Lent: Brokenness and Rescue

I must confess: I love Lent.  There is the drama of the lectionary procession, a sense of circling down into the labyrinth of human brokenness.  A path that starts in amazement and ends in amazement, but in the middle it is us at our worst.  I have had profound Lenten seasons and ones where I went through the motions but only found a shallow and dry season.  We are not ideas, but incarnate stories.  We make meaning through motion, ritual and practices: faith is trust, but it is also bodies making shapes out of our belief and our unbelief. 

Religious scholar Dorothy C. Bass reminds us that "The movement of the liturgical year also honors the body as central to our search for God. The liturgical calendar is a record of embodiment, as it takes shape around the life of Jesus and the community he called into being. Fasting during Lent, foot washing on Maundy Thursday, celebrating the Easter Vigil at midnight unite us with Christians of every age who have sought to enter bodily into the narrative of Jesus’ life and death."

We are not called to the practice of a Holy Lent because it excites us or because we like the challenges of limited fasts.  We are called to practice a Holy Lent because it is the way of the people who follow Jesus throughout the ages.  If Easter was the first annual celebration of the community that became known as church, then Lent was the second.  How do you prepare for the mystery of the resurrection?  By acknowledging through prayer, fasting and looking boldly at the brokenness that our mistaken-ness inflicts on this sacred world.  A terribleness that Jesus loves and forgives and rescues, by showing us the way out of the wretchedness.  This way is love, truth and compassion.  It is becoming one with him, with what he said and how he lived.

Lent certainly begins with Ash Wednesday, but it even more so begins with Shrove Tuesday.  A big old party of fat foods and jolly frivolity.  A celebration of life and graciousness and all that is good in our life together.  So mark your calendar and come out for a pancake or two at the annual Shrove Tuesday celebration on February 9th, starting at 6pm.  Then I commend to you that you commit to an Ash Wednesday practice.   We will have liturgies at in the nave of St. Paul's at 7am, 12.10pm and 7pm (the final one with some music).  I will be offering Ashes to Go at the Reid Center on the Whitman campus from 11am till 2pm. 

Fall Youth Group Schedule

The time is upon us again, TBTG!  We once more can be AWESOME.

We are funny and dorky and playful.  We are smart and friendly and faithful.   We strive to be awesome and honest.

We are gamers and players and readers and singers..we are young and we gather on Wednesday evenings at St. Paul's (Birch and Catherine, WW).

Date	What	Details
Sept 9	Wild Water Games!	Wear clothes that can get wet!
16	CinemaSport: Rudy	A ‘watch the whole movie’ evening...so we might run a tad bit late.
23	Crash Course	Humane Society
30	Project Serve	Take Home Paks and Cleaning out the Coats for Kids closet.
Oct 4	St. Francis Blessing of the Animals	1pm on the Lawn
Oct 7	Game Day	Human Chess
Oct 10	Scholarship Dinner: All Youth and Families are Needed to Help Serve the Meal	5pm to Learn How To Serve Tables Professionally
Oct 14	Crash Course*	King of Instruments
Oct 16-18	SPOKES: Youth Presence at Convention	Senior High Teens are eligible to help make our Diocesan Convention flow smoothly
21	CinemaSport: Remember the Titans	Might run late!
28	Project Serve	tba
Nov 4	Game Day	Mystery game day
11	CinemaSport: Bend it Like Beckham	Might Run Late
13-15	New Beginnings: Live	6-8th Grade Diocesan Youth Gathering in Coeur d Alene
18	Crash Course*	Tools, part 2
25	No yG: Turkey Week

Open to any and all compassionate 6-12th graders, we make no exceptions for what you think, or wear, or your heritage or your identities.  We begin with food, then we work together to clean up from dinner.  After which our activity or guest or topic of the night is explored.  When we have time there is free time for games, and we always end with check in and liturgical night prayer. 

Folks are welcome to come early and hang around to do homework or help with the tasks of the church. We always need families and friends to offer dinner for our yG crew.  Please sign up online at this link.  We are also looking for volunteer assistant leaders and chaperon's (age 19 and up). 

Generally yG follows this pattern:

• Dinner
• Clean Up
• Topic
• Free Time
• Night Prayer

Lego My Bible: Lent 1B

Three baskets of Lego's, three children's Bible, several generations and coffee hour.
Today's lessons included Noah and Jesus 40 days in the wilderness.   You might notice several stages of Jesus' temptations.  Then you might notice that Noah now has a drone craft instead of a dove. 

Join us next week for more Lego my Bible!

SPOKES: Youth Presence at Convention in Walla Walla

SPOKES is a new opportunity for Senior High teens in the diocese of Spokane to assist in the work of our diocesan convention.  Spokes refers to the spokes of a wheel hub; likewise the youth who serve with this team will assist with the social media presence and/or the church governmental work of convention.  

This year the convention for the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane will be celebrated in Walla Walla, Washington on October 17-19. 

Teens who are interested in the social media part of this opportunity should 

• have some experience with social media (do you tweet or fb or instagram??).   
• should show a willingness to interact with a variety of people and 
• work with our leadership on our social media presence.  

Teens who have an interest in the organizational functioning of the Episcopal Church should consider being part of the team of ‘runners’ who will assist as needed with the convention processes.    

• They should be able to move about easily and
• follow organizational directions and 
• have some interest in wider church life and/or parliamentary process.

SPOKES will also include social time (and other silliness) in between the work we are gathering to do.  The teens participating in SPOKES will be carefully supervised by adult leaders in the diocese.  (and...Walla Walla teens can be excused for the homecoming dance or game, but not both)

WE WILL HAVE LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE FOR SPOKES!  

If you know an interested teen please have them fill out this link as soon as possible! 

If you have any questions please contact janeg at stpaulsww.org .