City Sights/City Lights 2008 Review

City Sights/City Lights 2008 has come and gone. We here at FPC Owensboro had an absolute blast spending time with our fellow brothers and sisters of our Presbytery working hard with each other and getting messy with ministry. Personally I have no photos to share but I am posting a link to the Henderson Presbyterian Youth Group blog where you can see some of the photos that their YD took. Great pictures!

As for the work we did, we spend all morning at the Neblett Center helping them with their grounds, cleaning and putting things back in order. This facility is a unique shelter and organization for people to go to. It is a place where indeed it meets what Christ ministry was all about. Facilitating many life management skills, the Neblett Center provides a place where people can come and get a help with their second chance. Providing money management classes, rehab classes for those recovering from drugs and alcohol and to simply put it, a place where people can come and find rest, hope and love for all ages.

Finishing up with our work 2 hours early, we decided that it was too early to eat and too late to call it quits, so we gathered our canned food goods we brought and took them to the local food banks, the H.E.L.P Office. There we stocked the shelves of this organization that provides food, clothes and help to those in need. Doing so with a very in depth interview process, the H.E.L.P. Office helps anyone who comes to their doors, turning away no one, not even strangers. It was great to sit down and hear the testimonies of those who work their and how their lives have been impacted by the way they serve those who are in need of help. Getting hands on with food for the hungry was a great way to live into the Matthew 25 text, "when I was hungry you gave me food to eat." That too went by fast with 25 people working together!

From there we went to a near by park, English Park, where we ate lunch, sat by the river and played games with one another. The temperature was rather warm but no one really noticed as we stayed busy taking steps towards community. It was fun to interact with all of the different youth that make up the churches and begin developing some new relationships. When I say that, I speak on behalf of all the youth here in Owensboro.

Finally we arrived at our last work site, a Habitat for Humanity house, their 75th one or something like that. We were greeted warmly by the site head and were given a brief history of Habitat and the good work it has done in Owensboro. After this, we were distributed different tasks which included staining a picnic table, painting some furniture in the garage, weeding around the garage and in the alley way, washing the Habitat truck and working on the front lawn, removing excess gravel and dirt. Two hours the 25 of us worked, sweating in the hot June sun and drinking cool refreshing water as often as we can. Again, a great way for a group of strangers to get to know each other better by simply working together, alongside one another and getting messy with ministry.

Overall City Sights/City Lights was a success, if one could somehow determine what makes a trip successful. We didn't loose anyone, nobody was hurt and no skirmishes broke, out if one were to rank a success by these qualifications, then it was a success. However, although these are great pieces of a trip to celebrate, what makes a success is if a group of strangers could come together in the name of Christ and work side by side. That the love that was shared between strangers would show the love of Christ to those whom we ran into. After walking and talking, laughing and swimming, we could at the end of the day, turn to our brother and sister and say, "the Lord be with you," and they would reply, "and also with you." This is success to me and indeed the Western Kentucky Presbytery demonstrated the love of Christ not only to the places we worked at, but to each other.

Thanks be to God for such a great 2 days and for the new friendships made. See you all at Loucon in November!

Shalom!

City Sights/City Lights 2008

"Those who say, ' I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also." 1 John 4.20,21

Being in communion with God is when we as God's people begin to love God. For it is a God we have not seen that tells us when we begin to love one another, then He will live within us, we can bring God's love to one another. Everyone is created in the imago dei, the image of God. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his site, we are all beloved children of God. We are called to love one another despite what makes us different. If anything, we should love one another more because of the differences. Imago Dei, the image of God, love. How can one love if they do not know the God of love?

Taking on the imago dei, today is liking being a fish swimming against the current. To go against the grain. To be different. Living into the image of God is for us to love each other, those we know and those we don't know . Not by seeing how many cool Christian t-shirts we can wear or by how many Christian songs we can remember no, God, through Christ, redeemed the world and sent Christ to bring a new humanity. To bring heaven on earth. We have a choice, to either embrace the imago dei, or to turn away from it and do the opposite, hate.

Our junior high students in the Western Kentucky Presbytery will have the opportunity to bring the love of Christ to local organizations in Owensboro. Next Monday evening beginning at 6 pm through Wednesday ending at 10 am, they will be in community with each other through the breaking of bread, through the reading of the great story, through working with each other and the redemptive grace the waters bring and around a common table, the youth will begin to take the light of Christ into a hurting world.

We ask that you pray for us Tuesday as we will leave at 8:45 am to go and do work at the HL Neblett Community Center here in Owensboro. Pray that our hearts may be tender, our eyes be soft and our attitudes reflect that of Christ. After we serve here, we will then take canned goods to the H.E.L.P. Office to stock their shelves and to learn more about poverty in Owensboro. After that, we will celebrate the day through story telling and breaking of bread around the table together. Then it will be time for a little R&R and swimming. On Wednesday we will wake up and begin the day the best way possible, with prayer and the Eucharist, followed by dinner and a departure.

Throughout our time together if you have not already picked up, the theme behind City Sights/City Lights 2008 is Love. Being influenced by pastor/theologian Rob Bell's Sex God, our liturgy will guide our liturgical movements providing a contemplative atmosphere for our youth and adults to pray about, contemplate and eventually, live out a life of love. So come and join us on this adventure, relearning what it means to love, relearning what it means to serve and relearning what it means to be a Child of God. If you can't make it, pray for us and take sometime to allow your lives to be shaped by the words of Christ.

May it be that both you and I, the youth and the chaperone's will come to encounter the holy and may it be that our hearts may too grow strangely warm in the presence of Christ.

"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love." Mother Teresa

And Their Stomachs Grumbled...

Sometimes I think, “If I die, I won’t have to see my children suffering as they are.” Sometimes I even think of killing myself. So often I see them crying, hungry; and there I am, without a cent to buy them some bread. I think, “My God, I can’t face it! I’ll end my life. I don’t want to look anymore.”
--Iracema da Silva, resident of a slum in Brazil
--Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider, page 1

This mother is faced with poverty, and issue that surrounds us, everyday! Today over 30,000 children still die of starvation and preventable diseases, and 1.2 billion people live in relentless, unrelieved poverty worldwide. I have asked myself if I can truly understand poverty when I sit in a comfortable house, with closets filled with more clothes than I can wear and enough food that I’ll never go hungry. We may not be able to truly understand the lifestyle of the 1.2 billion neighbors who live in desperate poverty but on April 25th and 26th the youth of our church will attempt to get a peek into what a life of poverty is truly like.

We will engage in a 24 hour fast beginning at 6 pm Friday, April 25th until 6 pm, Saturday, April 26th. During our time together we will evaluate our lives in a world that tells us that more is better while using resources such as Sider’s book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, and other PC (USA) material to guide our fast and to help us imagine what poverty means.

While fasting will allow us to put ourselves in the shoes of the 2.5 billion low-income people who live off of less than a dollar a day, we will take a look at the spiritual benefits of fasting and see how one can incorporate fasting as a spiritual discipline into ones own life. Our time will be marked by the hours of prayer that have shaped the prayer lives of our brothers and sisters of the monasteries for centuries. My hope is that as our stomachs grumble for food, we will be reminded that only God can truly sustain us and to pray for those who suffer daily from poverty.

We will begin this fast at either 1 pm or 6 pm Friday, April, 25th and go to 1 pm or 6 pm on Saturday, April, 26th. We will have juice breaks, service hours opportunities, fun, games, deep heart to hearts and other activites to bring us closer as a community yet being aware of those who live a life of poverty. I hope you all can attend. If you have any questions please feel free to call me, email me or simply leave a comment here on the blog!

Capture the Flag

Christ has risen!
Christ has risen indeed!

On Sunday, March 30th, 2008, join the youth at First Presbyterian Church Owensboro as we play capture the flag on the grassy knolls of what is known as our front yard.

The evening begins at 5:00 pm with a worship service.
Following this there will be a dinner at 5:30ish pm.
After the dinner starts the mayhem and fun with capturing some flags!

However, it is to rain this night and if this is the case then our fun will be moved indoors where we will simply watch movies and what not.

Bring a friend and plan to be at the church until 8:30 pm or so!

Hope to see you there friends!

Maundy Thursday Meditation over John 13.1-17, 31-35

Be silent and still.

Listen to the water being poured into the bowl by the Lord.

Listen as the sound of the water gets louder and then finally trickles off with a few last drips.

Feel the anxiety and confusion come over your body as you see your Rabbi kneel before you with only a towel on to wash YOUR feet.

Listen as Peter tries to tell Jesus that Jesus will never wash his feet.

Take in every word that then comes out of the mouth of the Christ, "Unless I was you, you won't belong to me."

Feel the goosebumps come over your body when your feet enter into the cold water.

Find rest in the rhythm that is in the way Jesus dries your feet.

Embrace the love that you see in Jesus' eyes as he gets up to move to the next disciple.

Get lost in the moment of being with the 12 closest friends you have.

Often times we do not want to be washed by Christ. More often than not we either consider ourselves not deserving of this gift or that Jesus should not have to do it, kind of like what Peter thought. Yet the washing our the feet allowed Christ to demonstrate the kind of love we are to have for one another. Without making the moment less holy, imagine what it must have been like to wash 12 people's feet after walking for a great distance? Blisters, dust, smelly feet and toe jam. Yet I often times find myself again wondering about what happen when Jesus went to wash Judas' feet. At this time Jesus knew that Judas would betray him and yet he still washed his feet, showing that although he will wrong me, he is still my beloved and needing me to serve him.

Through the gift of the Holy Spirit Christ is still with us today. Take time now to allow Jesus to wash your feet. To clean you of the dust and filth that you have picked up or been reminded of during this Lenten journey. Then think about those whom you would find difficult to humble yourself and wash their feet and meditate on Jesus' new commandment, "Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other."

Jesus, come to us today as you draw nearer to your death. Dine with us and wash our feet so that we may belong to you. Teach us about love and may we live and breath this new commandment onto all those whom we encounter, whether they are our friends or our foes. May we bask in your love and live into your love and give it to the world. Amen.

Holy Wednesday Meditation John 13.21-32

There it sits on the table, the meal is ready for us to eat. All twelve of us have been working hard to prepare this meal and now there he comes, the Messiah himself. Smells good in here, doesn’t it?

Yet as we sit here with each other, we sense a bit of tension in the air, especially since Jesus is talking about how he will die and how he will soon enter into his glory. He has been acting strange lately and I must admit that I was a little uncomfortable at first with Jesus washing my feet. I had not a clue what was going on and did not expect that. He really wants us to understand that there is a cost to the last three years of following him. However, the most bizarre thing he has said is that one of us is not clean? Who can this be? I wonder if it is Peter. I mean, he is always jumping to conclusions trying to outdo us it may seem and he would be the least likely. Surely it isn’t John is it? Either way, Jesus has taught us to love one another and to wash one another’s feet regardless, so this I must do.

Oh He is speaking again, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.” What! Again with this betrayal deal, none of us will do this to him. We respect and love him too much. Who can it be? Surely it isn’t I, no way. I will not believe it. Everybody is bewildered and confused. Someone needs to ask him who it is. Ah, I knew the one who Jesus loved would. Yet he did not say it loud enough for it to be heard, “It is the one whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl. Now hurry and do what you’re going to do.” Why would he tell Judas to go and pay for the food now, right in the middle of his teaching? This all just does not make any sense!

I wonder what else he will say now that Judas is gone. “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will soon give glory to the Son.” May I one day glorify the Father like Jesus is explaining.

The mood around the table begins to grow even gloomier as Jesus tells his disciples that his time is coming. But this time we see that the one who will betray Jesus is revealed, yet the other eleven did not understand, but Judas did. Imagine the troubled heart of Judas as he comes face to face with the very one who chose him to be his friend says, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.” Fear and probably much trembling overcame his body we can imagine as he ran to turn Jesus over for few silver coins. Yet greed and jealousy is still much apart of our lives and culture today. How often do you feel this tension pulling at your heart, the greed or the desire to want more, to push yourself to the point where you question your morals and end up crossing the line?

May today we find ourselves approaching the cross, asking God to relieve our heavy hearts and the burdens on our backs that are weighing us down. May we come to realize that living a life of Christ does indeed require a cost but the result is something more beautiful than we can imagine. May we cast our care and our feelings onto the Lord and share our deepest feelings to Christ. We have one to turn to, even when we miss the mark greatly!

Peace to you on this Holy Wednesday!

A Lenten Meditation

"There are many times when I cannot pray, when I am too tired to read the gospels, too restless to have spiritual thoughts, too depressed to find words for God, or too exhausted to do anything. But I can still look at these images so intimately connected with the experience of love."
~Henri J.M. Nouwen~
Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying With Icons