If Santa Clause is real... why does he never get me what I want?

We are now entering the advent season. One of my favorite times of year but for all of the disconnected reasons that have nothing to do with Jesus. I guess my caramel brulee latte with jingle bells playing in the background while I read the birth narrative of Jesus in the gospel of Luke some how reconcile. Welp we might not be able to reconcile our current narrative of Christmas and the narrative of Jesus but we could probably say that they both leave us satisfied in different ways.

Our culture doesn't like to wait. We want it now. Can't afford the new 42 inch LED 3D television well good news put it on a credit card. We would rather go in debt than have to wait. And you bet we transfer this on God. In high school... I would pray, "Dear God give me a girlfriend please make so and so girl like me." And you know what God never did. Truth be told there were many moments where I was mad about that. I hated waiting while everyone else had a girlfriend and I didn't! I grew up never having a grandfather yet so many of my friends had these awesome, archetypal grandfathers. God why didn't you give me a grandfather? I like you and like your kids have a lot of not yets. Our lives are filled with anxiety and stress about the not yets in our lives. And so many of these things are out of our control.

But I look at my life today. I have an amazing wife... thank you Jesus for not giving me a girlfriend that I didn't need but having me wait for someone that loves me for the depth of my character. And thank you Jesus that I get to see my dad be a grandfather. I might of not had one but it sure is good seeing this new story play out for my nieces and nephews.

The reality of life is that we have to wade through some crappy waters sometimes not fully understanding where life is going. But advent is a reminder that God is leading us somewhere. God is leading us to a place of hope and restoration even when we can't see it.

Pilgrimage 2012!

 Each year I come away from Pilgrimage in awe. In awe and grateful that God lets me serve this amazing group of youth. Out of all the 4,000 youth at Pilgrimage I am so proud that God gave me this bunch of youth. They are so special to me!  

We shared many laughs this weekend. We learned what it means to be flexible! We all grew in patience. All at the same time we asked deep questions of ourselves: where is God leading me? How can I make my next right step toward Jesus?

And one of the most powerful moments of the weekend is when on Saturday night they invited anyone who wanted to come down and get on their knees. Thousands of youth including ours walked down and got on their knees to pray. Humbling themselves before a savior that deeply cares about them.

There is a lot at stake for youth. Challenging questions surround them all the time. Am I loved? Am I accepted? My goal simply stated for our youth ministry is to be an environment where love, encouragement, and inspiration abide. I want them to know that they are important and valued! And I saw this narrative take place this weekend in how these youth took care of each other. It really speaks to the character of our youth!

Can’t wait till next year! But until then don’t forget movie night this week and sign up for Great Wolfe Lodge has begun!

Also here is a LINK to the pictures of the weekend. Enjoy!

Bullied:Hoping To Belong...

At our last youth meeting we go to do something pretty spectacular. We got hear the stories of some really awesome people here at Pleasant Green UMC. I call them All-Stars (Becky Brogden, Gloria Perry, Max Mitchell, and Mary Lou Mitchell). They represent Jesus well. They represent the reality of what it means to always be striving for more of Jesus because we all live in this tension of “not there yet.”

One of the questions of the night that was directed to the sixth graders was, “what is it like being a sixth grader?” To some it was positive experience while to others things weren’t going so well.

I know for myself middle school was an emotional roller coaster for me. I truly felt that I didn’t belong. I felt that I didn’t have any friends. My life felt heavy. One moment that sticks out to me is a day that I will never forget. Sitting at lunch and then all the sudden a guy pulls me out of my chair and starts hitting me on the head. I was so disillusioned. I didn’t know what was going on. I was embarrassed, scared, and mad. Why didn’t I throw a punch back? Instead I just took the punches.

I felt like I was all alone. And all my attempts to be liked always seemed to be shattered. I tried out for sports teams and never seemed to make the cut. And don’t even get me started about girls… just a super, weird time inmy life.

And I don’t think much has changed for middle schoolers today. I think they still go through the same awkwardness and deal with the same deep questions that seem minuscule to adult eyes: do I belong? And who do I belong too?

That is why when I hear these words come out of a middle school or high school youth's mouth that they don’t feel like they belong or that they feel hurt, put down by their peers… I am more and more convinced that my mission is to make sure that

1.       Youth know that they belong. They belong to Jesus and that they are loved deeply no matter what! 

2.       And saying this isn’t enough. I want them to be encouraged and lifted up. I want every youth group to be a super, positive experience. They know that when they step in to this church that they are safe and that they are important valued because too much is at stake with their lives!

I have seen youth go down a destructive path trying to mask all the hurt that they’ve experienced in their lives. Maybe through alcohol, drugs, unhealthy relationships… but I have also seen what can happen when youth know how valuable they are despite their peer’s corrupt words and actions.

And I know this because I am that person that people choose to love when I was in high school. People in church never ceased to let me know how valuable I was to God. And so when I stood on the presopous of trying to belong by way of going to parties I had really good friends and family that stood in my way to tell me that life has so much more to offer. And I am so grateful for each and every one of those people.

We truly are who we are because of good friends, good parents, good churches, good word spoken over us. None of us exist in a vacuum. 

So my hope is that despite the negativity in this world that we can in some way by God’s help pour out the reality that we belong to God and that we can embrace that reality with our lives even when the world seems against us.   

Jesus endorses candidate for president!

At lunch today I decided to enter in to the dangerous arena of politics with some awesome sixth graders. I posed the question to them: If you could vote... who would you vote for? And why? I got a variety of answers and I was quite surprised at how perceptive and informed they were. They talk and think deeply about politics even in sixth grade!

If you are like me you are probably ready to move past this election season. But I see a great opportunity to teach something quite profound to youth. It isn't a certain political view or stance but instead it is something much deeper. Regardless of our political views we all teach our youth a way of communicating by our tone, our actions, our rhetoric especially when we talk about those on the other side of our political belief system.

I have discovered that there are three distinct ways we communicate with each other especially in the area of politics.

1. Opposing views are seen as obstacles. By far the most popular...others views are seen as illegitimate. It is usually a posture of belittling and putting one down. This puts the opposing person in a position of defensiveness. Maybe you have been on one side or the other of this scenario. I find in these conversations that nothing of substance ever takes place.

Whenever I have this experience I feel many times like I am talking to a wall. We say the same things yet never truly listening to each other.

2. Shut down. For some people politics makes their blood boil so much so a conversation can't even begin to take place because it is to stressful. The other side is seen as an enemy and one can't even begin to understand where another person comes from or that they are even worth their time.

3.  The way of compassion and empathy. Rarely do I meet folks that embrace this way. Some might call this the weak way. A dangerous place no doubt. It doesn't mean to "agree to disagree." Or to merely coexist. It is much deeper than that... two words that literally mean walking in another person's shoes. To feel what they feel.

This means that we have to take the uncomfortable posture of listening to words that we might think are illegitimate. The craziest part of living a life like this is that we have to be open to the reality that walking in other people's shoes could possibly change us. We might actually learn something about each other when our defenses aren't up.

So some pastor's out there want to tell their congregation which presidential candidate, political party or political views Jesus' endorses. I could never play in that arena. But what I can say is that Jesus endorses without a doubt the third way. All sorts of people were attracted to Jesus because they knew his compassion was real and true.

We have an incredible opportunity in this election season to teach not a narrative of divisiveness but of hope that we can live together in harmony. We can actually live together with a variety of belief systems without breaking each other down. We can live together in a community that embraces each other and learns from each other.

Not only can we engage in a conversation with youth about what they think about politics but we can also teach them deep character on how we treat others that see the world differently. How we are better people when we choose to walk in the way of compassion and empathy.

Why should I pray if God doesn't answer my prayers?

Last night our question was: is it possible to be a Christian and not go to church? And by church I mean actively meeting with a body of believers and worshiping together on a weekly basis. We took a vote at the beginning of youth and overwhelmingly everyone believed that you could be a Christian and not attend church. In a few words the church wasn't that integral. The importance was in as long as you believe in "Jesus" you are a Christian. This is a snap shot of Western Christianity. It is all about the "self" and not about the community. But if you read scripture the community is integral in the life of the Christian. Community is the playground of the Christian faith.

We need the community to be Christ for us. A community that encourages us. A community that prays for us. A community that embraces us for who we are. And so with that said it is hard to be a Christian without the presence of the community.

Coming up this week we will be talking about praying even when God doesn't answer the prayers we pray. I know for me there have been many moments in my life where I have prayed for people and God didn't answer my prayers. So we will work through this, this coming week.

Can I be a Christian and not go to church?

Youth are asking some great questions and I have been so enlightened by their curiosity. Curiosity for most of us was put on the shelf to collect dust a long time ago. We have become cynics to most of our questions. Who wrote the bible? People did. Enough said. But the more we dig the more I believe we find a richness that in someways was lost before. Who wrote the bible? People that cared. People that wanted to tell a story. People that wanted a story to give us substance, a God-breathed identity.

I encourage you to grab your youth and watch this video with them. A great, quirky video about how the bible came to be. If the bible is all that we say it is. If it is really "God breathed..." then it must be really good for us to read. Just like an ice cream cone on a hot summer day! Or a pumpkin spice latte on cool, rainy day like today!

I started reading the bible for the first time in my life in 10th grade. I started reading the book of John and it was life giving. In fact it changed my life. As we choose our next right step toward Jesus maybe it is good for us to find some time maybe once a week to sit down and read a chapter of the bible. Maybe to ask each other what we are reading and together explore what it means to follow Jesus.

So this week we are talking about being a Christian and what that means. In particular... Can you be a Christian and not go to church? You can imagine that there are probably a lot of different answers to this question... so we will explore it some this Sunday. Hope your youth and their friends join us!

Why bring a friend?

Jordan, Will, Ryan, Rick, Davis, and
Gavin (Davis' friend) playin' in the
corn. 

Every week I tell the youth "bring a friend!" We would love to have their friends be part of us at UMYF. Every event we do friends are welcome! But why? I believe that we can truly make a difference not only in the lives of youth that already come but in those that come as a result of friendship.

I think of Jordan Anderson. Ian Casker brought him last school year and ever since then Jordan and his family have become a big part of Pleasant Green UMC. Jordan just a few weeks ago was baptized in the Eno River. What began as Ian bringing a friend turned out to be the beginning of a cool narrative in Jordan's life.

I think about my involvement in church. It was my friend Mark when I was in 10th grade who invited me to his church. Just like Jordan I got involved, gave my life to Jesus, and was baptized in the span of that year. It surely changed the trajectory of my life. And I am so grateful that Mark decided to invite me to church.

Sure not everyone's friend is going to keep coming back and that is normal. But it is sure cool when we invite friends and like Jordan this new narrative begins in their life.

The bible says "Go make disciples of ALL nations..." and it is exciting to see youth catch on to this and invite their friends. Hope to see your youth and some of their friends soon!