Filled to Overflowing

Last night was our final "regular" youth group of the year (we do something each week over the summer but it is all social stuff), and in many ways it was a pretty incredible evening. Looking around the room, seeing some of them washing each others' feet, hearing them share where they have seen God in the past year, and realizing I'd been able to witness some of the same moments they mentioned as well was amazing. It's hard to believe I've been with them an entire school year already. It seems like just yesterday I was standing around awkwardly wondering who to talk to first and what in the world to say to these students who didn't know or trust me anymore than they did the random guy on the street they passed. Now I look around the room and I have memories connected to each of the 23 or so kids sitting there. I'm more comfortable with some than with others, but I have come to deeply love and care about and for each of these young people. Their smiles, tears, faces, laughter, antics, and silliness are part of my story now, and I am so grateful for the chance I've had to serve with them. We're not going anywhere yet, but I know that when the time comes to move to another congregation somewhere I'll be so sad to say goodbye, to not get to watch some of these kids finish growing up. I guess that's partly what ministry is, getting to be part of a slice of someone's journey, not always the whole thing. Only God knows what seeds have been sown this past year, we've seen some amazing growth in some kids and maybe not as much outward growth in others but that's okay. The Holy Spirit is the one who does the work, we just stay available for when the Spirit might want to use us.

So, beautiful, amazing young men and women, thank you. Thank you for teaching me how to play again. Thank you for pushing me in my own faith as you ask difficult questions. Thank you for the hugs, the stories, the chance to see Jesus working in each of you. Your beautiful faces have brought so much joy to me this year.

Why I'm a Gleek

If you aren't familiar with the term "Gleek," well, I guess I'd wonder where you've been this year! Fox TV's smash hit Glee has taken the country by storm, and for good reason! The show ran a test series in the fall--13 episodes, just to see if the idea would catch on. It did. Immediately. Like wildfire. They took the winter months off to record the second half of the season and brought it back in April for the past 2 months. The season finale was last night, and oh my word. SUCH a great ending to the season.

Charles and I began hearing our youth group kids (and leaders) talking about this thing called Glee in the fall. It ran on Wednesday evenings right as youth group was going on, and since we don't even have cable, much less fancy TiVo to record shows we miss, we didn't really attempt to catch up. The chatter amongst our students (and around Fuller) kept spreading, so over Christmas break we finally said "okay, we gotta watch a couple episodes to see what the fuss is all about." We were hooked. (Me moreso, but he enjoys it). The creators of this show brilliantly tapped into something every high school kid experiences--feeling like a misfit. Even as you get to know the so-called popular kids you realize they feel the same way. A Spanish teacher with a passion for music pulls them together to form the school's Glee Club (he uses some unconventional methods to convince some of them to join, but nonetheless he gets them all to commit to the program) and manages over the course of the year to form a community for them where each of them begins to feel like they do belong. They deal with real life teenage issues throughout the show--a student struggling with his sexual orientation, a teenage pregnancy, family issues, divorce, adoption, popularity, grades and friendship--so it's not a show for little kids to watch, but I love many of the ways they handle these situations. To top it off, the actors who play the teens are some of the most talented people ever--they sing, they act, they dance (yes they do all the songs themselves). The music is fun, all covers of familiar songs that you'll want to sing along with!

Fox has decided to re-run the entire first season over the summer, on Thursday nights, so if you missed it the first time around, jump on board this summer and check it out--I promise, you'll appreciate the fun, the cheesiness, and of course, the music. Come on, you know you wanna be a Gleek :)

7 Quick Takes Friday

It's Friday again! With these new jobs and running around trying to adjust to my new schedule I may just be posting these weekly updates for a bit, not having a ton of mental energy to think of creative or deep thoughts to post :)

**1**
Last Sunday we drove 3 hours north of here to the Fresno area to see my sister, her husband and my baby niece at my brother in law's home. They flew out for the long weekend to see the Backman side of the family and graciously invited Charles and I to come join them for a night. Of course reconnecting with my beautiful baby niece was a highlight, she's pretty dang awesome! At 7 1/2 months old she could now sit up all by herself, grab for toys, and is attempting to crawl but isn't quite there yet. Here are some of my new favorite photos of the Lily-girl!Megs and I were testing Lily's pool...you know, quality control
**2**
Wednesday night for youth group we had quite the epic dodge ball tournament happening--the 10 leaders versus the 25 junior and senior high students...actually we were pretty evenly matched since most of the jr. high girls stood in the corner of the court shrieking when the ball came near them. It was a blast, I didn't enjoy the game as much when I was in elementary school, but I do now!

**3**
I've rediscovered the TV show The West Wing on DVD through Netflix and am back in love with the fast-paced, smart talking political drama that follows the presidency of democratic president Jed Bartlett. My roommates and I used to watch this after college & used to talk about how much better our country would be if Jed Bartlett really were our president...

**4**
One of the things that has made the past couple weeks so tiring is our crazy schedule this quarter. Which ends today, thank the Lord. It's one of those quarters where we had something every night of the week Monday through Thursday--often in different places, so my husband and I never ate meals together, I essentially stopped cooking all that often, and we were out until about 10 almost every night. This summer should be MUCH better, but for the past two weeks I've been working during the day and then running to something for the evening, and it's been exhausting! Last night was the first night in awhile I had a bit of a break, and went for a walk after dinner which was so delightful. So here's to a much less insane summer schedule!

**5**
One of the things I'm working on for my job is compiling and researching a list of the best preachers in America. We're putting together a resource list for pastors and future pastors of people who are excellent communicators of the Word, not necessarily famous--in fact we're looking for names of random pastors of congregations we've never heard of but who have really made a difference to you through their preaching. Anyone have any names they want to add to my list of folks I'm researching?

**6**
My honey is FINALLY at the beach for the first time all spring--he has had SO much to do this quarter between Confirmation (which has gone well but thank goodness it ends next Sunday--it will be great having that be off our plates!) and his own schoolwork that he hasn't taken a day off to go surf in two months. He's not done with his finals yet but I finally convinced him to get away from the computer yesterday and get out, which he did and was much more relaxed when he got home. He and the boys are spending all day today at their favorite surf spot too, which is awesome for them--he's learning that Sabbath is essential!

**7**
Living in Laker territory, I only have one thing to say about the NBA Finals: GO CELTICS!

1,000 Gifts

It's been a long time since I last posted my list of things I'm thankful for--so I thought I'd take this lazy Saturday to catch up a bit! A friend of mine is posting hers monthly, that may be my new plan :)

Thank you, Jesus, for...

300. A delightful evening watching and mocking the second Twilight movie, New Moon with my husband.

304. Getting all my candidacy paperwork written and turned in.

310. The incredible support and feedback we have each received from our respective small groups during a difficult ministry situation that arose.

311. Getting to spend a delightful morning on the beach with Jenn Moore and the rest of her bridesmaids, picnicking, praying, chatting and enjoying God's creation.

313. Watching Jenn and Josh get married, such a great day!

316. The engagement of THREE good friends all in 1 week! Jenn, Megan and Becca--lots of weddings coming up!

317. An incredibly encouraging session meeting with the elders at my home church.

322. Coffee, dinner and conversation with Seattle friends.

325. The movie Oceans, such amazing sea creatures exist!

333. Getting to teach students about the sacraments in Confirmation.

335. Sunday afternoon naps.

340. God provides work for us!

341. Video chatting with Lily

344. GPC has a new pastor! He starts in August.

345. Homemade peanut butter brownies

346. I am officially a candidate for ordination!

349. Getting an hour of 1 on 1 time with my head pastor from Seattle.

350. Coffee with Dianne, one of my mentors and role models from Seattle

354. Moleskine journals

355. My new haircut :)

362. Sipping coffee in the sunshine

362. Giftcards to restaurants

367. I finally made it through Pride and Prejudice!

369. Birds singing in the background as I write this

371. Clarity in my desire and call to be a pastor.

379. Ice cream sandwiches

385. Piles of clean laundry

388. Skype date with my nieces and nephew in Japan

397. A clean house

406. A delicious meal with a professor of ours and his wife

408. Vanilla ice cream with fresh cut peaches and strawberries on top

409. A quiet, lazy Saturday morning.

417. Watching Confirmation kids wrestle with their faith

7 Quick Takes Friday

Happy 3 day weekend everyone! I think I've decided every weekend should be a 3 day weekend...but they didn't ask me, so I seriously doubt that will happen. But it would be nice...

Here's what's been going on around here lately...

**1**
It was my first full week of work in a long time...and I gotta be honest, I'm a little tired! It just felt full! I worked each morning this week for 4 hours in my new office, led two preaching groups, graded and gave written feedback on 7 sermons (I might have been a little behind...), and started working a few hours for the other new job I was hired for this week, which is working part time for a preaching institute that is being created here. It is definitely going to take me a few weeks to get the hang of this whole working thing! But I enjoyed getting up each day, going into the office, having tasks to do and recording my hours on a time card, so I am thankful for being employed!

**2**
I finally finished reading Pride and Prejudice about a week and a 1/2 ago. Finally! I have very mixed feelings about it, on one hand I was slightly entertained by the story line. On the other hand I was bored by the verbosity with which the characters felt the need to speak. It went on and on and on. So I think it may be awhile before I pick up another book by Jane Austen!

**3**
Last Saturday I went to our church's half day "Almost Silent Women's Retreat." This is a brilliant idea for anyone who has to plan a woman's event! We gathered at 8:30 for breakfast and chatting at someone's beautiful home. At 9 they did a brief introduction to silence, solitude, and how to approach a time alone. From 9:30 to 11:45 the 14 of us were turned loose to go spend time in silence however we wanted. Some went on a silent hike in the nearby hills of the neighborhood, but most of us found sunny patches in the beautiful backyard, spread out a blanket and enjoyed time reading, resting, journaling, praying, and observing nature around us. At 11:45 we were called back together for a 15 minute debriefing time--what did people learn, how was that for you to spend time in silence etc. From 12-1 they served a delicious lunch while we fellowshiped around the tables and then headed home. It was a fabulous idea for an event--a great balance between time connecting and time alone. Definitely will be copying this some day when I'm planning events!

**4**
I am reading a fantastic book right now as part of my quiet time, one I would highly recommend to anyone who struggles in their relationship with God. The basic premise is that as Christians we have been taught things in the church that are actually not true about God, yet they have become SO ingrained in us that they have created an untrue narrative about the God of the scriptures. I know this is true in my own walk. For instance, how many of us believe that God is angry at us? Or how many of us believe that God blesses us when we are good and punishes us when we are bad? According to studies of Christians done by Baylor University in Texas, a majority of evangelical Christians have these ideas about God somewhere in their narratives they tell about God. James Bryan Smith writes a book reminding us that in order to understand God, we have to look at Jesus, at what Jesus tells us about God, and that needs to reshape the narrative in our minds about God. It's delightful, I just wish I was going through it with someone. There are great discussion questions and spiritual discipline exercises recommended for each chapter that would be fun to go through with another person.


**5**
On Sunday afternoon we are driving up to the Fresno area to spend a night at my sister's inlaws house because Megan, Nathan and the baby girl are going to be there! So excited to play with Lily-girl and see my sister! Cuz really, who wouldn't want to hang out with this one:
**6**
Charles preached his last sermon of seminary last night and did a great job. He has learned so much and really done a lot of work to try and figure out his style of communication over the last three years! Good work baby, I'm proud of you!

**7**
My new favorite website these days is called kirtsy.com and is a great collection of articles and things found around the internet that would be of interest to women. You can go here and find links to all kinds of things other women have found and wanted to share, some of these finds are so fun! Feel free to check it out for yourself, or if not, here are my favorite links from the past week:
A couple did their engagement photos based on the movie Up--these are incredible!

Dumb Pointless Laws in California that are guaranteed to get a laugh!
The Story of Stuff (do you know where all our stuff comes from? And goes?)

so, what would you say?

This week for our Confirmation students the topic was the authority of scripture--where we got the Bible from, how we know we can trust it, what do the words inerrancy and infalibility mean and where do we as leaders and our church in general fall, and what can they say when people ask them questions about why they believe the bible. We recognize that at some point they will encounter people who will ask them questions that they haven't been exposed to or prepared for in church and we think that's not okay. If someone is going to poke holes in what they have always assumed to be true about scripture we wanted it to be us youth leaders where we can help them reconstruct some of what they've been taught rather than a college professor who doesn't care about their faith. We talked to them about how we fall into the "we believe scripture is infallible" camp of people, not inerrant, which made sense to them, they even picked that camp before we told them that's where our church tends to land.

Sunday morning they received a talk on the background of where we got the New Testament, and then in the afternoon they were broken into groups of 5, and each group was given a real life scenario of a conversation they will most likely have about the bible at some point in their life. They were given time on Sunday and time last night to come up with responses to their scenario and then they presented them to the whole youth group last night. After their presentation each group sat down one at a time with a panel of Chuck, George and I to receive questions, feedback, critique, and so we could point out where there might be holes in their arguments. We told them we needed them to think deeply about these scenarios. There weren't easy answers, we were not going to tell them where to find any answers, and their answers needed to include something from scripture. We had a bunch of theology books there for them on Sunday, theological dictionaries and a few other books and told them they needed to actually research what people were saying on whatever topic they had. It was a fascinting exercise to watch. We don't ever make them do anything very academic, and some didn't like that it felt like "school" to them. But we also realized that the church does a lot to just hand kids their faith and doesn't help them look deeper or think critically about things very often. Some of these kids are about to graduate and will be in college next year and at some point will have to answer questions that we know they aren't necessarily prepared to handle. Each group had one kid in it that has a ton of bible knowledge and 3-4 kids who don't, so of course the 1 kid ended up doing most of the work and presenting. But then when it was time for their conversations with us, we had a chance to ask each student questions to press them a little deeper. Some were a little uncomfortable, some said, "wow, I didn't realize that what we said might not work as a response," and some enjoyed being pushed harder. All in all they did a really good job, we were proud of them, but we also reminded them that arguing people with "facts" isn't always helpful because there are just as many facts that can be thrown at them for why believeing in the bible isn't smart. So we talked to each group about responding with their own stories, experiences, and encounters with faith and community to answer a lot of questions because people can't argue with your story.

So, what would you say if you were confronted with one of these 3 scenarios?

"Your friend Susie grew up in the church and knows all the bible stories but dosn't think they are relevant. She asks you why you think the bible is relevant. How would you respond?"

"In one of your classes a teacher tells you the bible is like any other mythological text and it is no more authoritative than Homer's The Iliad. Your friend comes to you after class and asks you how you can still be a Christian after what your teacher just said. What do you say?"

"Your friend comes to you and says, 'I saw a preacher on TV who said that the Haitian earthquake was a result of their sin. Do you believe this?'"

Not always straightforward answers huh? We definitely do not want to turn these kids into little apologists--giving them a handful of pat answers to throw back. We wanted them to wrestle deeply, figure out how this scenario connects with their own story, and see what they came up with. Definitely a worthwhile experience!

It's That Time Again!

Whew! I think I am grateful this week is over! It's been a bit of a whirlwind, and I am super tired! Lots of big events this week, so here's the latest...I think I mostly had 1 per day of the past week with a few exceptions, so here you go, beginning with last Saturday evening:1: Saturday

We spent the evening with friends from church celebrating a bunch of May birthdays. Ashley (one of our fellow youth leaders) was throwing a birthday party for George, and we kind of incorporated the other May birthdays as well. Here are a few photos from the night:
The refrigerator turned Jeopardy board for team triviaThe cake Ashley made for George--Ice Man from Top GunThe May birthday peeps2: Sunday
BIG day at church! We elected a new pastor (after being without a head of staff for about 4 years now) who is going to be so wonderful for that congregation! He's coming to us from Arizona, and this will be his first ordained call, even though he has 16 years of non-ordained ministry experience. He's young (39) and my favorite thing about him (other than his incredible preaching skills of course!) is that he wears 3 earrings :) This congregation needs someone to blow their prescribed expectations of what a pastor is/how he looks etc out of the water. I'm pretty sure Chris will do just that! He starts August 1, and we're excited to get to be here for a bit to see him in action.

3: Monday
Another travel day for me. I flew back to Seattle for a 48 hour trip to be able to meet with the Seattle Presbytery Tuesday evening. Monday evening when I landed, my friend Missy and I cooked dinner for our other friends and hosted "Family Dinner" as we often call these meals. It was great to see people and enjoy conversation over delicious food and wine.

4: Tuesday
My dear husband turned another year older on Tuesday, and I couldn't be here to celebrate with him :( We are really celebrating June 6 when we go see The Lion King, but I was still bummed to not be here. He had others celebrate with him, which was great, definitely a gift of living in community! Happy birthday honey, I love you and am so thankful for you being born!

5: Tuesday
Tuesday was a big day! I met Tuesday evening with the Seattle Presbytery so they could vote as to whether or not I was ready to move to the next round of the ordination process, called Candidacy. For those non-Presbyterian folks out there, a Presbytery is made up of all the churches in a given geographical area, and is a body of people who make the decisions for the local presbytery. So all the ordained clergy from all the churches in the area come together, along with a certain number of elders from each church (determined based on size of church--so Bethany, my home church has 4 spots for elders at Presbytery). This body of people (totaling about 300 in Seattle--although not all come to every meeting) makes a lot of decisions for the churches in the area. They also help determine the readiness of potential pastors for ministry. So I flew up to be interviewed by them for about 10 minutes (I had spent about an hour with a committee of people from the Presbytery 2 weeks ago, and they made the recommendation to all of Presbytery that I be passed to the next round, so Presbytery doesn't have to spend a huge amount of time on each potential candidate). When they're done asking you questions, they escort you out of the room, vote on you, and call you back in. If they've approved you, you walk in to applause--it's always an encouraging sign when you are still in the hall and you can hear the applause start! I'm not eligible to be ordained yet, it's still a longer process than this, and one day I'll write a post explaining it more because I get a lot of questions--most often "so why don't you have a job yet as a pastor?" that I'm kind of sick of answering! But as of Tuesday evening, I am officially a "Candidate" in the PC(USA) which is very exciting :)

6: Tuesday
As I'm walking out of Presbytery, my pastor from my home church, Dan, approaches me and asks for a ride to the ferry boat since his ride left half way through the meeting. I adore Dan, and haven't ever had a chance to have a lot of 1 on 1 conversation with him, so I was thrilled to get so much uninterrupted time with him. Between the drive to the ferry terminal, waiting in the ferry line, and the ferry ride back to Seattle I had over an hour of conversation with him which was one of the highlights of my week. I basically just said, "Okay, so what advice do you have for me starting ministry?" and we covered all kinds of topics of conversation--from whether pastors should still wear robes or not, to how to raise "Pastors Kids" who don't hate the church, to adjusting and growing into the title "Minister," to more political issues in the church of homosexuality and trends of using feminine language for God. We covered a LOT and it was wonderful! He was so encouraging, and I left the conversation more convinced than ever that I want to be an ordained pastor, and I'm going to be patient and wait for an ordained call, I don't want to take a non-ordained director position, I want to be a pastor and I'm willing to wait for that to happen.

7: Thursday
I started a new part time job yesterday working at Fuller 16 hours a week. A good friend of mine hired me to work in her office as an assistant, doing all kinds of projects, which I'm excited about! It felt great to get up in the morning yesterday and actually go to work for the first time in awhile! I have my own desk, my own computer, and she had gone on facebook before I got there and printed some of my favorite photos for me to put on my bulletin board already, so when i walked in, the first thing I saw was my smiling baby niece bouncing in her jump a roo!