Remember You Are Dust...

Ash Wednesday always gets me thinking. The part that sticks with me the most, every year, is watching the pastor put ashes on the foreheads of everyone.

I know most of the people in the line.
This one has struggled with illness.
This one is in prime health.
This one has recently lost a loved one.
These are teenagers.
This one had a brush with death.
This one is a baby.

Everyone gets ashes.

There is no discrimination. Death does not discriminate. As a chaplain, I've seen that far more often than I'd like. Watching the imposition of ashes every year is a reminder of not just my mortality, but also of just how real death is for anyone, at any time.

Ash Wednesday does not promote happy feelings. It's not supposed to. Instead, it is the opening to 40 days of reflection, meditation, self-sacrifice. Last night was a reminder of how finite our lives are. It was a reminder that nothing in this world - not even us - is permanent. Easter morning will bring us the hope that we all so desperately need. Until then, it is time to remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall all return.

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Hidden Crosses

One thing that's been catching my eye in worship lately has been just how many hidden crosses there are in just the sanctuary. I want to know how many crosses the youth see in the worship space. I want them to look beyond the purposeful and obvious crosses. After we tally the crosses we've spotted, we would head to the youth room. Once we are settled in the room, the first question I have for the youth is "What does it mean that there we found more crosses when we started to look for them?" I plan to focus on how Jesus can be found in the unexpected places. My second question for the youth is "Who is Jesus?" Have them write their answers, so no one is influenced by others' answers. Each youth will then open their Bible to Matthew 25:34-40 . I will have two volunteers read all the way through - one after the other. More questions for the youth: Who is hungry near you? How can you feed them? Is it possible someone is spiritually hungry

Thoughts and looking forward

It's been a bit since I've posted. Last week, I was away from the youth group for Princeton Seminary's Institute of Youth Ministry's annual forum. I got to hear from some amazing, brilliant people who really have a heart and understanding for youth ministry. I'm still processing it all! That will be another post, though. The week before, the youth had a jam-packed Wonderful Wednesday. It was our turn for clean-up after the meal. I didn't realize it would take quite as long as it did. That's one of my shortcomings - judging the amount of time it will take to do anything. I'd be chronically late to new places if it weren't for GPS telling me exactly how long it will take me to drive! I digress. We cleaned every pot, pan, knife, and spoon in the kitchen, as well as the tables and anything else we could get our hands on! I say we ... Really, the youth did most of the work. Photo source: Cliparts After all of that cleaning, we played with the

Easter Egg Dyeing Party - Reflections

This one goes in the books as a "must do again"! We had a lot of fun, especially for something that got thrown together last-minute. For this year's party (which was actually more of a hang out), I bought the following: 25 clear plastic party cups (5 ounces) 1,000 toothpicks (I thought it said 100 - oops!) 100 vinyl non-powdered gloves 5 dozen eggs 1 gallon of vinegar (this was entirely too much!) 2 boxes of regular, assorted food dye 1 box of Neon food dye (We need at least 2 boxes) 1 party size bag chips 4.5 dozen cookies plastic tarp/sheeting plastic tablecloth shaving cream crayons gemstone stickers I found a chart for a lot of different colors you could make with food dye plus water & vinegar. I printed that out and one of the teens happily took charge of counting out the 20 or more drops of dye for each color. These produced wonderfully vibrant colors on the eggs. I showed the youth how to draw on the eggs with crayon which would le

The Curious Ministry of an Unlikely Leader

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