Have I ever mentioned that I love my church? 
I love the worship and preaching and the kids and all the people. I love having a place where I can go and be myself and just enjoy it. I love having friends I know I can count on. I love being able to just sit around at talk. I love being known by people. I love working at my church. I love being able to go there more often. I love the people I work with. I love being able to help others. I love being appreciated. Ya, I really do love my church.
And a random fun sight, www.Librarything.com . You can catalog all the books you own. It is kind of fun to see what all I have. You can also see what other people own and who has books similar to you. Here are my books. I don't have THAT many, only 259 in there right now. That is most of the books I own. I still have some floating around my apartment that I haven't found yet though.
Church and Books
When it just works
yes, I really still alive. [:D] I think life is starting to slow down a little bit, so I'll try and get back to regular posting.
My Sunday School class went REALLY well this week. For those of you who don't know, I teach a 4th and 5th grade class.
It was one of those times where it had nothing at all to do with what I was doing, but was totally God. We got totally off topic, but the discussions we had were really interesting and also showed me some stuff we need to talk about for the next couple of weeks. We talked about the Bible and how it is a collection of books, not just one book. We talked about the trinity and about Jesus being both God and human at the same time. We talked a little bit about hell and what happens when you die. It was all REALLY interesting and totally led by the questions from my kids.
This makes me excited for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to try and hit some of these topics in a little more detail.
Church Family
I'm so thankful to be part of a church. I just think it is amazing to have so many different people together for one purpose. It is also amazingly encouraging to have people in so many different times of their lives together. It is neat to watch the little tiny babies be baptized and then watch the guy stand up on his 87 birthday and the couple celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary! I love watching the younger kids stand up in church and say Bible verses and watching the youth be confirmed. It is just incredibly meaningful to be part of such an amazing family.
Rules for Living
This week in church we talked about our basic rules for living, so here are mine, with a few comments on them.
I think just about everyone in the room had some version of this on their list. I also think a lot of things can be boiled down to this. Things like, be polite and offer forgiveness. I want people to be nice to me and I want others to forgive me, so I should do this for others.
I'm not here to just live for myself, I can and should make a difference in the lives of others. It doesn't have to be anything big, just showing kindness to the waitress or hugging a kid.
I don't want to just run through life always looking ahead. I want to stop and smell the roses. I want to enjoy the moment.
I want to be thankful to those around me and to be thankful to God.
I never want to stop learning. I want to get whatever I can out of every situation and from everyone I meet.
Healing Rain
Have I mentioned that I love my church? Tonight was very powerful! We talked about not holding on so tight to things. We talked about how we need to let go of so much so that God can work in our lives. Then we sang "Healing Rain" by Michael W. Smith.Healing rain is coming down
The image of rain has become even more powerful since I have moved down here in the desert. We don't get a whole lot of rain, so when we do everyone is really excited. We had our first rain in a long time yesterday. Wonderful, cold, refreshing rain pouring down from the sky, refreshing the land and all of us. Rain washing away all the dust and dirt, turning the dry dirt into mud. Rain flowing, making puddles. Cleanness. Refreshment.
It's coming closer to the lost and found
Tears of joy, and tears of shame
Are washed forever in Jesus' name
Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I'm not afraid
To be washed in Heaven's rain
Lift your heads, let us return
To the mercy seat where time began
And in your eyes, I see the pain
Come soak this dry heart with healing rain
What an image of God's spirit, flowing down over me. Cleaning. Refreshing. Washing away my sin and messiness. Rain, refreshing my dry spirit, quenching my thirst. Thank you Lord for your healing rain.
It also reminds me of my baptism. Water flowing over my head. God working in my life. Water and Spirit flowing calling me out, setting me apart. It is interesting, I struggled with what baptism means and all that for quite awhile and I think that struggle has made it all the more meaningful and important for me. I'm glad I went through that. I'm glad I have vivid memories of my baptism. It is important.
Basic Assumptions
We were talking tonight at church about what our basic assumptions about life are, so I thought I'd go ahead and post some of mine here. 
Lenten Discipline
Well, its Ash Wednesday. Happy Ash Wednesday just doesn't seem right so, may you draw closer to God throughout this Lenten Season.
Ever since college when I first learned about Ash Wednesday and Lent, they have been incredibly meaningful for me. The discipline and self denial of Lent really have made the joy of Easter all the more full.
Today at our Ash Wednesday service, I really liked how my pastor talked about Lent. He talked about how when we are tempted to reach for that thing that we give up for Lent we can use it as an opportunity to stop and think about how we see Christ alive in that situation. He then said something along the lines of how later when we are having trouble giving up that "thing," whatever it is, we can remember that Lenten discipline.
That really makes sense. When we practice something over a period of time, it becomes easier later. When we practice self denial during Lent with something "small," it becomes easier later when we really do have to give something to God.
From dust you were created... to dust you will return.
May God draw us all closer to himself while we learn the Lenten discipline of self denial.
Flexibility in my Church
I really do love my church! I'm amazed at how flexible and innovative they are, even being so big.
Tonight at our evening service there weren't a whole lot of people there. And I'm sure you are all shocked to hear that. 
But so instead of our normal service we just pulled our chairs together into a group and sang a couple of songs and interacted a bit more then in a normal sermon. It was really neat! Just having that closeness was a lot of fun.
I'm also REALLY excited about next week. Instead of our normal services, we are going to have special time of prayer. We will meet in the sanctuary for a little bit, but then go all over our campus and pray for the various things we do there and the ministries we are involved in and for the people we want to reach. It sounds like it will be a really powerful time.
I just love the fact that the leadership in my church is willing to change things. It is good to have order, but I'm glad we are open to doing things differently. I'm glad that we are honestly trying to follow God is so many different ways! It is really exciting to be a part of it! 
I really do love my church!
I love my church! Have I mentioned that before? Sunday we had Harp Fusion at our church. They are the worlds largest touring harp choir and they are AMAZING! Picture 11 HUGE harps on stage and some of the best and youngest harpists around! They are all students at the University of Arizona, but are all masters already. Each piece they play has been written or arranged by a member of the group. And each year for Christmas they do a performance at my church. And it is a BIG deal! As it, get there more than thirty minutes before it starts if you want a seat, and closer to an hour if you want a good seat. But it is well worth it! The music was just amazing. They did traditional carols, Feliz Navidad, a Chinese piece, and even rag time music. The variety reflects the personalities of the different group members and it is amazing.
And beyond the amazing music, there is another reason that I love my church for doing this. It is an outreach into the community. For the most part it is simply a harp concert. But beyond that, it gets people into our church. At the beginning my pastors speaks for just a few minutes welcoming everyone and saying a few things about how this expresses God's love. It isn't overtly evangelical, as in no salvation message, but it is as the same time distinctly Christian.
And another reason I love my church, they are always open to new ways that God can work through our community. As of the first of the year, the director of Harp Fusion will be on staff at my church. She will write one piece of worship music each month using our musicians, and others, and the congregation. I think this is a wonderful use of her talents as a gift to God. And I am glad that our church can be a part of that. So often in the church the arts are downplayed and I think that is a tragedy. God has gifted so many people in music, drama, painting, and more, and we should give them a place within the Christian community to express those gifts to the glory of God. And I am grateful that my church has a part in doing that!
A few pics from Church Camp!
my pastors little boy, isn't he adorable!
a beautiful view!
Me reading scripture for worship. I'm on the left, my pastor is in the middle, and her husband is on the right.
a couple of the kids. The two on the left are in my sunday school class.
.
Choosing a Small Group
At my church we have various short term classes on Wednesday nights. You just pick which ever one you are interested in and go. This time there were really only two for me to pick between. One the topic sounded slightly more interesting, but I wasn't sure about the leader. I have heard the person who is leading that class make a couple of comments that just annoyed me. The other class I was slightly less interested in, but I really like the leader.
So I ended up choosing between the classes because of the leaders. I wonder if this is good or bad or just neutral. It wasn't like I had a strong leaning either way. But I wasn't sure about spending a couple of months in a class and having to ignore comments I didn't agree with.
And totally off topic, I have been playing with my template again. Please let me know if something looks funny or if something doesn't work!
Trail Markers
Well, I'm back from my fun filled weekend! I'm still exhausted, but it was a great weekend. It was so nice to spend so much time outside, and being in the mountains it was nice and cool! Such a change from down here in Tucson. That is one thing that has grown on me here, the variety of climates, desert to mountains!
But camp was great. I got to know a couple of the girls in my Sunday School class better and had some fun time with them. I also had fun playing my pastors little kids. And had a nice long chat with her. I also had some nice quiet time with God, reading and praying and just thinking. A good mix of everything!
One thing I was thinking about while I was resting during a hike. I was looking at the trail markers, those little flags that tell you where to go, and thinking about the things that have been trail markers in my own life. There are people and things that have guided my life to make me more like God. They have encouraged me when I needed it, helped me change directions, or just shown me that I'm headed in the right direction.
The Bible is always an important one. God has used stories or verses to speak to me when I need it most. People are another big one. There are so many people who have helped guide my life, friends and mentors, pastors and children. They all have had a profound affect on my life. Experiences are another thing that have guided me. My summer jobs and mission trips have influenced both how I see the world and what I want to do.
Then I also think about the sacraments and other "means of grace." These are other things that have been trail markers for me and throughout the centuries. I think back to my baptism. Through that and joining a UM church has affected how I see some things. And my church in particular has guided my life. And communion is especially meaningful to me. It continually draws me back to Christ's sacrifice and back into community. It is a connection to Christ and a connection to those around me, both the things that guide my life.
I'm off to camp!
Yea! I'm off to church camp this evening! I feel like a little kid, I'm so excited! I have another couple hours til work, then 3 hours at work then I'm off. Yea! This is the prayer for this weekend that I was writing in my journal last night.
"May it be a time of refreshment and renewel. May it be a time of reflexion and rest. May it be encouraging to me and may I be an encouragement to others. May we draw close to each other and most of all to You."
And with that, I'm off! 
I love my Church!
I really do love my church! We just started our Wednesday night program again and I'm excited. I love being able to eat dinner and chat with everyone there. I'm doing a class reading three different novels. I just got the first one "The Kite Runner" and started reading it yesterday. So far it is really good and I'm excited about talking about it.
I'm also REALLY excited because we have church camp this weekend! I can't wait! A whole weekend up in the cool mountains with people I love spending time with! Just a day and a half of work to go!
UM Connections
I saw a story called "Connectional system ‘works’ in recovery, pastors say" today on the United Methodist News Service. The connectional system is one of my favorite things about the UMC. It is such a powerful system for all involved.
For disasters like Katrina, there is already a system of support. Pastors generally know each other fairly well within their conference so they know who they can contact for help and they know who they need to get in contact with to make sure they are ok. It is easy for churches to donate to UMCOR to provide finical assistance. And VIM is already getting ready to send teams to the Gulf coast.
It is also powerful for the support it provides for pastors. They have connections through annual conference and are guaranteed to see each other at least once a year. I have been in enough ministry situations to know how lonely ministry can be sometimes if you don't have someone else who understands. This gives ministers connections to someone who understands. They have people they know and can go to for support when they are struggling.
It is also nice when working on big projects. It just gives the churches a built in sense of connection that seems to make working together easier. It also works wonderfully for groups like Project Transformation. It helps to connect the churches with more resources with the churches that have few resources. It gives them a connection to work through.
Sure, there are problems with politics and such, but in all, it really is a good system and generally does give and amazing sense of connection!
Favorite Doctrine
Is it dorky to have a favorite doctrine? I'm sure it is, but I have one anyway. I love the idea of prevenient grace! I feel in love with it from the moment I first learned about it in college. I think this is because I can so clearly see this idea in my own life. I can see things that God put in my life and little twinges in my heart YEARS before I started going to church or even thought much of being a Christian.
I was thinking about it the other day as I was reading some of the American Girl books. Going to church and reading the Bible is mentioned in a lot of those books. I was also watching Little Bill (a Nick Jr. Cartoon) Saturday morning. It featured the song This Little Light of Mine. I'm glad things like this are out there. It was things like these little tid bits that were God's prevenient grace for me.
For me, it was the Little House on the Prairie books. When we were little, my sister and I would play "Laura Ingalls Wilder." We would ride around in the "wilderness" in our covered wagon. We would camp, churn butter, build houses, go to school, and anything else we could think of. For some reason, I always insisted we include going to church in our activities. This was when I had gone to church only a couple of times in my life, yet I still knew that it was important.
I also remember being able to identify with the book Are You There God? It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume. One of the main themes of the book was religion and her struggles with not being raised either Jewish or Christian. Funny how I wasn't really interested in being a Christian, yet I still somehow felt a tug while reading that book.
At the time, these things didn't really mean anything big to me, but looking back, I can see how God used them to begin calling me to Himself. Looking back, I see these things as part of God's prevenient grace.
Fields of Grace (and screams and laughter!)
After church tonight I was playing with a couple of the little girls outside. It was so much fun and so funny! At first it started out as me chasing them and they would just run and SCREAM and I would catch them and turn them upside down and tickle them. Then I got tired so I sat down in the middle of the grass and they would run SCREAMING around me and I would pretend to reach out and grab them. Then they would run up and "push me over" and I would pick them up and lay back holding them in the air. And they would SCREAM! And I would laugh! They were so funny! It reminds me of a song that we sing sometimes called Field of Grace by Darrell Evans. Here are the words.
There's a place that I love to run and play
There's a place that I sing new songs of praise
Dancing with my Father God in fields of Grace
There's a place that I lose myself within
There's a place I find myself again
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
There's a place where religion finally dies
There's a place that I lose my selfish pride
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
I love my Father, my Father loves me
I dance for my Father, my Father sings over me
and nothing can take that away from me
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
Membership
Today quite a few people joined my church. They have exploration events for info about the church every so often and then after that, people tend to join. So this is one of those Sundays. Two of the people were older. Their grandson stood in the front with them. My pastor mentioned that they starting coming to church because of him. What an amazing testimony. It is so encouraging to hear stories of the faith of children and how that faith is affecting others. I really do believe that children are a HUGELY important part of the church today. They aren't just the future, the already have so much to teach us if we will only take the time to listen.
Another lady was baptized this evening. That reminds me of my own baptism. I was baptized this past Easter in the church I'm in now. I've been a Christian for quite a while, but was never baptized for a variety of reasons. But the whole experience was extremely special. One of my pastors baptized me and I love her to death anyway so that was really neat. I also really like being able to actually welcome people into the church. I love being able to say the part about renewing my commitment of my "prayers, my presence, my gifts, and my service" and remembering my baptism. I just think that is really cool!
Understanding
I had an interesting evening at church. One of the families that I'm friends with has two little autistic girls, and the dad is in the air force. He just left until August, then will be back for a couple of weeks and then will leave again for the Middle East until January. So the poor mom has her hands REALLY full! And the kids just started school. So I was trying to help her tonight at church. No big deal, that is what it means to be part of the church.
But what annoyed me was later. The girls went to children's church, fine, they usually do pretty well there. But today they didn't do "Treasure Chest." Pretty much every week the kids get to pick something out of the treasure chest, just some cheap little toy. For those of you who don't know much about autism, change messes them up! They just don't have the capacity to deal with change. So these poor little girls are dealing with a lot of change and the treasure chest thing just threw them over the edge. Ok, so this still isn't the problem yet. It isn't any ones fault that the kids reacted this way. And it doesn't reflect on the parents, it is just how the kids' brain works.
The problem comes in the reaction of other people around us. There were so many dirty looks around us. And people were making comments about the fit being because she didn't get a toy. You could tell that some people just thought she was spoiled and throwing a fit because she didn't get her way. And really, it wasn't the toy, it was the change.
I know people can't really tell the difference, but PLEASE don't assume that just because a kid is throwing a fit over something little, that they are just spoiled. There could be a hundred things behind that that you don't know about it. And in a church especially is not the place to judge the mom or the kids. We are the people who should be helping in whatever way we can. We should be the ones taking the kids so that she can stop and breathe for a few seconds. We are the ones that should be encouraging the mom and supporting her as she deals with all this craziness. We aren't the ones that should be giving her dirty looks and making little comments behind her back! GRRRR!!!! 
Forgiveness?
Interesting/annoying how I think I have forgiven people but it keeps coming back. For those of you who don't know, I was fired from the job I had before and they accused me of things there are no way I would ever do and they did support me on various occasions. The problem is, I see the kids all the time and my church helps the organization. I have for the most part gotten used to seeing the kids, but every so often... 
My church is going to start having "Sunday School" with the kids once a month and one of my friends is helping to set it up. She asked me if I could help figure out what kind of curriculum they should use. We were talking and then, and I, are a little worried about how many volunteers they are going to get to help teach. It makes me frustrated because I normally would be the first to volunteer for something like this, but I can't. I'm not even sure if I would be welcome back there, but either way, it would just be way too awkward.
That just frustrates me because I put so much of my heart and time into being there and they hurt me. And now I can't even do things that I love because of it. I'm glad to be able to help out behind the scenes, but it is still painful sometimes.
On a side note, check out the picture. It is one of my cutest little girls! She is so sweet and always runs up to me with the biggest smile and gives me a big hug! She is definitely one of my favorites! 
