Teen Profile: Holly

Hello, My name is Holly. My favorite colors are sunshine yellow and eggplant purple. I like sewing, sailing, skiing, soccer, art, math, and dancing. I am a techie at my school who builds sets for plays and does the lighting. We recently did Once Upon A Mattress and I built the bed of twenty mattresses. I'm making a ring in art club with the first few digits of pi carved into it. In art class I'm making a painting based on the painting five by the artist Robert Indiana. In my other art class I just finished a two piece still life series with objects from my room. On Wednesdays my friends and I play soccer on the fields behind my school. I am on a Relay For Life team which supports cancer research. The event takes place only a couple days after school gets out and will probably be the first constructive thing I do this summer. Our team name is The Colors of Hope and each member is picking a color for the theme lap from the crayola crayons. I'm debating between yellow sunshine, which seems like the perfect color for the beginning of summer, and laser lemon, which has awesome alliteration! I'm extremely happy right now because the weather has been beautiful this week. I love most weather though. The rain especially. My favorite movie is Titanic; but Rent and A Walk on the Moon follow closely behind. I love Jones soda and have twelve Jones bottles on my dresser right now. I'm making my dress for junior prom and it's hot pink and sparkly. I feel like a princess just thinking about it :D. I spent last Saturday night on Nina's couch watching The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas, which is a horribly sad movie. Afterwards we watched Friends though, which is really funny! I love summer but I love snow too. I do not like sauce. I love Disney Classics and I'm really mad that I have not yet seen the new princess movie. I really want to travel the world.

[Here are a couple of pictures that Holly drew in art class. I asked her to explain them and this is what she wrote ~ Kurt]

well i dont remember exactly which time the jones bottle is from. i know its from camp. and i know the orange bouncy ball is from this memorial day from the bowling alley. cody bought two bouncy balls and i guess i took them and put them in my sweater pockets then i carried them around with me in my pockets until convention when i gave one back. thats the other one hahaha and then the ring of twisted glow sticks is from my first winter retreat. we all got them at the roller rink then when we went back to almont we were throwing them like frisbees. in the other picture the rock is from the bottom of emerald pool. i jumped down and got a bunch and then i picked my favorite two but i couldnt name them so cody named the romulus and remus after roman history hahaha that rock was romulus. and the sea shell is from blairhaven :D if you want me to write that more well hahaha i can

Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

The LaPorte Pre-teen Retreat

by Lori Steinhiser

Lions, tigers, bears…and 16 Tweens…oh my!! Manna House was bursting at the seams with this energetic and enthusiastic group of kids between the ages of 9-13. SCYL youth director, Kurt Fekete flew in from Maine to explore the deeper meaning of animals in the Bible with kids from Indiana and Michigan.

It was such a pleasure to be a part of this community while they worked hard (and played hard) (and ate…and ate…and ate…) together, learning about God, themselves and each other. We discovered that animals in the Bible symbolize feelings that we have inside. In our sessions we learned how the snake reminds us of the consequences that we face when we fail to resist the temptations of the material world. The many stories from the Bible involving fish and birds teach us to pay careful attention to our thoughts and actions. Stories of the lion symbolize a powerful love of God, or in a negative sense, temptations of love of self. The retreat sessions closed with the lamb, an image of the Lord representing gentle, kind and innocent love of angels in the highest heaven.

Rousing games of Freeze Tag, Rabbit and the Fox, Red Rover, Red Rover (short-lived, since Leo fell like a board in round one…“whoa.”), Triangle Tag, Sardines, and Catch Phrase, as well as creative mod podge mosaic madness and snake braiding, and a whacky, out-of-order viewing of Prince Caspian filled in the time between sessions.

Kids and youth leaders alike left excitedly talking about our fabulous experience and when we can get together to do it again at camps, Convention and retreats. Wow!

Many thanks to LaPorte New Church for providing the nurturing space for these seeds to be planted, and to local youth leaders Dawn Fox, Lori Steinhiser and Lansing’s Rev. Jenn Tafel for all of the time and love you pour into the hearts of our youth. And, of course, a HUGE thank you to Kurt…we all are so blessed by your passion and service through the SCYL.

Upcoming Kitchener Teen Retreat

Youth League Retreat

Hosted by The Church of the Good Shepherd

Learn about the ancient wisdom of “medicine” animals. Come on a mini vision-quest in which you can invite and meet your own totem animal.

When: Friday, April 23, 2010, 7 p.m. to Sunday, April 25, 2010 1 p.m. (lunch will be provided to out of town participants following Sunday Worship Service)

Where: Church of the Good Shepherd

116 Queen St. N. Kitchener, Ontario N2H 2H7

Who: All interested youth between the ages of 13 and 18.

What: A Swedenborgian Church youth league retreat for teens. This retreat will have an "Animals of Earth Day" theme. We will explore the question: “Wild or Tame? Finding Yourself in the Animal Kingdom”. We will spend time planning a special Sunday Service with an Animals of the Earth theme, along with games and free time to just hang out with friends. Swedenborgian Denomination Youth Director, Kurt Fekete and Youth Leader Rev. Alison Longstaff will lead this retreat along with visiting youth group leaders.

Cost: A donation of $15 for out of town guests is suggested to help offset retreat expenses. Assistance with this fee is available. Please don’t let the cost keep you from attending.

Bring: Sleeping bag, air mattress or sleeping pad, PJs, towel, personal items, musical instruments, camera and a friend!

Contact Information: To confirm attendance, for more information, or if you have questions contact Rev. Alison Longstaff by e-mail at pastoralison.longstaff@gmail.com or rangerally@rogers.com or message her on Facebook (Alison Smith Longstaff). (In-Canada calls only can be made to 226-808-3483.) Contact Kurt if you would like to ride with him from the airport in Detroit (DTW).

Registration: All teens attending must complete a youth registration and medical release form. Mail them to Kurt Fekete or bring them to the retreat. Note: No youth can attend without completing the information on these forms! A youth leader or sponsor must attend with youth from out of town (=more than one hour by car).

A word to parents about safety: We want to assure you of our complete commitment to your child’s safety at this event. We will maintain a ratio of one staff to every seven youth. We follow the safe practice of securing a minimum of two adults in the immediate area during all youth activities and interactions to ensure an environment of physical and emotional safety and respect for your child.

Church of the Good Shepherd Fundraiser

The Talent Show Fund Raiser

By Joseph

Recently (at least it used to be) a talent show happened at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Kitchener. Its purpose was to raise money for the youth group. There were people from all ages that signed up to show a talent they had or a skit. They sang songs, read poems, played music, did British skits, and other ridiculous things.

The youth helped out with the talent show by making espresso drinks, setting up tables, making food, and decorating. The people from the youth group that helped a lot with preparation with this were Erin, Cameron, Robbie, Katie, Blade, and Dorothy. Alison Longstaff’s daughters; Jeanie and Eden made the espresso drinks.

It was very fun and full of refreshments. My favorite part was the skits based on a show called The Vicar of Dibley. This show is a British comedy show. It’s about a vicar and the people of the church of Dibley (which she counts as being in the special needs category). The actors of those skits did very well in acting out the characters in the show making it very funny. I liked the music that was played by Josh on the keyboard and other songs played by Alison on a guitar. It was something worth watching.

All the youth did well with helping for the talent show and being a part of it. It was well done because in the end they managed to raise $323.27 for the youth of the church. It was a good experience.

Three Essentials of Love

The February edition of the Chaplain's Corner by Pastor Dave, SCYL Chaplain

The month of February is a month of love. This is because Valentine’s Day is in it. We talk about love, but what does love mean? Perhaps our first thinking is about our friends and family. Maybe there is a special person in our lives whom we call our beloved.

Swedenborg identifies three essentials of love: 1) to love someone outside ourselves; 2) to wish to be one with them; 3) to want to make them happy from ourselves. Spiritual love extends to others than just those who are in our families and friends. In a way, family and friends are an extension of ourselves because they are part of us. But we are called to love others than those who are in our own circle. Love wishes to join with others and become one with them. It is in the nature of love to want to get close to those we love. We want them to become part of us and we want to become part of them. Finally, we want to make those we love happy from our own abilities. We want to give of ourselves to make those we love happy. When we make others happy, we want it to come from our hearts. When those we love are sad, we try to cheer them up. We want to share the things that make them happy and the things that make us happy.

I think Swedenborg is on to something with his three essentials of love. In any event it gives us a way to think about a very elusive quality. We all talk about love, but what does it mean?

Former League President Bill Baxter

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

This month's featured former League President:

Bill Baxter

Served 1999

Where am I now? Well that's a big question...

Mostly I am a husband and a new dad, I spend most of my time at home with my family or at work. I do far more yard work than I like to do, and mostly, now that I am old, I spend my time keeping kids off my front lawn...

For work, I design toys and games in Connecticut, and am not the president of anything... which is probably a good thing.

I am in my late 30's... and barely involved with the Swedenborgian church at all. I still go to Almont Summer School every year, and while there I teach the teen class. I lead the class as a discussion group about the lectures, and anything about our spiritual and inner lives we want to talk about.
That's my first rule, It stays about our inner lives... no tangents... yeah that always works well, ask anyone who has been in one. My second rule is that we listen to each other. My third is that nothing is off limits, so long as it is about our thoughts, feelings, spiritual life, or relationship with God.

Where was I then? It goes a little like this...

Bill Baxter was the worst president in the history of the SCYL. Remember this was 15 -20 years ago, I don't remember exactly when I did it. I am pretty sure that I was one of the last presidents elected at convention.

Drn KIDS! GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!

Back in ancient times, the New Church Youth League (We were more inclusive back then, we welcomed anyone in the "New Church" not just Swedenborgians) elected it's president at convention, this was supposed to be very inclusive, but the reality was, the same few Minster's Kids were elected SCYL president time after time. So in an effort to combat this we went through some severe technical mumbo jumbo to make sure we could move the elections to the Winter Retreat at Almont. It was the Hoppin' center of teen activity in the church.

Hey! Hey! I said OFF THE LAWN!!!

Anyway, I am pretty sure that I did nothing the entire year, except go to all the retreats I could. I was going to do that anyway, so it wasn't a real stretch. I am not even sure I forced everyone to call me 'Mr. President' all year. That would have been something. The only thing I really remember was giving the official report of all the league had done all year on the floor of convention. We got to go on right after the Convention Day Care kids did their little play. (that is a great opening act, by the way, if you can manage it.) I got to stand up and talk about all the great things the league had done that year. It was all true, but it was the work of the adults that were running the program. Still it was a pretty good speech.

I think that my NCYL leadership may have been better than my year of being Survivor president... which was...dum dum dum... the only year I didn't make it to camp. I was stuck in summer school in order to graduate from High School.

THAT DOES IT! I AM GETTING THE HOSE!!!!!

In the end what's more important than my time as president, was my time with the league as a whole. The feeling of connection with my SCYL friends made a really tough time in my life bearable. I felt appreciated for who was, and I felt free to experiment with who I wanted to be... the reason I am still involved, is to help make an environment like the one I had. There isn't much adults can do to make it, except give the space that you guys need to connect with each other.

Prayer is an Action Word

The January edition of the Chaplain's Corner by Pastor Dave, SCYL Chaplain

Prayer is a very powerful thing to do. God answers all prayers. However, there is a catch. Jesus tells us, “You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it” (John 14:14). By asking for something in Jesus’ name, more is meant than just praying to Jesus. Jesus’ name means everything that Jesus stands for. If we ask for help that is in keeping with Jesus’ teachings, then we will get it. But we will only receive our wishes if they are in keeping with God’s will. This is what is meant by Jesus’ name.

Be ready for action. God will show us how to accomplish what we pray for. But this may mean that we need to do the actions necessary to accomplish or receive what we pray for. If what we pray for is in Jesus’ name, we will be shown how to obtain our desires. God will enlighten our minds and we will be guided to what we pray for.

Be ready to wait. Our desires may not be fulfilled immediately. They will come in God’s own time. Our desires may not come in the way we imagine them. They will come the way God sees is best for us and those around us. But one thing we can be sure of. Our prayers will be answered. “You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.”