Youth Ministry Episcabits

The world seen through a cradle-Episcopalian who is now a youth director at an Episcopal church. Stories, videos, links, advice, and no nonsense stuff related to (and sometimes not related to) Youth Ministry will appear. Feel free to read and comment! Ask Me a Question!

[tibor-1]

Before you act, listen. Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.

Ernest Hemingway (via tibor-1)

[benjaminasimpson-deactivated202]

“Father Abraham, Whom have you in heaven? Any Episcopalians?” “No!” “Any Presbyterians?” “No!” “Any Independents or Seceders, New Sides or Old Sides, any Methodists?” “No! No! No!” “Whom have you there, then, Father Abraham?” “We don’t know those names here! All who have come are Christians—believers in Christ, men who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony…” “Then…God help us all, to forget having names and becomes Christians in deed and truth.”

George Whitefield, quoted in William Warren Sweet’s The Story of Religion in America (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1939), 142. (via benjaminasimpson)

[captainvatican]

The greatest romance one can find, is to fall in love with God. The greatest journey one could embark on, is to seek Him. The greatest achievement one can obtain, is to find Him

St. Augustine (via soldierofthelord)

[cdnowak-deactivated20120803]

“The church has become divided generationally,” Brown said. “It’s not doing what Scripture prescribes and is actually doing something foreign to Scripture by dividing people by age or by life stage.”

NCFIC Director Scott T. Brown (via cdnowak)

[in-my-shoes-just-to-see]

[iwillwithgodshelp-blog]

HtYouth Notes For April 20th

HTYouth Notes for April 20th, 2012

This Sunday

Youth group until 2:00pm

Walk for Water

Clemson Area Walk for Water has organized a 2 mile walk to benefit Water MIssions International. The walk will be Sunday, April 22 at the Botanical Gardens. Registration is $5 without a t-shirt and $10 with a t-shirt, but registration must be completed by THUR APRIL 12 in order to be guaranteed a t-shirt. Specifically this walk will go towards providing sustainable safe water solutions in a community in Haiti. The village of Beairewas discussed, but Clemson engineers decided a different community on the list of villages in need would benefit more. This is a separate project than the Bread and Water campaign and is benefiting Water Missions International.  For more information on the walk go to www.clemsonareawalk.kintera.org/2012  You can register to walkhere: http://clemsonareawalk.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=3D1012053If you can't walk but still would like to support us, you can donate here: (to support a particular participant:

 http://clemsonareawalk.kintera.org/faf/search/searchParticipants.asp?ievent=1012053&lis=1&kntae1012053=C42F13ABC5D740CE9773681BCA30D3DB) or to make a general donation:

http://clemsonareawalk.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?supId=0&ievent=1012053&lis=1&kntae1012053=C42F13ABC5D740CE9773681BCA30D3DB&teamOur team name is Holy Trinity Clemson – For more info on the global water crisis and Water Missions International, visitwww.watermissions.org.Thank you so much, and I hope to see you walking on April 22!    Sincerely, Rachel Maiberger

Connections

Come to Connections on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month.  Parents can enjoy a wonderful meal and fellowship and youth can enjoy dinner and grow in their faith with some study and craft time!

Lunch Helpers Still Needed

There are still open dates for parents to prepare lunch for the youth.  Those dates are 4/22, 4/29, 5/13, 5/27.

[episcopalmarketplace]

Some churches are encouraging the use of mobile devices, and using that to help engage churchgoers in a wide variety of ways. Very interesting article on how church is becoming a more interactive experience for many. 

[tumbledownsouth]

Bubba!!

[meditationsinwonderland]

If you go into the desert merely to get away form people you dislike, you will find neither peace nor solitude; you will only isolate yourself with a tribe of devils.

Thomas Merton (via collegetao)

[iwillwithgodshelp-blog]

Lenten Devotion: Good Friday

John 18:1 - 19:42 The Passion of our Lord

Today is a day of mourning.  We mourn with the women and the disciples Jesus's death and the brutality in which it was done.  But then why do we call this day "Good" Friday?  

Today is a good day because today is a day where we remember the most selfless act of unconditional agape love there ever was and ever will be.  Jesus died for his followers then. For us now. For everyone in future times.  

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed a lot.  He prayed to God and gave up his own will for that of God's.  Jesus was truly human as the Bible says, and Jesus knew that he would not be able to go through his ordeal that was to come without submitting to God's will.  

Jesus had many times he could have opted out, taken the easy way and tell God let someone else do it.  But Jesus loved God and loved each one of us that he let God's will be done.  

Today, let us enter a time of reflection and devotion to really discern how much God loves us. 

[iwillwithgodshelp-blog]

Lenten Devotion: Maundy Thursday

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash another's feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

-John 13:13-17

If you have ever been part of a foot washing, whether part of a youth retreat or at a Maundy Thursday service, you know how powerful it can be.  To see those who you know washing people's feet and then you yourself washing someone's feet may put some out of their comfort zone but it can be very powerful experience.  

Just think for a moment what Jesus was doing.  In those days, feet were way more filthy than today.  If you weren't walking barefoot for miles, you were walking in sandals that resemble Chacos.  The streets were dirt, muddy, and down right filithy because there wasn't much of a way to get rid of your trash and human waste so people usually threw it out on the streets.  There were no such things as pedicures.  Feet were just really gross back then.  

So washing of the feet typically was the job of a servant, doing the lowliest job there is pretty much.  When Jesus starts washing his disciples' feet, they were definitely surprised at what he was doing.  The guy that they consider Messiah and have been following for three years, washing their feet?  What the deuce?  

After Jesus is through, he explains why he washed their feet.  He talks about his love for his disciples.  This is a new kind of love.  This is a very powerful kind of love.  The word we use for this kind of love is Agape.  It is unconditional love x infinity.  Unconditional love so powerful and deep we cannot understand it.

It is Agape love that Jesus calls us to love one another.  I mentioned serving your girlfriend or wife and chivalry and gentry manners a few days ago.  Take that beyond just your girlfriend or spouse and try your hardest to serve everyone in your life and love one another like Jesus loved his disciples and how HE loves us.

If you are going to a Maundy Thursday service this evening and there is a foot washing as part of the service, wash someone's feet with the save love and humility that Jesus had and reflect on what it means as you head into Good Friday.  

[iwillwithgodshelp-blog]

Lenten Devotion: Wednesday of Holy Week

This evening, many of the different campus ministries here at Clemson will come together and celebrate the Jewish Passover Seder meal.  It is a fun time, mingling with other campus ministry groups from the downtown churches and learning about the seder meal.  I also believe that it is vital that we as Christians learn and respect where we have come from.  The Last Supper was a Passover meal.  That is why everyone was gathered around the table and that is why Passover and Easter are usually close together. 

As we enter the last bit and the most somber part of Lent and Jesus's last days, let us focus on how we can be better, more well-rounded Christians and live into Christ's ministry.  

[iwillwithgodshelp-blog]

Lenten Devotion: Tuesday of Holy Week

I will ask you one question. Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.  John's baptism, was it from heaven, or from men?"

Mark 11:27-33

Riddle me this! I sometimes picture Jesus as the Riddler from Batman when I read this passage.  The pharisees ask him a question and Jesus answers with another question.   However, unlike the Riddler or anyone who's trying to be smart, Jesus asks them a question with an obvious answer.  The pharisees are so blinded by their own authority and their own fear that they cannot see the real, true, easy answer.  ( I am sure they couldve used the Staples "Easy Button right then).  

At times, we all tend to be like the pharisees in this setting.  There are times that we are blinded by our on ambitions, theories, and self goals that we lose focus on that God is in charge of everything, all the time. 

During Holy Week, discern how you personally can refocus on God.  What is blinding you from truly knowing God's power, authority, and love?

[thomuchistakenmuchabides-deacti]

Rowan Williams explaining Holy Week. Bonus footage of him washing people’s feet.

[iwillwithgodshelp-blog]

Lenten Devotion 3/30

Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  For event he Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

- Mark 10:43-45

Growing up in the South, I learned a lot about etiquette, manners, and things of the like.  Friends of mine did Cotillion.  Once in college, and now as an adult, I have seen that the social manners and gentry that us guys learn in the South has been lost by many.  Even I forget to stand up whenever my girlfriend leaves the table or enters the room.  As a male in the South, the things we learn and should be doing in regards to manners and the way we interact with our female companions is a reflection on Jesus's words to his Disciples after James and John ask about how they can sit at Jesus's right hand.  Opening doors for ladies, waiting for someone while you are holding the door. giving a girl your coat when it's chilly or rainy, carrying her book bag or anything heavy, standing up when she leaves and enters a room.........all of the little things that make up a gentleman that have been lost on so many, in many ways are signs of servitude.  

Now I am not saying that girls rule the world here (although, they do influence our decisions, guys).  I think that if we, as guys, as men, want to serve God, we need to start off small.  Jesus says some radical things here to his followers.  The word "servant" can mean such radical and big things, so let's start off small.  

So guys, men.  As we enter Holy Week, I challenge you to focus on doing the little things for your mom, girlfriend, wife, sister, and your female friends. Open the doors for them.  Carry her books for her to class. Cook dinner for her. When she enters the room, stand up and take off your hat. When you do those things, do it for her and for God. Southern gentry can make a comeback, and with a focus on being Christ-centered.

[iwillwithgodshelp-blog]

Lenten Devotion 3/29

"One thing you lack.  Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me."  At this the man's face fell.  He went away sad because he had great wealth.

Mark 10:17-31

My girlfriend and I talk all the time about the kind house we want to eventually have, all the land we want to own, all the cool grown up toys we would like, and even the types of cars we would want our children to drive. We both have expensive taste so just imagine the kinds of things we talk about it acquiring.

As  a mid 20-something, hitting that late 20-something status this year, it is only natural that I and others my age start acquiring wealth and find ways to attain the wealth status we would like to live on.  We want a good retirement fund, want to have a good life for our spouses and children when we have them, and we would like to just live comfortably.  

The key thing in this entire Gospel passage in my opinion, is that the rich man was a young man.  He was probably a 20-something like myself who had become an entrepreneur or had inherited  wealth.  It is very hard for us young folk to think about giving up everything we have obtained or want to obtain to follow Christ.  Much unlike those who are retired, who have acquired many things and can give up more, us 20-somethings in today's society need to start acquiring wealth.  

So if it very hard for us to think about giving up what we already have and what we want to have, let's instead think about what does this Gospel mean today?  I think the Gospel passage is saying to not be overcome with our wealth, not to bathe in it, not to let it consume our lives.  Instead, let the Kingdom of God consume our lives.  Give what and when you can.  Live a Christ-centered life. Serve every chance you get.

I may want a big house, on lots of land, with awesome toys in my garage.  If I get there in my life that will be awesome.  But I will not let that goal consume me.  Jesus says after the rich young man left, "with man this in impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." If I make God and Jesus the center my life, God will provide for me.  If he wants me to have those toys, he will lead me on a path that will make it possible for me to attain my goals.  But I will never lose sight of God and the Three-in-one will always be at the center of my life.

There are only a few more days until we reach Holy week.  During these last days of Lent, focus on your goals for your life. What can you give you and let God take care of you?  What "riches" can you give up right now that you can live without and replace with God?

[iwillwithgodshelp-blog]

Lenten Devotion 3/28

Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" 

-Mark 10:15

Children can be quite a headache at times right?  I do not have any of my own quite yet but do see all the little children running around, creating a ruckus every Sunday morning at church.  However, those children probably have such a zeal about Jesus that I should inspire to have. 

Most of children's responses (other than asking "why" every second) is "just because."  Why do you believe in Santa if you cant see him? "I dont know, just because"  "How do you know that God loves you? He said so."

During this last week and a half of Lent, let us all try to focus on having faith like the little children in our parishes and have a faith like the classic children's church song:  "Jesus loves me this I know.  For the Bible tells me so."