Home with Jesus October 29, 2008

Today there is a funeral at our church, for a woman who was beloved in our community.  She wasn’t a member, nor did she go to church much.  We got to know her because she groomed our dog.  She had cancer, and was very sick for a long while.  We actually learned that she had passed away in a strange, God-ordained way.  We had gone to the hardware store to look at wallpaper borders.  I had decided on Friday to start tearing out the paneling and wallpaper in our kitchen, so Saturday we had to do some supply shopping.  The woman who died – her son’s fiance works in this hardware store, and she got a phone call letting her know about the death.  We could hear someone crying in the front of the store, so my husband, ever the pastor, went to investigate.  We ended up taking the girl home to be with the family.  Her boss was surprised by the fact that we just happened to be there, but Travis said, “God puts us where he needs us.”  This girl has been through a lot in the last year – in December, her best friend died (that was the last big funeral at our church).  She got engaged at Christmas, and her fiance’s mom was told she had two weeks to live back in May.  Well, she hung around until October 25.

While I know the family and her friends are very sad to lose her, I can’t help but be thankful for her now that she is in heaven.  We know that she had faith, even though she didn’t have a church home.  Sometimes people can be hurt by the church, which has very human elements to it.  She has no more pain, no more sorrow, no more hurt.  She is in the arms of Jesus, which is a very good place to be.  It’s hard for us who are left behind to really understand that death for a Christian is a good thing.  It makes me think of the song “Homesick” by Mercy Me:

You’re in a better place I’ve heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I’ve rejoiced for you
But the reason why I’m broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you

Help me Lord, ’cause I don’t understand Your ways
The reason why I wonder if I’ll ever know
But even if You showed me, the hurt would be the same
‘Cause I’m still here, so far away from home

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is, then I’m out of place
Lord won’t You give me strength to make it through somehow
I’ve never been more homesick than now

In Christ there are no goodbyes, and in Christ there is no end
So I’ll hold on to Jesus with all that I have to see you again, to see you again

Youth ministry October 14, 2008

I just started reading the book Simple Church last night, and I’m fascinated by it.  I’ll write more when I finish it, because I’m obviously not far enough along to give a good overview of it.  I had spent a couple of hours at our local Christian book store (well, not so local – it’s about forty miles away) with the intention of finding some youth curriculum.  We’ve got a need for better youth ministry at our church, and I had hoped that the selection might be better at a store that carries things from a variety of publishers.  What I found were slim pickings indeed, including some discussion-starting worksheets that were dated 2001.  I’m sorry, but I have trouble believing that curriculum written pre-9/11 is going to be even remotely relevant to today’s youth.  In 2001, this group of high schoolers were still in grade school.  They didn’t have iPods or cell phones, texting was still something you did on the computer, and terrorists were far away from their consciousness until September.

I realized in the midst of my searching that I am going to need to work on writing curriculum for the youth in our congregation.  I also need to spend some time sitting in on their classes to see what the trouble is.  Some of our long-time member kids (like since birth) are complaining that the class is boring.  I need to go see what’s happening.  I struggle with this, because the teacher of the class has a heart for youth but doesn’t always know the best way to reach them, and I think she’s fearful of letting them discuss and share their thoughts.  She wants to equip them with information, but what they need are skills in finding the information for themselves and how to apply the Scriptures to their lives.  Oh, the joys of working in church.  Believe me, this is a problem that I am energized to deal with, even though I have no idea what to do yet.  It reminds me of why I am working for the church, why I have been pursuing DCE certification.