THIS SUNDAY- 2pm at the Church if you need a ride- otherwise meet at the bowling alley at 2:30pm. Bring $10 for bowling and dinner and another $10 if you plan on staying for the movie. Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 18, 2009
High School Christmas Party
THIS SUNDAY- 2pm at the Church if you need a ride- otherwise meet at the bowling alley at 2:30pm. Bring $10 for bowling and dinner and another $10 if you plan on staying for the movie. Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Home!
So obviously I did not have internet access over the weekend to try and update the blog, which was a bummer. BUT, we did have an amazing time in Inglewood, Compton, Watts, and Los Angeles. We visited congregations, played through all of the red apples to apples cards, saw a historical landmark, made new friends, danced in church, ate lots and lots and lots of great food and gave thanks to God for being able to do all of it. More stories will be shared soon...
Thursday, December 3, 2009
On the road again!
We are getting ready to embark on the largest youth trip yet at Saint John's. The youth chose unanimously to return to Inglewood for our fall service learning trip.
Generally when I tell people that I am taking 12 high school students and 4 adults with me to Inglewood, Watts, and South Central LA, they usually respond by saying, "WHY???" or sometimes, "Whoa..." Well, as we discussed last night in our getting ready meeting, there are plenty of reasons why I am taking them there. First, of course, is that we had an amazing experience last year. The youth really shined. They approached our trip with open minds and hearts, which paid off in the end. Yes, the inner city feels like a totally different world then our quaint Central Coast. And in many ways it is a different world. And yet, there is a part of us that is connected to the people there through our Christian faith. The trick is that we have to filter through a lot of stuff to get to that connectedness.
I have often asked myself, if Jesus were alive and walking the earth today, where would be choose to spend his time? Who would be his companions? Where would I have to go to meet him? The gospels demonstrate time and time again that Jesus chose to spend his time with people that the rest of society would rather ignore- tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, people with leprosy, fishermen, women with less than stellar reputations.
Is there a chance that Jesus might choose to spend his time with the poor and struggling of Watts? Is there a chance that he might choose to talk with the kids who take to hard life in the streets? Is there a chance that Jesus might want us to notice these people too? Is there a chance that we might meet Jesus when we go to meet our brothers and sisters in Inglewood?
Well, I feel it is worth it to take the trip to find out. And I pray for God's blessing as we journey.
Generally when I tell people that I am taking 12 high school students and 4 adults with me to Inglewood, Watts, and South Central LA, they usually respond by saying, "WHY???" or sometimes, "Whoa..." Well, as we discussed last night in our getting ready meeting, there are plenty of reasons why I am taking them there. First, of course, is that we had an amazing experience last year. The youth really shined. They approached our trip with open minds and hearts, which paid off in the end. Yes, the inner city feels like a totally different world then our quaint Central Coast. And in many ways it is a different world. And yet, there is a part of us that is connected to the people there through our Christian faith. The trick is that we have to filter through a lot of stuff to get to that connectedness.
I have often asked myself, if Jesus were alive and walking the earth today, where would be choose to spend his time? Who would be his companions? Where would I have to go to meet him? The gospels demonstrate time and time again that Jesus chose to spend his time with people that the rest of society would rather ignore- tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, people with leprosy, fishermen, women with less than stellar reputations.
Is there a chance that Jesus might choose to spend his time with the poor and struggling of Watts? Is there a chance that he might choose to talk with the kids who take to hard life in the streets? Is there a chance that Jesus might want us to notice these people too? Is there a chance that we might meet Jesus when we go to meet our brothers and sisters in Inglewood?
Well, I feel it is worth it to take the trip to find out. And I pray for God's blessing as we journey.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
ROCKSTARS!
We had a great time at the Rockstar Middle School Youth Gathering last weekend. On Friday afternoon the 10 of us loaded up into 2 cars and headed south. We got there right in time to catch the first Mass Gathering with Agape (Lutheran Christian Hip-Hop artist David Scherer). The theme encouraged us to look to God as our rock and salvation. On Saturday we had workshops, another session with Agape, time for swimming and then 7 hours at Universal Studios! Saturday night Agape gave a great concert- everyone was singing and dancing, while at the same time learning more about God's amazing grace. Sunday morning we worshiped together with holy communion and heard the story of how Jesus comes to us in the poor, hungry, homeless, sick, and imprisoned. Agape challenged us to find an issue that we care about and to try to make a difference in that area of the world's need. All in all God was really good to us this weekend!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Rockstar: Middle School Youth Gathering!
We are having a great time this weekend in Woodland Hills. Unfortunately I can't hook up the camera to show any pictures yet, but they are on their way. We had a blast at Universal Studios, Agape is amazing, and now we are getting ready to close the weekend with worship together.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Welcome 7th Graders and Congrats Confirmands!
We want to especially give a shout out to all our 7th graders who we kidnapped for breakfast a few weeks back!And congrats to all of our confirmands for doing a great job on their speeches! We made them get up for breakfast too the day before confirmation- but we did not make them skip down the pier! More pictures to come!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
