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.
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!
Whoosh! and a question on calls
Whoosh!
That’s the noise that I probably made getting through all that I had to do this weekend.
Saturday, the Youth Sunday rehearsal ran long. I was at church from 10:30am to 2:30pm. I was completely impressed with the youth. The 3 seniors who delivered the sermon hit the message perfectly and needed very little tweaking. The rest of the crew adapted to their jobs quite easily. I’ll write more on this later.
Sunday was Youth Sunday. I was the usher-herder. I also had to get prepared for the Adult Forum afterwards and eat breakfast. Everything was a rush. The service went great, and as I said above I’ll write more later.
After the service I had to run away from the youth and go finish setting up for the adult forum. I was the 1st speaker of 3 – covering the biblical basis for environmental stewardship. I think it went well (nobody came up and said that I did a good job, but they seemed to be paying attention).
After that, I ran home and had exactly 30 minutes to eat lunch, shower and change to go to the opera with Carolyn. We saw Rigoletto in Trenton. I’ll write a whole blog post on that for you. The opera was good – the lead soprano was amazing.
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Last week sometime, in my way over-churched haze, I remember having a dream one night. I don’t remember what the dream was about, but I do remember one snippet.
I was involved in something at church. My current pastor passed me a note (it wasn’t during a service or meeting or anything – he just handed me a note as we met standing up somewhere). The note said something like “Be sure to listen for a Call.”
Now I realize that I’ve recently become re-involved in the church, and that I’m a likely candidate for over-enthusiasm. If you remember my story, once upon a time I was deciding between Computer Science and Religion as my college major. Due to some unhappy church-related events Computer Science became my major, and Religion my minor. I honestly believed going into college that I might be headed for seminary.
The only word I’ve ever heard encouraging this came more recently. I told my current Youth Director (under whom I work as a Youth Advisor) my personal faith story. He asked if I’d consider seminary now. I told him that I’ve only been back a year or even a few months (depending on how you count) and that besides – I’m a bit too used to my current income level.
I don’t know what this dream means, but it is intriguing. Is this a message? Is it just the product of doing too much church in too short a time period?
So here’s my question to the professionals out there. Would you be willing to tell me (here in the comments, in e-mail, or even on your blog) what your Call was like? When did you know that you were being called to the ministry?
Busy Week
Here’s my crazy schedule for the rest of the week.
Wednesday – 6:30 – 8:30pm – Youth Sunday rehearsal
Thursday – 6pm – 10pm – Trenton Titans playoff game
Friday – 6:30pm – 10:30pm – Trenton Titans playoff game (if they win Thursday)
Saturday – 10:30am – 1pm – Youth Sunday rehearsal
Then Sunday:
8:45am – leave for church
9am – 9:30am – set up for Earth Day adult forum
9:30am – be adult shepherd for ushers for Youth Sunday
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11am-ish – as soon as the service is over, run directly to the lounge
11:15am – be the speaker for the 1st 15 minutes of the Earth Day adult forum
Noon – Adult Forum ends, go home
1:30pm – leave for opera (Boheme Opera – Rigoletto)
1:45pm – pre-curtain talk (always worth the time)
3pm – 6pm – opera
6:30pm – come home, collapse
Unfortunately, I have to miss the post-Youth Sunday service lunch with all participants in order to do the Earth Day presentation.
A Little Busy
Church has me a little busy right now.
The Green Team has decided that for our Adult Forum on Earth Day, the program will include me first doing the Biblical basis, one of the co-chairs doing the science behind our environmental problems, and a 3rd speaker (I don’t remember who) speaking on what each person can do to help. We’re going to have lots of handouts (including my paper) and some samples of compact fluorescent light bulbs and such.
To that end, I have until the end of next week (April 13) to get my presentation together. I have 15 minutes to present what is in my paper. I’m planning a powerpoint presentation with the verses, and I’ll talk to the rest.
I’m also an advisor for the youth group. April 22 is not only Earth Day, it’s also Youth Sunday – with the youth doing pretty much everything for the service. I’ll be helping out with planning and execution of that as well. At this point, I’ve been appointed “King of the Ushers”. Hopefully we won’t have a Fall of the House of Usher.
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The Tuesday after Easter I have a meeting scheduled with the pastor to talk about a new initiative related to visitors, seekers, and how the church is perceived by them and the community. That is right up my alley (as my other blog posts have indicated) and I’m really looking forward to this.
The church is in the final stages of calling a new Associate Pastor – Mary Alice Lyman. She will be preaching on April 15 with a Special Congregational Meeting immediately following to vote on her call. On April 14 there is a reception in the evening to meet her, and there’s a pancake breakfast on the 15th for the same purpose.
Things should quiet down a bit towards the end of the month. It’s a good kind of busy.
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