Take My Hand

Sunday Service and Y07

I promised an update on the service I conducted (I don't even know if that's the right word) last Sunday, so I figured I'd stick by my word and do it.

It was a great experience... I've given the sermon several times before -- in my home church, for the conference youth, at the Annual Conferencemeeting -- but I had never done the service in addition to that.

I think the most difficult part about it was trying to have multiple thoughts in my head at once and keep them all straight. Since I wasn't used to the order of service, I had to be actively doing and saying one thing while thinking about and preparing for another! It kept me on my proverbial toes!!

The thing that struck me about the whole experience was that I was very keenly and gladly aware of the fact that I was no more special than any other person in the room. It was that great sense of community I feel when I preach, but in a deeper way.

The service itself was very short. And I do mean very short; I elected not to do a children's sermon, and I only read the Gospel lesson, so that shaved quite a bit of time off an already short service. I don't think the people minded at all though...

So that's the update. I'm sorry I'm not more in-depth about it. Things are crazy busy at the moment; I'm at Youth 2007 so I don't have much free time. I'm currently sitting behind stage waiting for our Southeastern Jurisdictional worship service to begin (I'm doing the opening prayer).

It's been a great time so far... I really enjoyed the workshop I went to yesterday entitled 'The God-hungry Imagination: The Art of Storytelling in the Post-modern Generation' led by Sarah Arthur..

I met Gavo Wednesday night, and JNorm last night. It was very cool to see them in person for the first time! It seemed crazy that I've known them for so long -- Gavin and I even talk on IM -- but hadn't met them in person until now!

Well, the service is about to start and I gotta run. I'm sorry for the scattered roughness of this post. But I figure you all will love me anyway!

Peace.

Chairs

I recieved an email tonight. One of those 'Youth Group Update' emails. You know the ones; they give the information for the sunday night activities, updates on the junior high mission trip, sign-up deadlines for the lake trip and the like.

The one I recieved tonight was no different from the usual ones -- until I scrolled to the bottom. And this is exactly what was written, "The youth area is undergoing renovation. Just as our logo reminds us that we are never the same once we encounter Christ, the youth area will never be the same again. By the time school starts, the youth area will transform into The Zone. We know that you are excited about 'your' youth area and we want to give parents and teens the chance to be a part of this awesome renovation project. We need to purchase 125 chairs (75 from IKEA, 50 stackable). Don't miss out on the opportunity to furnish your youth area with these amazing chairs. Parents, we want to encourage you to purchase chairs in honor of your teen(s). We want to make sure that no teen is left behind without a chair. Buy a chair!!! Chair donations are not limited to parents of teens..."

And there was a picture:

They are asking parents and others to donate almost twenty-thousand dollars in order to purchase chairs. And, they will very likely recieve the entire amount.

Seriously. This isn't a joke.

Now, I can understand needing chairs (although, we already have some). But wanting to spend $225 on a single chair?!!? Times 75?!?!

By the way, I got on IKEA and that model of chair does cost that much money (they added a little extra, but nothing significant); they price is not inflated in order to cover any significant "donation" to the youth group.

$20,000 on chairs. I think I'm still in shock.

With that same money, 148 families could have access to clean drinking water. Or 2,000 families could be given life-saving malaria nets. Or would provide 2 orphans with 4-year college scholarships. Or 88 families could be fed for an entire month; more than 7 families could be fed for more than a year.

$20,000 can change lives. If you were to give a single person who was considered at or below the poverty line in the U.S. that much money, you would be giving him/her more than double that person's yearly income.

They want to spend $20,000 on chairs. And knowing the people who are being asked to give that money most will do it with no hesitation.

I'm livid. Is this not ridiculous?

My neighbor...

My neighbor is going to be out of town next weekend. And he's the pastor of a small church that's not too far from my house.

Because going out of town on a weekend means that you're not in town on Sunday, he needs someone to fill in for him.

He asked me if I would do it. I said yes. I've never led a congregation in an entire worship service before. Heck, I've never done anything other than give the sermon and acolyte!

I'm terribly excited and terribly nervous at the same time. Doing the sermon is no problem. It's the rest of the service that'll be tricky! He's the sole pastor of the church, so I'll be the only one up there. And I've got to cue everybody from the ushers who take the offering to the mom who takes the little kids to 'Children's Church' in the middle of the service.

Did I mention that it's not a United Methodist (my tradition) church? Therefore, I won't know the order of service by heart.

And in this church's tradition, they do a 'Prayer of Confession' every Sunday. You know what happens after that? The 'Assurance of Pardon'. I get to assure these people that their sins are pardoned... that ought to be an interesting experience.

So, if you think about it anytime this week or on Sunday (or afterward for that matter; who says prayer can't work backwards in time?!) say a prayer for me.

I'll be sure to post a report!!