let the commercials roll!

Well ok, I actually watched the game this time around--most of it. Apparently everyone at Fuller wanted to see New York win, so I was one of only 2 of us rooting for the Patriots on Sunday, but we still had a great time enjoying food, fellowship and of course commercials! (I think my vote for favorite is still one of the first bud light ones, with the guy who can breathe fire...) Here are some photos from the Presby superbowl party that Pocket so graciously hosted in her apartment:

Alan, Sophie, Ryan and Alethia look ready!Chuck and ISophie and AlethiaRob and Dave--I think they are excited about the GiantsSo I was laying on the couch, minding my own business and Becca came and lay down next to me cuz there was plenty of room. Then, Sophie decided she needed to squash both of us and that led the boys to telling Pocket that she had to join the "fearsome foursome"--and then Chuck jumped on top of all of us. So here's the aftermath...

It's Almost Time Again!

Time to head to Houston that is! I can't believe it has been almost a year since Sophie & I were there for Cursillo, but we both just received confirmation this week that we are indeed going to be staffing April's Cursillo weekend, which means we will get to be there for a weekend at the beginning of March for training. We are both SO excited about getting to go back, to see our friends there and to learn the new staff positions we have been asked to fill. I know this is kind of a random thing to post, but I was excited & am procrastinating on grading the papers and writing the sermon I am supposed to be doing :)

Also, thanks to all of you who have been praying for mono to go away quickly, because amazingly enough I am almost feeling back to normal. I still get tired easily if I am trying to do TOO much in one day but I have been able to go to all my classes this week, out to dinner with friends, to a movie with Chuck for our Friday night date night, to a meeting this morning, and I am planning on going back to church tomorrow. SO, I am still trying to be careful as everyone has been warning me about relapsing, and especially since I know that I am going to need a LOT of energy for Cursillo in a couple months and want to be healthy for that, but I am very excited to be feeling stronger each day. So thank you for your prayers my friends!

Using My Words

I forgot how much I love it, apparently it is possible to miss something you love when you don't use it for awhile. I forgot the crazy feeling inside as it stirs my soul deep down. I forgot how much I love homiletics, the study and practice of preaching. I haven't been in a preaching group where weekly we listen to fellow students proclaim the word of God and dialogue afterwards about the strengths and weaknesses of the sermon for over a year now, and I forgot how much I LOVE this. Not only is it an incredible gift to be able to hear the word of God proclaimed powerfully at least twice a week outside of church, but getting to see the different ways individuals tell almost the same story has been absolutely fascinating to me. This quarter one of the classes I kept was my preaching practicum, and I am so glad I did, I needed to be reminded of the area of study I love the most. The first assignment the 9 of us were given is to each preach a 17-19 minute sermon on something from Exodus 19 or 20, the Israelites being called God's chosen people & then receiving the 10 Commandments. So far I have heard 4 different sermons on this passage and it is so amazing to see the different ways people communicate the same stories. Each of them has focused on or highlighted different parts of the passage--last week someone preached solely on the commandment to honor the sabbath, and someone else preached on the beautiful passage at the end of Exodus 19, where God proclaims that Israel is His chosen nation, His treasured posession. I preach this week, and while I am way behind in my preparation, I am going to preach on the first few verses of Exodus 20--"I am the Lord your God who has called you out of Egypt; therefore you shall have no other gods before me." Chuck was asking me the other day if we got to use any powerpoint or media in our sermons, and I said no, and that is what I love the most about this class and the way preaching is taught at Fuller. They stress that as a preacher, when you stand before a congregation, you stand before them with nothing to offer but yourself, your words, and any movements or gestures you happen to use. That's the beautiful and amazing challenge of it all, you have to use your words to tell the amazing story of God's grace, to carefully figure out how you are going to craft your message so people can hear it.

Listening to my friend Jeremy's sermon on Exodus 19 this week reminded me why I love this so much and why I love writing and language so much. He was talking about God's calling Israel to be his people, God claiming them. Jeremy has a gift of language and writing, so I knew that the words he was going to use were going to be beautiful, but I didn't expect them to bring tears to my eyes. He dropped his voice and almost whispered, "God drew near to Israel as a groom would to his bride during the first dance at the wedding reception. He held her close and whispered in her ear 'I choose you. Out of all the people and nations on this earth, I picked you. You are mine. You are set apart. And I love you." I know there are those who will strongly disagree with me, and that's ok, but I'm not convinced that something like that can be communicated quite as powerfully and as effectively through anything other than an individual so convinced in the truth of the statement looking into the eyes of his or her congregation and speaking words. Do I think there is a place in worship for things like video, powerpoint, or other media? Sure. But when I see churches getting rid of preaching done by real, live human beings with whom the congregation has a relationship in favor of a video of the latest and greatest popular speaker, I think we miss something vital to the life of the Church: the Word of God being proclaimed thoughtfully and creatively through human words to listening ears. Now I'm just praying God will give me words to speak on Wednesday!

This is my commandment, that you love one another

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to really love people, and not just because I have a boyfriend or am thinking solely about romantic love or because that wonderfully over-commercialized Hallmark holiday is coming up, but the kind of love that Jesus commanded of us. For some reason, this quote from a child stuck out to me powerfully and I thought I'd post it here to share with you all:

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." ~Billy, age 4.

What a profound statement. How we say one another's names matters, and conveys so much more than sometimes our actions manage to. I have more thoughts on what it means to love one another besides just saying people's names differently, but I am pretty much out of creativity or words right now so maybe one of these days I will write more about this, but for now, may those words from a child be thought-provoking for all of us.

so maybe...

...it won't be the most exciting quarter ever. I do in fact have mono, and have been relegated by doctors, parents, and friends, to my couch. Thankfully I have a pretty mild case, and if I am really good about not trying to do too much, I should be back to normal in a couple weeks; but I will still have to drop one class. So yeah, I am pretty much tired a lot, and watch a lot of movies, and have a wonderful boyfriend and friend who are willing to bring me more fresca, and provide me with company as I lay on my couch! That's the latest and greatest from the life of Sarah these days--stay tuned for something more exciting later on :)

And just in case you care, which I am sure you don't, but they, I have mono, I can't do a whole lot of other things...here is my running list of movies I've enjoyed (sometimes while half awake) in the last few days--feel free to offer any suggestions!

**Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which is actually very enjoyable!)
**The Story of Us
**Elizabethtown
**The Cutting Edge
**Raising Helen
**Finding Neverland
**Mulan
**Hook

Being the proud big sister for a minute...

I loved these pictures so I thought I'd post them. Megan and Nathan just went to a wedding for one of Nathan's cousins, and send these photos:

them with Nathan's parents

Welcome to 2008!

I know I kind of slacked off a bit in updating this from the rest of Christmas break and the beginning of this new quarter, but I'll try to hit the hilights of the last few weeks for ya.

**Christmas in Minneapolis with Mom, Dad, Megan and Nathan was very relaxing, not very eventful (which was ok with all of us) and very snowy! It snowed ALL day Christmas day with perfect white flakes drifting down to give us a beautiful winter's night to play in after Christmas dinner. We also had found these Gingerbread House kits at Costco that we bought several of and had a house decorating competition, which provided hours of entertainment for some of us (mostly megan and nathan). I think the rest of us gave up when we saw Nathan making Santa stuck in his Gingerbread chimney. Here are a couple pictures from that:

Dad had a few structural problems to begin with, but after a couple attempts his house is finally standing and in one piece.

Megan's intricately decorated Christmas tree for the front yard.

Nathan sorting candyNathan's snowmanMegan's roof--the rest of us gave up when she started hand-painting sprinkles onto it with a paintbrush. Oh and don't miss the gum drop Christmas lights that eventually went all the way around the house.

Nathan's roof with Rudolph, Santa stuck in the chimney, and the sleigh/sackthen he added the frosting icicles all the way around the house, the mail box, and a pretzel woodpile on the side of the houseMegan's finished productmom and Imy snow angel that I made Christmas night

**After Christmas I headed down to Charleston, SC & Jacksonville Beach, FL to spend 5 days with Chuck and his family/friends which was SO fun. It was wonderful to spend so much time with him, and to see where he came from, and meet the people who mean so much to him. I had always wanted to see Charleston, and his parents so graciously became my tour guides, taking me all over the city. It was a beautiful city, which I kind of fell in love with--the architecture, the history, the water--it was gorgeous. I think I could really love if it weren't for the humidity in the summer! Here are a few pictures from our time together:

lunch at Sticky Fingerswe toured the old governer's house, and this is me out on the piazza, or side porchChuck learning all about this very cool wooden door with the audio tour guideon his parent's front porchdinner one night in Charleston

My first trip to the Atlantic Ocean--it was beautiful!with his best friends, Jodi and Nate, who we stayed withJodi and I playing Ticket to Ride, the greatest board game ever!Nate and Chuck getting ready to trounce us in Ticket to Ride

**So, now I am back here in Pasadena headed into another quarter of classes, which was shaping up to be a great looking quarter, and I'm hoping it still turns out that way, but I haven't been feeling super hot lately and am still waiting for lab work to come back and tell me if I have mono (which was what the doctor thinks it is) or another random virus (which is what I think it is). So I'm hoping to feel better in a few days, but it's been a little tough to get moving on school work this month when I'm not feeling super great. But, I'm still optimistic that since I don't actually have class again until next Wednesday (I don't have classes Tuesday, Thursday or Friday and Monday is MLK day) I'll be fine by then. And if that is the case, I get to take 3 very cool classes: Pastoral Counseling, The Ethics of Life and Death, and a preaching practicum. Plus, I'll be a teaching assistant again this quarter for Chap Clark's Leadership in Youth Ministry class. So I'm really hoping I get to be healthy soon! Prayers would be appreciated!

I think that's about all that is new and exciting here in the life of Sarah :) I'll keep ya posted on other happenings this quarter, my friend Jenn is coming to visit next weekend, my parents are coming in February, and the girls and I are already working on our Valentines Day adventure plans, so more is coming, I promise!