40 Pins for Lent

Forty days and forty nights.  Lent is approaching quickly.  Several sources have offered word-a-day projects or hashtag-a-day systems for your Lenten practice.  This set of 40 pins are simply starters for your creative response.  There are enough for 40 days, however many of us find that we have to seek and pray with these in two and three day stints. 

What do you do, how do you pin?  Remembering a bulletin board, but also refering to the social media platform Pinterest, to put a pin in something is to pick it up and place it so that you can come back to it.  Sometimes it is the creating and the searching that is the most important.  Other times it is looking at how the pinned responses play with each other. 

A pin could be any type of response.  Perhaps it is taking a photo, perhaps writing a journal entry, or maybe it serves as a meditation mantra.  You could research a quote or find some art that connects to the word.  40 pins for Lent is open ended, do what you want with them.  (Although if you desire a social media hashtag I suggest #40pins .)

The right 40 Pin set comes from the amazing and stunningly Lenten children's novel The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  I certainly hope that you might choose to pick up the novel as the season progresses, however it isn't necessary.  The words speak for themselves.  Younger readers may want to look up the definition of the word and create a response from their research. 

The left 40 Pin set comes from a poem by the Chilean Pablo Neruda titled 'The Wars'.   A startling defense of human life and an unsubtle critique of all forms of facism, the Wars is a provocative poem.  The word selection cannot help but weave itself with the narrative of Lent. 

 There are many resources available to enter a Holy Lent.  How can we help you find yours?

Food and Faith 9.15am: Sunday Morning Youth

 The 6-12^th grade ‘Sunday School’ group will be 

• continuing to explore the real questions offered through the re:Form series AND
• beginning to include the biblical storytelling based Echo: The Story series.    

Re:Form is focused on bigger theological ideas like sin and creation and church, whereas Echo is centered in reflection and creative response to the biblical stories.  

We will revisit questions of last year (cause we have new minds and it is a new day) and keep exploring the fresh stories of Echo.

We would like to offer warm breakfast-y food with our class this year.  

Can you help us fill the formation freezer with heat and eat breakfast casseroles and breakfast bites and pastries???  

Breakfast casseroles should feed about 6 and be labeled with all the ingredients.  

For more information (or recipe links) check in with Jane.

Away and Daydreaming

This week I am out of Walla Walla to places as far flung as Lake Tahoe and Spokane.  At Lake Tahoe I am attendin the Western Christian Educators Conference.  This is a joint event of the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (pcusa) and is hosted at the marvelous Zephyr Point Conference Center.  We also have youth leadership from many of the Province 8 dioceses.  This group of Episcopeeps had our own meeting before the conference began in earnest, and it has been a good deal of fun reuniting with old friends and making new companions.  A funny moment happened on Monday.  I had been sending a friend and fellow youth worker a variety of questions.  During a break I checked into my room and discovered not only was this pal on her way to the event, she was my roomie! 

The conference itself is centered on the work of John Roberto and meeting the cultural bleswings of the digital revolutions.  Can we create a local ecclesia that is a life supporting AND a digital network connected to our physical and spiritual community and tradition?

On Thursday I fly back to Washington and then head north to Spokane for the Youth Leadership Event that coincides with diocesan convention.  At the YLe we will be preparing youth to be peer leaders at the upcoming TEC and NEW BEGINNINGS weekends. At convention we will be blessed by the stories of Sarah Miles.  She is a leader at St. Gregory of Nyssa in San Francisco.  An innovative and challenging congregation whose work is worth exploring.  Incedentally I am here at this conference at LakeTahoe with one of the fouding priests and a current priest, both of whom are old friends. 

Community, Truthiness, Robin Hood, Firefly and how it all began..

Do you know Vibrant Faith?  They ask a very important question this week: what would life be like for you if your biggest problem evaporated?

A reminder to fill out the formation form if you have munchkins at home and are interested in youth, children and family ministry at St. Paul's.

Youth Group this Wednesday is the first amazing 'Whedon Wednesday' featuring an episode of the far to short series: Firefly.  This episode is carefully chosen and appropriate for all youth.  We will also be thinking about Robin Hood and how to paint a four square court.

Youth Sunday School will feature the provocative question..is the Bible true and even more so...what is true?

Godly Play this week will feature the Creation story.