SAB Retreat

This past weekend next year's Student Advisory Board (the leadership team of Presbyterian students that help plan events, chapel, retreats, etc) went up to Lake Arrowhead for a weekend of team building exercises, getting to know one another, relaxing a bit, and brainstorming about what makes a good team, good leaders, and great community. It was wonderful to get out of the city and up in the mountain air for a couple days, and the weekend provided us with some entertaining photos as we worked together to complete our team building initiatives. Our first task was to move a hula hoop from one end of the line to the other without letting go of hands--we did this several ways, including simply throwing the hoop to the person at the other end, using only our feet, and using our necks.

Our next task was to create a circle and move the hoop around the circle without letting go of one another's hands.

Holly and GeorgeWe did it! Our final challenge on Sunday morning proved to be a bit complicated, but we did it! We were each blindfolded, and then Denise handed us a rope and told us to make a perfect square with the rope. Since we couldn't see, this obviously required a great deal of verbal communication, constantly checking in with one another, and oh yeah...six of the eight of us were tied to another person. Laura was left untied and so was I but I was made mute and couldn't talk, so Laura found me and took over making sure I was ok since I couldn't verbally communicate. So here we are at the beginning when we originally were fiuring out who was tied, who was handicapped in other ways, and where people were located. We figured out that most of us were fairly close together, and they thought it might be easier to start all together in a smaller group and then back out until the slack in the rope was gone. So Ryan and Dave made their way over to the rest of the group.What the team did not know was that Denise never put a blindfold on Ryan, she wanted him to be able to watch what was going on, but he did a great job of not giving us the solution and only made suggestions every now and then. So one original idea was to somehow make diagonals with the rope to help us make a square, so we were trying to cross our part of the rope with the couple diagonal from us, but because we couldn't see what we were doing, we couldn't tell if the ropes were getting sent across the square straightly--it turns out they weren't, we managed to make a tangled mess! But that's ok, we eventually got ourselves untangled (thanks to some subtle help from Ryan).Although this picture makes it look like Ryan is wondering if we were ever going to untangle ourselves!Eventually we untangled ourselves and managed to decide we could back out to take up the slack in the rope and started forming some of the corners. Here are Laura and I--because I couldn't talk, we figured out a system of stamping--Laura was great at asking yes or no questions of me and I would stamp my foot once or twice depending on my answer and then she would report to the group what I was thinking. It was actually kind of fun NOT to be able to talk!We did it! Each group made a corner and Laura, our only free standing person decided to pace the interior of the squre measuring how many of her arm lengths each side was to tell if we had equal sides.

The Lamb At the Center

I had the opportunity to preach again at Burbank this past Sunday, and I have several thoughts to share about that--I definitely think I learned a lesson while preparing this sermon, but I have to head out to class, so you will just have to wait in suspense for another day or so--but I wanted to post the two photos Sophie took that morning. I was actually not expecting that many Fuller folks to come, they all have their own churches and responsibilities, and they were all there in January for my first sermon, so I was only expecting the people who actually attend Burbank to be there. Well I was standing outside on the patio before the service talking to a couple Fuller folks and saw Ryan and Alethia's car drive into the parking lot--according to Alan, who I was talking with at that moment, the look on my face was hysterical--I had NO idea they were going to be there and I was SO excited! Then, in the middle of the service, Sophie and Pocket came in the door (they had had to work with the youth at their own church that morning) and I really did not expect them, apparently I also did not do a very good job of hiding my excitement when I saw them either! I felt very loved and supported and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch together after the service. Anyways, I should probably head towards class for the evening, but I had a few minutes to get these posted...stay tuned for a few more random thoughts on preaching this time around!

Here was part of my cheering section: Pocket, Kelli (she came up from San Clemente for the day, it was SO fun to see her!), Alethia, Ryan, Sophie and Dave (Alan took the photo and the other Dave had already taken off with the youth group...)

Union Station

Thursday night a group of us went to Union Station, a homeless shelter in Pasadena and prepared and served a meal to about 25 homeless men and women. It was probably my favorite social activity we have done this year, it was wonderful to be working together on something and to be serving those around us. Here are some photos from the evening:

The cooking crew working on getting the chicken boiledLaura and Jenn, our dessert makers--we DID have enough cookies despite the fact that people kept snitching the dough all night!Dave Barry and Dave Cameron cooking the onions and the peppersJenn and I waiting for the casseroles to bakeWe had a very intense dish-washing crew!

Our team (from left to right): me, Laura, Tina, Dave, Pocket, Dave, Michael (he's a staff member there at the shelter), Holly, Peter

Yee-Haw! Welcome to Houston Presbyterian Cursillo #45!

Howdy par-dner! Ok so I received several impromptu lessons in how to "talk Texan" but I soon realized that even those from Texas have different ideas about how words should be pronounced. So, I did the only thing I could do...made up my own accent and said I was a California-Texan....which they all agreed was ridiculous and I could never pull off being a Texan. I just returned from serving on the staff of Houston Presbyterian Cursillo #45 this past week, and definitely feel like I am still trying to recover from the lack of sleep, long days, and time changes...but I am also still floating on a cloud of the love, encouragement, and grace that always comes with a Cursillo weekend. I got to see friends I have made my last several trips to Houston, and I got the chance to make several new friends this weekend--and once again I was reminded of how huge the Body of Christ is and how deep God's love is for each of us, the children that He calls by name. Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Sophie and Cheryl during our first staff meeting Wednesday nightSophie and I with our friend Sam, and the t-shirt we bought him for his birthday from the Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory (it says "my mama says I'm special")...we think he's pretty special too!Sophie and I--we have experienced every Cursillo-related adventure together this past year, and I'm not quite sure what a weekend without her there would be like...Sam doing a solo on the saxophoneBack in September, someone made Kernie (our monkey) his own green apron to designate that he's a staff member too...but unlike the rest of us, he chooses not to spend the whole weekend in one role, he likes to make the rounds to the different teams. So Friday Kernie spent the day with his uncle Sam and the rest of the music team leading people in worship and celebration.

My wonderful staff prayer partner, Gina--it was AMAZING getting to know her and hang out with such an incredible woman of God!

Our illustrious spiritual advisors (ordained pastors on staff for the weekend)...yeah...about the hats....don't ask...Kernie spent Saturday as a spiritual advisor, so they made him a hat, which I don't totally understand, and then sat him on top of the communion cup, and then put whopper candy in the bottom of the cup to be monkey poop...and then they spent the rest of the weekend throwing the monkey poop at the camp coordinators sitting at the next table...yeah it was a wonderfully mature weekend! So when we took the monkey away, the spiritual advisors got a little sad, so they stole our observing moderator's stuffed chicken--the chicken was being used to illustrate a point earlier in the weekend and then spent the rest of the weekend substituting for Kernie as a spiritual advisor...poor chicken.... My wonderful team I got to serve with all weekendSophie and I were helping with something Saturday afternoon, hence the outfits. "Seriously" was picked up by everyone by the end of the weekend thanks to our skit...seriously, it was.I got to see my first sunrise over the water! It sets over the water out here, so I was very excited to see the water on the east coast...ok so later I was told it was the Gulf Coast, but it still rose over the water, and was absolutely glorious! We really didn't mean to match most of the weekend...it's just that when one of us finds something with butterflies on it that we think is relatively cute we buy two, then we got there and realized everything in our suitcases matched...Like our "Life is Good" shirts...here we are with our friend John who we met back in September--John decided our monkey was pretty cool and even made Kernie his own official Cursillo nametag back in the fall!My new friend Robert and I--we spent all weekend serving together, and he was a HUGE encouragement to me!We needed hats for something...so we sent out an email asking for help, and received more offers than we could count--apparently a lot of people in Texas own hats! Us putting them on only confirmed to everyone that we weren't ever going to be able to pull off the Texan look.This wonderful group of women were such a joy to serve with! This was taken Sunday night after our staff party...we were a little tired!Our spritual advisor, Mike, hanging out with Sam Uncle Sam hanging out with his neph-monkey at the staff partyExcept when Uncle Sam wasn't looking, Kernie finished off his margarita...bad monkey!Ashleigh, Sophie and I--roommates for the weekend, we are convinced our room was somewhat possessed, we didn't sleep really at all for about 4 nights....

He is Risen!

From the time I was young, I have always said that Easter is hands down, my favorite day of the year. It trumps my birthday, Christmas, teacher inservice days, and even the 4th of July fireworks--and since the time I've been about 10, that has been the case. (Before that, nothing really beat Santa, I'll be honest...) And really, even as a kid, while the easter bunny was always cool, and easter morning surprises were wonderful, the thing that makes the day stand out above all the rest is not the candy, the easter baskets, the egg hunts or the family dinner. It's the trumpet fanfare that announces the resurrection of Christ and the congregation rising to proclaim that Christ the Lord is indeed risen today. I'm a person that loves tradition, I like things to be the same year after year, and while some may say that is boring, I beg to differ. I think there is somthing reassuring and comforting in our crazy and chaotic world when certain traditions are held. I still get chills down my back when I walk in to a sanctuary, pretty much any sanctuary, and see the alter, which three days earlier had been stipped bare and covered in black, now adorned with Easter lillies, white alter cloths, and candles. And then the service starts. I think I must have been a fairly nerdy kid (ok, I know I was a fairly nerdy kid--I still am....) but I remember LOVING going to the Good Friday service, sitting in silence as the altar is stipped bear and covered in black, and watching as the cross that always stood next to the communion table was shrouded in a black veil and carried down the aisle and out of the sanctuary. I loved that night because I knew that Sunday morning I would come in, find the space fully decorated, and would wait for the opening strains of Lift High the Cross--which would be our cue to stand, turn and face the back of the church and wait for the cross, now very much without it's black veil, as it processed down the aisle. While I haven't been to a church that has been big on processionals in quite awhile now, I never get tired of hearing the pastor proclaim for the first time that "Christ is Risen!" Each year, it is always the same--as we join together to sing Christ the Lord is Risen Today I feel like we are given a tiny glimpse into heaven where we will one day, spend eternity proclaiming:

Christ the Lord is risen today!

Sons of men and angels say

Raise your joys and triumphs high!

Sing ye heaven and earth reply....

Lives again our glorious king

Where, O death, is now thy sting?

Dying once, He all doth save

Where thy victory, O grave?

Love's redeeming work is done

Fought the fight, the battle won,

Death in vain forbids Him rise,

Christ has opened Paradise.

Soar we now, where Christ has led,

Foll'wing our exalted Head;

Made like Him, like Him we rise,

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies...

Alleluia!

Here are some random photos from Easter 2007....my day started at 7am when I joined Becca, Sophie, and Jenn for San Marino's Sunrise Service at Lacy Park before heading over to Burbank for First Pres' service.

You know you have too much in common when you show up wearing the same shirt....

Hey, we're still cute! The butterfly necklace was a gift from Sophie in time for Easter and Cursillo this next week...
Then it was off to Burbank to celebrate with my church family there...putting together the flower cross is a multi-generational event that gets to involve the entire community, and it was gorgeous when it was finished!
Who wouldn't want to be welcomed by such a wonderful greeting team??

My New Favorite Quote

As you know, I am now officially addicted to Grey's Anatomy and think it is one of the best shows on TV, but since I just started watching it I am watching seasons 1 and 2 on DVD to get caught up. I think I just found my new favorite line ever:

It's in the season 2 episode with the train wreck, and the chief of surgery is trying to reattach a patient's right leg, the only problem is that every right leg that Dr. Christia Yang brings him doesn't match the patient. After the chief threatens her job unless she can find the correct right leg, Christina tells Dr. Burke: "if i don't find this leg the chief is going to cut me from this program, and I cannot go back home Burke. It is too sunny in Los Angeles, it is sunny every day there!"

Finally, someone who thinks like I do about the weather in LA!