Team Heifer

Our spring Lock-in is coming up May 9-10! This will be our third annual lock-in to raise money for hunger relief, and this year we are going high tech. We will be donating money to Heifer International, and our donations will be made online! That means no carrying around cash and writing checks! Donations are made by credit or debit card through a secure system. Here's how it works: I have started a team called Chesapeake City Charge. Any youth who want to participate can create a profile and join the team. You do not have to be able to come to the lock-in to raise funds.

Here's what you do:
1. Click here.
2. You should see a heading that says "Welcome to the Page of the Chesapeake City Charge." Below that you should see a link that says "Join Our Team." Click the link.
3. Set up a profile.
4. Then you can ask people to donate by sending e-mails or putting a link to our team page on blogs, your website, etc. People can donate toward individuals or the whole team.

Heifer International is an organization that provides animals to families living in poverty. These animals provide a source of food as well as income. Its like the old adage: buy a bucket of chicken and feed a family for 20 minutes; buy a flock of chickens and feed a family for life.

This effort is particularly important right now. I'm sure many parents have noticed food getting more expensive in recent months. Food prices are rising rapidly all over the world, which is causing hunger, food hoarding, and even violence. The little bit we are doing will make a big difference to families around the world who receive animals from us.

Sex

We are going to be talking about sexuality in youth group on 4/6, 4/20 and 5/4. The lessons will be age-specific, but will generally focus on sexuality as a gift from God. We will use some resources from Rob Bell (of the Nooma series) to talk about how to be faithful to God as youth deal with many issues related to sex.

My focus with this series is to give students a safe space to question, and to equip them with spiritual and Biblical tools as they navigate a sex-obsessed world. No matter how sheltered kids are, they are being bombarded by images and messages about sex. We are going to talk about some tough topics, and I'll be honest... this is uncomfortable for me. But messages about sexuality are everywhere... on tv, in magazines, on billboards, in our conversation, etc, etc. We tend to think of spirituality and sexuality as being like oil and water, but we are going to shake things up and bring issues about sexuality into a spiritual context.

Our sexuality and spirituality go hand in hand... one effects the other. So we are going to spend some time looking at what the Bible says about sexuality, and why what we do matters. The first lesson is going to focus on sex as a gift; we will talk about dealing with this gift responsibly and in ways that are faithful to God. In the Middle School group, this lesson will focus more on navigating gender differences and developing healthy self-image as people made in God's image.
The second lesson will talk more about boundaries. We will talk about making decisions and setting boundaries with the aim of respecting ourselves and honoring God. Rather than drawing a line between what is ok and what is not, we will look at some of the risks of different kinds of physical affection, and talk about developing personal convictions about "how far we will go."

In the last lesson of the series we are going to talk about homosexuality. Most people have questions about what the Bible has to say about homosexuality. Our churches (and our country) are torn about how to address homosexuality as a lifestyle, so we will spend some time discussing our own perspectives and looking at scripture. As we discern, we will remain mindful that Jesus loves all people with no ifs, ands or buts.

Seeking Justice Trip

On March 15 the youth group is taking a field trip to Washington, DC. I'm calling this the Seeking Justice trip, because we are going to do activities that show us how we can work for justice in our world. We will have a lot of fun too!

Our trip last year took us first to the National Holocaust Museum. After that we headed up to Ben's Chili Bowl, a restaurant that was a popular hangout in a neighborhood that was historically known as "Black Broadway." There we met up with Laura from the General Board of Church and Society, who had lunch with us and then took us to the GBCS building - the only religious advocacy building on Capitol Hill! We did some activities to learn about the United Methodist Church's history of standing up for peoples' rights. We finished the day with dinner at the Union Station food court, where you can get just about anything you could possibly want to eat.

This year, our tentative plan is to take advantage of the free museums at the Smithsonian Institution and the Monuments around the National Mall. I am planning to go to the Natural History Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian, and to do a scavenger hunt around the monuments. If there is interest, we may go to the National Portrait Gallery to see the portrait of Stephen Colbert which is there for a limited time! We will focus our attention on injustice within our country, and ways that we have overcome injustice.

We will leave at 7 am, and return around 8 pm. We'll be driving down to a metro station and then taking the metro in to town. I will need some other chaperons, and possibly drivers. We will be eating as inexpensively as possible, but because food tends to be pricier down there, plan on around $30 for food (the museums are free!). If you have other questions, please feel free to contact me.

Inclement Weather Policy

In case of inclement weather, we are going to follow any of the school's decisions to cancel programming - if school or after-school activities are canceled we will follow suit. I will also post cancellations by e-mail and on the youth group blog when possible. I will also do my best to make phone calls. If bad driving conditions arise suddenly, or I am unable to get the word out, please use discretion - safety first!

Confirmation

We are also kicking off Confirmation next month. Confirmation classes will officially begin January 17, but we are going to have an interest meeting at 3:30 pm on Sunday, December 16. Students and parents are invited to stay for youth group; the lesson will be from Claim the Name, the curriculum that confirmation class will use.

There are some changes to our confirmation program this year. Because we know that confirmation is an important time of spiritual growth and discernment, we are going to try a 2-year confirmation process. This winter, confirmands will have classes on Thursday nights from January 17-March 13 (right before Holy Week). Next fall and spring, they will meet with a mentor and have hands on experience with the ministries and organization of the church. Those who choose to do so will be confirmed in the spring of 2009.

The idea for this change came about after observing that during our last confirmation class, it was very difficult to pack education, mentoring, and experiential learning into such a short period of time without wearing out families. By extending the length of the program, we can also slow the pace. It is also important that we allow time for discernment; while many youth begin thinking about faith around the age of 12, the critical time for developing commitment to church seems to be later for many. Confirmation is the church’s way of making space for youth to wrestle with faith and develop a personal commitment to Christ, and in taking more time we can continue to honor that process.

Bible Studies

We are finally getting our Mid-week Bible Studies off the ground soon! Starting on November 15, we will have two offerings for youth on Thursday nights. We will meet at 5:30 for dinner, and then youth can choose between "The Gospel According to Harry Potter," and a study on the Book of Revelation.

The Gospel According to Harry Potter will be taught by Pam Downey. The study uses the Harry Potter movies to talk about different themes that are in the Gospel. There's no need to have read the books - we'll be showing clips from the movies!

The study on Revelation is intended for older youth who are interested in learning more about what is generally considered to be the "scariest" book of the Bible. I will be leading the group through learning how to read and interpret scripture, and practice critical thinking skills. Revelation is usually associated with gloom and doom (and there are some very intense images) but it is also a book full of hope and testimony of God's power.

Come check it out!

Creating a Covenant

This week, we continued our discussion on Sanctuary. We talked a little bit about the things that people need sanctuary from, and about what it would mean for us to be a sanctuary. Our group needs to be the kind of place where people are welcomed and accepted without judgment.

We looked at Colossians 3:12-17
As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

This passage gives us directions for how to be a community of sanctuary. After we discussed the scripture, we made a visual covenant - we cut out pictures that show people being a supporting and welcoming community, and made a poster that shows the kind of community we will be.