Kitchener Church Retreat

Wow. What a weekend. The Church of the Good Shepherd February 8 - 10 weekend retreat was so much fun and so full of adventure and excitement. We began Friday night, with travelers from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and me, from Maine, descending on Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Three vehicles filled with Swedenborgian teens all coming together to create a worship experience with youth members from the Church of the Good Shepherd. All of the out of town travelers arrived late Friday night, weary from the long trip. After greeting our friends in Kitchener/Waterloo and taking a quick tour of the church, we blew up the mattresses and settled into our bags for the night. We woke Saturday morning to the wonderful smell of Lorraine's fresh coffee. After a quick breakfast we started in on the worship service planning. We had 24 hours to pull together a Sunday worship service for the Church of the Good Shepherd congregation pretty much starting from scratch. We did have a topic to work with. The stewardship month theme was "Becoming the gift you are". We spent the morning brainstorming ideas and decided our service would involve a series of contemporary skits about temptation adapted from associated Bible stories (The Forbidden Fruit, Satan's Temptation of Jesus, Satan's Test of Job, etc) . We also decided that we would perform the entire service in reverse order, from the Postlude to the Prelude, including a "welcome Benediction", "closing Invocation" along with opening the Word and lighting the candles at the end of the service. All of this "reverse order worship" done to reflect the concept that the real service (a useful charitable life) starts after Sunday worship has ended. We even got the congregation involved by having them color pictures to a reading from Revelation. After much planning, preparation and rehersing, we were finally ready to deliver the service. The teens did a great job and the entire worship experience was heartfelt, playful and inspiring. Everyone worked very hard on the service and I am very proud of all of the youth for their attention, care and understanding. I'm also glad we got a chance to play some games, including a round of Sardines late Saturday night. More about the Sardines games later. All of the people from the States (12 teens and 4 adults) left Kitchener early Sunday afternoon to return home. That's when the story really gets interesting...to be continued...

The Newlywed Game

Okay, this is my last post about Winter Retreat. I've got lots of good stories from the Kitchener retreat. But first, one more Winter Retreat story.

After 14 hours driving home at the end of the van ride home from the Almont Winter Retreat, I can get a bit tired. We had just dropped Bill off at the train station and I was on the way up to Maine with the remaining teens from New England. I came up with the idea that we play a verbal version of "The Newlywed Game" with Nina and Holly (no they aren't getting married, but are close friends who have known each other for most of their lives). I would ask one of them a question and when that person thought of the answer they would say, "Okay, I'm ready" (you could also write the answer down). Then the other person would say their answer out loud.
If the two answers matched, they got a point for being correct. If not, no point. Questions ranged from which direction Nina's bedroom window faced, to would you rather legally shoot a deer or illegally steal a car.

Nina and Holly, if I remember correctly got 7 out of 10 correct. But the funniest part of the game and best question was this. There are two identical guys that you are thinking about marrying. They are perfect for you in every way, with one small issue. One guy always wears a headband. Everywhere he goes, all the time (although the headband can change in color, style etc.). The other guy always wears one glove. Never two. Everywhere he goes, all the time (although the glove can change in color, style etc.). Nina got so excited over this question that she blurted out, "I want one glove guy!", even though she was supposed to keep her answer to herself until Holly chose. Immediately, all the other girls in the van said, "No way. Headband guy is the one". It was quite funny. And just so you know Nina, other women who we have posed this question to that we deeply respect also selected one glove guy with the same comment that I think you made. He can always put one hand in his pocket.

Okay, all you ladies. Which guy would you choose?

Finding God

Here's the February edition of the Chaplain's Corner

by Pastor Dave, SCYL Chaplain

For so many of us, belief in God is a given. We have been coming to church so long, and have come to terms with belief in God so long ago that it isn’t even something we think about. We may be more interested in theologies about other matters of faith and life.

But for some people, God is still a question. There are people who will ask us, “Do you believe in God?” It may be hard for us to remember what it is like to wonder about God’s existence. It may be hard for us to understand the place others are in when they ask us, “Do you believe in God?”

Jesus says, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” That line strikes me as exactly what believing in God is like. The very fact that people can question whether there is a God or not, indicates that God isn’t obvious to everyone. We can’t perceive God with any of our five senses. We can’t see God; we can’t hear God; we can’t smell God; we can’t taste God; and we can’t touch God. A friend of mine who is an atheist once even used an earthy metaphor to deny God’s existence. And I think that his choice of metaphors reflects not only disbelief but contempt. He told me that if there were a God he’d leave some evidence behind like this guy’s father did after using the toilet. For Ken, if there were a God, we’d smell Him.

“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” It was impossible for me to convince Ken just how often I have seen God’s workings, how much the world is full of evidence for God. For those who believe in God, for those who have ears to hear, we find God everywhere we look. Countless little things appear before us that show us God’s existence and His loving presence. But in order for one to see evidence for God, one has to start with the assumption that God is there. We need to begin with the belief that there is a God, then as we look around us and reflect on events in our lives, God appears to us in countless ways. The evidence mounts. More and more evidence for God appears to us. So much so that we find it hard to imagine that everyone can’t see God.

But such a vision of God is only available to those who have ears to hear. Such a vision of God is not available to a person who begins by saying, “I don’t believe that there is a God—let Him convince me otherwise.” Beginning with a conviction of disbelief, everything can be explained in other terms than God. .

“Whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.” That hidden God which some people seem never to find, is disclosed to those who begin with the assumption that He exists. Then, from being hidden, God discloses Himself more and more to the seeker. What was concealed is brought into the open. And we come to the point where disbelief is unimaginable.