Teen Profile: Dorothy

Awhile back, in April actually, I got the chance to get to know Dorothy at the annual Kitchener/Waterloo Spring retreat. I was amazed at her talent as a writer and artist. She is 19 now (first drawing here is a self portrait of her) and is happily finished with High School and moving on to bigger things. Dorothy gave me a little profile of herself so I could share a bit about her and her wonderful work with the other teens in the SCYL.

Dorothy is 19 years old and attends the Church of the Good Shepherd church in Kitchener, Ontario. She loves Zelda and Manga. Dorothy has been writing a Zelda Fan Fiction trilogy for more then 4 years now. Along with her writing, she creates amazingly edgy and imaginative illustrated characters and scenes. Her Swedenborgian faith influences her Zelda stories greatly. She particularly draws inspiration from imagery in the book of Revelation such as the 7 headed dragon (Rev 12:3), 7 headed horned leopard beast out of the sea (Rev 13:1,2), the horned ram that speaks like a dragon out of the earth (Rev 13:11) and the two edged sword (Rev 1:16). We I emailed Dorothy this week to get her permission to share her artwork on this blog, she mentioned to me that she is rewriting her fan fiction as her style has matured. She plans to rework her links to Swedenborg's writings by making them more accurate and impacting. I can't wait to see what she does. If you like Manga, Zelda or just appreciate original art check out her work here:

http://www.link-reborn.deviantart.com/.

Dorothy is a gifted artist and her stuff is awesome. I think you'll be impressed. Feel free to leave her a message, comment or review. I'm sure she would love to hear from you.

Winter Retreat Primer

This year's winter retreat is practically here! This is a big one. If you've never been to a SCYL retreat before, this is one to go to if you can.

Those of you who have been before already know this!

If you are a teen on the mailing list, you should have received your flyer by now. If you didn't get one, please let me know. The staff this year is shaping up great. Sessions leaders include League Chaplain, Rev David Fekete, Rev Alison Longstaff and Rev Jenn Tafel. The teen group is large and energized. The SCYL nominations and elections will take place at this retreat too. I think they will be interesting and exciting this time around. If you've read your flyer, you know about the retreat theme. I've included stuff about the theme below for those of you who haven't seen it yet. I know you all come to retreats for the engaging theme and the sessions; not to hang out with friends, go skating, eat pizza, play Ultimate Frisbee in the snow/mud, and watch movies so I wanted to make sure that you had all the information about the topic ;-). I'm looking forward to seeing all of you. I know this will be a great retreat. With such a fantastic group of teens - how could it not be!

Our retreat theme: Baffled by the Bible?

Understanding Biblical Controversies

Most teens do not like to be told what to do. It is all part of the process of growing up and breaking away from parental control. Teens rebel against those in power, fight against establishment, and struggle to create their own environment. This is quite contrary to most existing Christian faiths, where laws and rules about what to believe and what to do are laid out pretty clearly and obedience is expected.

But this isn’t how Christianity started out. Jesus was all about rebellion and revolution. He was a huge risk taker and ultimately it cost him his life. The early followers and leaders of Christianity were minorities and nonconformists. Most were persecuted and killed. Then there is the Bible an ancient collection of stories, laws, prophecy, and prayers. Filled with rules handed down by God through men and principles taught by Jesus and his early followers. The message is often do this or else!

Now, here we are in the twenty-first century, 2000 years after the time of Jesus. We try to fit scripture together with science, politics and the myriad Christian sects with their varied beliefs and as a result become totally confused. Is it that the Bible and today’s modern world just don’t work together? Religion does not seem to play well with science and technology. And why does it often appear that God is just sitting on the sidelines ignoring the whole show?

These are the questions and dilemmas that we will explore at this retreat. The Swedenborgian church offers satisfying and unique perspectives on many controversial issues. These age old questions have practical answers that you can believe in, trust and understand. Come to this retreat and realize resolution.

Former League President Kathryn Pruiett

We continue our profile on former SCYL Presidents ~ Where are they now?

This month's featured former League President:

Kathryn Pruiett

Served 1987 - 1988

Kathryn as a teen at winter retreat

Where is she now?

My name is Kathryn Pruiett (used to be Rienstra).
I was President of the NCYL (New Church Youth
League as we knew it) in 1987 and 1988. Those
were truly wonderful years!!!!! Now I am a
mother of two wonderful children and have been
married for 15 years. I also work full time as a
Supervisor/data analyst for AT&T (used to be SBC
or Southwestern Bell Telephone). I have been
with the company for 12 years.  

The years I spent in the league have helped shape
who I am, and always serve as a foundation in all
the decisions I have made, and will make.

TrueTube Retreat in LaPorte

TrueTube? That was the question we pondered at the youth retreat in LaPorte. Ten teens gathered at Manna House over the weekend in late October to look at and discuss video created by teens or concerning relevant teen issues and/or spirituality. We explored how popular culture relates to Swedenborgian theology and considered how closely this reality matches our own personal experience. Prior to the retreat, I spent several days scouring YouTube for interesting, relevant retreat-worthy topics to view with teens. I ended up finding about 25 videos that I sorted into 5 topics (God, religion, the afterlife, life’s big questions, and interfaith music). The videos represented a wide cross-section of culture. They varied greatly – some serious, some funny; some animated, some photographic; some scripted and acted, some spontaneous improv. It was extremely enlightening to view popular video on these subjects. I learned a lot. When I searched for “God” and “religion” I was particularly surprised at how much and how popular anti-religion and anti-God commentary was. But, for the most part, the God that was ridiculed was not the God the I worshiped and the religion that was attacked was not what I believed.

We spent the weekend retreat doing mini-sessions, where we would watch a video and then discuss it. In between sessions, we visited a funky coffee house, played Catch Phrase, hung out and talked, or listened to music. Vince spent much of his time drawing pictures of me on his notepad as various animate and inanimate objects. He managed to fill the whole book. Very funny. I can’t pick a favorite, but I like Kurt as a microwave, Kurt as a rainbow and Kurt if he were invisible. Since no one took any pictures (sorry about that) I thought I'd post a few here. I’ll try to remember to bring the pad to winter retreat so you can see them all. On Saturday night we had a big movie party with loads of popcorn and candy. We watched three movies, White Noise 2, Fired Up and What Dreams May Come, until 3 am. Most everyone fell asleep at some point during the movies. We awoke Sunday morning just in time to run over to the church to catch the beginning of the worship service. Then we headed downstairs to do one last session where we were joined by Ashley and Emily. For the last session we watched a series of short music videos on different faiths including; Tao, Hindu, Islam, Jewish, Christian and Native American. We closed with a prayer circle then said our goodbyes. Although we missed our friends from Michigan and Ohio, this retreat was great. You teens taught me quite a bit and I had a wonderful time. I hope that you found something valuable to take back home with you too. If you discover anything interesting on YouTube that you think might be nice to share with your SCYL friends pass me the link. Thanks.