We're going back to NOLA

ELCA Youth Gathering is going back to New Orleans in 2012! I'm very excited--especially given that it's still over two years away.

Walk on

I've finished with Imitation of Christ, but I wanted to pass along one last quote from Kempis:

"The greatest obstacle, indeed, the only obstacle, is that we are not free from passions and lusts, that we do not try to follow the perfect way of the saints. Thus when we encounter some slight difficulty, we are too easily dejected and turn to human consolations. If we tried, however, to stand as brave men in battle, the help of the Lord from heaven would surely sustain us. For He Who gives us the opportunity of fighting for victory, is ready to help those who carry on and trust in His grace."

It put me in mind of a favorite U2 song:

Kilnfolk Komputer Kwoteables for 2-7-10

I guess with Saint Valentine's Day right around the corner it is time to turn our attention to love...

Think Christian has some brief but important thoughts on telling the truth in love.

Donald Miller has a much longer essay on keys to lasting love.

Stuff Christians Like offers a pretty funny piece about a scared straight marriage speech.

Noel Gallagher from Oasis covers a favorite Beatles song.

Retirement brunch

Pastor Billy's retirement brunch today at 1st, 10 am. Prayers and blessings for his new chapter in life.

Can't wait to see The Who

Is that concert by The Who surrounded by that football game thing this weekend?

Curious for the taste of it

Most parents breathe a sigh of relief when their child learns the value of saving money. But even the thriftiest parent would be taken aback by the method employed by Eli, my four year-old great-nephew: making like a human piggy bank, he swallowed a quarter intended for the Salvation Army bellringer. An emergency x-ray revealed it plainly to be sitting in his stomach. The good news was that there weren't any materials in the quarter that would actually harm the little tyke and that there was a strong chance that the object would exit his body "in the natural way." So all we had to do was wait.

My youngest is now in middle school, so it had been a few years since I had a serious conversation with a four year-old. Long enough to forget that there is no such thing as a serious conversation at least as far as the four year-old is concerned. After some small talk about who was our favorite on Yo Gabba Gabba (Eli likes Brobee, I'm for Muno) we got down to business.


Me:
Why did you swallow that quarter?

Eli:
Because my tummy told me to. (Rubs belly for emphasis.)

Me:
Only food goes in your tummy. A quarter isn't food.

Eli:
I was curious for the taste of it.

The family became a little worried when it appeared that the quarter had stubbornly taken up permanent residence in Eli. Another x-ray showed it contentedly sitting in his stomach days later.

I observed one of my favorite traditions on Christmas Eve, when I help out Santa Claus and place a telephone call to Eli for him. After reminding him a few times to go to bed when his mommy tells him to, he asked me if he was on "my good list." I took an opportunity to have some fun and throw him a little curveball.


Me:
Ho, ho, ho! Do you do everything Miss Shelly (his preschool teacher) asks you to?

Eli:
Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Mostly I do.

Me:
Not now, Rudolph--I'm on the phone! So Eli, you haven't… eaten any quarters or anything like that, have you?

(There is a long pause on the line.)

Eli:
Oh… That…

(He regains his composure.)

Eli:
Well, my tummy told me to do it because it was hungry. But I will only put food down there now.

I learned in that conversation that Eli is honest, had learned his lesson, and could finesse a story on his feet in a way that would impress the savviest corporate spokesperson.

A few days later it was all over. Eli passed the quarter "in the natural way," leaving the Eastman family 25 cents poorer, but feeling like we had hit the jackpot.

Ian Eastman, M.A., is a community educator with Family Services of Warren County—a charitable agency that provides counseling, substance abuse services, and support groups. This Healthy Advice column originally ran in the February 5, 2010, edition of the Times Observer in Warren, PA.

Thursday is the best night of the week

Youth group was seriously fun last night. Couldn't do it without a group of such capable volunteers! Thanks everyone!

A New Kind of Christianity

I was happy today to receive an advance copy of Brian McLaren's new book, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith, from the good folks at The Ooze. I have found his other books quite stimulating and am eager to dig into this one. I will be blogging my way through this book over the coming weeks.

This is the publisher's description of the book:

"Wherever the willingness to rethink has been squelched, wherever that sense of quest has been buried under convention and complacency, the Christian faith in all its forms is in trouble. But even there, something is trying to be born. Even now, right here, among us, inside you, inside me. You may feel it as a curiosity, a desire for better answers than you inherited so far. You may experience it as frustration, knowing that there must be more to faith than you currently know. You may know it as hope, hope that God is seeking humble people whose hearts and lives can be the womb of a better future. . . . In you, your family, your faith community, and circles of friends, among people of peace and faith everywhere, something is trying to be born." -—from A New Kind of Christianity

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church. Not since the Reformation five centuries ago have so many Christians come together to ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who best represents them is author and pastor Brian McLaren.

In this much anticipated book, McLaren examines ten questions facing today's church—questions about how to articulate the faith itself, the nature of its authority, who God is, whether we have to understand Jesus through only an ancient Greco-Roman lens, what exactly the good news is that the gospel proclaims, how we understand the church and all its varieties, why we are so preoccupied with sex, how we should think of the future and people from other faiths, and the most intimidating question of all: what do we do next? Here you will find a provocative and enticing introduction to the Christian faith of tomorrow.

Here's a recent interview conducted with McLaren about the book:

High School SLYM tonight 2/4/10

Shared Lutheran Youth Ministry tonight for young people in grades 9 - 12, 6:30 pm, at GA Learning Center.

Leadership Warren skills session

Leadership Warren was outstanding today. Howard Ferguson on managing change and Marci O'Brien on communication particularly exceptional.

Maybe a double header?

The Thing with Two Heads or The Incredible Two Headed Transplant? Bad movie night at my house. The possibilities are endless!

Beat the February Blues at SLYM

I can't do anything about the cold, but I can do something about the boredom! Come to SLYM throughout February for fun in the gym, party games, friends, worship and learning about God.

High School SLYM is this Thursday (2/4) at 6:30 pm. Our discussion is titled "The Wrong Crowd." Watch your friend's faces when you invite them to youth group to hang out with the Wrong Crowd!

The rest of the month has some interesting topics too:

2/11 – Middle School SLYM. Jesus and Nicodemus have a "Midnight Meeting."

2/18 – High School SLYM. Learn what it means to really help others in our discussion "Four True Friends."

2/25 – Middle School SLYM. In "Crossing Borders" we'll learn about a time when Jesus broke down borders between people over a drink of water.

Youth group is held at the Gustavus Adolphus Learning Center, 200 Gustavus Ave. in Jamestown. Ask a friend to come along! The more the merrier!

Peace,

IAN

Imitation of Christ recap

I finished Imitation of Christ last night. My life in some respects seems so removed from the cloistered world of Thomas à Kempis. Yet, as I have discovered with other devotional classics, human nature and spiritual struggles haven't changed that much over the years. Kempis provided a good dose of reality for me over the last month. It left me more encouraged every day to trust God to live a more devout life. I'm glad I finally got around to reading this classic.

The most common English translation of Imitation of Christ is very readable. It is available in a number of bargain editions. You can also read it for free online.

Next up in my devotional reading: Enjoy the Silence-A 30 Day Experiment in Listening to God by Maggie & Duffy Robbins.

Kilnfolk Komputer Kwoteables for 01-31-10

These are the most interesting rest stops on the information superhighway, as determined by the mainframe in the basement at Kilnfolk World Headquarters.

The Right Reverend James Moore on consumerism.

Englewood Review of Books is giving away the free e-book Growing Deeper in Our Church Communities: 50 Ideas For Connection in a Disconnected Age.

Stuff Christians Like #697: Pretending you care about community.

Egads! These Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes will disappear from Hulu on 2/4/10! Watch 'em while you can!

Never pick up a shoe if you want perfect church attendance

I must be feeling better. This is the first time I've been to church since my ill-fated attempt at going to the Lucia pageant in Dec!