To the Retreat!

Last Sunday morning as the students left our classroom, one of our boys asked me, "Pastor Michelle, what is a retreat?" Well, tomorrow he and his twenty classmates will find out.

Our confirmands, a variety of their mentors, Andrew and I will be on retreat. Leaving the world, video games, parents/family, and school behind to focus on stuff of God (i.e. worship and the sacraments). Then, on Sunday morning we will stop talking about worship and go do it with two very different congregations. This is one of my favorite confirmation class events (actually all of the events are my favorite)!

Our prayers will be with our congregation here at home- as we learn, play and worship elsewhere. May we be blessed and may God be honored by our retreat.

My Economic Plan

I'll probably get some hate email from this blog, but I cannot hold back any longer. I just gotta go political. Well, at least economical.

I listened to President Obama's speech last night. I read the bailout bill last fall. I read the new economic recovery bill our Congress and President passed into law last week. I have been following the situation and talking, thinking and praying.

And I have an idea. Small, but radical idea that just might help. I learned about this idea from our Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class last year. My household actually runs our family budget based upon this plan. It works. It saves. It offers a sense of purpose and structure to our family life. It keeps us on our plan. And it prevents us from having a deficit or getting into debt.

Can you imagine a US Government that runs it's annual budget using the cash-envelope system? Yep- an envelope is marked for each item in the budget and you can only spend what is in that envelope. When the envelope is empty- well it's empty. You gotta plan ahead. You gotta be responsible and accountable. Emergencies- well that comes from the envelope marked "Emergency Fund".

Imagine Indiana's state government using the cash envelope system? How about our local church? Or our families using the cash-envelope system?

Now, I am sure that you are thinking the same thing I am thinking. There is a flaw. The problem is that this cash envelope system will take a lot of envelopes.

But that's a small paper problem compared to the ones we are facing...

Happy Fat Tuesday to you!

Pancakes for lunch, madri gras parties, and parades... all that fun stuff culminates tonight because at 12:01am lent begins! Tomorrow inaugurates a time to reflect, be quiet, focus, prepare, wait, watch, read, ponder, pray, and abstain.

Calvary begins our Lent Fitness Challenge. For the leadership team, the challenge has already been a challenge to prepare and coordinate, but we are ready. Hope you are too! Likewise our Lent Devotional begins! The books is published and ready for folks to read. Fantastic stories in there for folks to be renewed by the faithfulness of others.

So, I guess Fat Tuesday means that I can eat all the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies in the freezer and I don't have to feel guilty about it until tomorrow....ahhh..I am liking this holy day/holiday!

Devotion Dilemna

After our evening meal together as a family we have created a devotion ritual. My daughter calls it " 'votion time".

Our dilemna has been- what sort of devotion to use?

For several weeks we used The Upper Room. I liked this one. It was familiar to me and a devotional format that I grew up using in grade school, high school and college. My preschooler was frustrated because there were no pictures. My husband was irritated because as he said, "you write better than this stuff!" We have since cast aside The Upper Room.

I thought briefly - for two seconds- about using the Alive Now. Pictures yes, but stories that our entire family could relate to, well, no.

Then, last fall we used a variety of children's books on the themes of fall, nature, thanksgiving etc. As Advent approached we switched to Christmas and Advent books. But the problem was having a stack of books at the dinner table every night and trying to keep them clean while also providing room for our dining experience.

Sigh. So after the New Year I was about to give up. Suddenly, in a flash of brilliance (he has these moments) my husband exclaimed, "Let's just read the Bible." Hey, now there is an idea!

The guy two doors down from me (aka Todd) has been yaking about his Bible reading in 2009. Thus, the Knight's have joined in. But what sort of Bible to use? (I do have over 20). Our local library supplied the answer with an NIV Story Bible whose cartoons meet the needs of our preschooler. (I really didn't think of Moses as being well, so muscularly beefy, but he is in these illustrations.)

We are making our way through the Old Testament a story at a time... and everyone is content, all our needs are met, and my husband confessed recently, "You know I get more out of this Bible reading than I ever have!" (That is probably because of my off-the-cuff extra Biblical insights. Maybe its the Duke education rubbing off...or my family just really likes these cartoons.)

Whatever the reason at least we are devoting together as a family. How about you?

Poems Inspired by My Dog

After cleaning up our valentine's mess, it dawned on me that no one in our house got our dog a Valentine. He was left out of the love! Poor thing.

So, in a moment of inspiration today, I decided to dedicate a bit of my worst poetry ever to him...

Roses are red,
violets are blue
all my dog does
is chew, chew, chew!

Here is my attempt at a limerick:

There once was a yellow dog named Duke
and he liked nothing better than to puke...

Hmmm... maybe my dog and poetry should just not go together.

Valentines..

Our little family shared our valentines yesterday. Hope you did as well. We really did things simple. Made pizza or had some yummy leftovers.

Jigsaw puzzles, Chutes & Ladders, and a game of Candyland were our family entertainment (that and watching the dog run circles around the living room sofa!) Funny how the preschooler won both games. Hmmm...

After her bedtime, my husband and I put in Casablanca and poured ourselves two very nice glasses of wine. Now that is a great movie with incredible dialogue.

All in all it was a wonderful day! Our prayer is that all children of God know they are loved whether they receive a valentine or not.

Send your sympathies to...

I am wearing black today. Not sack cloth and ashes although that holy day is coming soon. But my household is in a state of mourning and loss. A regrettable loss. A terrible loss which means that Tyler Hansbourgh has a new record of 4-0 in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The ribbing and grief which I will receive from the 2 UNC fans within our church will be heavy, I know. I am trying to find a way to wear a disguise in worship on Sunday. Got any ideas?!

Oh, the pain is deep...but March 8th, UNC's Senior Night, will be our chance to fight back! (I pray.)

Praying through the News

Has anyone spotted Noah floating by yet? The rains of today have kept us all on our toes.

In other news the news has been on my heart and mind lately- as it has affected all of us- stock market, severe weather, bailouts, stimulus bills, elections, ecomonic troubles in Iceland, England, and all over Europe.

I don't have all the answers- if I did I would be sharing those with folks in positions to impact and influence for the positive- but what I was reminded of today in prayer is that there is invitation in all of this trouble and trife. We are invited to dig deeper into ourselves and into the Presence of God in our midst.

One of my favorite Psalm sentences, which often guides me as I walk and pray a labyrinth path, is Psalm 16:11. "You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy." This is an excellent resource to guide prayer during times of pain, anxiety, fear, and difficulty.

My feet may not walk a labyrinth this afternoon in all the puddles and mud, but my heart will walk with this scripture upon it. And in that way I shall move through the news of the day- but only with the Presence of God and God's Joy with me.

What a delightful difference a companion of this stature makes!

Updates

Here is a random set of updates on life, ministry, and stuff:

Several of our confirmands did, indeed read the Gospel of Mark. They were asked (before receiving their precious chocolate extra credit bars) one of the following questions:

• Who was the naked guy in the gospel?
• Did Mark's Gospel have a birth story of Jesus in it?
• Did Jesus appear fully resurrected in this Gospel?

How would you answer?

Three family walks in four days during the month of February! It was a first along with attempting to teach our daughter to play Uno using a deck of Spongebob Squarepants cards!

My reading lately is all of over the place from a biography on Sir Winston Churchhill to a book on Clergy Killers to an interesting discussion on the historical person of Jesus.

And finally a shout out to our former youth director, Aaron, who is preparing to tie the wedding knot in March, congrats and have fun! Marriage is a blast (and lots of work too)!

Winter Ain't Over Yet

Anyone else in the midwest sick and tired (tired and sick) of winter weather!?! Our family is. The photo from above was taken after our 12 inch snowfall a couple of weeks ago.

A balmy 50 degrees came our way yesterday afternoon and we took advantage of it. We walked around the neighborhood on our first family walk in months... the dog was totally beside himself with excitement. He literally spun in circles as we walked because he was thrilled to be out again.

Our daughter struggled to get her new purple 2 wheel bike (a gift from Santa) around the block (her legs haven't been used to pedaling) but she made it. I know our neighbors thought we were ridiculous, but sometimes you just need to be outside in the fresh air.

By the way- the sunset yesterday evening was lovely. Sigh- I am ready for the end of winter.

Discernment Wisdom

On Wednesday (yesterday) I was blessed to meet with my spiritual direction prayer group (aka the Sophia Sisters) for one of our quarterly gatherings. We have been together since the fall of 2000. During our time of discussion and reflection two of the gals (who are notorious for wise thoughts) shared two different and also excellent discernment tools.

The first discernment tool was to ask yourself, "Does something need to be said? Am I the person to say it? And is now the right time?" Isn't that wise advice to discern how to best respond to a situation?! Good stuff.

Another gal said that she assumes God’s YES for the Kenya ministry she is currently doing until God's NO becomes painfully obvious. If no NO appears- she continues to venture forward- trusting, hoping, waiting, and preparing. For her to assume a NO (and thus wait for God’s YES to appear) stops her and blocks her from even trying or attempting things or preparing herself for new possibilities. Does your approach (assuming a yes or assuming a no) make a difference in how you are perceiving God’s outcome and possibilities?

I am going to try out these two different discernment tools... and see what God does. The wisdom was excellent yesterday. That and the dark chocolate Betty brought!

Spirit of Fear

I am so grateful to Pastor Todd (and the Holy Spirit) for the important message we heard on this weekend in worship. We needed to be reminded that God can conquer the spirits of our age. And the spirit that I have been noticing that is most prevelant around us is the spirit of fear.

Even this morning in kindergarten chapel our 5 and 6 years old were able to talk about their parents who are worried about jobs, parents trying to save money, and other family members traveling to find new work and employment. If our kids are hearing our concerns, then fear has become our unwanted companion.

Fear can be experienced by some as worry. Or as aniexty in other folks. But those are both rooted in fear. And fear, I believe, is more crippling right now that the actual economics of our times. Because fear is impacting, in a harmful way, our decision making and our attitudes. It is blocking our access to trust in God's providence.

Since this weekend, I have been specifically praying and intercessing for my family, our church, our elected officials, and our nation to be set free from fear. I ask that you join me in prayer. Ask God to remove our fear with God's perfect love and in it's place ask God to grant us contentment and peace.

Bible readin'

Our confirmation students crack me up! They are wiggly and squirrely, but that only highlights their intelligence, curiosity and wonder.

Super Bowl Sunday our class spent time on the Bible. We talked about who wrote it and why, when it was written, how it was translated, who decided what books were included, and what is in it, and how best to interpret it (so as to avoid prooftexting) etc. And these students were mesmorized!

My favorite moment of class happened near the end of our hour. Andrew and I challenged the entire class to read the Gospel of Mark before this coming week's session. One student, who always has commentary, asked with profound honesty and genuine sincerity, "Michelle, you mean you want us to read the Bible?" I hope I didn't let God down I answered, "Yes, yes, and yes!"

With that challenge in mind- I gotta go read myself. Wonder what sort of extra credit we can give these students?

Number #6

What a game! I was worn out afterwards. The Cardinals are a terrific with an awesome coach (the Steelers should have hired him when they had the chance).

Congrats Steelers fans, Pittsburgh and the entire Steeler nation!