – pretty much completely OK but with a few signs of wear.
Church – I’m serving as a “Visit Steward” for the capital campaign. I’m getting the feeling from conversations with people that folks are really unhappy with the way that the campaign is being run. Most people agree with the need for funds and support most of the projects involved in the campaign, but there’s a lot of disaffection with how it’s being run. Also, the consultant sent to us by the PC(USA) Church Financial Campaign Service is really turning people off. There has to be some way to let the people in Louisville who sent her to us know what a terrible job she’s doing. We had our campaign visit training this past week. The handout was clearly cludged up from other campaigns and included references to things that we aren’t doing in our campaign (like 2nd and 3rd visits, household information cards, etc). One of the biblical references for stewardship actually came out against giving to the church if you read the next verse. Oh, well. I did make my pledge as required (all visit stewards were told to turn in their pledges as part of the commissioning ceremony yesterday, with less than a week’s notice) and even included a check for the entire amount. As soon as I do my 3 visits with members I’ll be done with the campaign. Here’s the hard part – one of my visits is to a family where one breadwinner is jobless.
“In Deuteronomy we are told to give 10%. Jesus tells the rich man that he should give everything. So the amount that we should pledge is somewhere between 10% and everything.” – no, this wasn’t a joke.
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Youth group is another area that is fine, but still not quite right. We had one youth make a life decision that will greatly negatively impact her choices in the future and it’s hitting me harder than I expected. Our attendance is rather spotty – we see a decent number of youth at each meeting but the list of attendees is different most weeks and we don’t really get to connect with them regularly. As I said – things are mostly OK. Youth Sunday is next week and we really have our act together in advance for a change. I am looking forward to going to Montreat for Week VI this summer.
Then there is the team that I co-chair. At our last meeting I got called a racist – under the theory that any white person is automatically a racist. This was said by a white person to a room full of white people – all of whom are well-intentioned in mind and as far as I can tell in practice when it comes to racial issues. I’m not looking forward to our next meeting two weeks from today.
When it comes to church I’m at a crossroads. I want to either become more involved or less involved. I don’t think continuing my current level of involvement is feasible – it’s gonna have to go up or down in the fall. I’d really like to be more involved, but in a meaningful way in a position where I can help the church change for the future rather than in a “pair of willing hands” way. I don’t mind doing the necessary, but it seems so much of church work is maintaining the old ways rather than working for the new.
Hockey – the Trenton Devils finished 6th out of 7, with the lowest number of wins in the entire history of the franchise. Enough said.
So malaise is the word of the day. Judging from the economy it might be the word of the entire country.
Week Roundup
This week’s roundup comes a little early – I’m taking Good Friday off from work.
Sunday – After worship I went to the Adult Forum on the capital campaign which included a manse tour. The manse tour included lunch. This solved a problem for me – Carolyn was in North Jersey at a wake for a cousin-in-law of hers. Later in the evening I went to Sr. High youth group where we prepared further for Youth Sunday. I have an assignment – I need to find Old Testament scripture(s) to match up with the Prodigal Son. (Feel free to suggest some in comments or e-mail)
Work this week has been quiet. My boss passed her Project Management Professional exam on Monday (on the first try!) and we celebrated with donuts and bagels on Tuesday. The entire group is taking her out for lunch next week. Other than that I’m doing design work for a project.
Planning for the moderator candidate event is progressing. I’m finding a huge disparity in how presbyteries handle the list of commissioners. Some are treating it like I’m some kind of identity thief and insisting on forwarding the event information to their commissioners. One stated clerk said that he’d look at the invitation and determine whether or not it was “appropriate” for the commissioners. Other presbyteries are being very forthcoming and giving me all of the information that I ask for in minutes. I have to wonder who abused the list of commissioners at some point and how that caused the very prickly reaction in some places.
Monday evening at church Project Open Door met (well, actually at the manse – it solved a child care issue for the pastor). Most of the meeting went very well. Then we got to the subject of whether or not racism is an issue in our church (which is 90+% white) and whether or not we’ve introduced bias into our visitor survey. I’m amazed at how passionate people were about their positions (given that it was a room full of white people) and at how much disagreement there was. After this painful experience we’re going to revisit it again later – probably with the help of an expert. Ironically, Barack Obama covered all of the issues that we discussed in his speech the next day.
Tuesday evening I ended up serving as the pick-up Net Control Station for a ham radio weekly drill. This was the weekly Mercer County SKYWARN/RACES/ARES net – to test radios and procedures in case our services are needed due to a disaster or severe weather. It went relatively well given that most of our members were attending a club meeting at the time and were unavailable.
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Tonight I plan to go to our church’s Tenebrae (Maundy Thursday) communion service. It will reportedly be very powerful. They gradually dim the lights throughout the service and end in darkness and silence. With the strong winds that we’re going to get it should be interesting.
Friday evening we’re off to see the Trenton Devils play the Dayton Bombers with my sister Laura.
Saturday evening we go to the Philadelphia Wings vs. New York Titans lacrosse game at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton. My friend Jill has a crowd coming. My sister bought two tickets and after a friend dropped out Dad is coming with her – they’re riding with Carolyn and I to the game.
Sunday morning’s Easter service will probably be Catholic this year – we did Presbyterian last year. Sunday afternoon we’re hosting Easter dinner with the Smiths and Brennans at our house (anywhere from 9 to 13 people depending on who comes).
Happy Easter!
A disappointing weekend
This was one of those weekends where nothing quite goes your way, but it’s not really anybody’s fault.
Friday evening I went to a Philadelphia Wings lacrosse game. A friend of mine (from camp and church) has season tickets and we’d made arrangements for this game way back in October or November. I was looking forward to “catch up” time with her. Unfortunately (for me), she recently started dating the guy who sits behind her at the games. Carolyn and I enjoyed the game (it was close until the 4th quarter when the Wings went on a tear and blew out the other team), but we felt a bit like 3rd and 4th wheels. I can’t really blame my friend for concentrating on a new romance.
Saturday was quiet at home. I got the bills paid, some reading done, and rested. Nothing bad there.
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Sunday evening our youth director had planned a big “Bible Goes To the Oscars” program. He worked really hard – we had a red carpet and special lighting and movie stuff all over the place. We were going to have the youth do bible skits and then give awards for things like “Best Jesus” or “Best Supporting Disciple”. Only 4 youth showed up (with 5 adults). I think the issue is that many of our youth are involved in theater productions at the various high schools next weekend. We had to punt and switch to a discussion of films that have made a difference in your life and relating them to faith. Again – not really anybody to blame but not quite what we wanted.
One bright spot – I asked my pastor a pressing question for me regarding ethics and the workplace. He mentioned it in his sermon yesterday. He didn’t have an answer, but he posted the question to others on the church’s new blog.
Lock-in – How did it go?
It went well.
The night was planned as 9pm to 8am for the youth with the adults arriving about 8pm. I got there at 7:45 to help get started.
We ended up with about 14 youth and 5 adults. Only 2 people who had signed up failed to arrive.
The evening started out (after some setup) with a group “introductions in a circle”. Then we moved on to “Hula Hoop Dodgeball” for about 45 minutes. At the end of the dodgeball anybody who participated ended up on the concrete floor trying to soak up the cool from the concrete – it was VERY energetic.
We followed that up with pasta and ice cream (no, not at the same time).
We had a very good serious discussion about life and faith.
We then had a lot of unstructured time. There was one room with multiple video games. The chapel contained a jam session complete with electric guitars, piano, drums and later acoustic guitar. I played drums for possibly the first time in 18 years or so and I’m glad to see that while I was rusty I still remembered a lot. (Muscle memory runs deep if you do something long enough) A few youth were impressed with my rendition of Wipe Out. In a third room we were showing movies for the rest of the night.
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About 3:45am I went to the designated quiet sleep room and tried to sleep. I was joined by another adult and a youth later. We all got up for good about 7am.
At 7am we cleaned up (very well) and held a very short worship service (during which 1/2 of the group was asleep at any given moment). Then the parents started arriving and we headed out.
This was mostly a fellowship event, but the serious discussion was very deep and very serious. There’s a layer of profound depth hidden below the external picture that our youth project.
I slept most of Sunday, and took Monday off from work to reset my internal clock. I think I’m 80% back to normal now.
I had fun. I got to be me – the authentic real me as opposed to the me that I have to show the adult/working/controlled image world – with a group of very authentic people. It was a pleasure.
Besides – how often do you get to play drums in a church at 3am?
First Lock-In
I’m a little nervous.
I’ve been working with the youth at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville for about a year now. In that time I’ve been there for them at regular Sunday night meetings, gone on one overnight retreat at Camp Johnsonburg, and worked and taught the Confirmation Class. All of those were easy – it was like falling off a log for me. Even the teaching didn’t cause anxiety – I knew the material and knew the confirmands and I knew it would go well (and I think it did).
Here’s the thing. We’re having a Senior High Lock-in Saturday night to Sunday morning. The PCOL lock-in tradition seems to be a “no sleep” tradition. I believe that space is provided for sleeping but it sounds like the majority of the youth will be staying up all night. I’m OK with that.
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I’ll be fine. The retreat starts at 9pm, so I suspect the adults need to be there about 8pm (I haven’t actually been told yet). It ends at 8am. I’m planning to take a serious nap on Saturday afternoon, have nothing planned for Sunday, and I’m taking Monday off from work to reset my sleep cycle. I’ve volunteered to chaperone the sleeping room (assuming that can be done while asleep). I just might be tired and a bit cranky at the end.
It should be fun!
A Great Sunday, part 2
On Sunday afternoon, I treated the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville Sr. High Youth Group to a suite watching the Trenton Devils vs. Wheeling Nailers.
I get a free suite for a game once a year as part of my season ticket package, and I decided to use it for the youth.
The group numbered 21 including my wife and I and included regulars and some youth who don’t attend often. The afternoon was fun but theologically ambiguous – when the mascot comes to your suite is it OK for Presbyterians to yell “The Devil is here! The Devil is here!” and then run TO the devil?
Unfortunately the team lost the game, though we got to see every possible second of hockey. It took the 6th round of the shootout to decide the contest 6-5 for Wheeling.
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We got away with no lost youth and only one minor injury. Here’s a safety tip – if you are sitting directly below the TV mounted on the wall, be careful when you jump up to celebrate! We’re hoping some of the non-regular youth will participate in future activities such as the lock-in in two weeks.
We have got to do this again next year.
The best part of the whole evening was having the seminary student get his picture taken with the Devil. We’re planning to send it to his CPM. (for the non-Presbys – the committee in charge of his development as a candidate for ministry)
Check back in a day or two for the picture.
End of Week roundup
Here’s what’s going on.
- I managed to decompress from the congregational meeting last weekend. There are still some hard feelings among the young adults who work with youth, but we’ll get over it. I did express my feelings to my pastor.
- Last night my committee co-chair and the pastor and I had a conference call. We’d had to cancel the committee meeting because so many members were unavailable for the meeting (including a disturbing number who chose to drop out and prioritize something else higher – after they’d agreed to be there). We have a strategy for moving forward (but I can’t discuss it here until we’ve announced it to the team). How do you staff church committees when the really involved people are also really busy?
- I passed my ham radio Emergency Communications course, with 100% on the test and 100% of my assignments accepted on the first try. Next month or in a few months I’ll take the Level II course.
- Tonight Carolyn and I are headed to the Trenton Devils game. We’re skipping Saturday because 3 games a weekend is too much.
- Sunday the church is doing a service project in lieu of (or technically during) the worship service. We’ll start in the sanctuary, but then break early to spread out around the building making School and Baby kits for Church World Service, and hygiene kits for the Crisis Ministry of Trenton and Princeton, and sandwiches and wrapped utensils for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. Then we’ll gather for lunch and close worship. It’s Levi Sunday (named for the Levites – get it? We’re supposed to wear jeans).
- Sunday afternoon the Sr. High (and some Jr. High) youth group will go to see the Trenton Devils hockey team (ECHL). My season ticket plan includes one free luxury suite a year, and I’m treating the youth. It should be fun!
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I have been tagged in the book meme, but I don’t know if I’ll get to it today. Maybe later.
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