I Am Youth Ministry

Until We Meet Again

2010-08-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

I do not know really where to start. I sit staring at this blank document wondering just how I can fully express how I feel as I prepare to embark on the next adventure in my life. As I think about it, I get sad knowing we will not be able to journey together. I realize too we are only a couple hours away and a phone call or text message away, but those first few empty Sunday nights and weekends will be, well, strange. This is going to be a difficult reality to come to terms with as I say goodbye to you.

For three years together we have shared stories and our lives together. We’ve talked about many things, we’ve traveled many places together, making memories and sharing stories all along the way, and it just seemed like yesterday we arrived in Owensboro. Our time together has gone by fast as I sit back and reflect on where we have been. Sunday nights in my life won’t quite be the same as I will no longer head to church at the four o’clock hour, stopping by Starbucks to grab the energy I’ll need for that night, and then prepping and praying in my study as we prepare for a night together.

As difficult as this is going to be for me, I know deep down inside that it will be alright. I know, although my time on Sundays may be spent reading, writing papers, and attending study groups, I know you all will be here, praying, laughing, listening, sharing, and being together. It is hard to imagine a Sunday night without you in it but again, after all that we have been through and all that we have learned, I know you all won’t miss a beat.

I guess then, friends, this is it. This is the tough part, where I say goodbye to you. Where I fight back the tears, look to you with a joyful and hopeful heart, and tell you that I love you, will miss you and will think of you often. When I go, remember those things which you have done together and what your group is all about. Remember that above all it is important to the community that you are there. Remember that the community is not complete without you. Remember that everyone, at one time or another, needs someone to help them along this journey we call life. Remember that at the center needs to be love.

Thus, love one another, welcoming all who walk through those doors who longed to be touched by the living Christ. Welcome them and each other always with open arms and loving spirits. Then when you gather together, break bread and tend to your souls, be still, as often as you can, and be reminded that God is with you. God is always with you.

I hope you have seen Christ alive in our lives and active in our friendships. I have. And, I hope that you will remember to take seriously those times when you have felt God’s presence in your life and continue to fully commit yourself to being a disciple of Christ. Continue, good friends, to do the hard work of the soul as you discover yourself. My hope for you as a community is that you all will find your unique path; the one God has for you. And in the process, you become fully yourself, after all this is salvation. May you always, friends of First Presbyterian Church, be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.

As a faithful, committed community, never forget that your call is to love the Lord with all your heart, your mind, your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. As it is written in the book of Joshua, “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Trust always in God and rely on your brothers and sisters. Lean on each other the way you have done for three years and to those adults who will be there for you. Be Christ to one another.

Good friends, may you continue to let God work in you and through you. If you remain open and willing, God will show you the way, and God will see to it you receive life. What is soon to happen is a good thing. You my friends, will be taken care of well, with little to worry about. As I go, a new youth director will come in, with beautiful gifts and ideas which will take this group to places we’d never thought was possible. Welcome them and show them what an inclusive and loving community looks like.

So remember where we have been together and laugh. Think back to the dance parties on the bus, trips to Loucon and Kum Ba Yah, the many lock-ins, Cracker Barrel Birthday parties, the LOVE discussions, the mission trips, Thursday night Sanctus/bible studies, your friends in the Western Kentucky Presbytery, and smile. Hold on to these and accept it, the past that is, for what it was. Celebrate it and breathe it in. Then grieve it, let it out, recognize the sadness within.

But then friends, let it go. Let go so that you may embrace this new adventure.

Youth of First Presbyterian Church, may you receive from God, as you let go of one legacy and embark on a new one, a new spirit, one for here, now, today.

We will miss you dearly and know always, we love you, but we trust God has greater things ahead for the both of us. Take good care, Youth of First Presbyterian Church. Teresa and I will miss you.

Shalom my friends, shalom.

Adam & Teresa Quine

July 2010 Youth PresbyNotes

2010-06-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Messiah is With You
There is a story out there about a monastery that had fallen upon hard times and was soon to close its doors. Once a great order, as a result of waves of antimonastic persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rise of secularism n the nineteenth, all its branch houses were lost and it had become decimated to the extend that there were only five monks left in the decaying mother house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly, it was a dying order.

On the grounds of the monastery stood an old hermitage where a rabbi would come rest, write, and pray. He visited frequent and upon his last visit the abbot, having been agonizing over the sadness of the monastery closing, he went and sought advice from the rabbi. He asked the rabbi if there was any advice he could share to help save the monastery. The rabbi explained how he too has noticed how the spirit seems to be gone in his synagogues too and the two of them wept together.

After many minutes of embracing one another and crying, the abbot finally said, “It is good for us to have been together but I did not accomplish what I cam here for. Is there any advice for you to give us in an attempt to save the monastery?”

The Rabbi said, “No, I’m sorry. I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you.”

The next few weeks for our youth group is going to be exciting, with a lot of unknowns. Such as….

What will happen when what was once familiar no longer feel this way? What will happen when the ones we love, will be gone? Not gone but not here with us. What will happen when our normal routines, our normal time together doesn’t look, or even feel, like it used to?

What are we to do?

Perhaps we can find truth and comfort in these words,
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another…Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me [Jesus]…I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you…Those who love me, will keep my word, and God will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them…Do not let your hearts be afraid. Do not be troubled…”

As our time draws nearer to an end, as we become aware of the realities of our Seniors Katie and Jill leaving us, we may indeed become frightened, nervous about what will happen next. Yet, what will happen next is unforeseeable, but there are things we know will happen.

We know that we will still have the opportunities to gather together. We will still have the opportunities to break bread together over shared meals on Sundays and we will have the same friends who will be there when we go. Our calendars will still be made, Sunday school will still happen, and you can guarantee Loucon and other events will happen too.

There isn’t that much that won’t happen. Some of us may not be there, but you all will be and this is important. Remember when Jesus had ascended into heaven and the disciples were left alone? Do you remember what they did? They didn’t go to more athletic events, they didn’t go to other places, and they didn’t leave their friends. No they continued what they had done for 3 years. They made sure everyone was accounted for, checking in regularly with each other, and gathering together.

Even when times became extremely unsafe for the disciples, they continued to meet together, celebrating the joys of life, praying through the pains, rejoicing and loving with one another. Even amidst the chaos, they found comfort in each other, their fellow travelers. As they met together, they did those disciplines and practices Jesus gave them: devoting themselves to prayer, to the teachings of the apostles, to the fellowship of one another, and the breaking of bread. They celebrated the Lord’s Supper with each other. They kept meeting, committing themselves to the promises they made to each other.

In so doing, all that was scary, unsure, annoying, hurtful, and even amidst the disorganization, they discovered the face and love of Christ in one another.

“Peace, my own peace I give to you,” Jesus tells the disciples, reminding them that although he is gone, Jesus remains with them. Jesus makes a promise to send his comforter, the Holy Spirit, who will guide them and go along with them wherever they find themselves. Even when Jesus was gone, the disciples continued to learn, continued to rejoice, and continue to discover what it meant to love.

Youth of First Presbyterian Church, what is to come, we are unsure of but find comfort in knowing you have traveled quite a ways with one another. Find hope in the fact that you all are friends, you’ve gone on mission trips, you’ve gone to youth council’s, you’ve gone to Sunday school together, celebrated birthdays at Cracker Barrel, swam at pools, sung songs, and shared life as a community together. You know each other and God, God knows you and loves you.

Jesus said, “Peace be with you.” It was at a party on the beach when the disciples saw the risen Christ. Jesus invited his disciples to come, eat breakfast with him, and he asked Peter, “Do you love me?”

“Yes, Lord; you know that I love you!”

Jesus stands, in this time of uncertainty, asking you…

“Do you love me? If you do, know I am here with you, always. Take comfort in each other and know that when two or three of you gather together in my name, I am there with you.”

As for the story at the beginning of the article…
When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, “Well, what did the rabbi say?”
The abbot replied how he couldn’t help and explained how they read the Torah together, wept and that the only thing he said was, “The Messiah is one of us.”

In the days and weeks and months that followed, the old monk pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the rabbi’s words. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks here at the monastery? As the monks further pondered the rabbi’s cryptic message, they went through each monk there as to why each one could be the Messiah.

As they contemplated in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And on the off, off chance that each monk himself might be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect. As people began to visit the monastery and its beautiful campus, people began to notice the extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five monks. What was once a dilapidated monastery became alive with people visiting more and using its facilities to pray, meditate, and gather.

Then it happened that some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them.

Then another.
And another.
And another….

May we, in these coming months, come to better understand the love and peace of Christ, so that in doing, our understanding of how important our community is will be revealed with tenderness and mercy. Then in all of our doings, now and always, may we come to see the face of Christ, the Messiah, in everyone we meet.

After all, the Messiah is with us.

Peace of Christ to you friends.

July 2010 Events and Dates
July 1st—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
July 4th—(Adam will be out of town) No Youth Group 4th of July
July 6th, 7th & 8th—City Sights/City Lights in Murray, KY
July 8th—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
July 11th—Youth Group 5-8pm
July 15th—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
July 18th—Youth Group 5-8pm
July 22nd—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
July 25th—Youth Group (Maybe trip somewhere overnight?!?!)
July 29th—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm

Happy Birthday To…
Will Shelton on the 7th
Kate Bowley on the 13th
William Free on the 13th
Delaney Hayden on the 14
Happy birthday to all of you!!!

Don't forget this week, July 6th-8th, is City Sights/City Lights in Murray, Kentucky. Make sure you are signed up and registered. It'll be a good time had by all.

Misc. Notes
Attention all junior and senior high students and parents!
Be on the look out for additional information about a Six Flags St. Louis trip, along with another day trip. Also, there will be a meeting held with Jonathan and Leslie and myself to discuss future activities for the youth group.

July 18th—Swim Party and John and Marna Loucks’ home for all students. Her is what the schedule will look like:
• 2-4pm—Kids for Christ-bring snacks to share
• 4-6:30pm—Junior high-bring food to share (Contact Debbie Bowley)
• 6-9pm—Senior high-bring food to share, we will eat with the junior high (contact Debbie Bowley)

July 28th—Trip to Holiday World: Splashin Safari—this event is open to all students 6-12th grade. We will need parents to chaperon and possibly drive. We need at least 15 students to go so we can get a discounted price.

Youth Council Meeting held Friday, August 13th and we’ll be back on August 14th in the evening. All youth who went to the mission trip are encouraged to attend. See Adam for more details.

A Discipline of Service

2010-06-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Jesus did not cure the crowds applying proven ministry techniques. He spoke from his heart, acted out of compassion, and left the results to God.
~Henri Nouwen

We are just days away now from heading out east to Swan Quarter, North Carolina, where we will be spending the week offering assistance and service to fine people of this small town, fishing community. For many months we have prepared for our adventure and have prayed diligently about what it is we will be doing. Along the way we have indulged ourselves in a study of spiritual disciplines—the skills and techniques by which we begin to see the image of God in our heart—which have been assisting us in preparation for our trip. Mission work and works of service are just another puzzle piece to the picture of spiritual disciplines and formation. Thus, our time away, venturing off into a new community is yet another discipline we are picking up.

It is helpful to remember that spiritual formation is the careful attentiveness to the world of God, our master sculptor, as we submit to the gradual chipping away of all that is not of God, until the lion is revealed, until we realize that which lies within. Mission work is a time for us to stretch ourselves, denying our own ambitions, and to offer ourselves on behalf of the gospel to those who are in need of an extra hand. However, we must also be mindful of doing the work of service with an attitude of compassion and genuine charity, knowing we go into these places not ‘better than them’ but as brothers and sisters. We mustn’t go in thinking we can provide everything these people need, for if we do, if we focus our entire energies on the ‘good work’ we are doing, we risk not seeing the good work being done to us through the folks we will be helping. We need to approach each trip, each instance of service with eyes wide open and tongues stilled, with no other expectations other than to love and be loved.

To think of service in regards to scripture, there are numerous stories of what service looks like and how to do it. Yet the image which comes to mind is when Christ, the messiah, the Son of God, gathers his 12 closest friends and begins to do something which makes the disciples, makes me, quite uncomfortable. It is cliché it seems to always bring up this particular scene with Jesus, after all it is everywhere in the Christian world, but how fitting it is, and how simply profound too.

Imagine you are in your living room, with your eleven closets friends awaiting a dinner, awaiting the servant of the house to come and prepare you for dinner. As you wait though, you notice Jesus, remember you are in your house, begin to open cabinets and drawers. You can tell he is looking for something but you are not sure. After a while though, the shuffling and searching stops and in walks the Prince of Peace, half naked with a basin of water a few towels.

Jesus then begins to gather you around the circle and gets down on his knees. Now it is really awkward and you begin to shift around in your seat. How can he do this? This isn’t his job. This is not what he is supposed to be doing. After all, he is the one whom we should serve.

Jesus continues to make his way towards you. You sit, fidgeting almost uncontrollably, knowing what is about to happen and not wanting it to. How can He be washing their feet, our feet…my feet? I don’t like my feet. I don’t like washing my own feet, let a lone someone else after I just got done walking and running everywhere. This is quite uncomfortable. I don’t want it to happen…

But it does happen. You stare into the Christ’s eyes and you see the compassion and the tenderness. You see how much he loves you. You see how he looks past the things which you get hung up on. You sit, goose bumps coming over you, as you feel the cold water drip in between your toes and listen intently to the water making its way back into the basin. You no longer feel alone as you feel the once warm, dry towel being wrapped around your feet and feel at peace with every pat of the towel.

Then Jesus says to us, “I have set you an example that you should to as I have done for you.”

And so we are to go, with kindness in our eyes and tenderness in our heart to be Christ to those we meet. We go listening to what God is saying, to what God is calling us to do, and we go with faith. We go with humility, leaving all self-righteous desires at the door. And we go, joining in ministry with one another; after all we are the body of Christ, called to serve one another. Let us be assured though again of the promise Jesus made, “When I go, I will send my spirit, and my spirit will empower you. All things the Father told me, I’m telling you. All the things I’m doing, you will also do, even greater things than I.” We go being a servant, giving up the right to be in charge, the one who will do great things. We go, longing for God’s presence, being freed and available and vulnerable.

We will do greater things than Jesus. We need to trust in the healing power of God, recognizing the ways we have been healed, and allow the same for all of those we encounter along the way. Great things can only happen though when we are ourselves, aware of the gifts we have and sharing them with one another. This work, this service is not to be done alone, it never has been, nor will it ever be. Thanks be to God we have one another. Thanks be to God our body is made up of many parts. Thanks be to God for community.

So as you make your final preparations, take time to let Jesus wash your feet. Take the time to listen to what God is whispering in your ear. Take time and get familiar with your gifts. As you prepare and as we go, may we never forget what God’s name is, Emmanuel—“God with us!” May we find courage then knowing this, knowing we travel not alone, but with each other. May we find the courage needed to be vulnerable with one another, exposing our wounds in order to bring healing to the wounds of others. May we become for the world, a group of wounded healers.

As we prepare to go, find the places where you are called to serve. Find the places where you can be freed by acts of service which will go unknown. Was the dishes, mow the lawn, read to a loved one, visit a nursing home, or walking the neighbors dog. As you middle high prepare for our trip to Murray for City Sights/City Lights, begin to write down your experiences of service, how you felt before and after. Write down those instances where you felt God’s presence and where you met Christ. Begin to think of this discipline of service and how you can begin with small things to do.

Richard Foster says, “The risen Christ beckons us to the ministry of the towel. Such a ministry, flowing out of the inner recesses of the heart, is life and joy and peace. Perhaps you would like to begin by experimenting with a prayer that several of us use. Begin the day by praying, “Lord Jesus, as it would please you bring me someone today whom I can serve.”

Grace and peace to you.

Calendar

June, July and August 2010 Youth Events

June 2010 Events and Dates
6th—Kirk Night
10thth—Youth Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
12th-19th—Youth Mission Trip—Merritt Thomas providing send off meal
June 13th—Junior High 5-7 pm mini golf golfland drivers needed
June 20th—Junior High Pool Party at the Loukes’ 5-8pm bring friends (5th-8th)
June 24th—Youth Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
June 27th—Senior High Pool Party at the Loukes’ 5-8pm
June 28th-July 2nd—Vacation Bible School

July 2010 Events and Dates
July 1st—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
July 4th—(Adam will be out of town) No Youth Group 4th of July
July 6th, 7th & 8th—City Sights/City Lights in Murray, KY
July 8th—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
July 11th—Youth Group 5-8pm
July 15th—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
July 18th—Youth Group 5-8pm
July 22nd—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
July 25th—Youth Group (Maybe trip somewhere overnight?!?!)
July 29th—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm

August Events and Dates
August 1st—Youth Group 5-8pm
August 5th—Youth Group Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
August 8th—Youth Group (off campus trip somewhere????)
August 12th—Youth Bible Study/Sanctus 6:30-8pm
August 13th—Youth Council TBA
August 14th—Youth Council/Presbytery
August 15th—Adam’s last Sunday!!!—Youth Sunday potentially?

Things to take not of:
• In July we usually take a trip to Holiday World on the 28th
• Parents who are interested in what happens next, we are in need of a meeting with Jonathan the week of VBS, it is important you give me a good date which will work for you
• I would like to make a Six Flag Trip happen or some longer weekend stay adventure for our groups (this could even take place of the holiday world trip)
• There will be lots of miscellaneous things to happen to—lunches, etc.
• Would like 1 more lock-in before we go too

Nature Disciplines

2010-05-19T14:23:00.001-07:00

with spring being here, it is easier for us to get outside and to enjoy the beautiful weather, when it is not raining at least. to get up, to head outside, to breathe in the fresh morning air, to be warmed by the warm sunshine, and to stretch our legs on a nice walk.

or if you are not a morning person, it is nice to come home after school in the spring, eat dinner, do homework, and right before the sun makes its final appearance, head outside for a nice long walk. there is just something about being outside in the spring.

is it because maybe after 4-5 long months of cold, snowy and icy weather, we can finally go outside without a jacket on? or could it be that after many months of plants lying dormant, things are beginning to bloom? we walk outside and we smell the honeysuckle, we see the purples and pinks, and now even, a little yellow, as flowers and dandelions begin to bloom.

personally, one aspect of being outside i enjoy in the spring is how one man's garbage can be a...

baby rabbit?

the other day i was on my daily walk with silas when i noticed something off to the right creeping ever so slowly as silas and i approached. at first i didn't think anything of it but with each step i began to get a better look at what i thought was a leaf or a piece of old paper. once silas and i got up to this brown and gray object, i realized that what i thought was a piece of garbage/debris, was actually a baby rabbit sitting all alone in the sun, soaking it up. luckily i noticed it before silas did and we slipped on by without disturbing the little fellow.

as we continued to walk i thought about how wonderful it is to see new life all around us: in the baby birds chirping from the robin's nest, to the little plants in my neighbors garden stretching ever so tall to the sun, life is all around us. had i just assumed it was what i thought it was, i would not have had the revelation of god's goodness coming to us in creation.

this sunday it will be pentecost, the day the holy spirit was poured out upon the church, but until then, we are still in easter, having just worshiped on the 7th sunday of easter. we continue to acknowledge the resurrection of jesus christ from the tomb 2,ooo+ years ago, and the way we encounter the resurrected one today. isn't it fitting how the liturgical year compliments the seasons which accompany it? especially in the spring, we can be reminded of just how much we are connected to nature and all of the other creatures around us.

imagine this for a moment: that indeed we are connected to all creation. that everything you did outside, all the products you used, all the choices you made in fact does affect creation and its inhabitants. would how you go about your everyday be changed? when you walked outside and saw the flock of geese flying overhead in the late autumn months, would you stop and gaze a little longer, being inspired by their honking as they fly over? or the community of ants working ever so hard to get the things they need in order for their community to survive, would you stop and give thanks for the ways we benefit from their diligence?

as we begin to add to our repertoire of spiritual disciplines and as we continue to do the difficult task of tending to God's presence within us, thomas merton says we will begin to see the holiness in the world around us. seeing in this way has power, because we no longer encounter the world only as a physical reality but a revelation of love. "such seeing has the power to transfigure the world and, at the same time, deepen our respect for nature.' we seek harmony with the universe rather than domination, and we walk with a sense that the ground underfoot is truly holy.

much can be discovered in nature: not only about god but ourselves too. merton goes on to suggest that if we open our hearts to the fact that we are part of nature and called to kinship with all, we will begin to see the transformation which awaits us in all of the created order. "one of the most important--and most neglected--elements in the beginnings of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things, to come alive to the splendor that is all around us in the creatures of God."

to come alive to the splendor that is all around us in the creatures of god....

what more does god want for us than for god's children to be completely themselves and to come alive. perhaps then, we can learn how to do this by taking notice of birds of the sky, the fish in the water, the flowers of the fields, and the roots of a tall oak tree. in doing so, in our attempts to see the presence of god in the mundane, ordinary things of life, perhaps we will encounter paradise, heaven if you will. if we have god dwelling with us, making our souls god's paradise, then the world around us can also become for us what is was meant to be for the first of the garden--god's paradise.

i encourage you then, this weekend, to go outside, take a pen and journal with you, and sit, listen, watch what is going on around you. in the stillness that his nature, listen for the still, small voice whispering in the depths of your being and take note. as you do, maybe you will be reminded of who you are and become fully alive with all creation.

Spiritual Seeing

2010-05-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

On an iPhone you can get/buy "app's", which are media resources for your phone. You can get game apps, you can get sports apps, you can get weather apps, you can get dating tip apps, you can get social networking apps, you can get twitter apps, and you can get...

news apps.

What I have come to experience with these apps is that they can get you what you need to know in a hurry. You get onto the facebook app and the next thing you know, you're updating your status about how you just got done going through a McDonald's drive through while speaking entirely in an English accent.

Or...

You can get up to date notifications on how UK lost in the NCAA tournament, having yet another let down of a season.

Or...

You can get updates from the certain news app you recently downloaded, letting you know all of that is happening in the world of politics, US news, World News, and Entertainment.

These handy, easy to access apps have many benefits and have had an impact on our society and the way we view media and news.

Yet I've noticed something else too.

I have an app for a particular news channel and I have my settings set up so that when 'breaking news' happens I would get an alert, letting me know, just minutes after 'it' happens, what just happened. It is great too. I was one of the first to know when many events occurred.
But here is what I've noticed....

Most of the time, most of the dings I get when I get an update, most of the 'breaking news' is nothing but...

bad

news.

Death toll is up to ____

So and so said this about so and so.

Plane crashes....

River floods....

Volcano erupts...

Terrorist plot....

You get the point.

Too often all we get is bad news. When you turn on the TV, what do you see? Floating heads, accusing someone of saying something and then on the other channels you have so and so saying they never said anything like that. You have one station too ____ and another station to _____.

All of the bad news being reported about makes me wonder, is there any good news out there? Are there any good things happening to people? Are there any good people out there providing hope to those who are hopeless?

It is quite understandable then when we hear people ask...

Where is God...

amidst these floods, bombs, earthquakes, killing of animals and oil spills, death threats, and political mumble-jumble?

God, if you are real, where are you then? Show us a sign. Show us you are with us.

Let's be honest though, what we are really asking , what we really are projecting, is our own fears, anxieties, frustrations and doubts. We join our voice to the cacophony of negative voices that surround us and we get caught up on 'just how bad things really are.'

Again I can't help but to ask, are they really that bad?

Or is it, we focus too much on the negative and spend too little of time acknowledging those good things that are happening in our lives, the good work that is being don, the good news that is coming to us in different ways?

I understand and realize too there are times when we need to express our frustration. There are times when we need to express our anger. There are times when we need to express how upset we are with the way things have turned out. For if we don't, we aren't being honest to ourselves and we begin to hide behind a facade of 'religious and spiritual' nonsense, stripping us of any authentic voices we may add to the community at large. Suppressing any emotion, both positive and negative, can have a lasting and harmful affect.

What to do then? Where does one begin?

This is what is exciting about what we will be doing this Sunday. As we load up in vehicles and as we grab our camera's, we are going to make time to look for the good in our community. Our exercise is to drive around the city...

looking for those places where we know Christ is present...

and...

go to those places where we would least expect to meet the risen Christ.

Henri Nouwen says, "Spiritual disciplines are the skills and techniques by which we begin to see the image of God in our heart. Spiritual formation is the careful attentiveness to the work of God, our master sculptor, as we submit to the gradual chipping away of all that is not of God, until the inner lion is revealed (referring to a marble artist carving a lion of a marble stone, freeing the lion from within)."

I mention this to remind us of the discipline of holy listening...

and watching.

Living a spiritual life is far from easy. Being attentive to God in our lives, amidst our busy schedules, bad news reports, and all the other distractions which get in the way, is difficult. Yet, being formed in God's likeness involves the struggle to move from absurd living to obedient listening, Nouwen would say. Absurd includes the word sardus, which means 'deaf'. Absurd living is a way of life in which we remain deaf to the voice that speaks to us in our silence. Nouwen also said, "It seems that the noisy, busy world conspire against our hearing that voice and tries to make us absolutely deaf. It therefore is not surprising that we often wonder, in the midst of our very occupied and preoccupied lives, if anything is truly happening."

Replace 'deaf' with 'blind' and this is where we find ourselves, looking and seeing God in a different way.

Prayerfully seeing God in our lives, in our community, in our nation, and in our world.

Being able to embrace the good in our lives, see it, and maybe even embodying it, our attentiveness can grow too. Growing in faith requires a growing attentiveness to perceive where God is active and to where we are being led.

This Sunday, and for the remainder of this study, we shall ask:

Where is God active in my life or community right now?

This Sunday, we go out into the community, we go out into the city and ask:

Where is God active in the community of Owensboro, Kentucky?

May it be then, as we begin our journey down the way of spiritual disciplines, that we will create the spaces in our lives for God to reveal God's self to us in a variety of ways. And in doing so, may we recognize God's claim on us, and may our eyes open, and may we begin to see what God has already been at work doing, even when, while, and during, those times when we asked, "Where are you God?"

See you Sunday!

May 2010 Youth PresbyNotes

2010-04-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

Finding Our Way Again
May 2010
Youth Ministry of FPC

Growing up, I lived on 15 acres of land. Mostly open fields and about 5-6 acres of timber. Before our neighborhood became the ‘place to be’, my parent’s property was surrounded by cornfields and more timber. Now though, if you were to go to their house, you’d think I was lying. Some of my fondest memories growing up as a child are those spent exploring with my 3 older brothers in those woods. I was told when we first moved out to the country not to go into the woods by myself because I could get lost. What was funny though was that our acreage of timber was small enough that if I entered one way, kept going forward, I’d exit the other side and know exactly where I was. With all the freedom that comes with being a child with lots of land, I knew that land like the back of my hand.

Or so I thought…

One evening in October, as the sun was going down, I happened to look out my window and see a deer in our field. Me being the young tracker I was, or wanting to write my own version of My Side of the Mountain, I went tracking the deer. Little did I realize though how dark those woods I’d explore a hundred times got even with the sun still barely poking up over the trees. After a few hundred feet in my pursuit of the deer, I’d realized I couldn’t tell where I was anymore. I was lost in a familiar place.

While I was in the woods, I felt my heart rate go up, the adrenaline began to overwhelm my body, and I shook a little bit, even though I was in my woods, I couldn’t figure out which way to go.

What was I going to do? I’ve been here so many times before yet it wasn’t what I’d though it’d be.

Until I saw it, the biggest tree in the woods we named the ‘T-Rex’. Immediately I sprinted over to the tree, my clothes getting caught on the thorn bushes as I ran by, and sounding like a herd of elephants, I hugged the tree and used it to keep myself up as I caught my breath. Then, I began to head in the direction of my house, indicated by a mark on the tree, and finally with the last fading light from the sun, I was out. Pretty scary moment in such a familiar place.

Had it not been for the tree, something to guide me, a sign along the trail, who knows what could have happened.

Perhaps this then is where we find ourselves journeying together in these next few months. We’ve established and are continuing to learn about the importance of community and what it means to love on another. Now we will explore how our community can be transformed by looking forward by exploring a path, trail, of love and practicing it. Being a traveler along the way of Jesus, with our fellow journeymen, is not a momentary incident. No it is a journey, a process, it is a way of life which can be learned and strengthened through a wide variety of practices which have been developed by Christians across the centuries and across traditions. In other words, in times when we may have lost our way, there are different practices and disciplines we can return to, ones which have been a part of the church for centuries, to aid us, to be that sign of hope, in our journey towards our faith in God.

As a community travels together and begins to come head on with life circumstances, it is important to be able to see what we have learned and can learn from both the good and the bad, as a community and as individuals. Instead of being a people of, "Why did this happen God?” we will be transformed into a people who ask, "Where is God in the midst of all this?"

It is our hope then, as we begin this new journey as a community together exploring spiritual disciplines and practices, we will allow our faith to not simply be something we 'do' on Sunday's only, but will set it free and become for us a transforming way of life. As a community, we will begin our 3rd part of our journey to better shape our lives together, learning, practicing, and exercising disciplines which will shape our lives and help us see the sacredness in the normalcy of everyday living.

We will explore the ancient ways that can teach us to practice peace, joy, self-mastery, and justice. The old disciplines--fasting, contemplative prayer, and simplicity, observing the holy days--do for our souls what exercise does for our bodies or study does for our minds. Our youth group and our upper room then will be transformed into a people and place of sincere spiritual formation.

It'll begin this Sunday after dinner, in the upper youth room where you will receive your 'gear' which will provide good assistance to you as we explore the spiritual disciplines.

Happy Birthday to...
03--Meredith Coomes
22--Katie Duncan
27--Tori Gossett

Youth News – upcoming events, May 2010

We had a short meeting on Sunday, April 25th, at the church wide meeting. This is a letter to inform you of upcoming events in the life of our youth ministry. Please take a few minutes to read through this information, and mark the dates on your calendar. Also, every Sunday, please check the board outside Adam’s office for any additions/changes. Thanks.

a) Thanks to all who helped with, and donated to the breakfast on Sunday 25th, it was a great fundraiser and we made about $250 to help defray costs for the mission trip.
b) The kids attending the Mission trip went to a team building event in Princeton on 25th April, meeting with other youth that are also going. It was a great event, well worth our time, with the students hanging out and getting to know the other people going with them to do God’s work.
c) The “fast that lasts” had to be postponed because of conflicting schedules. This will be rescheduled at a later date.

UPCOMING EVENTS: Bible Study dates in May: 6th, 20th and 27th, 6.30pm-8pm. NO STUDY ON 13th.

2nd May : 5-7pm Youth group, Junior High, 5-8pm Senior High

9th May : No Youth Group for Mother’s Day, spend quality time with your wonderful Moms!

15th May : Car Boot Sale. Encourage your friends and family to come and support our sale out of our cars. The cars that are selling stuff will be parked in the lower parking lot. The kids working it will need to be here at 6am to help with set-up and parking, and then work for as long as they can. All who attend will have money added to their account for the mission trips, or other youth group events. CANCELLED IF RAIN.

16th May : Youth Group 5-8pm for all. DESTINATION UNKNOWN. We are in desperate need of parents to be drivers for this event – please contact Adam or Debbie asap if you can help with this event. If we do not get enough parents to help with this we may not be able to do this.

21st May : Presbytery Youth Council meeting. This will be hosted by us, an overnight here with kids from other churches in the Presbytery, from 6pm until 11am on Saturday. Contact Carla if you can help with providing a simple breakfast.

22nd May : Senior Banquet for Katie and Jill. All other youth need to be here at 5pm.

23rd May : Spring picnic for all youth and families at Panther Creek – 4 – 7.30pm. Please see below for RSVP form.

30th May : Drive-in movie night for senior high. * this is dependent on availability of appropriate movies. If none are available, this will be held at the church.

June dates : Mission trip, June 12th-19th. VBS June 28th – July 2nd

July dates : City sights City Lights, entering 6th grade through exiting 8th grade students. More info later.

RSVP FOR Panther Creek family afternoon 5.23.10

Family attending_____________________________ Number of family members attending____________

Will bring: Hot dogs_______ Hamburgers________ Buns________ Dessert_________ Fruit________

Chips________ Drinks_______ Plates and cups ________

Spiritual Disciplines Sunday

2010-04-27T08:24:00.001-07:00

As a community travels together and begins to come head on with life circumstances, it is important to be able to be able to see what we have learned and can learn from both the good and the bad, as a community and as individuals. Instead of being a people of, "Why did this happen God?” we will be transformed into a people who ask, "Where is God in the midst of all this?"

It is our hope then, as we begin this new journey as a community together exploring spiritual disciplines and practices, we will allow our faith to not simply be something we 'do' on Sunday's only, but will set it free and become for us a transforming way of life. As a community, we will begin our 3rd part of our journey to better shape our lives together, learning, practicing, and exercising disciplines which will shape our lives and help us see the sacredness in the normalcy of everyday living.

We will explore the ancient ways that can teach us to practice peace, joy, self-mastery, and justice. The old disciplines--fasting, contemplative prayer, and simplicity, observing the holy days--do for our souls what exercise does for our bodies or study does for our minds. Our youth group and our upper room then will be transformed into a people and place of sincere spiritual formation.

It'll begin this Sunday after dinner, in the upper youth room where you will receive your 'gear' which will provide good assistance to you as we explore the spiritual disciplines.

On Thursday nights for Sanctus, we will continue in our study of disciplines and begin to practice them as well as study a book, An Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Book is $5 a person.

Sunday Night we will gather from 5-7pm jr&sr high. sr. high 7-8pm.

Peace to you t his week.

24 Hour Fast 2010

2010-04-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Amma Syncletica once said, "Just as the most bitter medicine drive out poisonous creatures so prayer joined to fasting drives evil thoughts away."

John Calvin, our church father, once said, "whenever men are to pray to God concerning any great matter, it would be expedient to appoint fasting along with prayer. Their sole purpose in this kind of fasting is to render themselves more eager and unencumbered for prayer...with a full stomach our mind is not so lifted up to God."

This Friday night and Saturday morning, we will be participating in our annual 24 hour fast, which begins 1pm on Friday and concludes 1pm on Saturday.

Here are the specifics:

Be at the church Friday night @ 5pm where we will help out our CDO program and an event they are offering until 7pm.

7pm-7:15pm we will have a water break

7:30pm we will have some time for worship

8pm we will watch a movie

10:30pm we will have compline prayer

12am bedtime/lights out

Saturday we will have morning prayer @ 8:30am

We will wake up and head out collecting canned goods from the neighborhood @ 9am

10am we will head to Boulware to drop off the canned goods

10:30am we will study hunger in the world

1pm we will break our fast with communion and a lunch

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask me. This is for 8th-12th grade.

The Art of the Mask

2010-03-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

About 16 years ago, a movie came out that was, well, quite ridiculous. It starred a rising hot actor Jim Carrey and an unknown at the time rising actress Cameron Diaz.

From zero to hero, is a tag line from the movie's trailer.

The synopsis of the movie is this: ordinary man, who can't say no, who works hard, to never catches a break, finds a mas, in a river, and when he puts it on, this ordinary man, suddenly becomes and entirely different person, a superhero type person.

Honestly, this movie is quite obnoxious for is predictable and there isn't much depth to the humor. However, it was one of the movies which launched Jim Carrey's comical career. Oh where would we be with out the Mask?

Stanley Ipkiss is the man Carrey plays who has become discontented with is life and how nothing seems to work out for him. Perhaps he is a little reserved and not as assertive as he should be, but he tries to be nice to everyone he meets. He lives alone and his closest companion is a dog. The fact of the matter is, Stanley Ipkiss isn't much of a social person and no one would consider him to a social butterfly....

Until he finds the mask.

This wooden, green colored mask, Ipkiss finds in the river has these miraculous powers which transforms him into somebody...something else. This once quiet, respectful, reserved banker, soon becomes an arrogant, out of control, thing who is inconsiderate and disrespectful to all of those around him. Not only does his face change from normal to bright green, but his entire persona changes--his personality and everything. This mask, this thing Ipkiss puts his face in to hide his anxiety and fear, turns him into someone, more like something, who is nothing like who he really is. This mask deceives those who know him and it even begins to mislead Ipkiss himself.

All because Ipkiss didn't want to wrestle with the realities of his life.

Ipkiss didn't know how to wrestle with these realities.

Ipkiss compared himself to those around him and wasn't pleased with who he was.

So he got this mask.

Became an entirely different person.

Began to hurt those around him.

Finally, someone had the courage to tell him, you don't need the mask in order to be loved...

In the end, all we really want is to be ourselves.

Free from masks.

Free from expectations.

Free from stereotypes.

Free from prejudices.

Free from the labels people put on us.

Free to be ourselves.

This Sunday we will complete our masks by reflecting and doing the difficult task of self-exploration and listening to what Thomas Merton calls the inner voice within. Too often we only see ourselves by the way others see us. Literally speaking here: who we are is defined by which sport we play, which car we drive, which group of people we hang out with, which brand of clothes we wear, which movies we like, and this list is endless. We put too much emphasis on the exterior of our lives and give too many people too much power over us.

It is our hope then as we begin to listen to the still small voice and become aware of our own poverty within, we will begin to rediscover those things which make us who we are and become rich in hope and peace. Instead of searching for ourselves in the 'doings' of our lives, we want to be found in the 'beings' of our days.

Thomas Merton says, "We are warmed by fire, not by the smoke of the fire. We are carried over the sea by a ship, not by the wake of the ship. So too, what we are is to be sought in the invisible depths of our own being, not in our outward reflection in our own acts. We must find our real selves not in the froth stirred up by the impact of our being upon the beings around us, but in our own soul which is the principle of our acts."

Come then Sunday night as we continue to walk with Christ, holding ourselves up to his mirror and seeing how we have conformed ourselves to the likeness of Christ. Come ready to wrestle, to explore, to pray, to contemplate, and to the difficult task of being ourselves and not being anyone else. Come ready to contemplate why we wear our masks and who tells us to wear them. Come with the good expectations that in the end, we will see who we really are, a child of God, who is in God, who is in us.

Peace to you all.

Food Drive Results

2010-03-16T07:23:00.001-07:00

Food Drive Results
In an age when over 1.2 billion people live on a dollar or less a day and during a time when 30,000 children die everyday of hunger, the children and youth of First Presbyterian Church decided to do something about it. In an attempt to bring an awareness of hunger not only in the world but also in the community of Owensboro/Daviess County, our students extended a one day fund raising/awareness event into an entire month long food drive. After making signs, coming up with clever jingles, and discussing hunger, the Kids for Christ, Junior high, and senior high youth began the food drive known as “Souper Bowl of Caring” on Super Bowl Sunday and ended on the 28th of February. Here is what we came up with:

Kids for Christ raised—81.0 pounds of food
Junior High raised—86.8 pounds of food
Senior High raised—46.0 pounds of food

When we began our food drive, we set a goal of raising 100 pounds of canned goods. We went far and above this goal with 213.8 pounds of food raised!

On behalf of the Kids for Christ ministry, Junior high and high school youth group, I want to thank you, the congregation of First Presbyterian Church, for joining with us in assisting in the steps towards ending hunger in our community. We have gathered up the food and put it in the grocery cart, which is parked outside the chapel, and the food will be taken to the H.E.L.P Office. In addition to our 213.8 pounds of food raised, we also raised over $75 which will be donated to the Backpack Ministry.

May we as a church, continue with our compassionate giving in aiding the poor by finding ways to contribute to the need of ending hunger in the community. Perhaps every time you come to the church, whether it be for Morning Prayer, Wednesday book study, choir practices, Circle meetings, or when you come to church on Sundays, you could bring a canned good or drop in some of that loose change you keep in order to by that over priced coffee or soda, and drop it in the money boxes which can be found at the Clinton place entrance and the Griffith avenue entrance.

As a Eucharistic practicing people, may we continue to give to those in our community and the world with our generous hearts and contributions.

Thank you again!

A Community of Fighters Post 1

2010-03-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

"No, I do not agree with you. I think what you have to say is completely irrelevant and disconcerting."

About this time, you can feel it, can't you?

You begin to breathe a little heavier.
You notice your heart rate pick up.
Your hands maybe even become sweaty.
You try to speak, and your tongue is heavy and numb.
You feel the steam boiling up within....

The air gets 'thicker'.
You begin to get uncomfortable.
You squirm in your seat.
You might even crack a joke, with hopes it eases the tension...

No one understands you.
You speak up, you voice your opinions, and still, on one 'gets you'.
We know your intentions mean well and their is truth in what you say.
You didn't mean for this to happen...

Perhaps one of the most uncomfortable positions to be in is one where conflict is present.

But why? Why is it when people disagree on something, we become...

Taken aback, feeling as if we are being attacked...
or
Awkward position, so we avoid addressing it by joking with hopes that if we ignore it long enough, the tension will go away....
or
We mean well, we spoke our mind, but we think the world is against us...

One of the greatest gifts God has given us is that we are created uniquely. Not one of us is created the same thus, our thoughts are different. We approach situations differently. Some of us have to problem voicing our opinions, while others of us are a little more reserved and not as 'outgoing' with our thoughts. One is not 'better' than the other and we are who we are. What is important in these situations where opposition may occur, is how we respond, how we present ourselves in conflict, and how we articulate what it is we want to express, not only with our words but with our non-verbal as well. Often times we communicate more with our nonverbal than with our verbal. Our nonverbal communication are things like: facial expressions, body movement and postures, gestures, eye contact, touch, and space. All of the before mentioned expressions have the opportunity to change the mood of a conversation as much as words and the tone of ones voice.

Controlling ourselves is quite important too when we dialogue with one another. Again, the importance of keeping our frustrations under control and hidden, is key to having a good conversation. When we do experience frustrations or something we disagree with, instead of rolling our eyes, throwing our hands up, detaching ourselves from the community and sit with our head down, arms folded, perhaps we need to name our frustration and opposing views. When we see conflict arise, one of the worst ways to deal with it is ignoring it and keeping it to ourselves. You see, the fact of the matter is this, when we live in community, we will experience conflict.

Luke 9.46-56

True Greatness

46 An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. 47But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, 48and said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’
Another Exorcist

49 John answered, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.’ 50But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not stop him; for whoever is not against you is for you.’

A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’* 55But he turned and rebuked them. 56Then* they went on to another village.

Often times we forget we will not always agree with each other. Maybe even at times we forget even those who were with Jesus experience conflict, even within the 12 disciples. What is fascinating about this is that all 3 of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, include this text about the disciples arguing who is the best, greatest, coolest, the ones who's swags are the tightest. They, like us, let their egos get the better of them. They even went as far to say, "Since these folks aren't one of us, can we disown them, stop them, and prevent them from coming to you?" How selfish, right? Jesus holds up the situation and says, "Those who aren't against us, are for us." Although they may not be like us, although they may see the world differently than us, doesn't mean we rule them out and un-friend them on Facebook.

Then there is Paul and Cephas' (Peter) conflict in Galatians...

Paul Rebukes Peter at Antioch
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; 12for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. 13And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?’

When we live together, no matter how good of friends we may be, no matter how alike we see the world, there will be parts of it we won't see eye to eye with, and this is OK!!

Regardless of who it is you are with and regardless if you agree or disagree with them, we are called to love one another. We are called to speak positively of one another, saying nothing which is slandering to ones character. Gossipping and talking behind one another's back will do nothing but bring on disunity a conflict which is quite uglier than what we have recently experienced. Perhaps we are in difficult seasons right now and yes, maybe so and so and I are not on the best of terms, but we still need them in our community. Their and your voices add to the cacophony of voices which speaks good, hopeful, truthful, and loving words to us, your faith community.

Again, it can't be emphasized enough that when you share life with someone, whether it be your brother or sister, mom and dad, boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, conflict will arise and yes, perhaps fights will occur. As frustrating as this may be, as disheartening as this may be, there is hope and good things can come from such disagreements and perhaps heated arguments. It takes maturity, responsibility and learning/knowing how to fight well with grace.

We find our community in a crucial time in our formation as we have come to realize our differences and as we move out of a long period of what some could call, pseudo-community, we will need to begin to wrestle with what a community looks like when we may not see eye to eye on things.

It'll be tough.
It'll be a long journey.

But it is one we can get through, for God is in the midst of what may appear to be chaos.

After all, it was God who brought order and life from chaos.

Until then, love the face of Christ you see in one another and embrace that which we are experience with maturity and grace.

Peace of Christ to you friends.

March 2010 Youth PresbyNotes

2010-03-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

March 2010 Youth PresbyNotes

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” asks the beautiful yet narcissistic queen.

Without hesitation, because this question has been asked regularly now for years on end, the mirror replies, “You my queen, are the fairest of them all.”

Most of us know where these famous lines come from, don’t we? We hear them asked in the Disney tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Without going into too much of the plot and all the juicy details, we know Snow White’s mother had wished for a daughter “that had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony". Soon after that, the queen gives birth to a baby girl who has skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony. They name her Princess Snow White. As soon as the child is born, the queen dies.

This then is where we encounter this new queen and her magical mirror. One day when the queen was in front of her mirror she asked the question again, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”

What started out as any other normal day quickly turned into devastation for this queen as the mirror then replied, “Queen, you are full fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you." This happens when Snow White turns sixteen and the queen seeks vengeance and does what she can to make sure Snow White is no longer an option for the mirror but as we know, this too did not happen for even after several attempts to kill Snow White the mirror replied, “You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But the young queen is a thousand times fairer than you."

All of this started because of the queen’s infatuation with this mirror. All she apparently cared about was looking the ‘fairest in the all the lands’ and not much else. She was so consumed with her beauty that it became an obsession and led her to act irrationally. This due to what she saw in the mirror.

Our culture has a weird obsession with mirrors, don’t we?

Take some time now and think of where you have seen mirrors in your every day lives.

Bathrooms.
Kitchens.
Many rooms in the house.
Small compact mirrors in our purses.
Mirrors on the walls at the YMCA and other gyms.
Dressing rooms have mirrors.
Some ceilings are mirrors.
Restaurants have mirrors.
Mirrors are in microscopes and telescopes.
Mirrors in cars, on cars, and around cars.

Mirrors, mirrors, everywhere. Mirror, mirror what shall I wear?
Now, think about all the times you stand in front of a mirror.

Brushing your teeth in the morning…and at night.
Washing your face in the morning…and at night.
Putting on our make up…
Checking out our clothes as we walk the cat walk in our own rooms.
Running on those treadmills when you are at the YMCA.
You use the compact mirror during the day after you had lunch to make sure you don’t have food in your teeth.

I’m curious as to the number of hours a person spends in front of the mirror in a lifetime. In fact, if one of you finds out and tells me with proof, you will win $50.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, sometimes you don’t make me feel good at all.

Mirrors reflect. What you see in the mirror is what you get. Some days we are happy by this and other times, not so much. Because we use the mirror to see what is on the outside of ourselves. How strange would it be to have a mirror which can show what we look like on the inside? In fact, perhaps the closest thing we have is that little mirror dentists use to stick in your mouth to check out your molars. Even then, this is quite uncomfortable.

Much like mirrors, we can get hung up on what we see. Often times we judge ourselves by what we see, our own appearances and if we are feeling “good”, we approach the day with perhaps more confidence than if we looked in the mirror and weren’t happy with what we saw. Some days, we wish we would never have had stepped in front of the mirror because of what we knew we’d see.

Lent then is a season which is like a mirror for our lives. For forty days we pray, read, search, and pray some more as we reflect on our lives and examine them. We sort through the lies we have been told, we wrestle with those lies we have believed, and we long for the truths we know but have hidden them deep within our souls. In general, we take a step back from the routines and habits in our lives, to adjust our lives accordingly to the life of Jesus Christ.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” ~Luke 4.1-2

This past Sunday in worship we read from the Gospel of Luke and his account of Jesus’ time in the wilderness. For forty days Jesus spent time alone with the wild beats and angels which accompanied him, and he wrestled with the Devil. Temptations were thrown at Jesus where he wouldn’t have to worry about food, where he could be powerful, and he would have all the protection in the world. As this tempter offered him these attractive baits, Jesus responded with truth, confidence, and trust God was with him. Jesus had the opportunity to fall to these temptations, to have his life become quite comfortable, but instead, he resisted. His companions, the Spirit, the Word, and the traditions of his faith comforted him and got him through these forty days.

It has been suggested that perhaps Jesus wasn’t wrestling with a half man, half cow person, who carried a pitch fork, but instead, Jesus was looking in a mirror, a mirror which revealed his heart and wrestled with what was going on internally. Perhaps this is the case and I find it to be life giving as I think about those temptations in my life which cause me loneliness and despair. Greed, unhealthy guilt, lust, selfishness, hatred, bitterness, and the list of ugly words could go don. Instead, Jesus resisted but he didn’t do it alone. He found strength and courage through the Spirit which is always with him and us, through God’s word which reminded Jesus and us of God’s faithfulness and the traditions of his faith as Jesus and yes us too, were reminded of how God loves us. Jesus fasted, prayed, wrestled, and then gained the strength to go about his ministry.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, is it possible that I am beautiful after all?

Yes, yes you are. All of us carry around those things which make us feel as if we are unbearable and there are things we have done and said which were indeed ugly. But the fact of the matter is this, beneath all of these faces we put on and the lies we tell and believe the truth is God loves you the way you are and wants you to be this person at all times. Find those things which bring out your beauty and let your true self shine. In fact, apply them daily to your life as you stand in front of mirror, reflecting on who you are. Stand in front of the mirror and with an erasable marker, write all the words you know are true about yourself: beautiful, funny, creative, kind, caring, selfless, humble, and go until your hand cramps up. Then during this season of Lent, take these words which are truths and share them with those who may perhaps cause you great pain and hurt. Trust and know God loves you and is with you wherever you go.

Friends, Lent is a time to rely on the Spirit to aid you in your exploration of your life as you reflect on where you’ve been. Like a mirror, use this time to consider what adjustments need to be made in order for you to align your life to the calling God has on your life. As you do, you might be surprised at just how beautiful you really are and in fact, those things people get hung up on, like the queen’s thought of Snow White, will not prevent you from being who God has created you to be, no matter how scary this 40 day journey may be.

March 2010 Youth Group Calendar

Thursday 4th – Sanctus Bible Study 6:30-8:00pm
Sunday 7th -- Youth Group 5-8 pm (Kirk Night—Kids for Christ Too)—Also we will be heading to the Hermitage to visit with the residence there!
Thursday 11th -- Sanctus Bible Study 6:30-8:00pm
Sunday 14th -- Youth Group 5-8 pm
Thursday 18th -- Sanctus Bible Study 6:30-8:00pm
Sunday 21st -- Mission Trip Meeting in Madisonville @ 2pm. Bus will leave at 1pm. All parents are encouraged and all Youth MUST attend.
Destination Unknown 5-8pm
Thursday 25th -- No Bible Study
Sunday 28th – Mission Trip Fundraising Breakfast for Sr. High @ 8am; meet at the church
Easter Egg Hunt will follow the 10:30 service outside in the prayer garden on Psalm Sunday.
Youth Group will be that night from 5-8pm

Happy Birthday to…
4th—Reid Thomas
4th—Brock Brubaker
19th—Adam Quine
22nd—Meredith Zengel
28th-- Jordan Walling and Hallie Walling

Happy birthday gang! I hope you have a great day!
Break Down of the Calendar
March is a pretty laid back month which also finds us in an in-between stage of weather. For most of March we will be on campus participating with the church at our Kirk Night and continuing our Lenten journey as we anticipate Easter morning. Here are a few things to take note of:

March 7th—Kirk Night host by Presbyterian Women as we celebrate the Gifts of Women in our church. Dinner will be served at 5pm and the study will begin. All groups will meet this evening! Around 6:15 we will pile in the bus and head towards the Hermitage Place where we will visit with the residents there. Come ready to have a smashing great time!

March 21st—We have our 2nd Mission Trip meeting and all students are REQUIRED to be there. The meeting will be held in Madisonville and the Madisonville Presbyterian Church. We will leave via the bus at 1 pm and the meeting will begin at 2. We shall return around 5pm. Again parents are encouraged but mission trip participants are REQUIRED!

March 28th—The beginning of Holy Week and we will kick it off by our annual Easter Egg hunt which will happen in the prayer garden, granted the weather is nice. We will gather in the prayer garden following the 10:30 am service. In the mean time, bring in plastic Easter eggs and candy, leaving them in Adam’s study!

March 28th--We are encouraged to eat breakfast every morning and we are also told this is the most important meal of the day. Sometimes it is difficult to grab that bagel, pour that bowl of cereal, or eat the yogurt and granola as you head out the door to start your day. Don’t you worry, the youth ministry will help you out with this important meal. Starting at 9 am on the 28th of March and the 25th of April, the youth will be hosting a pancake breakfast in the fellowship hall to help raise funds for our 2010 mission trip to North Carolina. The meal will be on us but we will be accepting donations. We hope you can attend as we provide an opportunity to start your day off right! (These 2 breakfast dates will be in place of the Annual Sunrise Service Breakfast. There will be NO Sunrise Service breakfast this year.)

April 4th—There will be NO YOUTH GROUP on April 4th. Happy Easter everyone!

Kids for Christ—We are in full swing again KIDS FOR CHRIST and March will be just as exciting for you all. You will meet March 7th and 28th! Some come ready to have a good time, bring a friend, and come hear about how much God loves you!
Events Down the Road
May 15th—All youth are encouraged and invited to attend the Senior Celebration Dinner which will be held at 6pm, Saturday, May 15th. On this particular evening we will be honoring Katie Duncan and Jillian Thomas and their lives as they embark on a new journey in their lives. More information will come soon.

May 15th—Our 2nd Annual Boot Sale will take place in the parking lot of First Presbyterian Church to act as a fundraiser for our varied trips. All youth are encouraged and needed to help with this great event from 6:30am-11am Saturday, May 15th.

Students in the News
Congratulations to Sydney and Wil Smith who both made all A’s the past two grading periods. Keep up the hard work!

Congratulations to Jordan Walling who made the All A honor roll at Estes elementary and Hallie Walling who made the All A/B honor roll at Estes elementary. Great work girls!

Congratulations to Sarah Bowley and her recent gymnastic achievements!

Good work to Graham and Katie Duncan, along with their parents, who participated in the KHSAA Sate Swim tournament. Keep up the great swimming!

Congratulations to everyone! Parents and youth, please remember to send me the highlights of your student’s achievements so we can recognize them in our newsletter!
Parents do not forget to check out who is preparing meals for us. You can email Adam or revisit our youth blog to see the list of who has which month. Thanks!

A Night of Lovely Valentine Hearts

2010-02-17T11:11:00.001-08:00

"What does 'POSH' mean?"

"A crown? Really a crown? What are we to say about the crown?"

"Text me, you're kidding me right?"

"First kiss--how am I to communicate this into something God would say?"

How exciting it was for us, a people of Love, to have a cultural event fall on Sunday!?

We gathered again, like we have been for quite some time, together, all of us from Kids for Christ to junior high and even the high schoolers, packed ourselves again tightly into the upper youth room where we found ourselves sharing our lives and telling stories. Yet what was different about this past Sunday night was our stories focused on LOVE and our lives, we examined them through the lenses of God's love for us, God's people.

One of the characteristics I enjoy most about you the youth, is your ability to think critically and quickly, all the while using your imagination. Your creative juices are always pumping and your humor, which is bright, always shines through. Your capacity to think on the spot provides many entertaining conversations and it usually leaves me and the other adults scratching our heads and thinking, "Why didn't I see that?" or, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Our conversation with all of us again, began with us going to the source of love, our sacred readings. We took two of what probably are the most well known references to Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13 and 1 John 4. What you did with them was remarkable. Your ability to tell story through cleverly written summaries and your cunning narratives left us for sure in the presence of love.

Though what was impressive was your desire to work together. It can be quite the task to find roles for 10-12 peers in a matter of 15 minutes with a 'script' that may not have as many options. These 'limitations' did not prevent you from going forth with the show. I remember as we were preparing for the skits, one of our KFC students said what might have been the funniest thing I've personally heard in a long time, and it was quite silly. But the way you all responded with grace and laughter, made them feel comfortable enough to rattle off the next outrageous comment. Your inclusiveness is evident within our groups and this is a perfect example of demonstrating God's love the world.

To tell a good story is a great way to grab people's attention. After all, the Master Story teller himself, was often scrutinized because of his stories. You all are story tellers and you friends, are finding ways to let your lives tell your stories. You friends, are finding the mysteries of LOVE in the world and communicating them to others in ways I'm sure you are unaware of.

Trust yourselves. At times revisit your imagination, get lost in creative dreaming, and dream wildly. Don't worry about who or what may be around, but hope with entirely with your heart for what you wish LOVE would look like. For when you do, you create things like Catherine and Marie did:

Faith is now
Love is now
Hope is now
And now, we show the greatest--
Love
Love is eternal
Love is true
Love is God
Lois is you
Love

Then this is what you came up with as you gazed at the cheesy pick up lines on the hearts:

For the Crown--You belong in the Kingdom of Heaven
For Holla--Hello my child
For Marry Me--Dedicate yourself to Jesus
For real love--God
For Love Ya--Love Everyone
For LOL--God Loves your Laughter
For Dream Big--God has many dreams for you
For Hottie--Everyone is a hottie

Or again how you took Scripture and created something beautiful like this:

God wants us to look past stereotypes and focus on inner beauty and love what you love because you love it

Love is not limited to romance or significant others. It transcends these things which we limit it to, like how we love tacos and muffins and how we love our mom and dad. Love, as demonstrated in the last sentence, can and is, quite confusing. Yet no matter how much we claim loves confusion, we often times prevent Love's capacity to woo us. We are quick to label love and even quicker to pick who we will love. In a sense, our attempt to define what LOVE is often times leaves us looking harder for it because where we once encountered love in some capacity, is no longer there. This is what is beautiful about love, it surprises us, even when we have it figured out.

We still have a lot of LOVIN left to do and we are still in need of much love. Many of us are longing for love and some of us have plenty of love to give away. Be attentive to the places where God's love appears and take note of them. Look for those in your life who is in need of God's love and give it to them. Find ways to creatively proclaim Christ's love with the stories you are telling with your lives. All the while, trust and know, God loves you and I more than we will ever know. Remember too:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Peace to you these Lenten Days friends.

Shalom.

Adam

Super Bowl of Presence

2010-02-11T20:52:00.000-08:00

On a Sunday morning in church, the actual church building, I am there.

On a Thursday night, huddled around the little table with the dancing flames of the candle that is lit, with you, I am there.

During the most chaotic time of your life, I am there.

In those moments when you get goose bumps because you have heard something profound, I am there.

When you smile because of good news you have received, I am there.

As you sort through all those tough questions about where I may be and even when you know for sure I am not there, I am there.

At a packed football stadium in Miami, I am there.

In the middle of the devastation of an earthquake, I am there.

In the house jammed packed with 25 students and some older folks, I am there.

Jesus once said to those who were following him that, “Wherever two or three are gathered, there I am in the midst of you.”

Sometimes we may need to look a little harder than other times, but no matter what we are doing or where we are, God is in the midst of it. In our laughter and in our tears, in our chatter and in our singing, in our groaning and in our smiling, God is present with us. This was evident this past Sunday night as we gathered.

Many people gathered with their closest of friends the other night to watch a football game. It was the ‘game’ of the year some say. In fact it in so influential in our society and culture, there is a move to get the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday off and make it a “National Holiday”. I even saw one person’s Facebook status say, “If Martin Luther King Jr. was still alive, he’d have a dream to have the Monday after the Super Bowl off.” This sporting event shapes our culture if not because of the event itself, than for sure the commercials and entertainment they provide for us. Either way, whatever your reason may be as to the reason you watch, you gather with others to do so and in that gathering, with the TV up loud, the dip falling off the chip and on to your white t-shirt, and the drink that was just spilled, God is there.

Imagine watching the game alone this past Sunday? Would you have had the same experience? Would you have been as involved in the game if you were alone? Sad you not come, Katie Duncan would not have one the quiz with her 11 out of 14 correct answers and Graham Duncan wouldn’t have anyone to tell how he almost guessed to the exact what the combined score would be. He guessed 47 and the actual score was 48. Or what about the dance party which happened after the start of the second half? Would your moves have seemed as cool, and perhaps as lame, if you did it alone? You wouldn’t have had the laughter you had without the others doing the sprinkler, the running-man, and lip singing to Miley, would you? Then there is the football game which broke out during the game in the house! Two of our KFC’ers started their own game after their interest in the one on TV dwindled but what was fascinating about their game, and more entertaining mind you, is their field wasn’t 100 yards long, played on soft grass. No instead it was played on staircase: one end zone at the base of the stairs and the other one, one top of the stairs. The miracle, no one got hurt!

Then there is the table and how it hosted a great meal provided by our host, Kim. The spread was great: chicken wings, chips and dip, vegetables and fruit, cold beverages, and candy. How good it was to see us with plates in hand and empty cups, come to the table to be filled not only with food and drink, but with good conversation with our good friends. In that moment, in those moments where we sat eating together, talking, giving thanks, and enjoy the game, a holy moment happened. Even if it was just a second long, we sat, worried free except for who would score next and what the next commercial would be, and we were gathered together, in a home, breaking bread. Sounds familiar doesn’t it as we approach this Lenten season.

Peacefully you gathered too. It is said you can’t have a party with people too different from each other. You guys the other night proved you can. Despite being junior high and senior high, despite being from different schools, despite many things, you guys came together and lets be honest, partied! To see you interact and to see you converse with each other brought much delight to me. For the most part, your inclusion of everyone was inspiring and your ability to adapt is always remarkable. Yet what gets me every time is your creativeness and making sure you keep things interesting. Your care free spirits, along with your good willed attitudes facilitates a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Sometimes it is hard to see God’s love in the world, let alone in our own lives. But that night, I had no problem seeing Christ’s face in the 25+ of you who attended our party. Your laughter, your conversations, your presence is and was proof alone God is with us. The fact of the matter is, there was lots of fun happening and a fair amount of jocularity, which provided a great sense of peace that night and which carried into the start of the week. Incredible you are.

Friends the next time we gather, look closely, listen intently, and simply pay attention to the faces of one another. And when you do, you too will see proof of Jesus’ promise to us that he is there with us, when a few have gathered or when an entire stadium of people are together, Christ is in our midst.

Peace to you until we gather again.

Souper Bowl of Caring Week 1

2010-02-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

Grace and peace to you friends.

Here is a quick update on how the different "team's" ended up after the first week of our month long of a congregation who SOUPERLY cares for hunger.

Souper Bowl of Caring 1st Sunday Results:

Kids for Christ--15 pounds of canned goods and $10

Junior High--12.2 pounds of canned goods and $9

Senior High--10.6 pounds of canned goods and $15

**There was a general donation for $25 that will go in to the 'large pot' at then end of our drive

Keep up the good work folks!

Holy-Huddles Not an Option

2010-02-03T12:35:00.001-08:00

The room sits still.
Messy, yes, but still.
The humming from the heater disturbs the now quiet youth room and it is peaceful.
This room, which was host to 30+ students Sunday night, now sits empty and still.

Light shines in on the table which is catering to two very tired Foosball teams.
Bottles of paint still gather around a large painting which has lies draping across the ping-pong table.
Chairs are out from under the table and in an order which leaves good evidence to the fun which was had the last time the it was used.
Looking around, the stories of some of those youth are speaking loudly and give good testimony to what this room is for.

Community.
Laughter.
Playing.
Praying.
Church.

An incredible evening we had this past Sunday night when all 3 of our children and youth ministries got together for a night of celebration and well, community. Every Sunday for worship all of God's children come together to share life together but rarely, do all the younger children get together to embrace each others stories. But we did and yes, it was quite tight and loud in that upper youth room.

It was incredible to see how we adjusted as the room continued to fill up with faces we know well and faces we are just learning about. As mentioned earlier, there wasn't much room to breathe, but we managed to carry on delightful conversations and share in a few laughs together. In a sense we stared diversity in the face and took on the challenge. Ranging in ages from kindergarten to seniors in high school, we acknowledged our differences and committed to be a part of ministry together.

We began to take a stand against a major issues facing our world, nation, and community these days: hunger. What you guys are doing, what you guys are learning about, what you guys have committed yourselves to do will bring a great hope for a people in our community who may very little at this point. Even in the good fun of 'competition', what you will accomplish with your dedication to bringing awareness of hunger to our congregation is a work which will not go unnoticed. In the end the efforts which you have put into motion will indeed bring good news to those who are in dire need of such news.

Would it be possible though, to accomplish that which we are hopeful for if we did it alone? Instead of working together, we hung out by ourselves, recruiting only those whom we like and worked by ourselves? Perhaps we could accomplish some of the tasks at hand, but would our efforts be completely fruitful? Our intentions would be good yes, though some could say they lacked integrity and purity as they would be flawed with in-authenticity and perhaps, corruption, as limitations were set in order to keep some people out. It would be creating of a system just like the ones we face today which prevent people from experiencing a love that God had intended for all of God's children.

We are not a 'holy-huddle' if you will, rather we are a community committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and in participation with each other. Much like the Apostle Paul explains in his first letter to the Corinth Church, we need each other. The nose can't say to the ear, be gone, for what would we hear with? The hand could say to the eye be gone, for what would we see with? Inclusion of one another in the action of our ministry is a must if we are to see the change we have dreamed of. Our efforts by ourselves come with limitations but when we join our causes, we can accomplish more than what we could by ourselves.

Many of us have experienced growing pains in our lives. Our muscles ache and our bones seem to be growing at an obvious rate which brings teeth-gritting pains to our knees and other joints. We know it was inevitable for we all grow. We all can't stay an infant all of our lives and our bodies know this and are designed to grow, so we do. We adjust to our growing pains and take necessary action to make sure we adapt to our growth. Growing makes us weird. Our bodies begin to take on new shapes and sizes and sometimes this is uncomfortable and we don't know what to do. Eventually over time though, we find our 'swag' and we become content in our own skin and we finally enjoy who we have become. It doesn't stop there though for we make adjustments in our eating habits, exercise habits, and daily activity to make sure our bodies stay healthy. For if we don't, serious consequences could occur.

As a youth group of First Presbyterian Church, it is important for us to constantly evaluate our selves, check our growth, and respond to the needs of the community, kind of like we are with the Souper Bowl of Caring. We have to engage in the difficult conversations a community must have in order for peace to occur. We cannot begin to develop 'partners' and detach ourselves from the community at large and turn appears to be whole, into individual fragments. At all costs, we must avoid any sort of segregation and facilitate opportunities for all of us to participate in the life and ministry of the youth group of FPC. It is our nature to for cliques, after all it is quite inevitable in a system which encourages different group of people to participate with their own age groups, but we can find ways to serve and live side by side as a youth ministry. If you cannot and do not believe, perhaps Sunday night can attest to this claim.

Sunday night, all 30+ of you gathered together in our small room, crammed onto couches, and sat peacefully amongst each other. Together as a community we listened to the instructions of the evening and worshiped together. From there we embark on a ministry opportunity which includes all of us, yet we each went at it a different way. The signs and yes even those silly slogans some of you came up with, were brilliant and clearly demonstrate your awareness of the project at hand. This speaks truth to the idea of how we can be church together, despite those things which are obvious, along with the hidden ones too.

Together we can make a difference and we will but we must be attentive to those things which are happening in our community life. Then my prayer for us as I reflect on our time we had together this past Sunday, is that God may gives us eyes to see the injustices in our society and yes even in our own group, that God may grant us ears to hear the cries of those who's voices have been muted by our laughter and fun, even some of our own voices, that God may grant us courage to bring justice and peace to these people in our lives who are in need of God's love. It is my prayer we continue to listen to God in the silent moments that occur in our lives and attentively engage in hopeful, life-giving activities with each other, with the end result being the kingdom of God here and now.

To all of you who are a part of Kids for Christ, junior high, or senior high, I am thankful and grateful for your vow to our community.

Grace and peace to you all.

February 2010 Youth PresbyNotes

2010-01-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

February 2010
Youth PresbyNotes
01/28/10

Tell me what you have seen?

There I sat in my eighth grade Social Studies class with a task to complete. You probably think this task was an assignment of some sort, like read a chapter or two, finish the test, or something else dealing with academics, and all of these guesses are great…

But that is not what I had to do.

Instead, without any hesitation, I agreed to do a favor for a friend who wanted to know if a particular girl liked him. Believe it or not, I was quite shy in grade school and talking to a girl was the last thing I wanted to do. After all, they had coodies!

As I made my way to this girl I asked my self, “Why couldn’t this guy do it? Why couldn’t my friend find the nerve to go and ask this girl if she liked him?” I didn’t like her and I didn’t want to give the wrong impression, right.

Anxious, nervous, scared, and uncertain; these are the words I would use to best describe what I was feeling that day. Indeed it was a terrifying situation for me all because I had to ask a question and it wasn’t for me.

There is this scene in the Bible, Matthew 11, where John the Baptist’s sends one of his disciples to ask Jesus a question: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” It is one thing to do the dirty work for a friend and ask a girl whether she thinks he is cool or whatever, but it is another thing to ask the Messiah if he really is the, well the Messiah.

Are you really the one?

How would you answer this question knowing what you know?

Jesus then turns to the poor fellow, whose knees are knocking as loud as the bass drummer in the grade school band, and says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

In wake of what has happened recently, people may wonder if God is here with us. People observe bad things happening all across the world and wonder where is God. No matter what precautions we may take, bad things are inevitable. Nonetheless, how we can answer the question is exactly how Jesus responded; tell of the things which you have seen.

What are some of the good things you have experienced?

What are some of the ways you have experienced God’s love?

Where have you seen God’s love happen?

These won’t answer all the questions but it can provide hope for some. Your lives are a testament to God’s love for the world. Jesus mentions in his response that the poor receive good news. This called to my attention the good work we are a part of as a youth ministry as First Presbyterian Church. We have offered a helping hand to many people and organizations and because of this we have brought good news to whomever it is we have helped. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!

Our feet will be busy for the upcoming month too with a variety of opportunities to engage in God’s love for the world. February 7th we will be having our Souper Bowl of Caring where we will raise awareness of poverty in our world and in our city, while standing with soup buckets hoping for donations. Then on the 14th Kids for Christ, Junior High, and Senior High will be making a trip to the Hermitage Nursing Home where we will be handing out Valentine’s Day Cards to the residents there. Then to help one of our very own members, on Saturday, February 27th, we the youth have been asked to be servers for a steak dinner to help raise money for the Gilliland’s. More information will come about this.

Tell them what you have seen. Tell the world of God’s love by showing them God’s love. Change the world by loving! Change the community by loving! Change yourself by loving! Many opportunities await us in February to bring GOOD NEWS to people and you, the youngest among us, will be leading us in the march towards hope!

At times it can be difficult to bring good news, just like it was for me to help out a friend. Our words may get in the way, we may be nervous, but God’s love isn’t limited to the words we offer but by the lives we lived. God loves you; there is no getting around that. Let your life speak of this love, let the Light shine, and even with butterflies the size of pterodactyls in your stomach, proclaim the good news of Christ’s love for the world!

Thanks be to God for your life, ministry, and work together. Peace be upon you and make sure you LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, during this month dedicated to LOVE!

Shalom friends.

February 2010 Calendar

4th—6:30-8pm Sanctus Bible Study All Youth Encouraged to attend

7th—Souper Bowl of Caring @ 9am 7 10 am

Super Bowl XLIV party at Lashbrook’s from 5-9 pm. You can meet at the church. This is a Junior and Senior High Party!

11th—6:30-8pm Sanctus Bible Study All Youth Encouraged to attend

12th-13th—All students grade 8-12 are encouraged to attend the Youth Council meeting in Henderson. We will leave at 5pm on Friday and return around 12pm on Saturday. Bring $5

14th—Youth Group at the Church from 5-7pm—All youth, Kids for Christ, Junior High, Senior High—We will begin at 5 pm and we will be taking Valentines day cards to the residents of the Hermitage Place on Parish Avenue. Please bring an appropriate box of Valentine’s Day cards you can pick up at the local grocery store.

18th—6:30-8pm Sanctus Bible Study All Youth Encouraged to attend

20th—Confirmation Orientation beginning at 10 am

21st—Youth Group 5-8pm DESTINATION UNKNOWN

25th—6:30-8pm Sanctus Bible Study All Youth Encouraged to attend

27th—Gilliland Steak Dinner—All Youth Needed to Help Serve! 5pm

28th—Youth Group-5-8pm/Kids For Christ 5-6:30 pm

Something to Chew On

One of the highlights of being together is having the opportunity to sit around a table with our youth and listen to their stories, get a peek inside their lives, and to experience Christ’s love in them. Meals have always been important to the people of God and this is definitely the case for us here at church too. Something mysterious happens at the table when we gather together, we become more ourselves, and usually great memories are had. Eating together is special, it definitely shows unity.

Recently our youth ministry team met to discuss how we can better facilitate our meals and eating habits on Sunday evenings. Also, we wrestled with the issue of over abundance and hunger in the world, which made us aware of our own eating habits. This conversation led us then to making subtle changes in our eating of meals, which will allow us to cut back on food consumption, wastefulness, and give space for the youth to be attentive to what they are eating. In doing so, we hope a new conversation will arise about hunger in the city of Owensboro and what we as a youth group and minister can do.

Aiding us then in our attempt to do our part in bring awareness of hunger to our church, we have derived a new calendar of meals. Our meal planner, Carla Clancy, has been hard at work preparing this calendar, pairing up families to provide the meals, and making sure our youth will have snacks of some sort available to them every Sunday. The calendar is as follows:

The families of our youth have been paired together to provide meals for Jr and Sr High Youth during 2010. We ask you plan a meal for 25 people, this will allow for the Youth, Chaperones, and individuals providing the meal to eat and enjoy fellowship together. Some specific needs include two youth who are vegetarians and one youth who is allergic to peanuts, peas, beans and carrots. Keep in mind, with a receipt and the correct form completed (which can be found outside Adam’s study), FPC will reimburse up to $60 per meal. Contact Adam for additional reimbursement details.

Some general requests we have:

If you are unable to participate on your scheduled day, please make arrangements to trade with someone.

A few days prior to your scheduled meal, Adam should be contacted to verify serving time and any special instructions. You can contact Adam by calling the church or his cell phone, 313-9375 or you can email him at: youthdirector@firstpresbyterianowensboro.com

February

7 Super Bowl Party @ Lashbrook’s

14 snacks

21 Shelton-Zengel

28 Adam’s choice

March

7 Kirk night

14 Coomes-Davis

21 snacks

28 Adam’s choice

April

4 Kirk night

11 Barber-Smith

18 Snacks

25 Adam’s choice

May

2 Kirk night

9 Mother’s Day

16 Triplett-Tinsley

23 Snacks

30 Adam’s choice

June Bowley-Clancy

July Lashbrook – Hayden

August Duncan – Norris

September Shelton – Zengel

October Coomes - Davis

November Barber – Smith

December Thomas – Armstrong

Again, this decision to cut back on our food intake is not only a health-conscious one, but it is an attempt for us to also bring awareness of hunger in our community, nation, and world. After presenting this to one of our students this question was asked, “Do you think the money we save from not eating as much we could give to an organization?” Friends, the conversation has already begun and it started with our youth!

If you have any questions, please contact Adam at any time! Thank you for your commitment and participation with the youth ministry of First Presbyterian Church.

Happy Birthday!

2nd—Harper Lashbrook

5th—Catherine Tripplett

15th—Martha Hughes

18th—Wil Smith

You all are a gift to us! Happy birthday!!

Youth in the NEWS!

Wade Zengel for making the All A Honor Roll at DCMS.

Meredith Zengel for making the All A Honor Roll at East View.

Katie and Graham Duncan for their accomplishments on their swim teams and for the breaking of a few school records!

Gabby Barber and Meredith Coomes for their Dance Competition placements!

Congratulations to everyone! Parents and youth, please remember to send me the highlights of your student’s achievements so we can recognize them in our newsletter!

Events to Take Note Of

Mission Trip Information--Attention Youth Mission Trip 2010 Participants: There is a MANDATORY meeting March 21st, 2010 in Madisonville @ 2pm. All you who are going on the mission trip MUST be there and their parents are ENCOURAGED to attend. More information is soon to come!

February 7th, 2010—Souper Bowl of Caring will be held on this day after the 8:15 service and before the 10:30 service. Come help raise awareness of poverty in our community and do something about it!

Super Bowl Party
February 7th @ 5pm
Wear your favorite teams apparel and come root the Saints to victory! Jr. & Sr. High

February 27th--All youth are needed to be servers for the benefit dinner for the Gilliland's. An orientation will be held on the 21st of February and we will need you to be at the church at 5pm on the 27th. More information is to come.

Our Kids for Christ will be meeting twice in the month of February: the 14th and 28th. More information will come in the PresbyNotes and Post-Cards in the Mail. For sure we will meet at 5pm on the 14th at the church! Come with your Valentine Day cards for the residents of the Hermitage Place!

BOOT SALE 2010--On May 15th we will be having our 2nd annual Boot Sale. All youth who are going on the mission trip will need to participate. It will be from 7am-12pm but we will need you there @ 6:30am. Any questions please see Adam!

Dinner to Honor our Seniors: Jillian Thomas and Katie Duncan—On May 15th, 2010, around the supper hour, we will have a dinner to honor and celebrate our two seniors in high school. All youth not graduating will be needed to help serve and splendid dinner to Jillian and Katie’s family. Please see Adam for more details.

***For a HARDCOPY of this newsletter please pick one up from the bulletin board at the base of the stairs leading up to the youth room. Also look for a link for this newsletter in the next PresbyNotes. Please look for this newsletter under the youth section of youth group on the website. Or you can check out our blog http://fpcowensboroyouth.blogspot.com/ or you can contact me with any questions you may have!***

Rhythm of Life

2010-01-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

Getting started on a Monday can perhaps be a difficult task for you if you're coming off an exciting and eventful weekend. The drive to work, the bus ride to school, you yawn and fight back the temptation to close your eyes and sink back into wake up mode.

Perhaps we do different things to wake us up. Some of us may have a pot of coffee waiting for us in the morning, others start their days by a hearty breakfast, warm shower and a tall glass of OJ, while others make sure they drive by Starbucks to grab their favorite Mocha beverage. Don't limit though the start of the morning to just these few practices for there are many more. Either way, there is usually a routine we follow and if we for some reason miss one part of the routine, our days could potentially be shot. Then there are the days when we are in such a rhythm with the early morning events, we feel as if we can take on the day. Again though, finding the rhythm is important for us.

A rhythm of mine on Monday morning is key for me and the result of my week. On Monday's I wake up early, take Silas on a walk, come back to the smell of coffee filling up the house, shower, grab my Prayer Book, Bible, and what ever else I am reading, pour myself a cup of coffee, and read. From here I go to church. If I get there in time I join Jonathan and the others who show up for morning prayer in our Chapel and for 15 minutes, I join my life in prayer with those who are there with me and we pray: for the world, the nation, the community, and you. At the conclusion of the prayer I make my way down the freshly vacuumed hallway and I grab the Vacuum and ascend up the darkened hallway to the youth room and I begin to meditate.

Closing the door behind me, I peer across the room and smile. I think begin to reflect on how messy the room is and how it got that way. The smile grows wider and wider as I pick up Sunday school papers and remember our great discussion on Luke 4, Jesus' reading from the scroll of Isaiah. I think about how you the youth defined justice and equality and then how you made the connection of the injustices in this land, the land of the "Free". My attention is then grabbed by the bread crumbs which appear all across the room from our "Agape Feast". I begin to vacuum and think about Sunday worship and how I have the honor of joining with you in the Eucharist and offering to you, "The bread of heaven," "The bread of life," and I give thanks for your lives and the way you have taught me about community. I make my way into the classrooms and see the puzzled you all worked on, or the world's you all dedicated yourselves to fix and restore. Your commitment and dedication to finishing what you started reminded me of God's promise to love us, to bring restoration to that which God created.

My reflection doesn't stop there for I stand now with a hammer in my hand and begin to hammer nails into the wall to hang up your paintings. These paintings remember were done during Advent, to aid us in our journey to worship this child who would change the world. We hoped together, we longed for peace together, we share in each others joys, and we learned more and demonstrated love to each other. This then reminded me of the journey we have been on and gave me much hope for where we are going next. I hung up posters that have fallen down over time and ran across our Wii Bowling tournament and again, gave thanks for the fun times we have had together. I gazed at the names and prayed for those whom we haven't seen in a while and gave thanks for their lives too. What fun we have had!

Having moved the furniture once to vacuum, after completing this task, I began to rearrange the furniture, putting the pieces back together and setting up our table: new candles, setting up the Christ candle, and a fresh stick of vanilla incense awaits to be lit and to rise like our prayers. It dawned on me as I moved the furniture how you all have began to take steps many months ago of rearranging your own lives so you can further enhance your encounters with the Holy. I thought about how you all have been gracious to me and have been willing to move, experiment, and make things up, as we have went a long and I am grateful for this too. Remember though dear friends, you all have done, are doing, and most guarantee, to do great things in the future. Your insights, willingness to go with the flow, and commitment to one another inspires not only me to continue to be in ministry but the church at large. You are the one's Paul was encouraging when he said, "Don't let anyone look down upon you because of your youth." As the Gandhi poster says in our room, "Be the change you wish to see in the world," and you are guys are doing it.

After an hours worth of work, it was completed. In one hour of 'cleaning', I was able to take a peek down memory lane, give thanks for our time together, pray for you and your families, and dream about what is going to happen next, a rhythm which is essential to the life of this ministry. Had I not taken the time to stop, move slowly but deliberately, and be quiet, I would have missed God reminding me of God's love for me through the indications of it from the 'mess' in our youth room.

Daily rhythms are important and can be very insightful. Often times we call these things habits or disciplines. In the Christian community (and others for that matter) there are different disciplines we can practice to help us in our faith journeys. They range from long hours of silence, deep attitudes of prayer, walking a Labyrinth, to reading the Bible and taking a long walk. Yet what is great about spiritual disciplines is their ability to take on many shapes and their general definition. Your morning routines can be just that: a spiritual discipline.

In your activity, where do you see God? Perhaps you hear God's voice claiming God's belovedness on you in the gurgling of the coffee pot. Or maybe you see God in your toast, reminding you of the Eucharistic meal you ate just yesterday at church. Maybe you are reminded of God's grace as you stand in the shower and feel the water pouring out upon you, while you remember your baptism and give thanks. Possibly you encounter God in the silence you experience as you sit, gazing out the window of your ride to school. Or, may you feel God's presence when you arrive to school and are greeted by your best friend.

Friends, be attentive to the rhythms of your life. Find the things you do every day and see the sacredness lying in them. Discover God's presence in your unfolding of the clothes and how you are covered in God's grace. Take time to pause, look, and listen for that rhythm which gives the beat to your life's swagger. In doing so, may new life and peace come to you.

Shalom good friends!

Adam

Sanctus 01.21.10

2010-01-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

Jesus Stills a Storm Mark 4.35-41

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ 36And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

Jesus Stills the Storm

There it sits, bobbing up and down like an apple in a bucket at a Halloween party. As you walk closer to it, you glance off to the west and see the colors of orange, red, and violet are turning into blue and black as a storm seems to be approaching.

After an hour or so you and your comrades are in the middle of the lake and the storm clouds are right above you now. The tiny hairs on your neck begin to rise as the first sound of thunder cools off the bright lights of the lighting bolt which just displayed the gray clouds which hover above your soon to be rained on head.

Chills soon follow as the first drop of rain finds itself on the bare skin of your neck and slides down your back.

You sit now in the boat, with the storm starting, and you begin to feel your heart start racing and the thumping sounds louder than the bass drum of a middle school band. Your legs begin to get weak and your feel the adrenaline beginning to pump…

First in your knocking knees, then in your thy, your arms get heavy, and your numb fingers begin to tremble…

Where are you now in the boat?

You scrounge through your bag looking for your yellow rain coat, only to remember you left on the kitchen chair and now this though goes away with the first splash from the waves spilling into the boat.

The howling and gusting winds is a terrifying sound, reminding you of wolves crying out in the wilderness.

You get thrown from the left and then to the right. Finally after a long tug of war with your seat, your grip, which was accompanied by your white knuckles by now, gives out and you are thrown onto the floor of the boat…

How do you feel now?
Where are you?

Crawling in a pool of lake water, you try rising to your feet and with the after taste of salt residing in your mouth, you cry out only to be knocked off your feet again, this time to your knees…

What do you say?

Your eyes open and you begin to frantically look for help. You know he is on this boat, somewhere. He was on it when you left, after all it was he who suggested, “Let us go to the other side.” Yes your friends are there but when you look at them, you see the terror and fear in their eyes, a reflection of your face…

What do you feel after looking at them?

Their looks of terror are no comfort to you…

What then do you say?

As screams begin to resonate in the hull of this small fishing boat, your eyes catch a glimpse of him…

What do you see?

Still grasping tightly to the nets, which smell of rotten fish, you try to somehow steady yourself, you take a deep breath as you cry out to Him…

What is it you cry out to him?

Your eyes lock with his and your fingers release their grip on the net, and your hands no longer hurt. You try to look away but you are captivated by the peacefulness on his face. Sternly he looks at you but in the words he tells with his eyes, you are comforted…

What do you feel?

Like a ghost, he gently moves to you and extends out his hand and says, “Peace! Be still!” You grasp his warm, wet hand and your body once filled with an uncomfortable rush of adrenaline, now tingles in delight.

How do you respond?

Things stop moving. The boat sits peacefully on the water, whose appearance looks like a sheet of glass. No less than a minute ago your life was in limbo, being tossed to and fro, and now, peace.

As soon as you realize this, a smile comes over your face…

Smile. How does it feel now to smile?

But as soon as your pearly white teeth appear from your vice-gripped tight mouth, Jesus says to you, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

And your smile fades…

What happens to you now?

Peace is here.
Even amidst the storms, Christ stills them.

What storm are you currently in?

Do you see storm clouds on the horizon?

Where do you see the sunset and the light from the sun?

We are quick to ask, “God don’t you care?”, yet are quicker to forget that God is in the boat with us…somewhere. In our own times of distress and in the sharing of the disciple’s anxieties, Christ reassures us of his presence with us, concerned even when we can pin-point exactly where He may be.

So, what now?

Psalm 139.11-12
1If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night’,
12even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

To say we’ve never been in a storm or we have never seen one, would sell ourselves short of telling of our stories of how God’s grace has met us and overwhelmed us. “Storms” happen, not only in our lives but the lives of the world too. We know God does not cause these storms but they still happen and God is still God, even in the thickest of foggy weather. God offers a beacon of light to those in the darkest parts of the storm; God offers calm waters to those who are frantically swimming in dangerous waves; God offers a life preserver when we find ourselves gasping for air. God wants us to …

Be still…
Look for peace…
And know, God’s present with us in the storm.

Where then now, in your life, can you find peace?

January 2010 PresbyNotes

2009-12-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

January 2010 Youth PresbyNOtes
Epiphany Poem
By Adam R. Quine

It was a journey,
Those 12 days.
We went to visit,
To sing and to sit.
Up hills and down valleys,
Seeing shepherds and their flocks,
While walking on sand and unsteady rocks
The paths weren’t smooth
Especially the ones we choose
No matter though the way we took,
It’s a part of our own book.
We hoped the stories were true,
That a child was born for me and for you
Or as we heard it, “The king of the Jews.”
People seemed frightened and sure what to do,
I guess we didn’t know, too
Yet we went,
Exhausted and spent
To the one from above
Coming to us in love
Even with plans to deceive,
We promised to do nothing but receive
Continuing in our adventure
We went unsure
Looking we saw the star still rising
With no compromising
Our hearts kept beating
Hands, once stable, began to tremble
No longer pondering, our minds wandering
Suddenly the star sopped and nothing was stirring
Standing still with our thoughts swirling
Could this be it? Could this really be?
Where we were met with reality?
Is this the boy?
Where our world would meet its great joy?
Moving slowly
To
The door
We lifted our hand
Cleared our throat
And we began to knock
With our tongues in a knot
Waiting, Listening, Remembering and Hoping
Then the door creaked
And we heard a baby shriek
Our eyes filled with tears
As we entered with cheer
Falling to our knees we opened our bags
Giving our gifts to the king in rags
It may have been cold, but we brought our gold
We may have been tense, but offered our frankincense
No longer unsure, we gave him our myrrh
A miracle is here
The great mystery has come near
God with you, god with me, on this the Epiphany.

Indeed Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. This Christmas season and this New Year, take time to look at where we have been, where we saw God, how we encountered Jesus, and look forward to what lies ahead. 12 days it took the Wise Men to get to Jesus and to be met there by the reality that God the Creator had entered into human history, the Great Light of the World had come, and they paid homage to him, Jesus. Christ came and offered new life and still does, Christ came to love and still does, Christ came to offer hope and still does. May you, your family and we as our youth group, embrace what is to come, looking with hopeful eyes for the coming 2010 and be ready bare witness to the light with our lives.

Grace and peace to you all in the year of 2010. Shalom.

Youth Director,

Adam R. Quine

January 2010 Youth Schedule of Events
• 3rd—Kirk Night Fundraiser 4-7 pm
• 7th—No Bible Study
• 10th—5-7:30 Movie Night
• 14th—Bible Study Sanctus 6:30-8pm
• 17th—1-4pm Kids For Christ Ice Skating at the Edge
• 17th—Youth Group 5-7:30 pm
• 21st—Bible Study Sanctus 6:30-8:00pm
• 24th—Destination Unknown—4:30-7:30 pm (Bring $10)
• 28th—Bible Study Sanctus 6:30-8pm
• 31st—Youth Group 5-7:30 pm

Things to Look Forward To
A Few Minutes for Mission—January 3rd, 2010 we the youth group will host the January Kirk Night. This will act as a fundraiser for our 2010 mission trip and all youth are required to be there. Our night will begin at 4pm as we set up the Fellowship Hall for the evening festivities and also, learn our roles for the night’s events. We will be showing pictures and videos from our trip to South Dakota, so all students who are a part of that trip must attend. Again, all youth are asked to come and help serve and volunteer this evening. Those of you who do come will have money go into your ‘account’ for 2010 trips. Parents, we will need your help with the prep work for that night
February 7th—Senior High and Middle High Super Bowl Party at the Lashbrook 5-9pm
February 7th—After the 8:15 and before and after the 10:30 am services we will be raising money for the Souper Bowl of Caring. The winner (middle high versus senior high) will get to choose where the money gets donated to.
February 12th-13th—Youth Council Meeting in Henderson, Ky—Leave Friday @ 5:30 and we will be home around 12pm on Saturday the 13th. (Senior High only & $5)

Attention Kids for Christ
January 17th—All Kids for Christ are invited to join us at the Edge Ice Skating rink for an afternoon of figure eights and frozen water. We will be skating from 1-4pm on that day. All you need to do is bring a friend and be ready to have a great time!

January Birthdays
9th—Shelby Taylor
12th—Sarah Bowley

Happy birthday girls!

Reminder!
Remember parents and students to frequently check our church’s website and the blog site for updated calendar events and news!

Attention All Students in Grades 8-12
Sandy beaches, quaint shops, historical landmarks are the things that we associate with the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In Hyde County, though, hurricanes and unemployment have led to poverty. Here is an opportunity to serve and restore hurting areas of that community!

Who: High School Students (including rising freshmen)

What: Travel to the Outer Banks; 4 days serving on work projects and with a Kid’s Club; nightly activities in the outer banks; worship and devotional time; Whitewater Rafting in the New River Gorge after our mission week is complete,

Cost: $400 per person Deposit Required by January 4: $60
Please note the following balance deadlines:
$170 due by March 1 2010; $170 due by May 1, 2010.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Meredith Zengel for making all A’s! Keep up the good work.

A reminder to all parents and students to please let us know of your accomplishments so we can celebrate them with you! Congrats to all of you.

1st Sunday Advent--Darkest Just Before th Dawn

2009-11-30T07:36:00.000-08:00

Press Conference - The Dark Knight

(To aid us in our discussion of Advent, we used a quick scene from the movie Batman: The Dark Night. Focusing mainly on the lines, "It is darkest just before the dawn, and the dawn is coming.)

Darkest Before the Dawn

It is always difficult this time of year to not get excited. We look around and there are all sorts of shiny, flashy, noisy, and distracting things everywhere. From stores, to radio stations, and even on people’s front yards, we have already begun to be consumed, swallowed up by the materialism that is the Christmas season.

Get ready for Christmas we often say and we do this by putting up trees, decorating our houses, shopping, and more shopping. We begin to play Christmas songs and we watch our favorite Christmas movies: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Elf, and A Christmas Story. We look forward to so much this time of year and again, often times ending up getting too distracted.

We lose sight of the “reason for the season” and we buy into culture and society, spending, spending, and spending. This time of the year also can be a difficult season for people who don’t have family, don’t have anywhere to go, and can be difficult for those who may have lost loved ones. It can be difficult for anybody who may find themselves wandering around in large stores looking and searching for the right gift and having just found it, they get trampled on by inconsiderate shoppers and just like that, the joyful spirit goes out the door with a few mumbled words we cannot say and a look which speaks louder than thoe words.

How much do we really get it? How much do we really understand what is going on in the world, our communities, and our lives? We participate in it and not that this is bad but it can be. It can be a distracting and controlling matter which prevents us from being who we are to be and seeing others for who they are too. We prepare for the Christmas season by consuming all sorts of things and often times, because of this consumption, we become over-stressed and tired. I remember growing up and hoping and hoping to get the things I put on my Christmas list, which I worked so hard on. I would spend hours working on the list, searching through magazines and newspapers looking and writing down the toys that I NEEDED. I needed these things or I would not survive. Then when I didn’t get it, I complained, I mumbled, I would try to understand, but in the heart of my heart, I was quite ticked off I didn’t get that N64 or the latest gadget.

I wasn’t grateful for what was there, right in front of me. I longed for more and I wanted more. Yet now, that N64 I so badly NEEDED, sits in the bottom of T and I’s closet, collecting dust and being used maybe 1 time a year.

Yet there is good hope which lies in this time of the year. We get to practice the discipline of waiting. How anxious we grow during this time of the year. When we are little we get excited as we see the gifts pile up under the tree. We get excited as we count down the days to when we have no school. We get excited for the first snow fall. We get excited to see family we haven’t seen in a long time. We get excited for that feeling we get during this time of the year. We have to wait….for a month….for a while.

Waiting is tough especially if we find ourselves in a season of darkness, confusion, uncertainty, frustration, and worry. At some point in 2009 all of us have been in one of these situations. Where we have felt alone, where we have felt lost, where we have felt uncertain, and maybe even, we have felt unloved. How good it was though when those things went a way. When those feelings of despair and deep sadness were lifted. How great it was and how much easier it was for us to breathe when we saw the light appearing in the distance in our lives when darkness was all too present. These seasons may have lasted a good while, maybe a month, a week, or they may have only lasted a day, an hour, or a minute. Yet even in our most frustrating of moments we knew, light would come and darkness would dissipate. We knew these seasons would end and a new one would come to us. Our trust was in the Light, we knew it would appear, because if there is one thing we know that is certain in this world, it is that in the morning, in the dawning hours of the day, light will appear.

What is going on around us? Deep sadness. Deep hurts. Deep confusion. Deep misunderstanding. Quite like a period in time so many years ago. When God seemed to have been absent and people were longing for a Messiah, one to come and heal them. One to come and rescue them. One to come and free them. For so long they waited. They cried out to God and then their crying stopped. They no longer seem to want it. Their hope for the dawn was lost and they were fine being in the darkest parts of their days. Yet even in their hopes for the Messiah, the season they waited for, their thoughts were misguided too. They wanted someone attractive, they wanted someone rich, they wanted someone smart, they wanted someone who was a purebred, they wanted a King, and they wanted a mighty military and political ruler.

And guess what?

They didn’t get it. Instead, they got a baby, born to some peasant mother and father in some house where animals fed out of the same place where he laid his tired head. Jesus the Messiah, the King, the Prince of Peace came in an unlikely way, yet he did more than what any earthly ruler has ever done.

And he will do more than any earthly ruler will ever be able to do.
Christ is coming again and we, during this season of Advent, begin to prepare ourselves for his coming. What will his coming look like? How are we preparing? How should we be preparing? Where will Christ be coming? Who’s coming? What will he be like?

Latin word for Advent is adventus—which means “the approach” or “the arrival”. The verb advenio means—“I arrive. I come. I am coming.”

Christ is coming again and again to us. We must find ourselves ready and alert, attentive to where God has been, where God is now, and where God will be. We must be on guard and not let our hearts get tangled up in a mess of consumerism, greed, and selfish expectation. We must begin to prepare ourselves for the light, realizing that when we have been in darkness for a while and when we finally enter into the light, it often times is overwhelming and can be quite painful. Yet we continue to pray for strength, praying God’s direction and for God to make known God’s ways to us, like the psalmist did. We want to be ready so we may respond with obedience, responsive period, and to be ready to pick up the light and carry it with thus. The great Light of the World is coming, in an unlikely way, to us, an unlikely group of people who although may be sinful, we are redeemable, and God wants us to experience and lavish in God’s love.

It is a dark season, as the Christ candle is not lit. But we come to the table, bringing our own experiences and our own lights of God is with the hope that our candles will be bright enough to get us through the darkest part of the seasons, which is right before the dawn, which is right before the Christ child comes.

Is This What They Expected?

2009-11-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

It is almost Advent. Just a few days away from our first Sunday, where we light first candle as we wait for the coming of Christ. This time of the year always fascinates me really. It is not even Thanksgiving yet but it is Christmas apparently and Santa and his reindeer are already at the mall waiting for you to go and sit on his lap, so we can rattle off all the things we 'need'. Its not Christmas though.

It is time for the season of Advent.

A time of holy waiting.

Waiting for the Messiah to come.

Waiting for a Prince to come.

Waiting for a new Hope to come.

Waiting for a new Humanity to come.

Waiting for someone not LIKE King Ababwa.

Although this is what they thought their Hero would be.
Handsome. Wealthy. Powerful. Thoroughbred.

What did they get?

A baby, born in a small house, with animals around him, with hay, and to parents who were, well they weren't of any prestige.

Yet this child, changed the world. This child taught teachers things as a twelve year old. This child turn the world upside down with his 'backwards' way of thinking. This child, was, is, and will be the Messiah, the one who would deliver, is delivering, and will deliver us from those things which oppress us.

God made a promise and in the birth of Christ, God remember God's promise. In this promise comes a final covenant of grace is made and love in its purest form joined us in history. Entering the story is Christ, the one who saves us.

This is why people were upset. Jesus wasn't like Prince Ali Ababwa. He was quite different. He loved the lowest. Served the weakest. Helped the poorest. Stood up against the status quot of culture and because of this, he was killed.

What are you doing as you wait for the Prince of Peace to come?

How are you preparing yourself for Advent?

What King have you, are you, and will you serve?

Love the face of Christ in everyone you see.

When you see it, is this what you expected Christ to be?

December 2009 Youth PresbyNotes

2009-11-24T07:41:00.000-08:00

December 2009 Youth PresbyNotes

Many Things A’Coming

Mark 13.32-37

The Necessity for Watchfulness

32 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Beware, keep alert;* for you do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

If you take a minute to stop and think, there are many things coming. Many exciting days to spend with family, many days to spend with friends while there is no school, many days to eat good food, and many days to be at church.

Yet there aren’t many days left for some things. For instance, there aren’t many days left for nice, warm weather. Or, there aren’t many days left your first semester of the school year and we’re running out of time to get our grades up if need be. Better yet, we’re running out of days before we lose the single digit to the end of our years and 2009 will soon become 2010. Which to be honest, will be weird to write and get used to.

We’re running out of time, it seems like. This time of year means things pick up, right? More homework comes, more chores come as we prepare, as our parents, prepare for family members and friends to come over for the Holidays, more stress, it seems like. Lots of people everywhere, running around franticly, and even at times it seems like they don’t care about others. People act as if they are running out of time and so they live irresponsibly, carelessly, and maybe even inconsiderately. To me this is funny because people can become quite rude and self-absorbed when they are out “doing” things for “others”, like shopping and what not.

Many thins are coming, like a time for us to stop and think about the things we are thankful for. If you remember right, we have a practice in our group we often do before we eat and give thanks for things we are grateful for:

Family…
Friends…
Food…
Sports…
Pets…
Life…
Laughter…
Water…

When we actually do stop and no longer go about living like we have to constantly be doing something, we can realize there are lot of things in our lives we are grateful for. A hug from a friend when we are in need of one, comforting words from our family when we need them, a stranger accidentally making us laugh when we least expected it, or other little blessings which come to us when we least expect them.

Many things are coming. One thing especially: the coming of Christ our Lord. Yea, that is right, Christ is coming…again. A great celebration is coming, soon. Before we can celebrate though, we must do a little waiting, remembering, hoping, and expecting.

Waiting—It is calm. It is dark. It is quiet. We wait for the movement of a pregnant mother and father to break the calmness of the night. We wait for the Light of the World to begin shining. We wait for the cry of a baby to drown out the quietness of the night.

Remembering—Where have you been? What are those things which shape you? Remember those who have loved you? Remember those promises which make you hopeful? We remember our story to help us see where this Christ child has already come to us!

Hoping—We hope for laughter. We hope for happiness. We hope for the day when there will be no more pain or sadness. We hope for enough to be made available for everyone. Hoping for a better year.

Expecting—We go into a new year expecting a fresh start. We go into a new year expecting new things. Expecting the best. After all, a newness comes to us when a new year comes, right?

For a nation, a chosen people, they too found themselves waiting some time ago. Now, we join in the waiting, remembering, hoping and expecting. God reached into our lives and began to put into action God’s redemption of the world. Through a small child. He was to be, is, and will be the Messiah. We, as followers of this King, this time of the year prepare for his coming, preparing ourselves by examining our lives. As we wait to greet this Son of God, we clean up our lives, interior and exterior, and we make ourselves ready to meet this hero, the one who has, is and will save us. In our expectation of what is to come, we become joyful for the good news we will soon receive.

Many things are coming. Like the hero, a baby. Not like what we think, like King Ali Ababwa in Aladdin, with horses, elephants, fancy dressing, and trumpet players. Actually it’s quite the opposite, really. Christ came as, you ready for this, Christ came exactly like we did: weak and needy as an infant, totally dependent on his parents. People saw the time was running out and then in the story entered the Hope, Peace, Joy and Love of God for the world, in a completely human birth.

Many things are coming and because of this, we are hopeful, expectant, mindful and excited! It is because of that event which happened, is happening, and is going to happen, we rejoice!

Friends, take time and give thanks for what is soon to happen. Be patient. Be mindful. Be optimistic. Be anticipative.

For he is coming.

Keep awake.

With hope, peace, joy, and love, He is coming again and again and again and again….

Peace
Adam

December 2009 Calendar

Sunday the 29th (Nov.)—Pitino Shelter with Debbie Bowley, all youth are encouraged to go and make crafts with the folks there. 11am
Thursday the 3rd—6:30-8pm Sanctus Bible Study
Sunday the 6th—5-7pm Christmas Program and Kirk Night: ALL YOUTH EVENT
Thursday the 10th—6:30-8pm Sanctus Bible Study
Sunday the 13th—5-7:30 pm: A Night of Love: Waiting in the City
Thursday the 17th—6:30-8pm Sanctus Bible Study
Saturday the 19th—Senior High Christmas Party: A trip to Evansville where we will eat out, visit Ritzy’s Fantasy of Lights and hang out in Evansville
Sunday the 20th—Christmas Concert and Reading Night 6pm—Church Wide Event
Monday the 21st—All Youth Christmas Party and Caroling 5-8pm
Thursday the 24th—Christmas Eve Service 6pm
Friday the 25th—Christmas Day! Celebration of the Nativity of Christ
Sunday the 27th—No Youth Group
Thursday the 31st—New Years Eve Lock-in 6pm-8am
Sunday the 3rd (January)—Youth Kirk Night and 2010 Summer Mission Trip Fundraiser 5-7:30 pm

Happy Birthday
1st—Anthony Free
7th—Maggie Triplett
18th—Ben Duncan
19th—Weston Hayden
Happy birthday to you all!

Calendar Break Down

Sanctus Bible Study—We continue to meet in our upper youth room to share our stories, to laugh, to sing on the occasion, to pray, and to worship as we share life together. Gathering time begins around 6:30 pm and the evening usually concludes around 8 pm. Friends are invited, too.

“On Christmas Day” Christmas Program and Kirk Night—Lore North is gearing up for what will be an exciting evening of our youth demonstrating their unique gifts through readings, songs, and music with a variety of instruments. This night will also be our church Kirk Night so come hungry and enjoy a great program put on by our youth! Please note that we’ll be practicing during the hanging of the greens (Sunday, December 6th @ 1pm!). All children and youth are invited even if they have not attended a rehearsal to date. They need to bring their music and instruments. We’ll put the whole show together for the first time that day. If there is anyone who does not want to sing or play an instrument, tell them to come on! We need people to help with lights, sound, etc.

A Night of Love: Waiting and Seeing IT in the City—We are coming closer to an end of our schedule on love and this night we will engage in looking for love in our city. We will break up in teams and like a scavenger hunt, we will go out into the city and find God’s love at work in our city. This will be on Sunday, December 13th from 4-7:30 pm!

Sr. High Trip to Evansville—For our Senior High Christmas party we, along with your friends, will load up in the bus and head to Evansville where we will dine out together (bring money for this), maybe do a little shopping in the mall, and then conclude the evening together by visiting the Ritzy’s Fantasy of Lights. Come dressed warm, with some money for food and hot chocolate, and be ready to have a good time with each other!

Annual Christmas Concert—Sunday the 20th the church will have its yearly Christmas Carol and lesson song night. The evening begins at 6pm.

FPC Youth Christmas Party and Caroling Night—On Monday the 21st we will have our annual Christmas party and caroling night, along with some good food as well. We will make trips to different places where we will sing our hearts out and spread the Christmas joy for all to hear! Kids for Christ you too have a party this night with more information to come!

Christmas Eve Service—6pm First Presbyterian Church Christmas Eve Service

3rd Annual New Year’s Eve Lock-in—This night is for all youth as we celebrate bringing in the new year, 2010! Registration is required and more details are soon to come. Doors open at 6pm. Friends are more than welcome to come!

A Few Minutes for Mission—January 3rd, 2010 we the youth group will host the January Kirk Night. This will act as a fundraiser for our 2010 mission trip and all youth are required to be there. Our night will begin at 4pm as we set up the Fellowship Hall for the evening festivities and also, learn our roles for the night’s events. We will be showing pictures and videos from our trip to South Dakota, so all students who are a part of that trip must attend. Again, all youth are asked to come and help serve and volunteer this evening. Those of you who do come will have money go into your ‘account’ for 2010 trips. Parents, we will need your help with the prep work for that night.

Websites to Visit when you get a Chance:
http://www.adventconspiracy.org/
http://www.d365.org/todaysdevotion/
http://fpcowensboroyouth.blogspot.com/

Reminder!
Remember parents and students to frequently check our church’s website and the blog site for updated calendar events and news!

Attention All Students in Grades 8-12
Sandy beaches, quaint shops, historical landmarks are the things that we associate with the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In Hyde County, though, hurricanes and unemployment have led to poverty. Here is an opportunity to serve and restore hurting areas of that community!

Who: High School Students (including rising freshmen)

What: Travel to the Outer Banks; 4 days serving on work projects and with a Kid’s Club; nightly activities in the outer banks; worship and devotional time; Whitewater Rafting in the New River Gorge after our mission week is complete,

Cost: $400 per person Deposit Required by January 4: $60
Please note the following balance deadlines:
$170 due by March 1 2010; $170 due by May 1, 2010.

Congratulations!
A reminder to all parents and students to please let us know of your accomplishments so we can celebrate them with you! Congrats to all of you.

Operation Christmas Child 2009

2009-11-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

Operation Christmas Child Night 2009
Youth Director Adam R. Quine
November 15th, 2009
Upper Youth Room of FPC Owensboro
“Love Waiting in a Box”

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

It is that time of year again, isn’t it?
All the stores are playing holiday music.
Starbucks is using the red holiday cups to serve their warm beverages.
Frosty, reindeer, the elves, and Santa Claus are starting to make their ways into the stores, too.
It seems to be here again, the Holiday season.

With the return of these holiday seasons, comes the opportunity for us to begin to spread good news, the same good news that came to us 2000 years ago. What good news am I talking about?
(Jesus. Yea, Jesus.)

We have the opportunity again guys and gals to put together a box of hope and love for some children all across the world. This year we are doing the shoebox ministry again, and this is why we have gathered here tonight with you all. We have gathered together up here in our upper youth room to sing, worship, pray, and then put the good news we know of and put it into action.

This morning in worship you guys heard some pretty amazing stories from some of the older kids, didn’t you, about their experiences with mission work. They talked about their experiences with poverty, they mentioned how they could not believe some of the things they saw, and then they talked about what they did about it. Tonight friends, we have the same opportunity as they, to take a stand against poverty and send God’s love to the world in a shoebox!

Activity:
450,000,000,000Have 2 kids make the numbers 4 & 5.

Every year we find ourselves this time of year getting excited for many different things. If you are your parent’s age, they perhaps, get excited about spending time with you guys, making dinners and what not. If you are your grandparent’s age, they are excited they get to spend time with you guys, their grandchildren, great grandchildren, and that they have another year with their children. If you were my age, you get excited because it means a time of year when I get to go home to Peoria to spend time with all my family and friends. We are all excited about our families, friends, food, and the spirit of being together.

Now if we are you guys, we are excited for a few different things as well, huh? What are some things we are excited about?
Late nights and sleepovers!
No school!
Food!
Cold weather!
Christmas trees and decorations!
Presents!

Presents are fun, huh? I always got excited seeing the presents build up and trying to guess what was wrapped up and what not. I also, now that I am older, enjoy giving presents to Teresa, my family, and to my new nieces and nephews. Christmas can be lots and lots of fun and is, but sometimes we miss the point about it, huh?

All around us if we look we see lots and lots and lots and lots of Christmas stuff, huh? We hear Christmas stuff? We smell Christmas stuff? Christmas stuff has come and Christmas is still a whole month away. How many of you before school starts, start pretending as if you are in school? You know, getting up early, sitting at a desk, reading, writing, doing your homework, and studying? Not too many of you do or would do it.

We spend money, lots and lots of money on Christmas. Guess how much?
(This then is when we line the kids up to explain we spend $450 billion on Christmas.)

How incredible is that? We spend $450,000,000,000 on Christmas in America alone!

Now how would you guys like to do something about that? How would you all like to get back to what Christmas was all about?

(Show Advent Conspiracy Video)

Give more presence.
Love like Jesus.
How would Jesus spend Christmas?
Worship fully. Spend Less. Give More. Love All.

Tonight we enter the story. We enter the advent story by worshiping fully, spending less on us, giving more to others and loving all of God’s children. Tonight we have gathered here to send God’s love, our love, and Christ’s love to Children all across the globe in the form of a shoebox. Usually though, we have our worship time. We sing. We pray. We laugh a bit. We have a good time. Then we make our way down to the shoe box stations and we fill our boxes and we do it again and this all take about 5 minutes. Then we are done, until next year. When we gather and do the same thing over and over and over!

What can we do then to make this more personal, a little more incarnational, and a little more real for us and for the children who may receive our boxes? We are going to take some time, sit down, pray, and write cards to put in these boxes. We are going to write them messages of love, hope, peace, and joy. After all, this is what Jesus came for. We will send them the message of love by saying, we give you this gift because we love you. We will send the message of peace by sending them a box which will give them time to play, to worry less for only a moment, and to give them an opportunity to be a kid, like you all. We are sending a box of hope by letting them know somewhere all around the world there are people who care for them and wanted to let them know so. Our messages in a box will bring a smile and laughter to their faces, and let’s be honest; there is nothing as joyful as those things!

We may not have many toys this year to stuff in the boxes. In fact, many of these toys may not have cost nearly as much as the stuff we will get. Our boxes may be filled with things we don’t appreciate such as toothbrushes, pencils, and toys in general. Yet what this box means to these children goes beyond our understanding. Imagine if what you put in these boxes is all you got for the whole year. All of 2010 and all you got was a box full of these toys. This is what they get, this is what they hope for, this is what they wait for.

You see, these children wait for this little box of toys to come to them, they wait for a long time. Much like the people in the bible did. These children wait for the good news which comes in the form of some small toys and miscellaneous items in a small, cardboard box. Much like the people did when they were waiting for someone to come, rescue them, and in doing so, bring them good news of a new way of life! God’s love comes to these children through a box full of joys. Much like how God’s love came in a feeding trough in the form of a small child some 2000 years ago.

This year, it isn’t going to be like the other years is it? We’re going to slow down this year. We are going to be pray more and prepare more. Together, we’ll intentionally put our boxes together, thinking carefully about what we are doing, and being thoughtful of those who will receive our gifts. Together, we will take a stand against poverty by using our resources to provide for others. Together we will show people that there is still good in the world.

Together, in a shoebox, we will proclaim good news that will impact a child’s life. We will be sending over God’s love to a place where love is needed.

Together we will bring heaven to earth for a bunch of children like you! You will make a difference; much like that infant did so many years ago, in the life of the world.

You ready?

Let us pray.
God of life and the giver of the best gift, our lives, we give you thanks a praise for your love and the way this love comes to us. Tonight as we continue in our worship, we pray you will give us eyes to see you, ears to hear you, and a readiness to receive you, so that we may continue in the spreading of the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet, especially to those who may receive our shoe boxes full of toys.

We pray for them now, wherever they may be and whoever they are. Hold them in your parental love and guidance, pouring your compassion and mercy out upon them the way you do for us here. Provide peace for them where peace is not present. Provide hope for them where hope no longer seems to reside. We pray for the children who may have no families or homes and we pray you will give them courage to endure their days. Come to them and shine light onto their paths and let them not walk aimlessly but with a confidence and courage which can only come from you.

We are grateful for your love O God and how you have met us where we are. Be with us wherever we go and remind us to look for you in all we meet and see. Help us to love one another and to care for one another the way you call us to, God of community, Holy in One. Let us never neglect any of your children or turn our eyes from those being hurt or close our ears off to the cries of those who need our help. Never let us older people be so set in our ways that we refuse to hear the voices of our young brothers and sisters or prevent them from contributing. For all your children O God, keep them dreaming dreams you approve and living in the spirit of the young man Jesus, for it is through Jesus we pray and pray the prayer he taught us to pray saying together:

Hour of Nones--Noonday Prayer

2009-11-04T09:48:00.001-08:00

Psalm 121

Assurance of God’s Protection

A Song of Ascents.
1I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
2My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

3He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and for evermore.

November 2009 NewsLetter

2009-10-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

First Presbyterian Church
Youth Group PresbyNotes
November 1st, 2009

God’s Attention in a Shoe Box Form

We’ve all seen the videos.
Nothing has changed really.
We know there is a problem in the world.
We know the statistics.
We see the pictures.
We see the old guy on the movie asking us to do something about it, to help out those who are less fortunate than us.

We come. We ‘listen’ to the homily before. We get excited. We run to the fellowship hall. We gather with our friends and stuff boxes. Picking up toys we like and putting them in boxes to some boy or girl we’ll never meet. Once one is done, we run get another one and do it all over again until, until there is nothing left.

Until there is nothing left…

Perhaps this is how God must have felt when God tried and tried to get the people’s attention about what it means to be a Holy Nation, or to live as the people of God. God created something beautiful, God created things good. Along the way though, we missed it, dropped the ball if you will and have forgotten just how good we are. Prophets would come along and boldly ask and tell and hope for people to turn from their ways and to really think about whom they are and if they are living into their identity as God’s people.

Isaiah and other prophets came along, all hoping for the day when their pains of being an oppressed people, being a people in exile would be over and someone would step up and take them, lead them out of their exile. Someone who would demonstrate and fulfill God’s love and remind them of just how good they are. Great leaders would rise up and help lead them, get along the journey just a little bit farther and then, they too would have nothing left to give. They tried but it all was to daunting and the people, they complained. They were satisfied with having what they have, living under an oppressive ruler and not really raising a concern about how things were going, being slaves and not taking on the responsibility to be God’s chosen people. These people, God’s people, had forgotten what good news was like and the way good news never left you feeling empty…or as if there was nothing left.

Then it happened. God entered into the world, becoming for the Israelites and for us, good news in the form of an infant, a child, Jesus. Finally a fulfillment to the hope the prophets spoke of and a sign of God’s faithfulness comes in a child, one who would lead them out of another exile, who would lead US out of an exile. Now this, this is good news! Jesus came, is here and is coming with God’s love for all people, especially those who find themselves to be poor, homeless, ill and alone. Jesus came and showed there is another way of doing things; another way of caring for each other, Jesus came to show God’s love in its purest form. This Jesus guy, the one who heals the sick, gives sight to the blind and helps the lame walk, is the person Isaiah talked about when he wrote about someone coming who will use power in its purest way, leading a people out of the slavery they found themselves to be in and into a new kingdom, a kingdom which is here, there, near and now. No longer are they empty feeling, no longer are they hopeless, no longer are they in exile. They are filled with hope, they are filled with joy and full of God’s love as this new kingdom has arrived.

This year we have the opportunity again to bring good news to people all across the world with the shoe box ministry. Our time together will be gathered around tables, kind of like communion, putting together a package for someone we may never meet, but we will send them one anyway because we want them to experience God’s love the way we have. Advent is here almost and we will again celebrate the good news of Christ coming as Savior and redeemer of the world and there is no better way to prepare ourselves for this than to send a package of love to children in all lands and places proclaiming good news to them in the form of a shoebox.

May we see our shoebox ministry night not as just another year of watching the same video, packing the same shoe boxes with the same toys and doing it all the same way again. Let us do it intentionally, prayerfully and hopeful, as we think about what we are sending and how it’ll be received. Perhaps all year these kids wait for their packages. Perhaps to these kids, this is all they have to look forward to. Perhaps to these kids, they are in need of good news…good news in a box…a box that isn’t full of nothing…but a box full of something…a box full of good news.

Above all, may we see this ministry opportunity as God’s way of getting our attention and reminding us to take care of each other, all of God’s children and to do it with grateful and loving hearts. This November, we will worship with each other, we will give thanks with our families, we will proclaim Christ the king and together we will hope for God’s love to transform us again and again and again.

Peace to you this month.

November 2009 Schedule of Events
1st—Youth Sunday Preparation 4:30-7:30 pm
5th—Sanctus Bible Study 6:30-8pm
6th, 7th & 8th—Camp Loucon, 4:30 pm Friday-3pm Sunday
12th— Sanctus Bible Study 6:30-8pm
15th—Youth Sunday 7:30 am for the 8:15 & 10:30 services
**Operation Christmas Child 5-7:30 pm**
All youth: KFC-Sr. High
19th— Sanctus Bible Study 6:30-8pm
22nd—Youth Group 5-7:30pm
Jr. High 5-6:30 pm
Sr. High 6:00-7:30pm
29th—Destination Unknown 5-8pm

Events and Going On’s

October 31st—AIDS Walk
All youth interested walking in the AIDS walk need to be at the church at 1:30 pm on Saturday, October 31st. We will then go to KWC where starting at 2 pm we will walk down Frederica Street to Brescia in support of AIDS research. All those who participate will receive a $10 discount on their mission trip deposit.

1st—Youth Sunday Preparation
Yes, it is time for our youth Sunday guys and gals! It may be a few months late but we are nonetheless planned to lead worship for our church November 15th, 2009 for both the 8:15 and 10:30 services. We are in charge of all of the components of the worship for this particular Sunday and we need to begin to shape our time together.

This Sunday from 4:30-7:30 pm we will gather in the Sanctuary and assign roles for Youth Sunday. Also those of you, who are in the youth choir, plan on rehearsing with Patti at some point during this time. I encourage you to come and participate both on Nov. 1st but more importantly on Nov. 15th. If you desire a particular piece of the service, make sure you are there Sunday night!

Preachers for this Sunday are as follows:
-Wade Zengel
-Katie Duncan
-Sarah Bowley
-Reid Thomas (?)

6th, 7th & 8th—Camp Loucon
Our annual Western Kentucky Presbytery Fall Retreat will be at Camp Loucon in Leitchfield, Kentucky. We will leave at 4:30 pm on Friday the 6th (if you need a ride to the bus, please contact me the week of and we can/will arrange for something) and be back @ 3:30pm on the 8th. If you have not turned in your release forms, please bring them with you. Remember to pack warmly. Each student must bring 1 snack to share with their cabin mates.

15th—Youth Sunday at First Presbyterian Church
We the youth group of First Presbyterian Church will be leading the worship services for both the 8:15 and 10:30 am services on this particular Sunday. I ask you get here no earlier than 7:30 and no later than 7:45 so we can double check our assigned roles. Our worship will be shaped around our experience this past summer with City Sights/City Lights and the trip to South Dakota, along with our discussion on LOVE! Make sure you invite your family and friends to come and worship with us on this youthful Sunday!

15th—Operation Christmas Child & Shoebox Night
An all youth event, we will gather again this November to bring toys, pack toys and celebrate the goodness of God’s love which comes to us and we then give it to others via the Shoebox Ministry. We are still in need of toys and other supplies for our boxes so please bring what you are able to. The evening will be for Kids for Christ, Junior high and Senior high and we will participate in this great ministry opportunity to serving those who find themselves in difficult situations all across the world! Please come and we can begin to bring Christ’s love by simply stuffing some shoe boxes with toys!

Thursday Evenings Together
We continue to meet on Thursday evenings in the upper youth room where we share stories, break bread on the occasion, worship and pray together. Please come and enjoy an hours worth of contemplative life sharing! 6:30-8:00 pm every Thursday night.

Attention All Students in Grades 8-12
Sandy beaches, quaint shops, historical landmarks are the things that we associate with the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In Hyde County, though, hurricanes and unemployment have led to poverty. Here is an opportunity to serve and restore hurting areas of that community!

Who: High School Students (including rising freshmen)

What: Travel to the Outer Banks; 4 days serving on work projects and with a Kid’s Club; nightly activities in the outer banks; worship and devotional time; Whitewater Rafting in the New River Gorge after our mission week is complete,

Cost: $400 per person Deposit Required by January 4: $60
Please note the following balance deadlines:
$170 due by March 1 2010; $170 due by May 1, 2010.

!!!Congratulations!!!
Caroline Lashbrook placed first place in the elementary run of the Marshall County Invitational Cross Country meet on October 10. Caroline runs for the Owensboro Middle School Red Devil team.

A reminder to all parents and students to please let us know of your accomplishments so we can celebrate them with you! Congrats to all of you.

Attention Parents
Operation Christmas Child is just around the corner, November 15th, 2009. We are in need of a volunteer or two to prepare for the evening by laying out the toys on the tables, purchasing (with donated money) any other supplies we may need and to finally drop them off to the Shoebox Ministry drop off location (OCC) during the week to follow. Please let Adam know ASAP. Remember this is for all youth in the church!

~New T-Shirts will be available by youth Sunday. I ask that you either wear the 2009 mission trip shirt, the old red one or/but the new one if it is ready for youth Sunday.~

Lock-In 2009 of the Fall

2009-10-19T08:27:00.001-07:00

It is a tradition of ours to decorate the hallways of First Presbyterian Church for our annual Freaky Fun Fabulous Fall Festival one week before the actual event. This year was no different and due to fall break and the week if fell on, we took good advantage of this tradition and turned it into an all night event. From the decorating, to supper, carving pumpkins, dancing in Kroger and stories around a fire, our evening was well spent and nothing can beat a lock-in.

These pictures are just a few moments we captured during this 16 hour extravaganza! Enjoy.

Fall 2009 With FPC Youth

2009-10-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

October 2009 PresbyNotes

2009-10-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

October 2009 Youth PresbyNotes:

Inside October:
October 4th—Not Youth Group
October 8th—Sanctus 6:30-8pm
October 11th—Youth Fall Retreat Destination Unknown
October 15th—Sanctus 6:30-8pm
October 16th,17th--Youth Council Meeting in Murray 4pm depart return 4pm Saturday
October 18th—Youth Group Lock-in 5pm through 9 am Monday Morning & Decorating
October 22nd—Sanctus 6:30-8pm
October 25th—Freaky Fall Fabulous Festival 5-7pm
October 26th--Camp Loucon Registration Due
October 29th—Sanctus 6:30-8pm
October 31st—AIDs Walk and Lunch 12-3pm—Parents encouraged too!

Youth PresbyNotes Article--
Truth and Love
For God, you and I were created.

For you and I were created not to bring darkness with our words and actions, but to bring light with love and peace. We are not to bring violence, war and hate, but to bring justice, hugs and love. Peace and the Kingdom, they go hand in hand, and when we see them, live them out, we are reminded of how near the Kingdom really is. So, be the love and not the pain this world so desperately needs.

We were created for God. In us is God and God is in us. God is we and we dwell in God. We are able to love God because God first loved us and still loves us. God loves us, oh how God loves us. Rejoice in this then, beloved. When time get’s rough, stop, listen and know, God’s love is indeed all around you.

God loves YOU!

Love, what are the those things which you love? How wonderful it is knowing God’s love flows freely to us, like a bubbling spring in the thickest part of the woods. Yet we must stop and ask, “Do I love God?” What are those things which we love that may prevent us from experiencing God’s love for us? Can you see it? God’s love, that is. If not, why not? What are you looking at?

You know the truth, friends, don’t you? You know how to love. We know how to love, yet we find ourselves doing the things we know don’t bring love but we are hopeful and want to do the things which do bring love. Know then, you have the truth, Christ and in Christ, your truth will lead to life for you and for others.

Love, remember, is the image you were created in. Thus, the One who is love, created you in Love’s image. Love then, all the time, is in existence and present. Where is love present to you now? Look, for it.

In the first breath we take in the morning and the one you just took then, we breathe in life and the reality that is God: life, love and hope.

God is for us. God is in us. God is our life. Choose life everyday and to love, it’ll be easier to see I’m sure. Choose life over death and but death we mean those things which prevent us from seeing the truth, the stuff which sets us free. God loves you now, like God did yesterday and beyond our understanding.

You are beloved and God is pleased with you.
Now then,
Stop.
Hear this.
Listen.
God,
Loves,
You!
Accept this truth. Be this truth. Love the truth.

Christ's love to you,
Adam

News and Announcements:
Although October is almost half over and you are not just receiving this newsletter, I want to highlight some upcoming events you will need to take note of.
During our youth lock-in evening on the 18th we will be decoration the church for our annual Freaky Fall Fun Fabulous Festival which is on the 25th. On the 18th, the lock-in night, I invite you to bring back your pumpkins to decorate and or carve and they will then be used as decorations for our fall festival!

Our Fall Festival then is the time where we come together and celebrate the fall season. Included in the celebration is a costume contest with 3 categories: 0-10, 11-18, 19+ and a couple’s contest category. Those who finish first and second will be taking home a prize. So come with your costume and be prepared to have a grand old time!

On Saturday, October 21st, 2009, our church is participating in the AID's walk here in Owensboro. The festivities begin at 12pm and the walk officially starts at 2pm. Again this is a church wide event so look for more information to come in the PresbyNotes. All youth are invited and encourage to walk! What a great way for us to be the light for Christ.

November is quickly coming upon us and with this said, here are some dates to take note of and mark down on your calendar:
November 1st--Youth Group along with Kirk Night. We will begin at 5pm and we will be working on our Youth Sunday roles.

November 6th, 7th and 8th--Is our Camp Loucon retreat. We will leave @ 4:30 pm on Friday and return sometime @ 3pm on Sunday. Your registration is due by the 26th of October and a list of items to bring is located on the permission slip! Don't forget to ask about the discounts for families with more than 1 student and for those who are bringing friends.

November 15th--Youth Sunday is here! We will be leading both the 8:15am worship service and the 10:30am service. So please, it is important for you to attend the November 1st run-through. Also on the 15th in the evening we will be participating in our Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Ministry. This night, all youth (KFC, jr. high and sr. high) are invited to come and participate and join up in this ministry opportunity.

November 22nd--Our discussion on Love will be the topic at hand this evening. Jr. high devoted time will be from 5-6pm, followed by a joint dinner with the sr. high and then the sr. high specific time will be from 6:30-7:30 pm.

New and Exciting News
Starting in November our youth room will have new 'hours' on Sunday evenings. Youth can begin to arrive @4pm and spend time with each other in the youth room, outside or with me, in prayer. There will be supervision so no need to worry about this. Also, on our 'normal' youth nights, all youth are encouraged to come from 4pm and stay until 8pm. We do have free Wi-Fi, thus if students need to do homework, there will be time allotted for this. I want our youth room to begin to be utilized to its fullest capacity. We have great space and our kids love it, so there is no better place than to hang out somewhere where it is safe and conducive to community.

As a new school year is upon us, we are in need of some new pictures. I wanted to make it known within the next couple of weeks the pictures on the youth board by the Fellowship Hall will becoming down. So if you want one off of there, feel free to snag it before it comes down!

Congratulations!
Parents don't forget to send me your youth's accomplishments. We want our youth to be celebrated and recognized for their hard work! Thanks.

Contact Information:
Email--youthdirector@firstpresbyterianowensboro.com
Phone--church: 270-313-9375
Phone--cell: 270-313-9375
Church Website:http: //www.firstpresbyterianowensboro.com/

Loucon First Notice 2009

2009-09-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

Western Kentucky Presbytery
Youth Council
Prayer
November 6, 7, 8
Camp Loucon, Leitchfield, KY

All students in grades 6-12 and their adult leaders are invited to attend this energizing and worshipful retreat!

Activities include: Prayer time, worship time, free time, bonfires, hiking, games, the zipline, high ropes for high school, low ropes and the climbing wall for middle school.

Bring: Bible, flashlight, sleeping bag/pillow, personal items, comfortable clothing for all kinds of weather, jacket, comfortable shoes, bug spray, water bottle, snacks

Arrive at Loucon between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Friday night! Depart at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon

Cost: $50 each Deadline to sign up: October 26

Return to Becky Durham, PO Box 1016, Henderson, KY 42419
Or email information to beckydurham@preschurchky.org

Name: _________________________ Grade: _______ T-shirt Size: ___________

Home Church: ________________________________ Phone: ____________

Summer Rest

2009-07-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

The summer sun already gracing us with its presence, there is no doubt about it, this summer will be hot! Yet this will not stop many of you from going about your summer routines and finding these few months with no school to be refreshing and restful.

I do encourage you to do whatever you can, however you can to find rest and to be refreshed these next months with having no school. It is often times a habit of ours to fill our empty schedules with stuff and this often times leaves us more rushed, stressed, agitated and tired. We feel as if, if we don’t get in ALL of the things we want to do, then our summers won’t be any fun and we will be left regretting how we spent our summer days. If you stop and think about it really, our summer months are already packed enough. I mean some of us will be going with our parents and families on vacations which are fun, but there goes 1 week or so of our 9 week vacation. Then, we know we can’t do anything before 10 am or after 6 pm because that is when we have practice. Now, we love practice and although it is technically an “extracurricular activity”, we still find it to be life-giving and refreshing. Then we have little odds and end things we know will take up some of our time. You know, things like doctor’s appointments, dentist appointments, visiting Aunt Hilda in Madisonville and then going here or there and everywhere. When it is all said and done, when we take a step back and look at our calendars…right away they are busy, full to the max and maybe even overwhelming.

This then friends, is why I encourage you to find rest within this restful season that is known as summer vacation. Despite the fun things you will do with your families and with your friends, do make sure you find space to love on yourself, and by this I mean, bask in the presence of God in activities and ways which will indeed restore, refresh and be restful. Find Sabbath—a period of rest—and do just that, rest. Don’t overwork your bodies to the point of exhaustion and when it gets too hot outside, hospitalization. I encourage you to work hard and to do your best, but listen to the rhythms of your body and respond accordingly. Remember, to love God in one way is to love our bodies and this means treating them as the holy temples which they are.

After all, even in the thick of his ministry and even in the heat of the end of it, Jesus did what he had to do to find rest. Jesus, even though he loved his disciples, found time to be alone, to pray, to be outside and to listen to and for God. In fact it is in Luke 5.16, we see Jesus withdrawing after he had just healed a leper to find rest and to encounter the Holy. I encourage you to perhaps this summer include into the dance steps you already know as summer vacation, a new step, one which will force you to rest more, to be still a little longer and to find a new beat to the dance which is called life.

When you find yourself rushing around and becoming overwhelmed or exhausted by what you have done, take a moment and stop, and gather yourself. 2 days this summer I encourage you to find rest by simply being in the presence of God and when you don’t know what to do or how to act during these peaceful/quiet times, remember these words the Psalmist prayed:
“Our soul waits for you, O Lord; you are our help and our shield. Indeed, our hearts rejoices in you, for in your holy name we put our trust. Let your loving-kindness, O God, be upon us as we have put our trust in you.”

Be well. Be still. Be refreshed. Find rest. Be love and give love. Be with Christ. Be Christ!

Peace.

July 2009 Schedule of Events

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JULY EVENTS BREAK DOWN:
5th—Kirk Night 5-7 pm

9th—Sanctus 6:30-8:00pm

12th—Middle High swim party at the Loucks’
Bring $5 and meet at the church at 4:45 pm.

16th—Sanctus 6:30-8:00pm

19th—Sr. High Pool Party at the Loucks’
Bring $5 and meet at 4:45 at the church

23rd—Sanctus 6:30-8:00pm

26th—Love Movie Night
A Walk To Remember

29th—Holiday World Trip 9am-9pm

30th--Sanctus 6:30-8:00pm

Kum Ba Yah 2009 Pictures 5

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Kum Ba Yah 2009 Pictures 4

2009-05-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

Kum Ba Yah 2009 Pictures 3

2009-05-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

Kum Ba Yah 2009 Pictures 2

2009-05-07T06:54:00.000-07:00

Kum Ba Yah 2009 pictures 1

2009-05-07T06:37:00.001-07:00

May 2009 News Letter Article

2009-05-06T10:04:00.001-07:00

A Community Renewed
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” Acts 2.1
For quite sometime now, we have been gathering together in one place. Usually as a youth group it happens on Sunday nights and now we have begun to meet again, together, on a Tuesday night. We have been on this journey together, where we walked through the wilderness, where we have experienced Resurrection and now, we are waiting for something. Yes, we are waiting again, yet in a different way in Advent or on that Holy Sunday.

The Ides of March have come and gone, the April showers have reminded us of the claim God has upon us, and now, now we wait for what those April showers bring. The new life which had been promised, yet also left us with wonder, has sprung forth and we see the buds and sprouts stretching themselves out, for the day when they will be all they have been created to be in their fullest bloom. No matter how long we live and no matter how many times we will go to bed one night and wake the next morning with tree’s in bloom that weren’t the day before will continue to be a mystery to us. Biologically we get glimpses as to how it all ‘works’, but deep inside, we still stand breathless as we admire the beauty and creativity.

This sort of waiting, it too happens and is happening now with the church as we are in these final days of Easter and are waiting for the Sunday a great wind overcame the church, Pentecost. This event, this is the day when the first church community was born, a day when we are reminded and experience God’s promise to us, God’s people. This day is the day when, much like the moment the beautiful purple petals from a tulip erupts from his holding-time, the church was and is awaken and things get shaken loose and break open. In this moment, a wind sweeps across the early church and again, new life happens! People begin to speak in different languages so all of those people who were visiting Jerusalem at the time, could hear the Good News proclaimed. They welcomed new people, different people, all sorts of people, and this once inclusively exclusive community expands and begins to flood the scene and make some noise!

Whether we want to believe it or not, the same Spirit that swept through those people, the one that caused many folks to join in on the Jesus revolution, the one that caused a great speech to be had, is the same one which sweeps through our group/community. It is the day when God’s call is made known to them, made known to us! It was on this day salvation came and was enacted, the day when a great gift fell upon the people gathered there, a day when the movement of the good news to be taken to all parts of the world began. Reconciliation took place and today, it can take place. New life came that day through the Spirit, through the gifts of the new members and through the continued commitment and participation of those whom sat personally with Christ.

This then is where we will find ourselves on May 31st, 2009. Together, we will be gathered in an upper room, much like the disciples were, with our windows open, with hopes the wind will blow violently and our community will experience a prompting into newness of life. For it will be on this night, we invite you now 5th graders (who will be in 6th grade starting in the fall of 209) to come to youth group, and be welcomed by us. Our story as a youth group is one full of richness and well, sometime down right silliness, and we want to properly welcome you to our group. You will be reminded a little later with an invitation and we hope you will come and be with us as we begin to show how another way is possible. Again, please come, be a part of our community and join with us in bringing the Kingdom of God to this place, here and now!

Shalom friends.

May 2009 Calendar

2009-05-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

MAY EVENTS BREAK DOWN:

3rd—KIRK Night 5-6:30pm—>Followed by the youth going to the Hermitage Place to lead worship with the people there. We will leave at 6:30 and be back at 7:30 pm!

10th—No Youth Group. Make sure you spend time with your family and tell them how much you love them!

16th—Boot Sale Fundraiser for the Mission Trip. You need to be at the church 6:45 am!

17th—Youth Group 5-7:30 pm: Our Love discussion will pick back up with an evening dedicated to listening to music! Bring in all your music about LOVE!

24th—Senior High Only TBA!

31st—Welcoming New Youth/Pentecost Sunday/AGAPE FEAST 5-7:30 pm

**Remember if you are in SING (youth choir) practices are every Sunday at 4:15 pm

AGAPE FEAST
Attention all 5th graders! On Sunday, May 31st, you are invited to youth group. That is right, this year we are trying something different. Instead of waiting until August to throw you into the mix of youth group, we want to welcome you in on the Sunday which is all about newness in community, Pentecost Sunday!

Our evening will begin at 5 pm where we will worship together, you will share with us who you are up to this point and then we will do what we do best...EAT!

The evening will be from 5-7:30 pm! Can’t wait to welcome you!

April 20th-26th

2009-04-20T07:45:00.001-07:00

This Week's Events:

Tuesday: Bible study starting at 6:30 pm and lasting until 8:00 pm. We will be preparing for our Fast that Last weekend.

Friday:

Fast begins at @ 1 pm
Students arrive at the church @ 5pm
Kids for Christ Students arrive @ 6:30 pm
Kids for Christ Evening ends @ 8:30 pm
Featured Film 9:00 pm
Compline Prayer 11:00 pm
Lights out @ 2 am
Wake up @ 8 am
Picking up canned goods around the neighborhood @ 8:30 am
Go to the H.E.L.P. Office to stock shelves @ 9:00 am
Head to the service project @ 9:45 am
Arrive back at the church @ 11:00 am
Communion to break the fast @ 1 pm
Lunch immediately after the Eucharist @ 1:15 pm

Sunday:

8:00 am Breakfast at the Barrel
9:15 am Sunday School
10:30 am Worship
4:15 pm SING practice
5:00 pm Youth Group

If at any time questions need to be asked, email me at: youthdirector@firstpresbyterianowensboro.com

2009-03-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

Kids For Christ: An Evening Just For You!

Attention all Kids for Christ students~

Are you ready…
to make a difference in the world?

… to become a voice for someone who doesn’t have one?

… to be the change you want to see?

…to bring heaven on earth?

If you are at all interested in what it is this is really all about, you and your fun friends need to come to our church, First Presbyterian Church, on Friday, April 24th, from 6:30-8:45 pm.

This evening is an evening dedicated to you, Kids for Christ, your friends and gives your parents an opportunity to go out on a much needed date!

What are the particulars you ask? Well they are quite simple really. We will be gathering together for worship at 6:30 pm and from there, we will break off into age groups/grade levels and we will participate in VBS type activities. There will be snacks but NO FOOD/DINNER! The evening will conclude with a sending which will encourage you to love everyone, no matter who they are!

We are asking that each student brings 2 canned goods or old clothing to be donated to the HELP Office. Also, this event is being run by the senior high of our youth group and we are encouraging donations for their time and efforts and the money will go towards their mission trip in the summer. A sign up sheet will be hanging at the base of the stairs leading up to the upper youth room! All those who plan on coming are encouraged to bring their friends and be signed up by Sunday April 19th.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Adam at: youthdirector@firstpresbyterianowensboro.com or you can call me: church-(270) 684-1467 or by cell phone (270) 313-9375.

Again, this night is for you Kids for Christ. Although we will be learning and doing ministry, we will also have loads of fun and laughter is guaranteed! So please come and lets learn together about what it means to be the church and taking on Poverty!

With Love and Peace,
Adam R. Quine

April 2009 Newsletter Article

2009-03-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

One of the most difficult aspects about community is being open and honest with each other. For months now, well a year really, we have been engaging ourselves in a conversation about what does love look like in context of a community? On our journey together we have done many activities and participated in many different styles/types of ministries which have allowed us to be stretched, and indeed we have been. We have laughed together, prayed together, worshiped together, we have hugged one another, we have cried together, we have been frustrated together, and we have even experienced God together! Although, these aspects of our community are difficult, nothing is as frightening, scary and hard as being open and honest with each other.

Perhaps we have legitimate reasons as to why we cannot be “authentic” with each other. I mean, they are junior high and we are senior high. Or, they go to DCMS and we go to OMS. Better yet, we can’t really be honest with each other because I really only see them once, maybe twice a week. Is this really enough time to be real with each other?
Love is scary. Think about it for a minute. When we become close with someone, sharing with them EVERYTHING and trusting them to care for us, we are risking lots. What if they don’t tell us everything and they lie to me? What if they tell others what I told them? What if they break my heart? What if…

What if as a group we became more intentional about loving each other? What if as a youth group we became more intentional about being honest with each other? What if as a group we become more intentional about praying for each other? What if we put away our cell phones, stop texting others and truly listened to each other? What if we became truly present with each other and meant it when we asked how each others weeks were? What if we actually confessed to each other our struggles, our doubts, are fears, our joys, the things that make us happy, the things that make us sad, the things that alarm us, the things that frustrate us? What if…

God on numerous occasions tried everything to bring reconciliation to the world. In creation God tried, through a great flood God tried, through a walk through a desert that lasted forty years God tried, through prophetic voices God tried. Yet through all those occasions, although they almost “got it”, these people ended up wondering and murmuring to God. God then decides to do it “right” and this is where we see the story of Jesus the Christ unfold in the Gospels. Christ comes to show the love of God to God’s people. Christ comes to show the way to God and shows that God is not in some far off place, but rather, God was with them, is with us and God will always be there! Christ showed them this. In the end, literally, Jesus was with the twelve and told them this: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus showed the disciples how to love and what love was. The disciples took a risk, a great one, to follow this rabbi around for three years. At times it did not make sense to them, they could not understand the reasons why they left their lives to live this one, following Jesus and eventually becoming a part of the movement known as, “The Way.” Again, it wasn’t until later did the disciples come to understand what it was that Jesus was all about.

As Easter draws near and as we draw even closer to the cross on this Lenten journey, I encourage you to look at where we have been as a group, where we are and where you would like to see us go. Once the disciples were alone, they relied heavily on each other. They found themselves being the outcasts in the cities and noticed how people weren’t too fond of their ability to love one another. May we also on this Lenten journey look for the new life that lies within Christ Jesus who is no longer dead but alive. May we look for renewal and fullness of life in Christ together, hoping for the day when we can fully be who we are meant to be with one another.

God be with you friends.

Let us joyfully sing out how Christ has risen, Christ has risen indeed! Alleluia!

April 2009

2009-03-30T09:57:00.001-07:00

Well what does April have in store for us? Quite a bit actually, take a look see:

5th—KFC Easter Egg Hunt following 10:30 am service
Kirk Night from 5-7 pm All YOUTH INVITED

9th—Lord’s Supper Re-enactment at the church 5 & 7 pm

10th—Good Friday Service 12 pm and 5 pm

11th—Great Easter Vigil 6 pm

12th—Sunrise Service Breakfast help all youth must help!
No youth group that following night
Happy Easter!

17th,18th&19th—Camp Kum Ba Yah! We will leave from the church at 4:30 pm the 17th and return @ 4 pm on Sunday

24th-25th—Senior High Fast that Last and Fundraising Event for mission trip. Fast starts @ 1pm and you need to be at the church at 5 pm!

26th—Senior high breakfast at the Cracker Barrel 8:15am
Youth Group 5-7 pm!

A Letter to the Church

2009-03-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

A Letter to the Congregation of First Presbyterian Church which will be on the front of the church newsletter:

For more than a year now, the youth of First Presbyterian Church have committed themselves to each other in a way that has lead them to begin to truly investigate what community is all about. We’ve laughed together, we’ve had “run-ins” with each other, we’ve cried together and now we are learning how to truly love each other. We are presented this summer with the good opportunity to engage in a conversation and extend this love to a people who are all too familiar with negligence, hatred and oppression.

Beginning June 20, 2009, nine of our senior high students and two chaperons, along with ten others from Henderson Presbyterian Church, will be making a 1,000 mile trip to Rosebud, South Dakota to be in community with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who resides on the Rosebud Reservation. Here are some facts about this community:

• Approx. 20,700 people live on the Reservation
• 80% of the work force lives below the poverty level
• 82% unemployment rate
• 27% of people over 25 have no high school diploma
• 212 of homes (7.6%) are heated by wood only (no gas or electric heat)

With the help of YouthWorks (the organization we are working with), we will be placed within this community and participating in two different capacities to provide assistance. Our first opportunity to engage with the community will be leading a VBS type program entitled Kids Club. We will work with children, leading them in games, crafts, skits, songs and interactive lessons which are all designed to help kids learn about Jesus. Our second opportunity to assist this community will be offering helping hands in home renovations. We will be working with 3 other churches to refresh the exteriors of homes by painting, doing yard work and any other tasks our hands can help with.

Our main hope as a youth group is to go and take what we have learned and worked for (authentic community) and extend it to our brothers and sisters on the Rosebud Reservation. We want to love them and be Christ to them without removing any part of their culture, while learning more about them and looking past any stereotypes we may have. As the days roll off the calendar, we are preparing ourselves in many ways, so upon our arrival to South Dakota, we can be fully present and begin truly being of the discipline of compassionate listening.

We are aware of how we cannot do this alone and how we are in need of your support. There are many ways in which you can offer support for the youth of FPC as we prepare to embark on this journey which starts June 20th and ends June 28th. First, we are in need of financial support and there will be many opportunities for you to offer assistance/donations throughout the coming months. We are hoping to raise around $4000 and as of March 1st, we have $1300. I ask that you please look in PresbyNotes for fundraising events our youth will have to help raise money for this trip. These fundraising events include: a Saturday dedicated to picking up sticks and debris in your yards, a night planned for Kids for Christ and their friends, Sunrise Breakfast, a “Boot Sale” and a carwash.

Also we are in need of water bottles. Because we want to be good stewards of “Mother Earth” we do not want to take plastic bottles on our trip, thus we are in need of environmentally friendly water bottles.

Finally, the most helpful way you can support us is through prayer and praying for us. We are aware of the difficulty of this trip and know we will be stretched and challenged in ways perhaps we never have been before. We ask for your prayers as we prepare for the trip, for safe travel to and from South Dakota, for those whom we will be sharing life together for those few short days, and courage for our youth as they begin to demonstrate to the world around them, another way is possible. I will have a roster of those participating students made available if you are interested one to aid you in your prayers for us. Peace, unity, love and healing, this is our prayer.

My hope for our youth this trip and for our church is that we will begin to lift up in prayer, the people of the Rosebud Sioux tribe. It is my hope that we may be of the ministry of reconciliation and demonstrating God’s love to a people whose voices have been silenced for many years. May we as a congregation support and love our youth who have committed themselves to God’s love and preaching the Gospel with their lives, and using words when necessary. May God be with us as we prepare to send our youth out into a broken world bringing the Kingdom of Heaven even nearer.

Thank you and shalom!

To visit the website of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, click here.

A Lenten Blog for You

2009-02-25T09:50:00.000-08:00

I can only imagine what those forty days must have been like.

There he sat, stood, walked, slept and prayed, alone in the wilderness.

When I think of wilderness I think of wild animals, thick vegetation, so thick that at night, you really can’t see anything. I ask myself, could I have done it? Could I have fasted and prayed for forty days in a place that is foreign to me being tempted by desires that would distract me from God and prevent the Kingdom to happen?

Yet, no matter what was thrown at him and no matter how scary it may have been, for forty days, he committed himself to God, fasting and praying and reflecting, all the while preparing for what was to come.

Jesus examined his life and through these particular practices of prayer and fasting, experienced the mysteries of God. We too have the opportunity to engage in the same journey which Christ took and begin to allow room for us to listen to the questions God is asking us. During this season of Lent, I want to invite you to walk with Jesus through his life, ministry and death, and listen closely to the questions he asks you and I. This Lend, may we tend to our spiritual health by practicing in disciplines that will be the drive us this season and which will bring us, the weary spiritual traveler to the joys of Easter.

As you may come to discover, Lent is a time when people often times give something up for Lent. This being a way for people to set aside those things that perhaps prevents them from being aware of the movements of God in their lives and they make a commitment to God. Lent is a time where people evaluate their lives and become more sensitive to the sin in their lives, as mentioned above. It is important though to make sure we balance this time with the awareness of sin in our lives with the remembering of God’s love and acceptance for us and our humanity.

“Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news’” (Mark 1.14,15). Indeed these are the beginning words for the season of Lent. As we find ourselves on this Ash Wednesdays with the sign of the cross on our heads in ash, may we hear the good news, “repent and believe in it” and be made whole in Christ. Let not these conversions stop here but let us allow it to overflow itself into Easter season, the season of new life and celebration! May we remember the original meaning of Lent, as the ver sacrum, the Church’s “holy spring” and see Lent now as a season of punishment but one of healing, for it is the start of the great Easter cycle!

For forty days we are in this season of Lent. I encourage you to think of ways in which you can grow more intimate with God. My hope again, is that you will become overwhelmed with the love God has for your and decide to become a follower of the Way without any hesitations. Come to accept your own death as holy and how God has sanctified it but renew your gratitude to God for the new life that lies in Christ. In what ways, as Thomas Merton put it, do you consider Lent to be a “season of celebration?”

Peace to you all.

Love Discussion 5: Sleeping On a Rock

2009-02-25T08:40:00.000-08:00

First Presbyterian Church Youth Ministry
“Sleeping on a Rock”
February 22, 2009
Youth Director Adam R. Quine

**GET A BIG OLD ROCK*

We have found ourselves having this discussion on love now for over a month. We have looked at where it all started, what we are to do with it, how we are to share that love with others. Yet if we are to take a look at what it is that we have already discussed, perhaps we have forgotten one of the most important pieces about love, ourselves. We are reminded by the apostle John that if we do not love ourselves then we cannot love others. So where does it begin, this loving ourselves from? What does this even mean? I think we can go back to the beginning again, Genesis.

It is a controversial character we get reintroduced to as we begin to rediscover the love we need for ourselves. How many of you know the story of Jacob? Why is it controversial? Jacob’s story is quite controversial. He stole his brothers blessing, really Esau gave sold him his birthright and thus became holder of his father’s Isaac blessing. Esau was to receive it but Jacob deceived Isaac and was blessed. Esau then was upset to the point where he wanted to kill Jacob but their mother Rebekah, warned Jacob and he left, escaping death. We Jacob fled and as he was making his way to Haran he stopped and he fell asleep. He needed to rest after a long walk and emotional turn of events.

There he slept, quite uncomfortable actually as he used a rock as a pillow. Then he began to drift off into dream world, and what a dream he was having. As he began to dream a stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky, angles of God were going up and going down on it. Then God appeared and was right before him saying, “I am God, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I’m giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they’ll stretch from the west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I’ll stay with you, I’ll protect you wherever you go, and I’ll bring you back to this very ground. I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.”

How many of you have ever had some pretty intense dreams? How many of you can say that you had God stand in front of you with an escalator full of angels ascending and descending and was told that you were going to be blessed? You’re dreams are meaningful and indeed dreams are definitely ways with which God speaks to us. But this is not what we are focusing on here. We are focusing on what Jacob does next. Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, “God is in this place—truly! And I didn’t even know it!” Jacob became terrified and overwhelmed as I am sure we all would be. He began to whisper, “Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.”

Jacob then, we assume, falls back to sleep. When he wakes up first thing in the morning, he picks up where his stammering beat-box session ended and looks around for the rock. He took the rock he had used for his pillow and stood it up as a memorial pillar and poured oil over it. He then took some oil and poured it over the rock, christening it and saying, “This will be the place called Bethel (God’s House).”

He took a rock, stood it up and all of a sudden, this pillow becomes a place where God lives. A once, profane and useless rock, well I guess I shouldn’t say useless because it was used as a pillow, but nonetheless, this rock becomes an altar, a pillar reminding Jacob and others that this is where God lives. Well what is the big deal with this then? A temple was a place where people knew where the gods lived, a place where heaven and earth meant.

What is so fascinating is how the temple was constructed. Let’s take a little walk to the sanctuary.

Stop and take a minute and look around. Sit still and quietly as you take in all that makes up the sanctuary. Look at all parts of it: the pulpit, the lectern, the baptismal font, the chalice and platen, the bread and grapes, the pitcher of water, the candles, notice how we are sitting, notice the shape of the sanctuary. Everything thing in here, everything that you see in front of you, behind you, to the left of you, to the right of you, everything here is used for a reason. This is no different than the temples of the Old Testament. Turn your Bibles to Exodus 25-30. What we have here is a detailed set of instructions on how this first temple, portable, movable temple was to look. The instructions weren’t to go, get anything you see and put a sheet over it and there you have it, a temple. No, it was much more than that. The temple was a place where the sacred could be met, where the sacred overtook the profane, and where the sacred could me the Israelites, where the Holy God of Jacob could meet us.

We came here to this sanctuary not only to be reminded of where we come and where we know we can encounter God, but we come here to be reminded or even perhaps learn for the first time that our bodies are like this sanctuary, our bodies are like those temples. We posses the divine spark that we talked about weeks ago, thus making us a dwelling place for where God lives. The writer of 1st Corinthians shares with the people of Corinth these words, “your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God.” Remember how we a few weeks ago talked about how we treat others reflects how we treat the Creator? How you treat yourself, will show others how you feel about the One who created you. Every single one of you in here is a beautiful child of God and each and every one of you possesses that divine spark, the Holy Spirit, for your body is indeed a temple.

It does not end there for us though. As simple a concept it is to think about, it is slightly more complicated and more challenging. Turn again to 1st Corinthians 6.12-20.

What was the point for this letter than for the Corinthians? Why did the writer focus much of his writings on the body? For this understanding of the body by the Greeks: “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.” You see the Greeks saw the body as being only a physical body, thus when you are hungry you go get food and when you are tired, you go and get sleep. You did whatever to satisfy your body’s urges. Yet this is very understanding of the body is why the writer makes the statement of how our bodies are temples, something that we do not use or abuse. He asks the people of Corinth to consider that there is more to life than the next fix. Yet sometimes we find ourselves struggling, not respecting our bodies, being so overwhelmed with our own desires and urges that we begin to desecrate the temples. We begin to over eat, we begin to view our bodies, our own bodies, as objects for people to have, we begin to loose sleep because we worry so much, we hurt our bodies because we are in so much pain, we begin to loose the sacredness of our bodies and begin to treat them in a way that an animal does. You are not a lone though in your struggles.

Friends, you, me, we: are not alone! God created us to be in community with each other. From the same dust we were formed and to the same dust we shall return. You and me, and all of these people, we are creations of God. We are continually being renewed and reshaped and recreated. We are God’s beloved and God’s holy creation. We posses the spark that creates and illumines the church, the temple, our bodies!

May it be so then, that we not view our bodies as simply hot or not, skinny or overweight, clear skin or rough skin, instead may we see it as Jacob saw the rock, a place where God lives. Respect your bodies and know that no matter what shape, size or whatever your body is, above all, it is a temple unto the Lord. Take good care of it and may you too soon realize that you’re not just sleeping on a rock!

March 2009

2009-02-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

March 2009 is just a few days away and that means so is Spring! Check out our calendar of events:

March 1st--5-7pm Kirk Night all youth from Kids for Christ through Senior High are invited. We will be having a game night with a Wii Bowling Tournament! Winner will win a gift card!

March 3rd--Bible Study in the Upper Youth Room from 6:30-8:00 pm

March 8th--Middle High Only 5-7 pm @ the Church

March 10th--Bible Study in the Upper Youth Room from 6:30-8:00 pm

March 15th--All Youth Play 5:00-7:30 pm

March 17th--NO BIBLE STUDY

March 22nd--Birthday Breakfast at the Cracker Barrel 8:15 am
Senior High Only Native American Night with Henderson Church
On the 22nd we will hear from Woody Maglinger who is an adjunct professor at Western Kentucky University. On this night we will be joining with the youth from Henderson to learn a little about Native American history. If you are attending the mission trip, it is highly recommended that you be there! 5-7pm Senior High!

March 24th--Bible Study in the Upper Youth Room from 6:30-8:00 pm

March 29th--Movie Night at the church 5:00-8:00 pm

March 31st--Bible Study in the Upper Youth Room from 6:30-8:00 pm

February 2009

2009-02-05T07:46:00.001-08:00

It is hard to believe that for some of you, it has been over two weeks since we last gathered together. Although there were some of you whom I have seen on numerous occasions, it is always a good time when all of us get to gather together for prayer, worship, fun, fellowship and of course food. I have missed you all dearly and am anticipating the next time when we will gather together....

Which looks like it will be this weekend! Rumor has it the power will be back on at the church by Sunday evening. Thus we will be gathering again in the upper youth room where we will share life together! I am looking forward to being with you all again!

Here are some dates for the rest of February:
8th--Youth Group at the Church 5-7pm
15th--At the church 5-8pm (Potential Destination Unknown)
22nd--Sr. High Breakfast @ the Barrel 8:15 am
Youth Group 5-7:30 pm (Love)

Senior high, be expecting information in the mail about the mission trip and the due dates for deposits and other important dates. We will be gathering more often to prepare ourselves for the trip and to begin holding each other in prayer.

Until later....

2009-01-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

Love Discussion Week 3
“An Image Bearer”
January 11, 2009

LOVE. We are back to the discussion again. Before we begin let’s have a recap as to what we discussed last time we were together.

We did not get a chance to get too much into it for we had other things going on but what was something that we did?
(Recreated the Creation story)

That is right. I wanted us to take time, to think about how we would create the beginning poem and story of our bible. You guys did a wonderful job. The ways in which you represented each step and how you too notice of the difference between the good story. It is important to that we remind ourselves how we are created in the image of God. That our belief on God differs from others in the world and how we do not believe we will turn into God but that we have a divine spark within us, that we are not God and we aren’t going to become him but in some distinct, intentional way, something of God has been placed inside us.

We even began a discussion about how we blow out that divine spark by the ways in which we treat and talk about people. We also mentioned how when we allow our conversations to take us from seeing a person as a child of God and instead, we view them as a “that”.

This lead us into a reality about how the Hebrew’s viewed heaven and hell differently. How there was heaven that belonged to God but we are in control of the earth so we have a choice: a choice to bring God’s kingdom to the earth bringing heaven on earth or do the opposite of that, neglecting the cries of the world and bringing hell on earth. We have a choice. We will always have a choice.
 Hell is when we exploit women
 Hell is when we snicker at someone who is different than us
 Hell is when we knowingly ignore someone who needs help
 Hell is when we pick on someone

Yet there are debates over these things. How whether or not we should encourage our kids, you the students, to overwhelm yourself to the point where you cannot go on. But more controversial is that we even have began to debate whether or not we should carry out some military like actions: bombing, torturing and killing. My question to you is, why are we debating this? What is this saying about us as a Christian people? You see no longer is it about the person who is being tortured, just like it is not only about the person you pick on, but it is about the one DOING the torturing, and the one DOING the picking-on.

This then is where we are tonight. We are children and people of God. We are no longer separated by labels society gave to us. You see, we have a common bond with each other. There is something here that brings us all together. Our first Christian brothers and sisters had a name for this common denominator. They had a work for when they no longer viewed each other as Jew, Gentile, Greek or other. When Christ came, those labels no longer worked. Instead of seeing people in their ethnic races, the early Christians called the new commonality, this new bond the brought these people together, the “new humanity”.

The new humanity were followers of, “The Way”. This friends was what the early Christian movement was called. Before there was Christians, there was The Way. In order for The Way to happen, people had to begin in the beginning. The very same place where we did the last time we talked about God. They had to be reminded that they, like we, are created in the image of God. That God gave us an image to bear. Something that is so precious to God, that when we tarnish this image, sadness overwhelms God. It wasn’t until AFTER God gave us God’s image did we become male or female. Then after that we were giving tasks to do within the Garden, we have something to do, to take care of the world and move it forward, taking part in the ongoing creation of the word. However people messed this up and something else happened.

We began to view ourselves no longer image bearers. Instead we began to move to a different way of labeling people. As time went on and as we were given things to do, people began to spread across the world. It takes years and years of human history to get to the place where these people are from here and those people are from there. Different locations, skin colors, languages, and cultures come much later in the human story. You see, we have it backwards. We begin describing people by their cultural background and their skin colors and their nationalities, and it sonly when we look past these things that we are able get to what we have in common—that we are fellow image-bearers with the shared task of caring for God’s creation.

The new humanity is about seeing people as God sees them.

This is where we are tonight. I want us to begin thinking about how God views us, individually. So this evening, we are going to spend time in reflection as we think about, pray about and eventually demonstrate how, we think God views us. What we are going to do is sit ourselves in front of many artistic opportunities and allow ourselves to pray with paint-brushes, canvases, magazines, and other art related things.

I want you to stop and think about what God was thinking we he created _____________. Use this time to paint a picture of who you are. You can paint an actual portrait or you can paint images that represent how you see yourself through the eyes of God.

In order to love others, you must love yourself. In order to be a new humanity, you must not hate yourself, for it was John who reminds us, “We love because he first loved us”. So tonight, God loves us and we are going to artistically express how we feel God’s love in our lives!

Love Discussion 3: Loving Yourself 1st

2009-01-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

This Sunday you as youth will have the opportunity to pray differently. As we continue on with our discussion about love, we will have the good practice of taking time and looking at who we are through God's eyes. For God created us as people in God's image. Thus we are the apple to God's eye. How we view creation is how we view God. How we love ourselves reflects how we love God and others.

Come prepared with old clothes, maybe a picture of yourself but more importantly, come with an open mind as we pray with paint, a blank canvas and 2 1/2 hours of contemplative, communal praying, through art! Our task together will be creating ourselves with art as if we were God. What does God see when we are created and who are we in God's creation?

So time for reflection, hoping, praying, laughing and painting. I'm sure it will be a great time!

January 2009 Youth PresbyNotes Meditation

2009-01-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

2008 was an exciting journey for us as a youth group. We shared many great experiences with each other and maybe even made a few good memories on the way. Above is just a collage of some of the activities that we did in 2008 as a youth group.

Stop and give thanks for the ways in which we have seen God moving in our life as a youth group. The ways God has brought us closer together, the ways in which God has brought new faces to our youth group, the many ways God has opened the door for opportunities to go out into the community and serve him, the ways in which God has showed us how much we are loved and cared for. This past year we spent much time learning and trying to figure what community is and what that looks like for a youth group. We had our share of good times and yes, even some bad times. Overall though, 2008 was a year that brought the youth group of First Presbyterian Church closer together. It brought us a few steps closer to community!

What is to come in 2009 for us? What will our community look like as we further explore the topic of love and what exactly it means and looks like? What adventures will we embark on? What will South Dakota look like as we serve a people who has suffered years of oppression and poverty? In what ways will we see ourselves and our faith grow and stretch in this next year? How will we welcome the handful of new 6th graders in August? In what ways are we going to experience God’s grace?

My prayer for us is that we will continue to seek the risen Lord in everyone we meet. That we will continue to work towards community and learning how to LOVE one another along the way. My hope is that we will become a youth group where not only we feel welcomed but our friends will feel it so much that they want to come back. Above all my hope is that we will worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as often as we can and through every activity we have. May 2009 become for us a year of Jubilee and a demonstration of the Kingdom of God to the world!

January 2009 Schedule of Events

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Youth Group Calendar for FPC
6th—Bible Study 6:30-8:00 pm
11th—Youth Group 5-7:30 pm
13th—Bible Study 6:30-8:00 pm
18th—Sr. High Breakfast @ the Barrel 8:30 am, Middle high 1-4 pm, SING 4:15 pm, Sr. High TBA
20th—Bible Study 6:30-8:00 pm
25th—5-7:30 pm. PARENTS MEETING STARTING AT 6:45 PM
27th—Bible Study 6:30-8:00 pm

Kids for Christ Calendar
18th—1-4 PM Ice-skating

Adam’s Contact Information:
Work Phone: 270-684-1467
Cell Phone: 270-313-9375

January Birthdays
9th—Shelby Taylor
12th—Sarah Bowley

Happy Birthday to you all!

January events to take NOTE of:

It will all be fine in 2009 (thanks Leslie for this great line!) That is definitely the case for our youth group. Our schedule has already gotten off to a great start with our 2nd annual lock-in and our spaghetti dinner which made well over $200 and will go towards your mission trip funds. The rest of January looks like this:

We will pick back up on our love discussion on the 11th as we investigate the divine spark which lives within all of us and you will have the opportunity to paint what this looks like to you. Dinner will be provided.

On the 18th, there is much going on here. Right away on the morning of the 18th the senior high will be going to the Cracker Barrel to celebrate the January birthdays. Our middle high and Kids for Christ will be going Ice-Skating from 1-4pm roughly. Double check the PresbyNotes and call Adam for exact times. You will need to eat lunch before hand. Then in the evening our Senior High will be heading to the bowling alley to knock down some pins. Bring money for ice-skating, bowling and sr. high for food with our bowling.

The 25th of January we will again be in discussion about LOVE and we will be watching a NOOMA video entitled Flame. Dinner will be provided. PARENTS MEETING @ 6:45 PM IN THE YOUTH ROOM!

SING will meet every Sunday at 4:15 pm in the month of January unless you hear otherwise from Patty.

Bible Studies will continue on Tuesdays from 6:30-8:00pm. This is open to all so please, come and lets draw closer together!

Future Dates to take Note of
On February 1st the middle high and senior high will be participating in the Souper Bowl of caring. We will have representatives from both middle and sr. high standing at the entrances of sanctuary with soup pots asking for donations, which will go to a charity. On the same night the Sr. High will have a Super Bowl Party at the Lashbrook’s home. The time is to be announced.

Creating the Creation Story: Love Talk #2

2008-12-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

Genesis Project

(Please Read Aloud)
You have just opened the envelope that I handed to you in the room you were just in. You are on the right track so far! What you are about to read will help you with your particular group task, Recreating the Creation Story.

As just mentioned, your task as a group is to take the next 25-30 minutes to read over your particular Genesis text and recreate what is being told. You become actors, artists, mimes to the story that started all stories. Your goal is to use whatever you can to retell the story in 5-10 minutes.

In the grab bag that is in the middle of the room (if there is no grab-bag send someone to find Adam) there are items for you to use. Be creative as you read the story. You may use other Bible translations (like a Bible from the youth room) to help you gain a better understanding as to what is going on.

Recommendations:
Read the story 4 times. The first time to familiarize yourselves with it, the 2nd time read it as if it is the first time you have ever heard it, the 3rd time read it as if you were the writer and then finally, read it again as if you are re-telling it.

Once you have done this, begin to re-tell the story by the objects in the grab-bag. How will you show that light and day were created or that water and land were separated? How would you show that man was created? How will you make the story come alive? How did you incorporate the 5 senses?

Again I can’t help but to stress, BE CREATIVE! It can be funny, it can be silly, it can be serious, it can be enlightening, whatever direction you choose to take, I encourage you and ask that you think about and put yourself in God’s shoes.

Remember you only have 30 minutes to do this. Have fun with it.

P.S. You might need a narrator to help lead us through the interpretation!

P.S.S. There will be questions asked, a reward for the group that works together the best.

P.S.S.S. EVERYONE MUST HAVE A PART IN THE SKIT!