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Godspacelight
by dbarta
Lent 2014

A Prayer for the Fifth Sunday in Lent

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

214498551

Its almost over. Lent is coming towards its close. Next week is Palm Sunday. Yet for most of us the transformation we long for has only just begun. Where do you still want to be transformed this Lenten season.

 

April 5, 2014 0 comments
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EasterLent 2014

Engaging Street Youth in a Meaningful Way by Rafael Shamilov

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

While volunteering at New Horizons Ministries in downtown Seattle, WA, I had the privilege of meeting and talking with street youth during drop-in hours on Tuesday evenings. Often, I heard stories with a common theme of young adults running away from home, mostly because of abusive circumstances between parents or other family members. Some believed that they would be able to seek refuge by living life on the streets only to discover how harsh, violent, and unforgiving life on the streets can really be. It is not uncommon for street youth to engage in substance abuse, prostitution, and violence. Some end up violating the law and going to prison, further complicating any progress of abandoning life on the streets and seeking steady employment.

The presence of a high number of street youth is no surprise in the Seattle area. Take a walk through downtown Seattle or the “Ave” in the University district and you will see dozens of young adults wandering the streets, asking for money, sleeping on ground, in doorways of buildings, or playing musical instruments. The statistics for the greater Seattle area are quite staggering. According to Ron Ruthruff, author of The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Street and visiting professor of theology and culture at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology:

In the greater Seattle area, an estimated 5,000 youth run away from home each year. Both nationally and in the Seattle area, about 50 percent of these runaways return home. An additional 25 percent of these people have their needs met through service-delivery agencies. The remaining 25 percent of runaway youth, approximately 1,5000 to 2,000 on King County, begin a journey to hard-core street life.

This means that the other half of street youth do not return home and are either living on the streets today or are relying on agency services or perhaps friends for shelter.

I met Army [not his real name], a 20-year-old male from Issaquah, WA on my first day of volunteering at New Horizons. Army Joined the United States Army when he was 18. Unfortunately, he did not successfully complete training at artillery school and was discharged from the military. With that outcome, Army had made the decision to return home to live with his father. When Army called his father to tell him the news, his father had told him that since his son was a failure and did not complete training, he was not welcome back home. Army was heart broken and had nowhere else to go, he chose to live a life on streets. Army showed up one day at New Horizons wearing his uniform and holding a set of discharge papers in hand.

Army had previously lived in San Francisco and stated that the services for street youth there are not as adequate as the services offered in Seattle. Army constantly talked about carrying his knife for protection and had been arrested several times for selling marijuana. He stated that he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and currently lives on the streets of Seattle with his “street wife,” a young 16-year-old girl who he considers his spouse, although the two have not gone through any religious or legal process to define their marriage.

The neglect that Army had endured gave him a loss of hope. He had no choice but to turn to the streets and sell marijuana to survive, or on warmer days sit with a sign or stand at a corner and ask passersby for money. “I would make up any story I could to make some money,” he said. In addition, Army often talked about the need to survive and the constant need to “watch your back.” I could see the adrenaline rushing through his body as he described what survival on streets was like: “I would always have my knife on me cause you never knew who was trying to steal from you or take your drugs and money,” he stated. Unfortunately, Army is one of the many street youth in the Seattle who constantly struggle to survive in any way they can. However, Army’s situation is not uncommon, additionally Ron Ruthruff stated that, “Kids on the street have their social and economic needs met through street developed relationships. Petty crime, prostitution, and drug sales become their way to survive. These activities contribute to their social status as well as their economic needs”. Forced to live on the streets, this has become the cultural norm and way of life for street youth.

Addressing the issue of poverty is a critical part of ministering and sharing the gospel for Churches to consider when spending time with homeless and street youth. The hopelessness of poverty needs to be transformed into hope because “to be poor means to be insignificant” and that is a deep struggle that many homeless and street young face on a daily basis. Sharing the message that Christ did not come from a house of privilege is a significant way in which churches can empower and inspire street youth. Through a message of faith and hope in Christ’s death and resurrection, street youth can discover a new paradigm and their own importance in society.

Due to the trauma homeless youth have faced, the Church must go about working with them in a more contextualized and open way. In addition the Church must strive to be an open and inviting place for homeless youth that will aid them in their journey towards transformation. Just as Christ has overcome the world so can the homeless youth in our society overcome their circumstances through partnering with the Church.

(an except from Rafael’s master’s thesis entitled Sharing the Gospel With Street Youth)

Bio

1604867_693859783007_1992330877_nRafael is a Brooklyn, NY native living and working in Seattle. He is an active duty Coast Guard member that spends his time volunteering with street youth in the Seattle area. Currently an M.A. candidate at Northwest University studying International Community Development, he has a heart for street youth and how the church can engage with them in a more impactful way.

April 5, 2014 0 comments
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Holy WeekLent 2014

Resources for Celebrating Holy Week With Kids 2014

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

This page is out of date. Please see our latest version here.

Crown of Thorns bread

 

This is another new list for me. I find that my resource lists for kids are some of the most popular that I post and want to make sure that I expand this aspect of what we provide.

Looking for acivities

Faith at home has some good suggestions on activities to participate in with children.

And Little Takas  has a variety of colouring pages available for children of all ages.

Some great resources from the Iowa Farmer. Scroll down for ideas for a Last Supper with kids.

And a Messianic Passover for Families with Children

Catholic Mom has printable Stations of the Cross for Kids

And here are simple directions for making palm crosses

Or you might like to consider making Resurrection eggs

French Easter Bell craft because the bells stop ringing on Maundy Thursday and don’t ring again until the joyous sound of Easter Sunday.

Want to do some Easter gardening:

Or make this Easter garden from Ann Voskamp with your kids.

Or this simpler Easter Resurrection Garden 

Looking for recipes:

Think of making Crown of Thorn bread or consider it as part of your whole Lenten experience 

or the traditional English treat for Good Friday Hot cross buns

And I love these creative Easter story cookies

And think of sharing this with your kids

This is part of this series on Resources for Holy Week. Here are all the posts:

Resources for Palm Sunday:

Resources for Maundy Thursday:

Resources for Good Friday:

Stations of the Cross:

Resources for Celebrating Holy Week With Kids: 

April 4, 2014 1 comment
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Lent 2014

Lent, A new Easter dress, and shelter by Edith Yoder

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

Will you or someone at your house get a new hat, shoes, or dress for Easter?  In our family, Jenn (at age 7) still loves to pick out a new dress for Easter – and last year she thought she needed a purse and hat to go with it!  Lately, I’ve been thinking about how God clothes us and calls us to clothe others.

In February, I attended a conference in North Carolina. Speaker Lauren Winner suggested that images of God often appear in threes in scripture.  For example, God clothes us (Genesis 3), God is clothing (Galatians 3), and God calls us to clothe others (Matthew 25).  And, God is homebuilder (John 14), God is home (Psalm 90), and God was homeless (Luke 9).

God as clothing. God as a home. God as homeless. During Lent, these images are giving me fresh glimpses of the One who is both a God of vulnerability and the God who shelters us.

Receiving keys to a home of one’s own can be transformational – as a recent 60 Minutes story showed.  Here are 31 powerful “before and after” photos of participants in the 100,000 Homes Campaign, showing what a difference housing makes – after the dehumanization of living on the streets.

Reflecting on his experience in Nashville, Anderson Cooper, in this 60 Minutes Overtime video , says that, “We all have support networks.  We all have a family, friends, and a job – things that support us when we trip.  These are people who have burned through those support networks.  And that’s really the only difference.”

While women and children served by Bridge of Hope are rarely part of the street homeless, they often face homelessness because of insufficient support networks. Bridge of Hope provides temporary rental assistance, a social worker, and trained mentoring friends from a local church – to be the support network for a family facing homelessness.

Anderson Cooper says he was transformed by his experience in Nashville.  After the story, he talked (for the first time) to the homeless person who panhandles near his home, and he continues to do so.

Edith Yoder is Executive Director of Bridge of Hope National an organization dedicated to ending and preventing homelessness for women and children across the United States by calling churches to action.

Edith Yoder

Edith Yoder

April 4, 2014 0 comments
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Holy WeekLent 2014

Good Friday Resources for 2014

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

This page is out of date. Please check out our updated resource list.

crucifixion

A couple of days ago I posted my updated list of Stations of the Cross but thought that you would also appreciate more general Good Friday resources. There are thousands out there so this is obviously just a sampling.

I have written a number of prayers in past years that you might like to look at.

Good Friday Prayer for 2013

Good Friday Prayer for 2012

Good Friday 2011

Good Friday 2010

Another prayer for Good Friday 2010

Prayer for Good Friday 2009

Lent and Beyond has just updated their Good Friday quotes, poems, prayers and hymns  and other resources including music and devotionals for Good Friday.

Textweek.com is always alive with wonderful resources for the season.

Some excellent Good Friday Service Ideas at Journey of Worship.

A beautiful communion liturgy from Sacredise in South Africa.

And from Bosco Peters in N.Z. a Good Friday liturgy

Gone is the Light is a powerful reflective song by Steve Bell.

This is part of this series on Resources for Holy Week. Here are all the posts:

Resources for Palm Sunday:

Resources for Maundy Thursday:

Resources for Good Friday:

Stations of the Cross:

Resources for Celebrating Holy Week With Kids: 

Resources for Easter Sunday

 

 

April 3, 2014 3 comments
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Lent 2014

Poverty by Kimberly Farnham

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

Have you ever read a book called Companion to the Poor? It’s about a man’s journey living and preaching in the informal settlements of Manila, Philippines in the 1970-80s. There is one line that continues to resonate with me even years after I read it. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was an exhortation to recognize the difference between when sin is the cause of poverty and when poverty is the cause of sin.

He gave several examples of what this means, but it’s basically this. There are some people who make bad choices and they end up in poverty because of it. But then there are people who are already living in poverty and chose to sin because they don’t see any other options for their lives.

Living in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the last month has really been an eye opener on this subject for me. There are definitely people who I see making poor choices, spending every last dime at the corner bar. But I also hear the stories about how my friend chose to sell drugs because it was the only way he could make enough money to support his family.

In that second example, poverty was still caused by sin, but not in a personal way. It was caused by systemic sin. His poverty was the result of a system that said kids from his part of town weren’t worthy of a quality and affordable education. His poverty was caused by the societal idea that people from his neighborhood were all criminals and lazy, and if you hired them they would steal from you.

So, sin and poverty are inextricably linked. And while we can and should work towards the transformation of individuals, each one turning away from their personal sin, we must also work at a societal level. Because, when a system is running smoothly, it takes a lot of force to stop it and even more to make it go the other way.

This is sometimes a hard concept for those of us from the USA because our culture is HIGHLY individualistic. Even within the churches where we talk ourselves in circles around the idea of community, we still end up with a highly individualistic understanding of the world. But we cannot let this stop us. We must step outside the boxes our culture has put us in and follow the way of Jesus.

And Jesus, he addressed systemic sin in his culture. Each time that we see him heal someone, remember that he is breaking religious purity laws to do so. He stopped concerning with culture of religious purity so that he might restore one of God’s children to the family of God.

If we, as Americans who have the privilege of access to the internet and the time to write and read blogs (which, lets face it, sets us firmly in the “not poor” category) want to follow in the footsteps of our Jesus, we need to follow in his footsteps in this way. Let’s take a critical look at the systems of our society that tend to keep people poor. Whether it’s the supermarket deserts in inner cities, or the chronically low standards of inner city schools. What about how many churches ask the homeless? people to leave their services because they make the church members feel uncomfortable? Are we uncomfortable because we assume they are criminals? Does their poverty make us uncomfortable with our own wealth?

Instead of participating in the systems that criminalize the poor and homeless, how could we stand in holy defiance against it, like Jesus did and still does today?

BioTESL2

I am a 24 year old graduate student studying Transformational Urban Leadership at Azusa Pacific University while living in a favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I enjoy laughing, learning, and leading others to glorify God. I also enjoy coffee, cookie making, and amusing Brazilian friends with my broken Portuguese.

April 3, 2014 0 comments
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Holy WeekLent 2014

Resources for Maundy Thursday 2014

by Christine Sine
written by Christine Sine

This resource is out of date. Please see our latest resource here.

Simon Ushakov last supper 1685

Simon Ushakov last supper 1685

Today I am focusing on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, which commemorates Jesus’ last Supper with the disciples and the institution of the Eucharist. Its name of “Maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “command.”This stems from Christ’s words in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you. Love one another as I have loved you”. Many of us associate it with foot washing:

 a rite performed by Christ upon his disciples to prepare them for the priesthood and the marriage banquet they will offer, and which is rooted in the Old Testament practice of foot-washing in preparation for the marital embrace (II Kings 11:8-11, Canticles 5:3) and in the ritual ablutions performed by the High Priest of the Old Covenant (contrast Leviticus 16:23-24 with John 13:3-5). The priest girds himself with a cloth and washes the feet of 12 men he’s chosen to represent the Apostles for the ceremony. Read more

It is the oldest of the observances peculiar to Holy Week but seems to have attracted the least attention and I must confess creative suggestions were hard to come by.

Foot washing has taken on new significance for me in recent years as I reread two posts that have been contributed to my blog. Some of you might like to revisit these too.

The Dirty Job of Special Needs Parenting by Barbara Dittrich

Living Into the banquet Feast of God

I also love this post Replacing Holy Week – Towards a Public + Local Liturgy by Brandon Rhodes. 

Or check out the Maundy Thursday resources at re:Worship and those at Textweek.com

Or plan a celebration based on these excellent suggestions from UCC.

I have adapted other customs of Maundy Thursday here that you may like to consider for your own observances:

  1. Consider a Passover meal like this Christian Seder celebration and this one detailed by Ann Voskamp
  2. In Germany, Maundy Thursday is known as “Green Thursday” (Grundonnerstag), and the traditional foods are green vegetables and green salad, especially a spinach salad. Consider planning a vegetarian Last Supper banquet for your celebrations and highlight the environmental issues you are concerned about.
  3. Visit a local homeless camp or home for the elderly (make sure you get permission first) and do foot washing and pedicures for the inhabitants.
  4. This is the traditional night for an all night vigil of prayer and meditation. Give yours a new twist by holding an all night reading of Dante’s Inferno as St Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church has done for the last 5 years.
  5. This is a day to reach out and help someone in a special way: consider looking after a child so that the mother could have a free evening, undertaking some mending or darning, humble, unostentatious things like that.
  6. Visit 3 or 7 local churches or other places of worship after (or before) your own service.
  7. In Mark Pierson’s Lenten devotional for 2013, he comments: Jesus, a king who acted like a slave. Perhaps on Maundy Thursday you would like to consider a special way to reach out to those who are still in slavery. 
  8. One symbol of Easter I grew up with that is not so common in the U.S. is hot crossed buns wich some think originated from a 12th-century English monk who placed the sign of the cross on the buns in honor of Good Friday. So if you want to have your hot crossed buns ready for Good Friday make them on Maundy Thursday, together with your family or community. Here is the recipe I use.

For those celebrating with kids I rather liked this Fill Your Seder Plate game. 

So consider including this day in your Holy Week celebrations and if you do something creative let me know.

This is part of this series on Resources for Holy Week. Here are all the posts:

Resources for Palm Sunday:

Resources for Maundy Thursday:

Resources for Good Friday:

Stations of the Cross:

Resources for Celebrating Holy Week With Kids: 

April 2, 2014 0 comments
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