So, you've affirmed your baptism, you've learned a little bit about the amazing gifts God has given to you. More and more, adults in your life are asking you questions like: “Where do you want to go to college?”, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”, “Where do you want to live when you finish High School?”. While there may be some answers forming in your mind, it can be hard to make such important decisions without some tools.
Picking a college because of a beautiful campus, degree program and sports you love aren't bad reasons, but this sort of decision making isn't as complete as it could be. The same goes for choosing a career path because it sounds fun, or seems like a good way to make money. Engaging your faith as part of the decision making process is an important aspect of being an adult Christian. Ultimately your decisions about your education, your career path, and the extracurricular and Church volunteer activities you choose are all a part of your stewardship. Your church is here to help with that process, that is why I've begun offering a class called FLY (Forming Leadership in Youth). Over the course of the year we will meet for lunch after the 10 AM liturgy to engage in a Bible Study called “What on Earth am I Supposed to Do?”, a study of themes around our calling in the world and our gifts.
Beyond the classes, each participant will be expected to observe a church council meeting, visit at least two commissions to learn about the working of the church and to interview an adult member who is not a family member about their faith journey. We will have regular classroom guests who will take the opportunity to share their faith journey and help connect their daily life to their life of faith. Students who would like to join the class should plan to come to our next session on November 22nd, 2009 at 12 pm. We meet in the Education Conference Room down the hall from the Pastors' offices.
Upcoming Classes:
November 22, 2009- Justified- Who's going to save me from me?
December 21, 2009- Gathered- Am I in this alone? (Katherine Duffy's story)
January 24, 2010- Enlightened- How can I learn more?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Just the Guys...
It's not easy to be a man of faith. So much of what is genuinely powerful about Christianity and the life of Christ falls into the realm of the subjective, the relational, the emotional and the celebration of God's power in weakness and vulnerability. All of this is held up against the cultural expectation for men to be right, in charge, more thinking than feeling and utterly silent on the relationships that matter most. Often times this tension results in a sense of faith that is so deeply personal that it is repressed, either out of embarrassment for the strong feelings attached, or out of a need to exhibit self-control even when things are out of control. Sometimes you need a space to be both a guy and a Christian. Sometimes you need to know that other guys are in fact going through the same things. Sometimes you need to be fed and just know that Jesus is present, and that you can lean on him without any sense of shame.
Starting on October 14th you can plan to take 45 minutes out of your week for Bible study, prayer, and breakfast with some of the men of Trinity Lutheran Church. This is a great opportunity to make friends, renew old friendships and get a spiritual charge before heading into the middle of your week. Participants will receive a Lutheran Study Bible if they don't already have one. We will meet in the Golden room at 7:00 a.m. and be on our way by 7:45 a.m. Each week we will have a light breakfast with coffee, take an opportunity to check-in as a group and discuss the readings that will be read during worship on Sunday. We'll look for insights that are important for our working lives and family lives and try to compile some key sermon points to listen for. We'll close each session by holding one another up in prayer.
Study and prayer without service makes for an incomplete walk with Christ, so the Men's Breakfast will also be traveling to Calumet in early May next Spring for the camp opening work weekend. The trip is free, it just requires your work gloves and your energy. We'll take time during that weekend to further explore our faith and to give back to an important ministry of the New England Synod.
You can simply drop in on October 21st, but I'd love to have an idea of how much food to provide for the session. Please drop me a line at 508-753-2989 x.13 or jmlongworth@trinityworc.org. Let me know if you plan to attend and if you have any allergies that I should be aware of.
Starting on October 14th you can plan to take 45 minutes out of your week for Bible study, prayer, and breakfast with some of the men of Trinity Lutheran Church. This is a great opportunity to make friends, renew old friendships and get a spiritual charge before heading into the middle of your week. Participants will receive a Lutheran Study Bible if they don't already have one. We will meet in the Golden room at 7:00 a.m. and be on our way by 7:45 a.m. Each week we will have a light breakfast with coffee, take an opportunity to check-in as a group and discuss the readings that will be read during worship on Sunday. We'll look for insights that are important for our working lives and family lives and try to compile some key sermon points to listen for. We'll close each session by holding one another up in prayer.
Study and prayer without service makes for an incomplete walk with Christ, so the Men's Breakfast will also be traveling to Calumet in early May next Spring for the camp opening work weekend. The trip is free, it just requires your work gloves and your energy. We'll take time during that weekend to further explore our faith and to give back to an important ministry of the New England Synod.
You can simply drop in on October 21st, but I'd love to have an idea of how much food to provide for the session. Please drop me a line at 508-753-2989 x.13 or jmlongworth@trinityworc.org. Let me know if you plan to attend and if you have any allergies that I should be aware of.
A Gathering to Remember
The pictures have begun to roll in and are being posted at http://www.elca.org/gathering. The journals have had their final entries and the last of the brightly colored tee shirts has boarded a plane or a bus and headed home. Even so, in many ways the 2009 National Youth Gathering in New Orleans continues. It continues in the sounds of Jazz and Blues that still float in our memory as we reflect back on our week there. It carries on in the reverberations of thirty eight thousand people crying out “And also with you!” It lingers in the rich taste of chicory coffee and the crispy sweetness of a beignets. It still haunts as we remember the high water marks stained into the sides of buildings, and the vast emptiness that makes the Lower 9th Ward feel like a desolation. It still delights when I recall the sheer gratitude that poured forth from the locals as they greeted, fed, housed and welcomed us.
The National Gathering continues in the hearts and minds of the youth who attended, who heard the music that shaped a city, who saw the eerie above ground graveyards and restored their dignity, and who painted, planted and cleaned their way through the lower delta region. And it continues because the gathering was a testimony to Christ's reign, even in hard times and in beleaguered places. It was a sign that God has called a people to be the hands and feet that do God's work in the world. I believe that our group was indeed changed by New Orleans, and did their part to change NOLA for the better too. We look forward to sharing our stories with you this year, please ask! We also hope you'll make time this fall to watch our slideshow and see what we saw.
As part of our ongoing commitment to bringing the enivironmental work we did in New Orleans home, our collection of cell phones, electronics and printer cartridges will continue through the rest of the year. Please place these items in the box in Jeppson Hall, a complete list of acceptable items can be found at: http://recycling4green.com/price-list/pricelist.pdf
I was deeply grateful for the opportunity to lead such a trip and look forward to talking to everyone soon about the planning process for the 2012 ELCA National Youth Gathering.
The National Gathering continues in the hearts and minds of the youth who attended, who heard the music that shaped a city, who saw the eerie above ground graveyards and restored their dignity, and who painted, planted and cleaned their way through the lower delta region. And it continues because the gathering was a testimony to Christ's reign, even in hard times and in beleaguered places. It was a sign that God has called a people to be the hands and feet that do God's work in the world. I believe that our group was indeed changed by New Orleans, and did their part to change NOLA for the better too. We look forward to sharing our stories with you this year, please ask! We also hope you'll make time this fall to watch our slideshow and see what we saw.
As part of our ongoing commitment to bringing the enivironmental work we did in New Orleans home, our collection of cell phones, electronics and printer cartridges will continue through the rest of the year. Please place these items in the box in Jeppson Hall, a complete list of acceptable items can be found at: http://recycling4green.com/price-list/pricelist.pdf
I was deeply grateful for the opportunity to lead such a trip and look forward to talking to everyone soon about the planning process for the 2012 ELCA National Youth Gathering.
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