"Who do YOU say that I am"

As referenced in a post by Marty we try to have a Youth Service on the fourth Sunday of every month at RVCC. Sometimes this ends up being just a time of worship, sometimes simple devotions, and sometimes we are so busy with all the craziness in our lives that we don't get anything planned and end up just sitting around and talking.

Recently I received the book Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry as a gift from an amazing friend and cohort in ministry. Last night at our fourth Sunday Youth Service I had the opportunity to try one of the prayer experiences out on our youth, and I must say it was amazing!

Marty started out with this awesome contemplative worship, and then I shared the "Who do You say that I am (us)" prayer experience with the Youth... The experience revolves around Matthew 16:13-20, where Jesus asks the disciples "Who do YOU say that I am", and then responds to Peter with "who He says that WE are"... As part of the experience I repeated a long list of names and phrases about how God sees us, His children, and invited the Youth to dwell on the names and phrases, those they were OK with, and the ones they didn't see in themselves or couldn't get a personal grip on...

We ended the time of reflection by allowing the youth to serve communion to one another, which was also extremely powerful. ( I know that all of the Youth have taken communion before, but I suspect that last night was the first time many of them had to SHARE communion with another person ).

After communion, we invited the Youth to stay as long as they wanted in silence and prayer just to bask in the knowledge that they are wonderfully and fearfully made unique creations of our Father in heaven... I was amazed by the response! For almost 30 minutes, a dozen teenagers sat in silent prayer! When people started to get up and leave, I had several youth comment on how "awesome" the experience was, and it was so encouraging to see them go with huge smiles and the knowledge (at least in that moment) that God KNEW them, and still loved them without exception.

What an awesome God we serve... that though He doesn't need us (Acts 17:25) He has made us His friends and desires a personal relationship with us.

What a weekend

Southern Ohio Boys Chrysalis Flight # 20 has now come to an end. I'm sure that I am not alone in adjusting slowly back to the real world... Coming down off of the high of an Emmaus or Chrysalis weekend always leaves me feeling very reminiscent and nostalgic for a few days...

I was telling Jordan on the weekend that part of the power of participating in a Chryalis flight for me is the flooding of memories and emotions that tie me back to my own flight ten years ago (wow) where I gave my own life to Christ, and first had an understanding of what a real relationship with him meant.

This past flight ( SO Boy's # 20 ) was amazing. It was very different from any other flight I have served on, but the more I mull it over the more I think that the "different-ness" of it is part of what made the weekend so powerful.

Highlights of the weekend for me included

1) Anna singing "All I can say" on Saturday night.
2) The few moments of planned spontaneity that was only shared by a few of the team members after the sanctuary cleared out from candlelight Saturday.
3) Marty singing "Beautiful Collision" during the team commissioning Friday night and then again at closing.

Thank you to all of the team members who poured your hearts into the weekend. The testimonies and stories shared by the butterflies at closing were evidence enough that God was using all of us according to His purpose this weekend.

Looking forward to doing this all again soon,

-Roogles

"Little Rachel"

Ellie got a Dora kitchen for Christmas from her nanny and pop. She loves it. She spends a ton of time "cooking" for Jenn and I and preparing meals and tea-parties for her dolls.

For Valentines Day, Jenn got her a basket of play food ( plastic fruit, veggies, bread, etc ) to go with the kitchen. Ellie got them yesterday morning and. while unpacking them all onto the living room floor, discovered that there was a plastic knife and cutting board in the basket of plastic food. She grabbed the cutting board and knife and proclaimed with much excitement "Look Dad! I can be just like Rachel Ray!"

For a two year old, I find Ellie to be extremely smart, articulate, and perceptive.

I think she watches too much tv though. :)

Confirmed!

I got a post card today from the Abbey!

















I am very excited about the retreat, but also nervous about the prospect of not speaking except in prayer for five days.

Edit : Obviously I did not spell my name slowy enough on brother Steven's answering machine. I'm still excited though!

Wesley's Directions for Singing

from John Wesley's Select Hymns, 1761
(reprinted in The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989, page vii)

1. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.
2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.
3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.
4. Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.
5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

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Despite having attended a United Methodist church for most of my life ( until about three years ago ) I had never seen this until just last night, when a couple of guys sitting in the pew with me at the Emmaus closing pointed it out to me.

While I realize that Wesley's comments would have been pretty radical and edgy in 1761 (I can only imagine how "sing lustily" would have been taken at the time) I can't help but find it a bit humorous that this is still present on page vii of the UMC Hymnal in 2007.

Accent

Saw this on another blog and thought it was interesting...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.
The Midland
The Inland North
The South
The Northeast
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I know for a fact that my own accent varies greatly depending on who I am speaking with... When I took the quiz I was using what I would consider to be my normal speaking voice, but which some people probably think makes me sound like a geek.

Oddly enough, it does not appear that my own results came through in the above thingy which I was supposed to be able to copy and paste right into my blog window...

So I took a screen shot of my results instead...

Busy Weekend

I am currently camped out at Trinity UMC in Chillicothe, waiting for the closing of the Emmaus weekend...

This particular Emmaus Walk I had the privilege and blessing to be able to sponsor my good friend and pastor Steve on the Walk to Emmaus. I have been able to pop in and out over the weekend to serve meals, and attend special services that are part of the Emmaus experience, but haven't really had an opportunity to see what Steve thinks of this whole thing...

Many of the team members I have encountered have mentioned that he has been an eager participant in the weekend and that they've been giving him a hard time about his hair since he arrived. :)

I hope that he found the weekend to be refreshing and worthwhile... I'm anxious to talk to him on the way home ( and possibly over an epic lunch or two ) to hear about his experience.

The Bink

Ellie and I are sitting in the car while Jenn runs into Once Upon a Child in Chillicothe. She is singing Veggie Tales to me and telling me about her day with her friend Jaidyn... Oh! and now she is picking her nose :-) Ah to be two again!

Potential Songs for a Heavy Metal Group called Mailer-Daemon

- "Corrupted File"
- "(Your Message Was) Blocked"
- "No Such Address Exists"
- "Detected by Filter"
- "Your Message (Did Not Go Through)"
- "Automatically Generated"
- "Do Not Reply"
- "Fatal Errors"
- "Permanent Failure"


Compliments of MMDM p. 139.

Mountain Man Dance Moves

Well... Like Marko, Steve, and many others I have found myself loving the book Mountain Man Dance Moves - The McSweeney's Book of Lists ( Amazon Link ) which I shall henceforth refer to as MMDM.

This post is basically to let you know that any blog weirdness from me in the near future may have been inspired by that book.

Cheers!

-Roogles

Martin L

Turn about is fair play brother. This blogger thing is pretty slick. Cheers!

Edit : Ok... Just so that everyone knows... My phone-cam skills are indeed the suck... and yes, the blurry guy in this photo is the real Marty Ford.

Blogger

So, I'm a little fed up with how difficult it is to update my blog in iWeb.

Also, Marty and I have been talking about blogging, and that we should both be more dedicated to it.

So, I'm switching to blogger... I will try to post on my space, xanga, etc when there is a new blog up, but what you should really do is get yourself an RSS reader and subscribe to this thing...

Will this make me a more faithful blogger? who knows, I have my doubts....

Anyhoo... Here we go again.

-E