First night of Advent

Tonight we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent. I like this definition of Advent - The arrival, coming, or discovery of something, especially something extremely important.

I read this scriptures to accompany the lighting of the candle.

Isaiah 60:1-3

"Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the LORD rises upon you

and his glory appears over you.

Nations will come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Matthew 24:44

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

95/365 Palm Sunday

I went to a new church today, more on that tomorrow. 

Today I wanted to focus on the day. It's Palm Sunday - the day that most Christians celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem for the last week of His life. Here's what the scriptures say:

Mark 11:1-11

When they were nearing Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany on Mount Olives, he sent off two of the disciples with instructions: "Go to the village across from you. As soon as you enter, you'll find a colt tethered, one that has never yet been ridden. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks, 'What are you doing?' say, 'The Master needs him, and will return him right away.'"

They went and found a colt tied to a door at the street corner and untied it. Some of those standing there said, "What are you doing untying that colt?" The disciples replied exactly as Jesus had instructed them, and the people let them alone. They brought the colt to Jesus, spread their coats on it, and he mounted.

The people gave him a wonderful welcome, some throwing their coats on the street, others spreading out rushes they had cut in the fields. Running ahead and following after, they were calling out, 

   Hosanna! 

   Blessed is he who comes in God's name! 

   Blessed the coming kingdom of our father David! 

   Hosanna in highest heaven!

He entered Jerusalem, then entered the Temple. He looked around, taking it all in. But by now it was late, so he went back to Bethany with the Twelve.

As a child, I knew that Palm Sunday normally meant a few things. 

1. Spring break was near!
   
2. Easter was a week away.
   
3. My mom was going to make me wear a new dress.
   
4. People wore palms crosses on their clothes. 
   

As an adult, spring break is no longer a luxury, Easter is still a week away, my mom gave up buying clothes many years ago (though she and I did enjoy shopping for my wedding dress together) and people still wear palm crosses on their clothes. But more and more, those are older people and I see them growing fewer in number. 

Palm Sunday also gives me a time to reflect. It's a time to prepare for Easter. Not just spiritually, but emotionally. It's a VERY hard time to go through. It's full of loss and grieving for what used to be. Having worked in a church for so many years, it's so strange to not be knee deep in plans and preparations right now. 

I just try to take it one day at a time. 

94/365 - The BIG conference (part 3)

So things were set in motion. I would be attending the conference in Chicago with a group of volunteers and staff members. I knew everyone attending on some level - some better than others. I had never been to Chicago before and was excited to see the city. I also had NO clue what to expect from the conference. I remember someone telling me once that if you didn't have clear expectations, then you would never get enough out of a situation. But there was no way I could have had clear expectations. It was so completely foreign and new.

We flew in and went straight to the church. I use the word church loosely - because this was the BIGGEST church I have ever seen. It was HUGE - acres and acres. I didn't realize it was a church at first, it was so completely different from any church I had ever seen. There was no steeple, no stained class, but miles of parking. I thought it was an office complex at first.

A few of the people on the trip had been there before, and they really enjoyed watching the reactions of us newbies. They giggled when we finally realized that "this" was the church!
I had no idea what we were in for.

93/365 - The BIG conference (part 2)

When I told them that I was really flattered to have been included, but that I couldn't attend, they were surprised. I explained it had nothing to do with the conference, but everything to do with finances. This was when I received the second shock - they were prepared to pay nearly all of my expenses.

This was huge. This still remains one of those times I can clearly point to in my life and say "See, someone believed that I could do this!". They were willing to spend money on me. On me! They believed I was smart enough and had something unique to offer. They were making an investment.

For those of you who know me, you know the deep hurt that I have endured by these same people. I know that some of you have wondered how I could have stuck around for so long, why I let them do it. This was a big part of it. They weren't always hurtful. Yes, there were times when they offered praise in one second and then criticism in the next, but there was at least this moment when they sincerely seemed to value me.

92/365 - The BIG conference.

In the spring of 2000, the leaders of the children's ministry at church called me in for a meeting. Not knowing what to expect, I just thought it was a time for us to touch base about what we were trying in my class. It turned into so much more.


They were impressed with how the other volunteer and I had taken the material we heard at the one day conference in the fall and applied it to our class. Turns out Willow Creek - the church that did the one day conference, was doing a BIG conference at their home church. This would be a 3 day long event and afterwards they would be doing tours of their facilities. It was in Chicago in the spring and sounded amazing.

Then I was completely dumbfounded when they told me that they wanted me to attend. I completely didn't expect that! I thought that those kinds of conferences were only for paid staff members. Not for volunteers. But I stood corrected when they informed me that they were bringing all their children's ministry staff and also bringing some key volunteers. People they thought could make a difference in the ministry.

I was flattered and flabbergasted. And also poor. I was a college student working a few part time jobs to make ends meet. It wasn't like I had money for the tickets or registration or hotel - there was no way I had a couple hundred dollars to spend on this, no matter how much I wanted to attend.

91/365 10 years have passed.

That group of kids has since grown up and moved. Most of them will be fininshing their Freshman and Sophomore years of college this spring. I'm in touch with some of them still.


Some of them have grown and matured in their faith, others have taken different paths. But no matter where they are right now, I know that the attemps we made 10 years ago to try something different with them will not be forgotten and will not have been in vain.

90/365 Making it real

One of the biggest reasons for small groups was that this was our chance to help the kids make it real. It's so easy to say that bible stories are just that - stories. Stuff that happened years ago to people who are from another time and place. It's easy to think it has no relevance to modern life.
But through small groups - our kids found connections. They were able to see that the story of David and Bathsheba wasn't just about a long dead king who made a mistake, but it was about thinking you could make better decisions than God could. It was also about realizing that everyone makes mistakes, no matter how great they seem. They also realized that if you trusted God even when you made mistakes, that God could do great things with your life.


The kids realized this because their small group leaders made the bible real to them. These were adults who were living it. They weren't perfect, but the kids thought they were 10 feet tall. And when they admitted that it was hard to trust God, hard to be brave, hard to read the Bible every day - all of a sudden the kids realized that it was real.