SCYL

Looking ahead to Winter Retreat

2011-11-16T11:27:00.012-05:00

It has been a very long time since I blogged! But, please don't think that this has been because I have not been interested or engaged in youth activities! Actually, quite the opposite. I have been so active in doing youth work that I have not taken much time to actually write about my activities. Still, I think it is important to occasionally write a little something to make sure that I am communicating with everyone (tweens, teens, parents, youth leaders, grandparents, etc....) interested in youth events and happenings.

What have I been up too? Well, since my last blog, which was way, way back in July just after Convention 2011, I organized a group of six teens to drive out to Almont from the East (Celia, Celie, Holly, Liz, Lucas, Nina) and watched two more Survivors join the ever expanding group. I visited with the Flames at Fryeburg Assembly and met a new teen named Avery!

I helped launch a new youth group in Lansing at a kickoff Almont sleepover in late September (baby spirit, black licorice and nuts!). It was fun to spend time with Bekka, Kalib and Alex. The brownies were delicious too!

In late October I helped lead a tween retreat in LaPorte at Manna House with 13 kids aged 10 - 13! The topic was "Discovering the Beauty Within". We searched for buried treasure in the beach sand, broke open geodes and talked about what it means to be beautiful on the inside and how to find your inner beauty. It was a great theme and I liked it so much that I suggested it to the youth group back here in Fryeburg, Maine. It was selected as our annual youth group theme. We had to cancel our November retreat in Cape Cod. It would have been a fun retreat at a great location, but it was difficult for a lot teens to find time away from school and other activities. We'll go back to hosting a Duxbury, MA retreat over Columbus Day in early October 2012. Hopefully that will work better for most teens.

Now I look forward to Winter Retreat at Almont retreat center. Plans are being made for a great retreat on the topic of Music! We've got talented musicians and music lovers coming to lead wonderful discussions and workshops about music and spirituality. I'm really excited about this retreat and I hope all of you can join us. Please let me know if you are coming and don't forget to register. See you in December!

Convention - Part 2

2011-07-10T17:51:00.008-04:00

We all felt so relieved once the SCYL worship service was over. It is a joy to work hard preparing worship and then deliver the service, but it is a lot of work and everyone is exhausted afterwards. But, we all had another treat to listen to before we began our Convention "playtime". Holly, SCYL President still had to deliver her President report.
I introduced Holly after the Youth Director report and she came up and immediately introduced all of the teens at Convention. Then Holly read her report. It was a wonderful report as she unfolded the beautiful story of how Rachel and her met as children, grew apart, then reconnected through youth group and the SCYL. Holly's story emphasized how the church has help her to grow spiritually and how being in the SCYL has introduced her to friends and a community of people she would not have known. And, it brought her and Rachel back into a close and very meaningful friendship that would have likely otherwise been lost. It was a touching and emotional report that ended with an embrace between two dear friends.

After Holly's report, the teens were allowed to exit the business meeting and start planning the rest of our playtime at Convention. We met as a group back in 201 (the girl's suite where the common area served as our hangout place) to discuss what to do. Since everyone (mostly me, I think) was sleepy from the long, exhausting night of worship planning and sitting in the ER, we decided to make the day's outing sort of simple. Also, a couple of teens were interested in going to see the seven Tiffany angel windows at display at the Taft Museum of Art and the buses departed from UC in the afternoon for that. So, we decided to have a big outing day on Saturday and just do a hour or two of shopping around UC on Friday right after lunch. We did two van runs to a funky little shopping district on Ludlow street just north of UC campus. Ludlow street offered some interesting stores including an ice cream shop, eclectic boutiques and a trendy consignment place. The girl's (and Cody) seemed happy with this outing and bought some stuff, while Danny and Jon were pretty much done after 15 minutes. In any event, we all got back to UC in time for the buses to the Taft Museum. Much as I wanted to see the angel windows, I took a much needed nap. Bekka visited the museum and told me all about the windows at dinner Friday evening.

Friday night was the ordination service. Two students were being ordained, Gabriella Cahaley and Steve Sanchez. Although the service was long the teens were very patient and polite. The highlight was the music. Cody (bass) and Danny (acoustic guitar) played with the Convention band and rocked the house opening with an extended "Wade in the Water" and closing with "Day by Day". It was cool to see Cody and Danny jam at the service. They held their own and sounded great with the rest of the more seasoned musicians, Ken (guitar), Laurie (keyboards), Paul (guitar) and Lon (drums).

After the service, we went up to the reception to sell SCYL merchandise. And this year the SCYL sure had a lot of stuff to peddle. Love-Wisdom-Action Tshirts and bottles, potato stamp cards, led hats and custom magic wands made by Holly! The teens worked hard selling goods at the table and Cody, Danny and Jon provided music to draw people in. The teens sold $920 of merchandise at Convention. All fundraising profit goes to teen retreat travel and camp costs.

After hours, we all revisited Nippert stadium field, the scene where the night before we had to call rescue and rush a teen to the hospital, for more light-up Frisbee action. Newly ordained Rev. Steve Sanchez joined us for a high energy game of Ultimate. Whether playing Frisbee, watching from the bleachers or sitting around in the end zone, everyone enjoyed the late night activities on the field. It was great to spend some time running around and getting to know Rev. Steve, who loves sports, especially basketball.

Saturday morning we slept in until 11 am brunch. After brunch we gathered for our big outing to Coney Island Amusement Park. Coney Island in Cincinnati, is home to Sunlite pool, the world's largest flat surface swimming pool (200 x 400 ft). Also there, you can find bumper cars, carnival rides, paddle boats and canoes. The pool was the perfect place to relax on a hot Cincinnati afternoon. They had great slushy drinks and the water was perfect! The teens took lots and lots of underwater pictures as we had two waterproof cameras. I only share a couple here, but trust that many, many more were taken. It was a lot of fun. After Coney Island, we drove around looking for a fun place to sit down as a group and have dinner. After far too long of searching for restaurants and trying to decide where to go (complicated by me I will add), we landed at a Red Robin. This was perfect! Bottomless drinks and fries all around! The food was delicious and the service was extremely friendly and courteous. We all sat together at a big long table and had a fantastic meal.

We returned to UC in the early evening. I got a chance to see the end of the MUSE woman's choir performance and the teens had one last opportunity to work the sales table on this the last evening of Convention. Late night teen activities included a photo shoot of human statues at an interesting place on campus where there were empty stone platforms. The last night of Convention closed with the traditional late night pizza party.

Sunday morning we got an opportunity to see Rev. Sage lead the closing worship service. Then we packed up and Lori took us all to the airport (Jon got a earlier ride). Us travelers from Maine had an uneventful flight home and arrived back safely in the late evening. Thank you Lori Steinhiser for being such a faithful, loyal and hardworking leader. And thank you Lori for putting up with me and all my nonsense. Also, thank you Rev. Dr. Dave for leading the teen group in an opening prayer and for being available to us throughout Convention. Lastly, thank you to all the teen sponsors who make all this possible for the teens to attend such a wonderful event.

Convention - Part 1

2011-07-09T12:59:00.012-04:00

2011 Convention was one to remember! Twelve teens, including five SCYL Officers gathered at UC in Cincinnati, Ohio at the end of June to worship and play together with other Swedenborgian and gather in celebration of the theme "Behold, I make all things new". The UC "Bearcat" campus was beautiful, with an open stadium where we were permitted to run on the field anytime, lots of moist grassy areas to explore, and unusual outdoor artworks and buildings abounded. Off campus was a good deal sketchier so we traveled as a group in daylight hours when we left the UC grounds. For the Wednesday evening icebreaker, the teens took old scraps that we found around campus and created new works of art. Then they combined all of the items that they created to make an original skit "Thom Servo". On Thursday, the teens spent most of the first days preparing an amazing worship service following an order of worship from darkness to light which consisted of a series of "pods" (psalm reading, skit, musical performance).

The teens started with an "intropod" with the gloomy psalm 13 read by Rachel, Danny's moving performance of "Where is the Love" with a series of tearful face pictures running on screen in the background, a prayer of despair by Jess and a dark meditation with Cody solo on the bass. From the here the service followed a series of centropods that moved along more and more cheerful. Centropod 1 used troubling psalm 6 read by Anna as inspiration. Ruby, Liz and Danny performed the skit "Stages of Grief" and Celie, Danny and Audrey performed the song "Warning Sign". Centropod 2 used moody psalm 119 read by Liz as inspiration. Jon, Anna and Jess performed the skit "Love Triangle" and Celie, Bekka and Holly performed the song "Landslide". Centropod 3 used hopeful psalm 139 read by Jess as inspiration. Jon, Bekka and Audrey performed the skit "Insecurity Anonymous" and Celie, Holly and Audrey performed the edgy song "Arms" accompanied by Cody on the bass. The teens closed with an "endopod" with beautiful psalm 98, Bekka reading from Divine Love and Wisdom and reading Cody's prayer of happiness, Danny playing a cheery guitar meditation with a series of happy face pictures running on screen in the background, followed by Rachel leading the Lord's Prayer and the whole group singing "A Whole New World". The entire worship experience was moving and filled with the blessed gifts of the talented teen group. I am so proud of you teens. You, once again, worked together to create an original, creative service in celebration of the Lord.

Most astounding of all, was that all this was delivered after three teens, Lori and I spent most of the night before in the emergency room of University Hospital (the number one trauma center in Ohio that lived up to it's name) with an ailing teen who was rushed there by ambulance at 11:30 pm with chest pain. The rest of the teens stayed up until after 3 am rewriting the entire service in case the teen in the ER could not perform in the morning. You are such a fantastically wonderful group. I am so grateful for each one of you and care about all of you so very much.

FNCA FLAMES SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

2011-07-04T12:56:00.002-04:00

I've just returned home from Convention. What an amazing experience. I'm sure many of you will want to hear stories and see pictures and that will be coming soon once I get some rest and catch up on other things. In the meantime, please read this important note from Trevor about FNCA...

“One New Flame from each Association of the Swedenborgian Church”

Never been to Fryeburg New Church Assembly? Want to go for free? The FNCA Flames Scholarship Program enables teens throughout all of Convention to attend camp in scenic Fryeburg, Maine at no cost. The Assembly will waive tuition for one teen who has not been to the FNCA before from each Association providing the Association or local church (or the teen's family) will get the selected teen to and from camp. Since participants in this program are chosen by the Associations, teens who would like to participate in this program should contact their local Association.

Please note that through the FNCA's Youth Sponsorship Program, kids and teens may attend the FNCA without their parents or guardian present by having an adult sponsor attend camp with the youth who agrees to act in loco parentis. Parents may arrange for a sponsor of their choice, or contact camp director Debbie Cook before camp and a sponsor will be assigned for them. Contact info and lots of other stuff you'd like to know about the Assembly is on the FNCA website: <http://fryeburg.org>.

FNCA this year runs Saturday, July 30 through Sunday, August 14, 2011. We would love to see you there!

Off to Convention

2011-06-27T12:10:00.004-04:00

On this sunny Monday afternoon, I leave for annual Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. Twelve teens are planning on attending this year. The theme is "Behold I make all things new". I wonder what new things will unfold before us this year to behold. It is with anticipation and excitement that I depart. New teens, old teens, leaders, adults and ministers all gathering for a week of fun, worship and meaningful discussions. And a 49 lb suitcase filled with some very cool stuff for you teens to sell this year to raise money for retreat travel. This is something I wish everyone could be a part of. Convention is an amazing experience that I value each and every year. So much to to do and learn and watch. It is indeed something to behold! I'll see some of you very soon. Safe travels.

2011 Memorial Day Retreat

2011-06-06T22:56:00.003-04:00

I glanced behind me as I pulled the Aztek out of the Fryeburg Assembly on Monday morning at the end of the Memorial retreat to check that my red Frisbee was in the rear cargo net. Yes, it was there. I hate losing Frisbees and they are usually the last thing I pack, or forget to pack when I depart a retreat or camp. We didn't play much Frisbee this year, as other activities were more attractive and the bugs were fierce, but I did get to throw a bit, mostly with Danny. Having confirmed my Frisbee was properly stowed, my thoughts turned to thinking about the retreat that had just ended. I thought about how the SCYL is changing. With Janice gone, this being Nina and Cody's last retreat, and our President Holly soon departing the SCYL, I see the younger teens moving into leadership roles. And, they are. Celie taking over CBS. Bekka and Mariel traveling great distances to attend retreats as young teens. The League is changing. It always has, and always will. Yet, for some reason, I feel the flow of new teens entering the SCYL and ebb of older teens exiting as more substantial and dramatic. I departed this retreat a bit sad of the significant loss of a couple of wonderfully influential, meaningful and caring teens leaving the SCYL. But as I pondered my melancholy state, presently a new emotion arose.

As I pulled onto route 302 to head home a real feeling of contentment washed over me. And a feeling of how proud I am of you teens. I thought, to myself, "Wow. What a great group." You teens were so incredibly mature and responsible at this retreat. And I want you to know how proud I am of you. You were so wonderful in so many ways during this retreat. Helping with cleanup and dishes, your thought-provoking questions and answers in sessions, your beautiful music, working on the potato stamp cards, making decisions and facing issues straight on. You did all of this without adults nagging you and pestering you. You are truly an amazing group to work and play with!

And the 2011 Memorial Weekend retreat was pretty amazing too. We had a rocky start, with Jon missing his flight and the prom group arriving late, but it worked out ok. Also, the retreat was a bit smaller in numbers then previous years. This I think worked well for the theme, "You're a Sweden-what? Sharing your faith with others". There were some wonderful discussions on faith, what Swedenborgian's believe, and how to answer questions about your religion and your perception of truth. Rev Sage, Rev Susannah, Rev Lee and Rev Jenn all led sessions exploring this topic and helped us discover and strengthen our beliefs and how we might share those beliefs with others. The sessions were lively and engaging, with opportunities for teens to have Q&A time with ministers and express their thoughts on faith with friends, both in writing and talking. Outside of session, the teens worked on making potato stamp cards as a fundraiser to sell at Convention and summer camps. Sunday morning we joined in worship at the Fryeburg New Church. Teens Nina, Audrey and MB sang at worship performing "The Only Exception" and Nina and MB sang a beautiful cover duet of "Dreams" by the Cranberries. Later Sunday afternoon, the teen girls had a temporary henna tattoo party. Sunday evening we all gathered at the parsonage, home of Rev Sage. The teens piled on her bed and watched the video "The Choice is Yours", that was made at the last Memorial retreat. Then, Rev. Jenn led the closing communion service with more music performed by Nina and Danny. The bowling alley was closed, so we watched a movie back at the Assembly late in the evening. We thought about going to the drive-in, but the mosquitoes were too thick and bloodthirsty for that. We packed up early Sunday morning and cleaned up the Assembly. The teens from Portland and Fryeburg did an absolutely terrific job. I watched the Portland teen girls walk to their car from the main porch. Nina, strolling with her guitar swinging by her side. And as I consider my own ways of sharing faith with others, it often comes back to community and relationship. And it comes back to the beauty and wisdom that I find in the teens of the SCYL. I thank God for you. You are a blessing and I am so very proud of each and every one of you.

Love Makes a Person and a Church

2011-06-01T13:26:00.002-04:00

The June edition of the Chaplain's corner, by Pastor Dave, SCYL Chaplain

We can think of being human by virtue of our body. That is, we have a head, arms and legs, and a torso, and that is our human form. But in fact, our body is simply a vessel that responds to our soul. Our body is made of material elements, but our soul is made of spiritual elements. And it is actually our soul that makes us human.

Simply put, our soul is what we love. We are human because we can love. In fact, we are human because of our loves. It is love that makes us human. Love is who we really are. What we love is our very life. Take away love, and we wouldn't want to do anything. There are two heavenly loves that make us angels: love for our neighbor and love for God.

These loves are also what make a church. The church isn't just a building and the rituals we do in it. Those things are what we would call the externals of the church. The internal of the church is the same as what makes for a heavenly person. The internal of the church is to will good from the heart and to love God. Without these loves, the church building would be empty.

We are humans because of what we love. And we are a church individually because of what we love.

International Easter Rally: Part 10 - The Journey Home

2011-05-11T18:10:00.000-04:00

I woke up Thursday morning feeling very tired. It was an intense few days and I was exhausted. It didn't help that I had only gotten a few hours sleep the last couple of nights. Still, I had a big journey ahead, filled with trains, planes and automobile (not in that order) and I was extremely grateful that I had done the journey before and kind of knew what to expect. This trip would be pretty much the same as the one coming in, only in reverse. After a quick piece of that excellent country toast that I had been enjoying all week and a cup of coffee, we climbed into Andy's school van at 8 am. Andy was kind enough to drive the six of us back to the Nuneaton train station. But we weren't leaving until we got our witchabella! It is a Purley tradition to line up and sing this nonsense witchbella song as people depart. It was great fun and I enjoyed it, although I do not know all the words to it and wish that I did. With that, we said a sad goodbye to Purley and our new friends. The Canadian group would be getting a ride to Birmingham to fly out in the afternoon. We caught the train back to Euston station in London and had time to have some lunch before hopping back on the Tube to Heathrow. The Tube to Green Park station was very hot, stuffy and crowded. There were no seats. I feared that we would be standing in this uncomfortable train for the whole hour trip, but as it turned out, most people departed after a couple of station stops and we were able to get a seat. The train from Green Park to Heathrow was much more comfortable, although still warm. We arrived at Heathrow and saw Cody through his check-in and luggage drop in Terminal 1 before we said our goodbyes to him and traveled on foot over to Terminal 3. We checked in, which took a good deal longer and was hard than I expected. I was glad that we had arrived early as we didn't have that much time before we were scheduled to board. The journey through security was uneventful, with the exception of Holly's airport patdown which prompted a new verse to Cody and my Airport Patdown song that we wrote at Purley. We had just enough time to take a run through the duty free shops for last minute gifts and souvenirs and then grab lunch to go as we made our way to the gate. I love my last minute finds - a "mind the gap" cap (in reference to the constant audio reminder on the London underground) and my London tea cozy. Our flight was on time and boarding was easy. The four teens all got to sit together in the middle seat row, which was nice for them. They actually seemed to enjoyed the 7 hour, 30 minute flight to Boston. And I must put a note in here about how well all the teens who traveled with me did. I did not hear one single complaint the entire trip. They were in all ways helpful, thoughtful and considerate to me and to everyone they encountered. When we ran into difficulties or uncertainties, which we certainly did, Celie, Chris, Cody, Holly and Liz were confident, positive and relaxed. I am very proud of all of them, as well as the three Canadian teens, Ashleigh, Joesph, Jordan. Although I did not travel with them I found them to be very polite, gracious and friendly towards me and everyone else throughout the time at Purley. All the SCYL teens were great companions, good travelers and fun to be around. These are teenagers that everyone should be very proud of. We arrived as scheduled into Boston Logan. The trip through immigration and customs was easy for us on this leg. No searches or delays. After a short wait, Chris' mom Patty and brother Caleb arrived to hug and pickup their safely arrived world traveler. Shortly after that, Steve and Mary Bauer arrived to pick the rest of us up. We were tired, but very hungry, so we stopped for Mexican food on the way home. I couldn't help wondering how many Mexican restaurants one might find in England. I don't remember seeing any, but I am sure that there are quite a few. Still, I wished that all our friends in the UK could be here enjoying the food with us. We welcomed ourselves back to Maine on Thursday evening and everyone was home safely by 11 pm. Whew. What a relief and gift from God.

As a final reflection back on this adventure, I can see some real positive and noticeable changes in our SCYL youth program. The new International Swedenborgian League of Youth has been formed and has an active Facebook page. I know that teens are skyping and chatting with each other on both sides of the pond. Conversations are already taking place about future retreats, teen camp exchanges and other visits. The teens are more aware of the Swedenborgian faith in other areas of the world and likely feel less isolated as members of a small denomination. I personally feel hopeful and actively present to our friends in Swedenborgian community in the UK. I see their struggles to make a youth group function and succeed, but also see the beautiful youth leaders and teens in the UK that are excited and energized to be a part of such an incredible faith and church organization. And it was wonderful for me to be able to exchange youth work ideas and methods with other Swedenborgian church youth workers outside of North America. I learned an incredible amount of information, both about youth work and about the issues facing and successful activities of the British Conference.

I close with gratitute to all those that helped make this trip a reality. There are too many to mention them all and with the understanding that I will surely forget some that should not be forgotten, some need to be called out. In Canada, Pam Kesselring, Rev. John Maine and Rev. Alison Longstaff along with the members of the Church of the Good Shepherd board. In the United States, Joyce Fekete (who assisted with funding) and Steve Bauer. In the UK, Rev. Jack Dunion, Rev. Dave Gaffney, Anne Gaffney and their fine staff at Purley, Andy Leather, and Steve and Jenny Jones. Lastly, Rev. Catherine Lauber, who had the faith, confidence and belief that this event was both possible and worthwhile when we first spoke about it over a year and a half ago at Convention 2009, and then again at Convention 2010 when we really decided to go ahead and see if we could make something happen. I am honored to have been a leader of this International Easter Rally event and blessed to be a part of this exciting new group of international youth that from all perspectives, appears to be quite the glorious and heavenly community.

International Easter Rally: Part 9 - Lifebook, Atherstone and the Closing Communion Circle

2011-05-10T18:16:00.004-04:00

It was Wednesday morning that I awoke with the painful realization that this was the last day of Easter Rally. Over so quickly, yet I was amazed at how much we packed into our short time in England. But, it wasn't over yet! We had a full day ahead of us to learn, explore and grow together in community.

The Canadian teens led our last morning matins worship. It was a service of thanksgiving and gratitude. They passed out Canadian flag pins. Jordan played guitar and sang The Lord's Prayer. It was nice.

The morning session was lead by Andy Leather. Andy projected a series of thought-provoking pictures of images and people around different themes, such as natural disasters, being alone and joyous community. We broke up into smaller groups and talked about how "real" we are and how we deal with isolated or difficult people that we encounter. We talked about how we can help others in need and what we can do to make the world better in our own community around us and far away. In our workshop, Andy charged us with a mission to develop our own "Lifebook" artistic profile that represents the real person, not the Facebook person that we all put out there for the whole to see. Andy helped us examine the masks that we wear and discover qualities and traits that we may need to let go off or reconsider. He really helped us apply the theology that we learned about in previous sessions.

After lunch we gathered outside for a walk to the nearby town of Atherstone. The walk took us along a pretty trail and where I discovered my first kissing gate. The path wound and then widened onto a golf course which we followed along into the quaint English village. Atherstone was larger than I expected and had plenty of shops and stores to explore. We set the teens free to roam for an hour while I went to a market to find "exotic" British candy to bring home to my daughters and royal wedding souvenirs for ladies back home in the States. We arrived back at Purley in the late afternoon and the teens had a bit of time to relax and also prepare an act for the evening social (talent show/skit night) to be held after supper.

We ate the potatoes that we hunted the night before for dinner. I met with interested teens from all the representative countries and the SCYL about future international youth activities as well as the formation of an international Swedenborgian youth group. There was much excitement and energy in the group and we agreed it was an effort worth pursuing.
Then, we gathered for group pictures while there was still enough light. After pictures, the teens presented the leaders with cards and gifts. I was given a card signed by all the teens, a Purley Swedenborg mug (which I had wanted ever since I first saw it) filled with Purley tea, and a Derby County football jersey! It was very touching and I was nearly moved to tears by the generosity of so many wonderful people. After a short break we gathered for the social.

At the social we were treated to a variety of acts and talents, including a a funny skit with Pam and Joesph, a card trick by Jordan, a beautiful cover of "Landslide" sung by Celie on the guitar, a song by Abby, and the big closing act of the very talented Miles performing an amazing musical juggling act with glowing balls in the dark. After the social, Steve introduced some fun indoor circle games for us to play. Meanwhile, Rev. Catherine and Rev. Jack were hard at work preparing a beautiful closing campfire worship space.

Once full darkness settled in and the stars were sparkling above, we walked down to the campfire. Catherine and Jack arranged everything so perfectly and truly created a sacred and inviting place. Jordan provided music on the guitar and lead us in the hymn, "Seek Ye First". Rev. Catherine led the service and spoke about how our differences in saying the Lord's Prayer builds united diversity that strengthens our community. Rev. Jack conducted the communion portion of the service. I led a burning ritual where I asked a teen representative from each country to step up and join me around the campfire. The five of us held a paper chain link circle which represented our diverse yet united community. We then dropped it in the fire releasing it to heaven with a prayer to keep our travels safe, our friendship strong, and our love useful to the larger community that we soon will rejoin. After the service, we sat around the fire and sang tradition songs from different countries including national anthems. This was the perfect closing to a great day and a fantastic Easter Rally at Purley. The teens got to stay up late and hang out in the upstairs hall for awhile. Then, everyone hugged, said goodnight, and headed off to bed in the wee hours of the morning to try to get a bit of sleep before our pre-breakfast departure to start the long journey back home.

International Easter Rally: Part 8 - Hummus, Castles and Potatoes

2011-05-08T17:05:00.008-04:00

I awoke Tuesday morning to warm sunshine. What a beautiful week of weather. Every day sunnier and warmer then the one before.

Breakfast was wonderful. It opened with lots of coffee, then a hearty English breakfast featuring a new delight - potato waffles. These little squares of yumminess look just like waffles but are potato cakes with holes all the way through. I loved them and SCYL President Holly looked great through them too!

The UK teens led worship this morning. I loved the Bob Marley guitar prelude and the friendship service that they presented. Verses from Proverbs 27:1-14,17 were passed out to the group during worship and read. Songs about friendship were played. It was a very touching experience.

I led the morning session. I presented the four loves; love of self, love of worldly things, love of the neighbor and love of the Lord. Then I talked about how love combines with wisdom to drive useful actions. I mentioned how this concept of love, wisdom and use or in applied terms, desire, knowledge and works, applies to any intention or good. And then I explained that when a love becomes your ruling love or most important passion, it can take you to heaven or become corrupted and pull you into hell. I asked the group for a suggested ruling love and told them it could be anything at all. Cody spoke up and exclaimed, "Hummus!". I answered, "Okay. Fine. Let's use hummus as our love. Let's see how deep love for hummus, combines with profound wisdom and knowledge about hummus, to bring forth a meaningful (and tasty) action. We'll see how our hummus can end up being heavenly or hellish love depending on our intention and use." Then we went through and discussed love, wisdom, heaven, hell and community in terms of hummus. I'm not sure any of us will ever again be able to dip a pita chip into hummus in quite the same nonchalant way. It was fun and I hope it was enlightening and interesting to some of the teens in the group. We did not have a morning after-session workshop as we all needed to quickly pack up our belongings for the day and get ready to go to Warwick Castle!

We gathered outside in the late morning and loaded into vehicles for the one hour drive to the castle. We were all grateful that Andy Leather was able to borrow the large school van from the high school where he teaches. The large van allowed us to transport everyone. We arrived at Warwick Castle around noon, entered the grounds and gathered on the lawn outside the castle to eat our picnic lunch. I couldn't help but think of how peasants, princesses and knights, several hundreds of year ago sat out on this very field outside the castle ramparts and probably ate picnic lunches very much like ours. After lunch, everyone was set off to explore the castle on their own or in small groups. It was a glorious, warm, sunny day and it was great to just have free time to wander around the inner court, traverse the castle halls and passageways, and climb the spiral stairs of the towers. There were demonstrations of battling knights, birds of prey and the Arthurian tale of the sword in the stone. Kings, queens, princesses and peasants were in period costume milling around the castle chatting with visitors throughout the day. The whole afternoon was a delight and after a last stop at the gift shop for a chain mace to take home to my children, we loaded back into the cars and bus to head back to Purley for supper.

In the evening session we gathered to discuss what it feels like to be in a community or organization. We looked at qualities that define the members of a group and how people on the inside and outside of that group might view the members differently. We discussed Swedenborg's concept of how a society becomes more perfect as it is diverse yet united (Divine Providence 4.4).

The Tuesday night activity was a game Steve created called Lost Potato. Two teams crept out into the darkening dusk and collected hidden potatoes to deliver to their home base while sneaking around, running and dodging opposing team players attempting to steal away their potato treasure. When time was called, the team with the most potatoes at their base won. It was spud fun for all!

Abby, an exceedingly pleasant and intelligent teen from England, organized a beautiful vespers service in the chapel to close the evening. We all retired for the night feeling tired and fulfilled after a splendid day of new insight and discovery.

International Easter Rally: Part 7 - Near Death Experiences, Olympics and Discos

2011-05-07T12:14:00.004-04:00

The first Monday morning at Easter Rally, we all gathered for breakfast and sang grace. We sang a grace at each meal and had a good deal of fun teaching each other different songs and lyrics. Johnny Appleseed and Hallelu were the only two graces that were common to everyone.

Each morning after breakfast, the teens led a matins, which is a short worship service in the chapel. It turned out that we had 3 mornings and three groups, US, Canada and the UK, so a different group led each matins. Monday morning, the teens from the US led chapel. They played music, led the group in scripture readings, and taught everyone some favorite hymns, like "Sunshine in My Soul" and "Building, Daily Building" as many hymns in the UK are quite different. They also sang "Jesus is Walking on the Lake"!

Rev. Jack Dunion led fabulous sessions exploring different jobs and how we all contribute an individual use to one system in harmony with what others contribute. Jack also showed a short video clip about individuals who experienced near death experiences to illustrate how wonderful the next life is. For the workshop accompanying Jack's session, Pam Kesselring came up with a wonderful activity. The teens were given the freedom to gravitate into various groups based on common interests (music, art, writing, sports, etc.). The teen breakout groups created something artistic or active, then came back and shared their creation with the larger group. We all got to see how we move towards others similar to ourselves and how we surround ourselves with people and circumstances according to our particular choices.

The afternoon involved fun activities that Steve, Jenny and Andy Leather organized including a partner orienteering race and a silly team Olympic games competition with wheelbarrow races (with real wheelbarrows!), an obstacle course, balloon toss, and other shenanigans.

In the evening, the teens had a disco. The Purley sound system is amazing and we all got up for YMCA! Monday evening closed with a calming candle lite mediation.

International Easter Rally: Part 6 - Easter Rally Begins!

2011-05-01T15:14:00.003-04:00

I awoke Sunday morning well-rested and full of excitement and anticipation. Sunshine poured in my window when I pulled the curtains back and the lush green grounds of Purley stretched happily into the boarder trees surrounding wood. Stepping out on to the terrace with a cup of fresh coffee, the first thing I noticed was the variety of song birds. Living in rural Maine has blessed me with the beauty of many sights and sounds, including the singing of birds; but never before had I heard this many different birds and their rich chorus of song. Then I remembered the conservatory from last night and realized that the birds that I heard that evening were real and not recorded. The birds back home are never so vocal at 9 pm I thought. Breakfast was made to order omelets. The teens had asked me about the quality of food at Purley early in the trip and I did not have a answer for them. Now I did. Amazing. Hands down the best retreat food I have ever had. Meals were interesting, delicious and varied. Coffee was never stale, fruit, snacks and biscuits/cookies were always available and the large vat of hot water for tea was bottomless. The food quality and attention to detail was remarkable. This was no retreat food. This was gourmet hotel cuisine.

The rest of the Easter Rally teens were not to arrive until the late afternoon, so we had the morning free to explore. I had an afternoon meeting scheduled with adults interested in the youth program but was free until then. After breakfast, the teens and I found the obstacle course and games room. The obstacle course was a series of well constructed, sturdy low rope and wood challenges laid out in a shady grove of trees at the edge of the grounds of Purley. It was fun to watch the teens negotiate the course and ride the zip line.

Then we discovered the games room, with ping pong, pool, foosball, and a soccer/football table. It was nice to see a room set up where the teens could hang out on their own and it was fully enjoyed. A British Chalmers or Teen Storage if you will, but newer and with more table games (albeit less teen ambiance). I got a chance to meet my friend, Sam Kennion (we met at Camp 2003, an international young adult retreat held at Temenos), who came to Purley with his mom for lunch. His mom was participating in the afternoon youth meeting and Sam came to visit and spend a nice afternoon at Purley. I introduced Sam to the teens from the States and they had a great time playing in the game room while I met with folks from the British Conference in the conservatory. It was here that I met youth leaders Jenny and Steve Jones and their wonderful children. I had emailed back and forth with Jenny and Steve for months prior to the Easter Rally as they were the ones who coordinated much of the event and worked as the primary liaisons between North America, the UK and Purley. Throughout the planning process, they were incredibly helpful, knowledgeable and accommodating. Although I doubted it possible, I found Jenny and Steve to be even more friendly and gracious in person. They are a lovely and inspiring couple and their three girls (aged 8, 4 and 2) are simply a delight. I thoroughly enjoyed them and look forward to many years future in their company. After our youth leader meeting, where we discussed the challenges and trials of the New Church in England and how to fund and promote youth programs, we gathered for our opening BBQ supper (later I came to know this meal as tea). Most of the teens were here now and only the Canadian group (Pam with teens Ashleigh, Joesph and Jordon) and one late teen arrival (Miles) were left to join us. The group ate in distinct tables according to countries and I sensed a bit of anxiety and nervous anticipation in the air. Perhaps this was just me, but being an ocean apart can create a bit of unrest in the steadiest of minds. Once the Canadian's arrived and ate a quick supper, we began our first session. I believe there were now 22 teens at Purley. We met in the Olive room, which came to be known as the Common Olive as it used to be called the Common Room in old Purley days (I found the folks who grew up at Purley had a quaint and quite understandable fondness for the old room names, numbers and pre-renovated building layout). Anne went over a bit of Purley housekeeping and then Jenny reviewed the rules, schedule and dos and don'ts. She also led a great icebreaker (that I knew as "people bingo") where we met people and filled in squares on a paper with their traits and talents. To close, I led an opening activity relating the creation story in Genesis of how we are all created in God's image and then asked the teens to create their own paper person collage in the image and likeness of themselves. I also introduced some basic ideas of heaven in the form of a Universal Divine Human. We concluded the evening's program with a simple candle meditation and prayer of gratitude for our safe travels and arrival.

International Easter Rally: Part 5 - Purley

2011-04-30T15:55:00.008-04:00

Rev. Catherine Lauber and Rev. Dave Gaffney (Purley Chase Programme Director) greeted us with smiles and waves at Nuneaton Station. Weary as we were, I immediately felt cared for and loved. How blessed to be welcomed by these two distance friends from another country. In fact, everywhere we went throughout London, we were greeted with kindness and generosity. Everyone was supportive and helpful. We did not experience even a hint of brashness, contempt or rudeness. All of the folks in London were delightful. The whole lot of them, as they say. So as we loaded into Catherine and Dave's cars, I felt completely at ease. The drive to Purley Chase Centre was short, but the roads were narrow bending and twisting this way and that. When I commented to Catherine how narrow the roads were she laughed and replied, "These are quite wide. You should see some of the dirt roads that wind through the rural wood". Catherine added that our timing was just right as the English Bluebells were nearly in perfect bloom. We crossed over a short tight bridge and over a little hill where the countryside opened up in the front of us. Then, off to the left in the forest, a brilliant carpet of indigo blue spread out under the trees. I don't think I have ever seen such a pretty display of native wildflower. The bright blue color accented by the setting sun was breathtaking. We arrived at Purley Chase Centre (just called Purley by most). As I stepped out of the car, the first thing I noticed was the lovely floral aroma that wafted through the twilight air. It was a delight to the senses. We entered the building and I was impressed by the cleanliness and order. I immediately noticed the care that the keepers of Purley took to make it presentable and homey. Beautiful oil paintings hung throughout the building and inspirational writings and keepsakes adorned the main hallway. Purley Manager, Anne Gaffney cheerfully welcomed us, helped us settle in and showed us to our rooms. After finding my room and taking care of my belongings, I was drawn to a pleasant sun room which had windows to the outside on three side. I learned that this was the conservatory (prior to Purley, I had only visited a conservatory while playing the game Clue). I entered and heard a chorus of different song birds singing softly above. How nice, I thought. They have bird music playing quietly through speakers in this little room. After a brief look around, I found Liz and Holly's playing a game of Jacks. Cody was passed out on a sofa and Celie and Chris were snuggled in a love seat. I sat for a bit relaxing, watching the jacks spin and thinking about our exciting day in London. Then we all called it a night and sleepily went off to bed.

International Easter Rally: Part 4 - London

2011-04-28T17:14:00.006-04:00

Big Bus Tours offers international tours of several great cities, including London. We knew we would have very little time in London and we wanted to see as many of the famous landmarks as we could. So we traversed the Big Bus Tour green bus line to join up with the blue (taped recording) bus line. We soon realized that we really should have a live person as a guide when we pass by the really important attractions of London, so we hopped off, waited for awhile for a red bus, then hopped back on. The red buses were more crowded and sitting upstairs in the open air was not possible when we first got on; however, a lot of people got off at the Thames river cruise stop and then we could go upstairs and enjoy a better view of the sights and get some fresh air. We had a nice guided open air bus tour of Tower Bridge, The London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, and Buckingham Palace. We would have loved to spend more time on the tour, hop on and off more to see everything as well as take the complementary river cruise, but time was marching on and we had to get back to Euston station to catch a 7:00 pm train to Nuneaton (which is about a 10 minute drive from Purley Chase Centre). We had a couple hours left and had a decision to make. We could stay on the Big Bus tour and use up the rest of our time in London, jump off and walk along Oxford St and shop the major chain stores, or take a bit of a risk and ride a city bus to Portobella Market, which a Londoner woman I met on the plane told me is an antique hippie shopping place that teens would enjoy. We chose the riskier option and hopped off the Big Bus tour for the city bus to Portobella Road. With thanks to Cody for his expert British coin counting, a hot dog vendor for making change, and the rest of the teens for their coin contributions and help with the bus ticket machine, this turned out to be the best decision. Portobella market was fantastic! Two miles of little boutiques, second hand shops, antique stores, street vendors and performers. Excellent prices, a fun crowded street and everything you could ask for in the way of souvenirs, gifts and trinkets. This was a real London experience and everyone enjoyed the market. I highly recommend going here if you travel to London. With some help from a friendly young college student, we were directed to the #18 bus stop, which took us right back to Euston station with plenty of time for dinner before our train departed for Nuneaton. We ate dinner, reclaimed our stored luggage and boarded the Virgin train utterly physically and mentally spent. It was now 2 pm EST (7 pm GMT) and we had been traveling for 24 straight hours. We walked perhaps 5 miles on our London tour and we were very happy to have a seat (and a nap for some) on our one hour train trip. Purley Chase Center awaited us and we were all looking forward to getting there and starting the Easter Rally retreat, once we had a nice, long, long, sleep.

International Easter Rally: Part 3 - Platform 9 3/4.

2011-04-27T11:30:00.000-04:00

The six of us, Celie, Chris, Cody, Holly, Liz and I, made our way to the underground. After we figured out the zones and tickets, we caught a train to Green Park where we transferred to the Piccadilly Line. From here we continued on the Tube to Euston train station where we stored our bags. Then we proceeded on foot to King's Cross train station to visit Platform 9 3/4. This was a must see for the Harry Potter fans in the group, as within King's Cross, a "Platform 9¾" sign has been erected on a wall of the station building and part of a luggage trolley disappearing into the wall has also been placed below the sign. On the way we visited the adjacent gorgeous St. Pancras station which has a beautiful Victorian Gothic facade and a magnificently clean and spacious interior. The exterior of the St. Pancras station was used in the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as it was considered more impressive than King's Cross. From here, we returned to Euston station and got a bite to eat. The food in the train station was quite good; lots of french pastry shoppes and a nice little place to get authentic British fish and chips (but don't bother with the onion rings). After lunch, we boarded the green line Big Bus Tour to continue our London sightseeing adventure.

International Easter Rally: Part 2 - Where's Cody?

2011-04-26T14:30:00.003-04:00

We arrived at Heathrow, in the early hours of Saturday morning. As it was 7:30 am GMT or 2:30 am EST we were blurry eyed and weary. Yet the excitement and anticipation of the events that lie ahead kept us alive and moving cheerfully forward. Immigration was very busy and the line for those entering the UK snaked back and forth, slowly crawling along like the queue for a major attraction at Disney World. After about 45 minutes, the five of us stood in front of the the customs officer, who promptly stamped all our passports without asking any questions or reviewing any paperwork whatsoever. We were in England! We retrieve our checked bags and left baggage claim to find Cody in the arrival area. We fully expected to find Cody waiting to greet us or maybe sleeping on a bench in the arrivals area. No such luck. No Cody. None of us had a cell phone that worked in the UK nor did Cody. We went to the information desk and had him paged. We confirmed that his plane had arrived hours ago. An hour later, still no Cody. A couple of us decided to travel over to his arrival terminal (he was instructed to meet us in our terminal) in case he was waiting there. After the long walk to his terminal, no Cody. Where was he? We checked with immigration and no one from the U.S. had been detained this morning. We returned to our terminal and went back to the information desk. We thought perhaps Cody had fallen asleep in baggage claim, but we were informed that he would have been woken up and sent on his way. We were not permitted to go back into baggage claim to look for him but the security personal were alerted that he was missing. After 2 hours of worry and anxious plans for what we might have to do if Cody did not turn up, here comes a groggy Cody strolling out of OUR baggage claim terminal right to us. After much celebration and many hugs we figured out what happened. Turns out he found a way from his baggage claim to our baggage claim area and he propped himself up folded over a chair in an area where he thought we couldn't miss him and he took a snooze. Well, we did miss him and thankfully he decided to go looking for us after he napped for a few hours. Cody's response to all this was, "I can't believe you missed me! I was wearing my purple skinny jeans?". Now that our group was finally complete, we could change our money into British pounds and start our whirlwind tour of London.

International Easter Rally: Part 1 - The Long Journey

2011-04-25T11:13:00.002-04:00

Well, wow. Let's see. Where to start. How about starting with AWESOME. An overused word, but one that fully encompasses the experience of the SCYL in England. I think the best way for me to blog this incredible event is to chronologically take you through the whole thing in a series of posts. So this first post is the Long Journey and will take you from the afternoon we leave our houses in the United States to arrival in London. Most of you will probably not want to read all this. So, don't! But it is important for me to have a written record of an event this big and there just might be a few parents of teens or very interested people who want all the details of this incredible experience.

I cannot describe very much of the departing activities of Cody, as he left out of Chicago, or of our three Canadian SCYL friends (Jordan, Joesph and Ashleigh), as they left out of Toronto a day after we departed. Cody, we were to met in London at Heathrow airport and you will read more on that later. Our Canadian friends flew into Birmingham, England and we did not meet up with them until Sunday evening at Purley Chase Centre. So you will need to find out their stories directly from them. I do know that Cody took a bus to the airport. That is about it.

I left the house at 1 pm on Friday and drove to Celie and Holly's house. The plan was to leave my car at their house and get a ride to the bus terminal to ride down to Logan airport in Boston. Liz, was driving to the bus terminal from Fryeburg and was to met us there. When I arrived at Celie and Holly's house, their dad, Steve kindly offered to drive us all the way from Portland down to Boston Logan. So we loaded into the car, drove over to the bus station to pick up Liz and rode down to Boston. At Logan, we met up with Chris who rode over to the airport with his dad, Lee Woofenden. Everything was going smoothly up until this point. We encountered a slight problem when we went to check in. There was a 13 lb weight limit on our carry on luggage and everyone's bag exceeded this. So, we needed to check more bags than we intended and needed to repack a bit so that everyone had what they needed on the plane. Other than that, everything was fine and it was no real big deal. We arrived early to the airport and had plenty of time before departure to eat dinner. We boarded the plane on time with bellies full of Sbarro pizza. We were blessed on this leg of the journey to be traveling economy premium, which is pretty much business class. Bigger, more comfortable seats, warm moist towels, drinks before take off, more leg room, real china, etc. I am not sure how this happened, as we definitely did not pay more for it, so I assume that either Expedia or God (or both) was looking over us. As this was Chris' first real time on a plane (he flew as a baby but did not remember it), we all made sure that Chris knew that these are NOT the usual flying luxuries. We received confirmation from Cody that his plane was on time meaning that he would arrive at Heathrow nearly two hours before us. So, the four of us departed Logan on Virgin Atlantic bound for London England at 7:45 pm to arrive in London as scheduled at 7:20 am (2:20 am EST). And we had a nice comfortable flight across the pond.

Talent Night in Kitchener

2011-04-05T14:21:00.004-04:00

The Talent Night in Kitchener

By Joseph, SCYL Canadian Officer

Recently a talent show happened at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Kitchener. Its purpose was to raise money for the youth trip to England. 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. Everyone sat and watched these in a cozy room drinking hot refreshing drinks with a happy and supporting crowd.

The youth helped out with the talent show by making espresso drinks, setting up tables, cooking food, and decorating. First it started with dancing cows, then went through large contrasts of completely ridiculous things to more serious things. People showed many talents from acting in the Vicar of Dibley to singing a song. The person that brought this all together and got it working was Rev. Alison Longstaff.

One of my favorite parts was Dorothy amazing acting skill put on stage. She acted out Gollum, a creature from Lord of the Rings and acted as a character named Simon from Firefly. She is a really good actor and is definitely going to be well known for her skill and talent later in life. Another well done part was the amazing poetry done by Jen. I didn’t think I like poetry, but she made it come alive. The Vicar of Dibley skit was well done and especially Alison’s ballerina dancing and gracefulness! Overall the talent night was well done plus fun to watch and be in. We should get more people for the next time we do this because it is definitely fun to watch and worth going to. We raised a lot of money for the trip to England and successfully made many people enjoy themselves.

With special thanks to:

Greeters/Ushers/and “go-fer”: Debbie and Carol

MC: Rev. Alison Longstaff

Kitchen Supervisors: Don and Jeanette

Baked Goods Coordinator: Jeanette

Barista: Vincent

Decaf Brewer: Jeannette and Don

Cappuccino machine lenders: Eden, Aaron, and Jennie

Technical and Lighting: Cameron and Frank

Decorating: Rev. John Maine

Babysitting: Ashleigh

Set-up and take down: Good Shepherd Men’s Group

Videographer: Nicole, Carol’s daughter

Event Planner: Rev. Alison Longstaff

Donations overseer: Peggy

The Vicar of Dibley cast: Pamela, Lisa, Steve, Vincent, Dori and Alan and Joseph, Alison and Jordan.

And a big Thank you to business owners Dwight of Uptown Waterloo Starbucks for his donation of pounds and pounds of coffee, decaf, flavored syrups, and a barista for our cause.

LaPorte Tween March Retreat

2011-03-24T15:20:00.010-04:00

15 tweens gathered at Manna House in LaPorte on March 18 - 20, 2011 to participate in the Heavenly Human retreat. Ages 10 - 13 were invited. The retreat was all about the human body and how it relates to the heavenly kingdom. We learned about how becoming an angel in heaven follows a process like the digestive system in the body. When we pass on to the spiritual world and no longer need our physical body, we move like food through the lips, tongue, esophagus and into the stomach. The stomach is like the world of spirits, where most souls go to sort out their intentions and desires and decide on which heavenly community to join. Some spirits are so good that they are immediately taken up into heaven, or so evil that they are rejected and quickly move into hell. For most of us, however, the world of spirits is where we end up for awhile. We discussed the various body parts and what the correspond to in heaven. We talked about how the small and large intestine are for souls who have much to hide and need additional time and effort to let go of their external thoughts and feelings. We learned that all who enter heaven eventually enter the blood stream, get "filtered" out of their less then heavenly thoughts and desires and move into the perfect cell (community) just right for them. The tweens made little tag people that represented who they are, with pictures, photos and drawings of all the things that they love. The tweens also made a life size human body with internal organs. This human body was used to put thumbprint people on which represented where you thought you might like to live in heaven (e.g. esophagus = tour guide, colon = corrections officer, eye = intelligent visionary, hands = waiter, waitress or service provider). The Saturday afternoon session was spent discussing the five senses. Much of the session were workshops where the tweens spent time feeling, sniffing, tasting, listening and seeing. In some of these workshops we read braille, sorted safety pins from rice without vision, sampled foods and smelled odors, and viewed optical illusions. During free time, the tweens enjoyed running around outside playing "capture the flag" just about every chance they could get. Some of the girls had a nail painting party and Bekka and Savannah did "Helen Keller" blind makeovers! Manna House was a wonderful place to meet. Saturday weather was beautifully warm and sunny. Lori Steinhiser prepared great food. Jenn provided caring and craft supervision with Rachael who also did most of the dishes! Thank you to everyone who made this event so incredible. It was a pleasure to be a part of such a great group of volunteers and tweens. Hope to do it all again very soon!

2011 Easter Rally

2011-01-26T10:27:00.001-05:00

In the Spring of 2011, a teen retreat will be hosted in the UK! The retreat, which is called the Easter Rally, will be held at the Purley-Chase retreat center near Birmingham, England and will run Sunday, April 17 - Thursday, April 21 (which is the week of spring break for many schools out here in the East). Many teens have expressed interest in attending and I hope we can get a big group to go. The tentative plan is to depart from the US and Canada on the afternoon of Friday, April 15, arrive in London early Saturday morning, tour London all day then take the train up to the retreat center Saturday evening. The Swedenborgian Church and the SCYL will be working hard to get funding to assist as many teens as possible from the U.S. and Canada to be able to go. But, we cannot afford to pay for everyone. Anyone interested should make sure that they have a passport that is up to date and should start thinking up creative ways to raise money. As it stands right now at the current ticket prices, we can afford to scholarship up to 6 teens that can raise $600 of their own money. Hopefully, airfare will drop and more teens can go for less money. So, contact me if you are interested and start fundraising now. Registration deadline is March 21. Let's work together and make this an exciting adventure for as many teens as possible!

Behold! I Make All Things New!

2011-01-18T15:48:00.004-05:00

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

Jesus said, "Behold I make all things new" (Revelation 5:5). And while it can seem like things are the same day in and day out, we are changing as time passes. In the spiritual world, angels are brought through changes of state that follow seasons. They go through a springtime, when their love and wisdom are at a peak, then a summer, then a fall, as they begin to fall more into their selfhood, and then into a winter when they are more deeply in their selfhood and less in God's peace and life.

There is a reason for these changes of state. They teach the angels that their whole spiritual life depends on God. It breaks their desire to follow selfhood, and turns their hearts toward God. And it teaches them to feel goodness more keenly from the diminished goodness of spiritual winter.

We go through similar changes here on earth, if we pay attention to our inner life. As the seasons return, we think of where we were last year this time. We have the passage of time in this world to help us to pay attention to what's going on inside us. We have photographs to show us how we have changed over the years. All these things help us to see how our minds and hearts have changed, developed and grown over time.

In this new year, we may have made resolutions, as we do each year. Some of these resolutions last for a few weeks and then are forgotten. Some resolutions stay with us. But whether we consciously choose to change and follow a resolution, God is still leading us into new states. We are being made new each day, whether we are aware of it or not. "Behold, I make all things new."

2010 Winter Retreat

2011-01-13T15:03:00.004-05:00

The 2010 winter retreat at Almont has been over for a couple weeks now. As I reflect back to those days together with you teens of the SCYL I cannot help but smile. There are so many wonderful memories. Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order.

All the music - you guys really rock! Especially the impromptu Janice/Nina concert in Pfister
Scott helping Mariel on skates travel all the way around the rink
Ultimate frisbee, although too brief and too cold
Rev. Jenn's session and my archangel Jeremiah
Exodus to Independence
The Yule log - it was beautiful this year
The way you older scyl teens welcomed all the new teens to the retreat experience
Rev. Ron's return to Almont retreats
Discovering the meaning of my dramatic dream from a year ago
Grilled cheese
A new year with new scyl officers including a new west coast officer actually from the west coast

We Are Not Alone!

2010-11-15T10:15:00.017-05:00

In the crisp November air about an hour west of San Diego, we gathered at a rustic campground called Lake Morena in the small desert hillside village of Campo, to ponder "We Are Not Alone". This was the start of the first teen retreat in San Diego in a very long time. But it was not the start of the adventure for teenager Celie and I. We arrived in San Diego in the wee hours of Friday morning after a horrific travel adventure starting in Portland, Maine which involving delayed flights, missed planes in Newark (even though we made it to the connection 5 minutes prior to departure, grrrr), flying to Los Angeles instead of San Diego and driving a one way rental car down with a most unusual guy I've dubbed Hawaiian Doug (and his girlfriend). In any event, Celie and I made it to my Aunt Pearl's house around 1:30 am and did finally get a nice night's sleep. Friday morning Celie and I went with my Aunt sightseeing around northern San Diego, viewing the beach areas, scenic hilltop overlooks and doing a little shopping (Celie's new peach sun hat!). We went over to the Swedenborgian Church of San Diego for a early dinner late Friday evening to meet up with the other teens from San Diego. Here we met Gio, Genette, Michael, Eugene, Irene and Jonat along with some adult leaders, Rev. Carla, Fernando, Mark and Austin (part of the team of night vision sky watchers with Greg and Dejuti). From here we drove west up the hills to Campo to join our other leaders, Peter and Barbara who coordinated the renting of tents, sleeping bags, and pads from REI, set everything up and provided the food for the weekend. We hastily unpacked, bundled up in some warmer clothes, then set our eyes upon the starry sky. With the aid of some high tech gear including night vision scopes, viewing screens and magnification we watched for ufo's and looked at Jupiter and it's Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. We did spot a few strange lights in the sky that traveled faster then normal satellites and showed some erratic movement. Aliens, space junk or other flying objects, I cannot be sure, but it did make for some interesting viewing and discussion. At the rising of Orion, we retired the space gear, gathered for a warmup around the campfire with stories and songs, then snuggled into our bags and blankets for a chilly evening's sleep under the heavens. We awoke to the early morning bright sunshine and the rustlings around the campground to a crisp, refreshing morning. Thank you Peter for the espresso in bed! Grilled Einstein bagels over the campfire (a theme that perpetuated the entire weekend as Barbara secured a garbage bag of them for free!) and the warming effects of desert sunshine led us to a short walk to our morning session among the giant rocks along the reservoir that is Lake Morena. Here Rev. Carla introduced us to the presence of angels through readings from the Bible and Swedenborg and the teens responded with artistic work reflecting the love of the Lord and the angels. We returned to the campsite for lunch bagels on the grill and a bit of relaxation. During our afternoon session, in the heat of the midday sun under the leafy canopy of a Highland Oak we stretched to the farthest reaches of what it means to be truly human. We watched video about incredibly powerful and free energy sources, discussed time travel and how we might interact with aliens from a distant planet if they introduced themselves to us now. The teens put on a quick non-verbal skit demonstrating how they might communicate what it means to be human to a completely foreign intelligent life form. The skit focused on human emotions and each of the seven teens worked together to convey a different emotion through gestures, body language and facial expressions. After recreation which involved some more familiar and identifiable flying objects (Frisbees), and a dinner of dogs and not-dogs on the grill, we began our evening program. Rev. Carla prepared a soul satisfying outdoor candlelit communion service under the stars, then we returned to the campfire for music and S'mores. Peter, Jonat, Gio and Celie kept us singing all weekend with their wonderful guitar playing and we enjoyed a great guitar and drum sing-a-long this Saturday evening that lasted late into the evening. After the teens departed the circle for a little "tent talk", I sat and stirred the fire awhile and enjoyed the stillness of the cool night and the rising of the winter constellations, before closing down the camp and retiring myself. Sunday morning we woke early again and quickly ate our bagels as Gio created a new campfire recipe - the roasted banana graham cracker marshmallow breakfast sandwich. After packing up and rolling the sleeping bags (thank you Barbara and your neighbors for all your help with the gear), the teens just had enough time to practice a couple of songs to share at the Worship Service back at the Swedenborgian Church of San Diego before driving back to the city. They decided to play, "Hallelujah", "Let It Be" and the popular song, "I'm Yours" (view their performance on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krqGUiNilDs). The teens also shared angel readings and some of their artwork that they created with the congregation. After the worship service, we said our good-byes to most of the teens, then Celie, Jonat and I wandered around Balboa Park for a couple of hours. After dropping Jonat back home, Rev. Carla met Celie and I and took us out for dinner, sightseeing and souvenir shopping in Seaport Village. From here, Celie and I headed to the airport to catch our red eye flight back home to Maine. Exhausted, but feeling most fulfilled and joyful, we found ourselves back home early Monday morning without any major airport delays this time around. So, now home, I take time to reconsider, our theme, "We Are Not Alone". While I am not entirely convinced that beings from another world reside here on this planet we call earth, I am certain that we are not alone. The teens in the SCYL prove to me every day that friends are nearby to help us, to hold us, to comfort us, to forgive us and to love us. The care, the smiles, the laughter, the music and the understanding that the teens show to each other in this church helps me to remember what is truly important. I know that the friendship they share is from the Lord, the one God that made the heavens and the earth, as well as the entire universe. As long as I keep that single truth in my mind, I am never, ever alone.

Spiritual Seasons

2010-10-29T15:49:00.002-04:00

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

The season is now changing in Edmonton, where I live. We are in the fall and winter is approaching. Swedenborg tells us that in the spiritual world there are also seasons. The angels go through the same four seasons we do. But the seasons there are governed by the states of the angels. They move through a pattern of greater love and clarity of wisdom, which is their summer, to a state of less love and more obscurity. There is a purpose and use for these changes of state. From a state of less love and wisdom, a person can appreciate and enjoy love and wisdom when they are more intense. The lower states also help to clarify what is good and what is less good, thereby making the understanding more aware of how to be good. This alternating process brings angels into a more keen sense of heavenly life and the love and wisdom of which it is composed. Swedenborg tells us that for the higher angels, the spiritual seasons are very mild. Kind of like the weather in Florida, I would imagine. Here in the material world, we are brought through similar states. We can watch our changing states if we are sensitive to our souls' migrations. We, too, can become more aware of love and wisdom as we consider our states in this life.

2010 Columbus Day Teen Retreat at Blairhaven

2010-10-28T15:07:00.016-04:00

The Columbus Day 2010 teen retreat at Blairhaven was.....

an amazing collection of SCYL friends including a large group from the Midwest who braved a daring and challenging drive involving a broken down van named Clifford in Ohio and still finding a way to get all the way from Indiana to the East Coast, picking up teens along the way.

wickets and mallets on a sunny Saturday afternoon as the 2010 killer croquet tournament amused and confounded many.

engaging conversations, presentations and acting as everyone participated in the theme "Ages and Stages: Your Changing Roles in the Theater of Life."

sometimes a bit too muddy for me as the second annual mudfight happened for a brave few at sundown on Sunday night.

only a bit scary on brownie movie night as we watched the hilarious "Fired Up!" and the equally hilarious "Drag me to Hell" (nice movie for a church retreat, huh) which was slightly gross and a bit disturbing but quite humorous and not very scary.

magnificently bright and sunny for our outing to Duxbury beach for an hour at the ocean as several teens from the Midwest had never seen the sea.

exciting disco glow bowling, an inspirational teen led worship service, acting like babies and the elderly as Rev Kevin took us on a movement adventure through life, and eating, laughing, playing, and loving in community as only a SCYL retreat can do!

Thank you teens, ministers and leaders for an awesome retreat.

What Has That SCYL Director Been Up To Anyway?

2010-10-28T11:31:00.008-04:00

Happy Halloween! Wow. has it really been a month since the last post. And "Where are the Blairhaven pictures?!", exclaims SCYL President Nina. Well, it really has been a month since the mast post and I really have tried to make sure that I post something to this blog at least once a week. It not that there aren't thing to write about. Truth be told, it is actually because there has been so much going on that I haven't have much time to write. So, I thought it might be nice for you to know what I have been doing when I'm not with you teens. I mean, haven't you always wondered what exactly the youth director does when he is not directing youth?

Well, it has been a very busy month for me and I am happy to tell you all the exciting things I have been doing. I'll skip all the really boring stuff, like doing the SCYL accounting, revising forms, writing and reading emails, updating mailing lists, sending out information and stuff like that. I'm guessing you're not interested in that. But there are a few things coming up that I am working on that you might like to know about.

First, I am prepping for a big trip out to San Diego to camp with the teens at Morena Lake State Park. Although I have camped and I have going to campgrounds with teens on a retreat, I've never really camped in a tent with teens before. And I've never camped in California in the desert mountains. It should be a great experience and I'm really excited to try out the night vision gear along with all the other fun things that go with camping. I hope that the local youth leaders will have Ramen noodles available. It just isn't camping to me without Ramen. And of course, S'mores. Celie will be joining me from the East and maybe Chris and possibly even Caleb too, as we gather with our West coast friends. I'm looking forward to seeing Jon again and meeting some new friends as well.

I've also been getting ready for the spooky Halloweeny Swedenborg candlelit Fryeburg youth group. We have chosen "Emanuel's Manuals" as our theme this year and we will be looking at a different book of written by Swedenborg each month. Of course, for Halloween we've got to read Heaven and Hell with an emphasis on spirits and demons! I'm looking forward to doing this by candlelight in the attic of the church. Ooooohhh, so scary.

I've been getting so excited for this year's Winter retreat at Almont. The flyers went in the mail yesterday. Look for your coming soon. If you are not on the mailing list or do not receive one in a week or so, please let me know. If you've read this far, you deserve a sneak peek into Winter retreat. Our theme this year is "Dreams and the Whisperings of Angels". I think this year's retreat will be big. I'm working hard to bring in "stranded" teens from around the country. Hopefully some of them will make it.

The last issue of Clear Blue Sky for 2010 is in the works. If you have something to submit, there is still time. Send it to Holly or me asap! We'd love to have it.

Oh, and Cody made the changes that Holly, Nina and I suggested to the movie you teens made during the Memorial Day weekend retreat. I haven't watched it yet, but hopefully it will be done for Winter retreat so we can all watch it. We talked about cool ways we could roll it out to the rest of the people in the church, including maybe having a special movie feature presentation at Almont summer camp.

Lastly, I've begun work on a very special retreat. In the Spring of 2011, a retreat will be hosted in England! I will be working hard to get funding to assist as many teens as possible from the U.S. and Canada to be able to go. It will run April 17 - 21 which luckily is the week of Spring break for many schools out here in the East. The folks in the UK have a Spring break then too. How cool is that.

Anyway, that is all that fun stuff that I have been up to. Of course, what I like doing best is hanging out and talking with you. Feel free to call me or email me anytime. See you soon!

You Can Come to the Camp Retreat in San Diego!

2010-09-21T15:23:00.005-04:00

Hey all you teens. You have an opportunity to travel to an upcoming retreat! The Swedenborgian Church of San Diego is hosting a camping retreat in the beautiful desert hills of Campo, CA., Nov 5 - 7. You'd have to miss 3 days of school, Thurs, Fri and Mon. (Thurs and Mon would be travel days). The SCYL can pay for most of your travel and retreat costs. You'll probably only have to come up with $100. I will be traveling as well and then there leading this retreat. Interested? Please let me know as soon as possible. Travel from the East is really inexpensive right now. I don't know how long this will last, so please email me or call me soon. This is going to be an very exciting, very fun retreat with Rev. Carla who is promising exciting night vision gear to make this extra special.

2010 Survivor Service Rock of Ages

2010-09-08T11:29:00.006-04:00

Some of you may not know that the teens at Almont are called Survivors. When a youth reaches the age of 13 (or the first year they attend Almont summer camp) teens get initiated as Survivors. Friday evening they attend a special Survivor candlelight worship service. It is always a very moving and touching experience for Survivors young and old, as well as the younger children, adults and parents of Survivors in attendance. This year Nina, SCYL President, opened the 2010 service with a duet of the hymn "Rock of Ages" with Survivor Advisor and professional singer, Tammara. Unfortunately I missed the beginning of this amazingly beautiful performance, but I did manage to catch the last minute on video. It is a dimly lite service and I was in the back of the chapel, so you won't see much and you'll need to turn the volume up to hear it. Nevertheless, since Tam and Nina have such wonderful voices it is certainly worth a listen. I just wish we had a better recording of this!

The Idea of God

2010-09-07T11:24:00.005-04:00

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

What does it matter how we think about God, or what image we have of God? Some people wonder why we would argue about ideas like “the trinity” or other concepts of God. “How do these concepts affect my regeneration?” they ask. Swedenborg writes, “We may gather how important it is to have a right concept of God from the fact that this concept is the very core of the thinking of everyone who has religion. All the elements of religion and of worship focus on God . . .” (DLW 12). God is at the heart of all our religious concepts.

But further, how we live out our religion depends on how we view God, too. Swedenborg sees God as the risen Jesus Christ, and because God is the Divine-Human, we all are humans, too. “It is because God is a person that all angels and spirits are perfectly formed people” (DLW 11). We can see how we are to live by studying the life of Jesus. We can form a personal relationship with God when we see Him as the Divine-Human Jesus Christ. Can you form a relationship with anything other than a person? Can you form a relationship with pure energy, as some like to think about God? Can you form a relationship with the creative power of the universe, as others might think of God? I think not. I find my relationship with God becomes heartfelt when I pray to the Divine-Human risen Christ. I find I know how to live my life in a religious way when I meditate on the life of Jesus. This is why the concept of God is so important.

Summer Camps

2010-08-23T16:26:00.009-04:00

The season of summer church camps is over. What an amazing camp season is was. Almont and Fryeburg camps were overflowing with friends living in community. When I was a teen, I spent most of my life looking forward to those 2 weeks of summer camp. The friends I met, the lessons I learned and the blessings I received there have lasted a lifetime. And the best thing is I continue to make new friends, learn new lessons and receive blessings each and every year I return. Perhaps this is the best part of summer camps. The fact that you can attend for life. Our family camps are pretty rare events these days. Most camps and retreats target certain age groups and activities. But at family church camp, you can return year after year and see old friends and meet new interesting people your whole life long. These places are unlike anything else that exists. You leave your school, college, youth events and work behind and often lose many of the friends that you meet there. Church camp is place you can always return to. It is like a big annual reunion where you can reconnect with everyone that you love. And your have those wonderful spiritual teachings and moments to support you and help guide you on your path. Church camp changed my life and continues to re-energize me every year. It is my heavenly community and perhaps it is yours too. I wonder how we can gather up the excitement, energy and passion that we experience at summer camp and spread it over the entire year. Then we would truly have a taste of heaven on earth.

Convention Rainbow

2010-07-11T17:35:00.008-04:00

This is the Convention rainbow created during the SCYL worship service. The rainbow was made up of post-it notes with messages from the congregation about what they are seeking. The teens wrote a poem about what the rainbow colors correspond to.

Red is for the Lord's love which pushes and empowers all.

Orange is for the charity of helping others on their journey towards their call.

Yellow is for the truth and faith which guide our way.

Green is for your strengths and talents to help you grow each day.

Blue is for intelligence, the light that directs your love.

Purple is for the wisdom, God's gift from up above.

Convention 2010!

2010-07-08T14:35:00.018-04:00

Well, another Convention has come and gone and all that remains are the collection of memories from that wonderful event. I sometimes like to wait a bit before I write about an experience to see what sticks. So, now after 10 days has past since we all departed St. Paul, I sit and listen to Mozart and Chopin and wait for images and thoughts float to the surface.

I see teen girls on the lawn of the quad at St. Thomas finger painting the ocean.

I see Cody playing Frisbee keep away with Holly, Janice, Jon and me.

I see the faded red Clifford anxiously awaiting its next call into service.

I hear the laughter and screams of teens on rides at Valleyfair and the Mall of America (can you see any SCYL girls in this video?).

I feel myself bobbing in the refreshing waves at the wave pool.

I hear the beautiful duet of Nina and Janice covering Sea of Love in the dimly glowing candlelight.

I see the teen girls coming to get Jon in his room shortly after his arrival to welcome him into the group.
I see colored seeking stick notes being formed into a rainbow.

I see teens gathering together to sing Hallelujah.

I remember Junchol's talk about the Buddha and the emotional exchange about the trading card raffle dilemma.

I feel the cool, clammy air in the cave and think about the spirits floating about there.

I see teens lined up at the bar!

I remember Cody calling Jon "Whatever" when we picked him up at the airport.

I recall our discussions about what we are seeking.

I remember how cool, resourceful and organized Liz was in the airport on our return trip.
I think about lining up for a picture in front of the wrong Clifford and wonder what the people who owned it would have thought if they saw.

I will never forget Nina's emotionally touching President address and how the SCYL truly is a home for many teens.

I love the community that you teens have created and wish every person could find a place where they feel they belong. I pray that through the SCYL and Convention experiences some of you teens do discover this sense of belonging. You are all amazing and I treasure the opportunity to work and play in your presence.

2010-06-18T16:11:00.005-04:00

SCYL fundraiser tshirts for sale this summer at Convention, Almont and Fryeburg camps. Fun to make, fun to wear and you help a teen attend a youth program! Lots of BIG sizes, lots of little sizes (especially for girls) but not too many mediums this time around. Get yours soon before they sell out.

Teen Profile: Alice

2010-06-10T11:07:00.001-04:00

Hi! I'm Alice and a ton of you probably don't know me because I haven't been to a ton of retreats partly because I live so far away from where they happen. I have lived in Olympia Washington (yes that's relatively near Seattle) my entire life and have been to Almont summer camp every other summer since I was five. This last winter I also attended Almont winter retreat which was great! Olympia is a pretty great town with a lot of local and youth theater. I spend most of my time doing homework (pretty lame huh) and hanging out in my house with my cats and reading and playing piano and, oh yeah, homework ;). When I have free time I enjoy playing frisbee and doing other various activities with my friends. Today I am going bowling with them (since I learned how at winter retreat) and then watching Star Wars movies. I also enjoy singing and learning French!

Downtown Olympia

The most exiting thing I've done recently is without a doubt my trip to France over spring break. This trip was with Kids in Koncert which is a youth choir in Olympia that is connected with the summer theater program I have been involved with every summer since I was five. This year, the choir was made up of kids ages 9-19 and everything in between. This video is of my choir and I singing at our final concert (the only one in Paris). You are probably wondering why you can't understand what we are singing. That is because it's in French. However, you might recognize the song because it is from the musical Les Misérables which was originally a french musical but was made popular when it was produced in English in London. It has since been translated back into French and a ton of other languages and is one of my personal favorites.

Most of our time in France was spent in Rodez, a small town in southern France (6 out of 7 days) and I had an amazing time. All of the kids stayed with host families which was amazing and the parents who came along stayed in a hotel. I was sorry to come home but we eat a lot more cheese now...

Now I'm busy finishing up my sophomore year in high school and am exited for summer when I will, among other things, be performing in The Sound of Music, learning to drive, going river rafting with some friends, and visiting my half brother, his wife and their 1 year old son in Nevada.

Memorial Day Retreat

2010-06-03T15:04:00.002-04:00

There was heaven and hell at this retreat and it was amazing. Those of you who were there, know all about this. Those of you who weren't, well, you will soon see why! The teens made a movie. Making a movie might have been one of the coolest things we've ever done at a retreat. Instead of our usual sessions, teens worked together to created an original story that reflected an aspect of our Swedenborgian faith. Then they set up and filmed scenes. I know that some teens may not have been into it as much as others, and that some people may have missed our regular sessions; but, I think this was one of the most creatively exciting things the SCYL has done in a long time. The main movie theme that the teens worked on centered around love and relationships (including same sex and harmful), and how the decisions you make here on earth effect your future soul after you die.

Emily and Nina in "Heaven"
The main character, played by Nina, reflects on her past in her diary as she nears the end of her life. Scenes dramatize characters here on earth who later die and reappear in the afterlife. The scene of the ladies in hell definitely creeped me out. Adults may find the movie edgy and controversial. Some in the church may even find it a touch offensive, but it does represent the best of heaven and the worst of hell (both here on earth and in the next life). It is deeply personal, emotionally charged, and it reflects how teenagers look at, struggle with and vision relationships. Most importantly, it is uniquely teen and is not something that adults created or coerced. Teen energy and life force drove the production and it shows. I also think everyone gained some spiritual insight into the nature of heaven and hell. For me, this retreat helped me remember how real and seductively dangerous demons and hellish influences can be. The decision to choose hell over heaven is very tempting and the teens did an amazing job depicting this in their movie.

Nina, Audrey, Izzy and Molly in "Hell"

Celie and Cody took the video clips home and as editors extraordinaire, are working to pull it all together with into something meaningful and understandable. In addition to working on the main feature, the teens were also captured on video discussing religion, retreats as well as some singing and playing guitar. I can't wait to see the finished products as I am sure that several different versions will be created for different audiences and purposes. In one version, selected readings from Swedenborg's works concerning choice, freedom, community, heaven and hell will be added between scenes. I am so proud of all the teens and how hard everyone worked on this project. Everyone did something - writing, directing, acting, coaching, makeup, scene, set design, etc. Thank you all for making this a Memorial Day retreat to remember. Prior to the retreat, I wrote in the retreat flyer, "I have witnessed time and time again your imaginative, inspiring and original creations. You are gifted and beautifully spiritual. You are amazing! Bring sheet music, instruments and your own unique talent. It is time to share your gifts with the world." You clearly have done this and I am blessed to have been a part of that experience. You guys rock and continue to astound me!!!

Teen Profile: Naomi

2010-05-15T14:49:00.006-04:00

Buongiorno, hello, my name is Naomi. I'm not very good at writing letters and stuff about myself, I always think of what I should have said after I submit my writing. So bear with me. I live near a pretty cool city called Cleveland. It's a lot of fun, has an awesome independent theater, beautiful parks and museums, and frikin awesome pizzerias. I am passionate about films, watching them, not being in them. Music can easily change my mood, from one extreme to the other. Umm....weird, different, and odd anythings are what I prefer. Conformity is a waste. Going to retreats opens my mind about the world every time I go. Spending time in nature and with my bestiest best friend make me super-D duper happy. My bestiest best friend and I job hunt all the time, we've filled out many applications and done many odd jobs, but never have time to splurge at concerts....the biggest dream I have is to spend a week or more in every country in the world and learn whole or part of the languages in the process. Second to that dream is to go to Lollapoloza when MGMT and Green Day are on tour which would be this summer btw, but it is way too expensive at the moment.

Both of these paintings were done when I was in 8th grade (2007-2008) and both done in watercolor.

This painting with a cigarette in it was basically my inspirations and feelings of that school year (which was the best year ever besides kindergarten). The floral makeup and pop art represented my feelings of confidence and peace.

The girl in the melting kimono is my favorite painting that I had ever done, I have written this sentence 5 times and cannot find a good way to describe it any better than the fact that it's simple, eerie, and has the 3 best colors in it: grey, purple, and blue.

In that art class I sat with 3 really artsy kids and one who was not at all. One of the artsy kids was depressed most of the time, the other one was a bubbly shy girl who loved the color pink, and the last chick was a mixture of the two. Those girls and my crazy art teacher, made that year the best year I've ever had in art. Why are all art teachers crazy by the way?

Convention Registration

2010-05-11T15:34:00.000-04:00

This Friday, May 14, your Convention registration is due. If you would like to go to Convention, please contact me asap so I can help you.

Kitchener Teen Retreat

2010-05-06T11:06:00.003-04:00

You may think that a retreat with only 4 teens might be a disappointment. You would be wrong. What the group lacked in numbers it made up for in spirit, enthusiasm and deep connectedness.

Four boys, Cameron, Malcolm, Joshua and Joseph, met at 9 am on Saturday morning at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Kitchener, Ontario. Last year, 30 teens assembled at this same retreat, so one of the first things that we did was talk about the good things about a small gathering. With a small group, you can often be more flexible, have deeper, more meaningful discussions, go on different (more costly) outings and establish closer relationships. Rev. Alison, Rev. John, Steve and I were the leaders and our theme was "Wild or Tame: Finding Yourself in the Animal Kingdom". In the morning, Rev. Alison led us on a meditation to find our animal guide(s). During the guided meditation, Rev. Alison played soothing music and purified us with a sweetgrass smudge. Burning this most sacred herb brings in positive energy and helps to create the peaceful environment to allow your spirit animal to appear. Three of the teens visioned animals, Josh an eagle, Malcolm a turtle, and Joseph a wolf. Cameron did not vision an animal, so he was called, the seeker. Alison shared many resources with us and encouraged us to find personal meaning or message from our spirit animal by looking through Native American and Celtic druid books.

The four boys gathered with Rev. John in the afternoon to take an in depth look at Psalm 23. John explained how there are 150 Psalms in the Bible and that Psalm 23, one of the most beloved, is about God being our shepherd, or guide. The teens then were given freedom to create their own poem or song relating the strength of the Lord as reflected in animal guides. The boys wrote a wonderful poem that they titled "Psalm 151"

Psalm 151
By Cameron, Malcolm, Joshua and Joseph

I am a seeker who cannot find a guide.
I am slow and very knowledgeable like the earth.
I am a spiritual light to whom all people come.
I inspire energy, healing and aid.
I am a guardian of rituals, loyalty, and spirit.
I am a Seeker, I am a Turtle,
I am an Eagle, and I am a Wolf.
We are your guides.

Later in the afternoon, we were joined by Tanya, a modern dance and martial arts leader. Tanya taught us how to "score" a performance and then helped the teens create an original modern movement of the Psalm 151 poem. She provided encouragement and advise on how to bring the poem to life. Then she added music to play in the background during the movement and reading. After a couple of rehearsals in the sanctuary, the teens felt ready to share their creation with the congregation at the Sunday worship service.

In the evening, we were treated to a showing of "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D. Then we went over to the Groleau's home where we joined with their boys (Rochelle is away) to enjoy their trampoline, fire pit and marshmallows, snacks and video games (plus lots and lots of yummy coffee for me!). We returned to the church around midnight with just enough time to play a little Sims 3 before bed.

Sunday morning, we gathered for a quick breakfast, cleaned up and prepared for worship. During the worship service, Josh played the keyboard during the Offertory. Then the four boys, Cameron, Malcolm, Joshua and Joseph performed Psalm 151 to close the worship service. I enjoyed the seeking of Cameron, the slow, deliberate turtle plodding of Malcolm, the wolf roaming of Joseph, and loved watching Josh fly like an eagle (I caught a video of it during rehearsal to share with you). I left the retreat feeling enlivened and free. It was an enlightening experience for me and I truly feel blessed to spend some time getting to know each of these teens better. Their talent and spirit inspires me and I look forward to visiting with them again soon.

The Book of Eli

2010-04-26T22:16:00.003-04:00

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

I just saw an interesting movie called "The Book of Eli." The movie takes place in the world after a great, probably nuclear, war. It is about a special book that Morgan Freeman carries with him and reads from every night. The evil ruler of a city wants that book desperately. He knows its power. He knows that if he has the words from that book, he can control people and find more cities for him to rule. We soon realize that the book is the Bible.

The Bible is unlike any other book. It is God's word. And words from the Bible have founded civilizations. Moses founded the kingdom of Israel with words in that book. Christianity was founded by words Jesus taught in that Book. The words of the Bible have power.

Swedenborg tells us that when we read the Bible, angels and God Himself becomes present. Our heart warms and our mind becomes clear. But the Bible was written so that people could relate to it. It is written in some places in "appearances." That means God "appears" however the people thought God was like when the Bible was written. So the Bible says that God is angry, vengeful, and harsh in places. But God actually is none of these things. God is infinite love, and can't even look upon the human race with a stern countenance. He "appeared" that way to a harsh, vengeful people.

The Bible is also written in "correspondences." Correspondences are a symbolic language like poetic metaphors. Water means truth. The Sun means God and God's love. Mild animals like sheep mean good feelings. We don't need to think about these correspondences when we read the Bible. We need only read the story the way we would read any story, and the angels with us will understand the correspondences and fill us with love and enlightenment.

The Bible is just as powerful as the movie makes it. It would be good for everyone to take some time out of every day and read some of it, like Eli did.

Nina and Holly

2010-04-21T15:10:00.003-04:00

collage by Holly

Hallelujah

2010-04-16T15:32:00.003-04:00

Fryeburg Youth Group Spring Sleepover

2010-04-13T13:38:00.003-04:00

Izzy on the Sax!

The Fryeburg Youth Group hosted it's Spring Sleepover last weekend. Teens gathered at the Fryeburg church on Saturday at 4 pm for a big, exciting overnight. We had a surprise teen guest (Cody) come all the way from Indiana to join us! It was fun to watch the reactions of everyone who saw him. I'm sorry that teens that couldn't attend youth group and everyone out here in Maine didn't get a chance to visit with him (but he'll be back for Memorial Day). It was a nice sunny day, so we started by going to the Snow School park to play Frisbee, swing and climb. People keep showing up and there ended up being 14 teens! Then we went back to the church for dinner and to practice music for Sunday worship. Izzy went upstairs to practice the Sax for the prelude and postlude while the rest of the teens gathered around Nina and her guitar to practice "Hallelujah" and listen to her solo of "I'll Stand By You". After a pasta dinner, we went over to see Rev. Sage at the Parsonage for dessert. She had a giant peanut butter cake for us and Nina brought and made her own brownie batter that was "Nina safe". Around 9 pm we went back to the church to for a spiritual session where we watched and discussed YouTube videos "God as a DJ" and "I've Converted to Every Religion (Just in Case)". After a bit more music rehearsal we played a games of "Sardines" and "Mafia". We all went to bed around 2 am, but I heard the girls up until the wee hours of the morning telling stories and giggling. We woke Sunday morning with just enough time to take a walk up to "On the Run" for coffee and snacks then back to the church for a bagel breakfast before worship. Some of the teens colored the little kids Sunday School page (I love that Celie enjoys this!). Then at we went upstairs for worship. All of the teen music was wonderful and I am happy to be able to share the videos for everyone to see and hear (more on the way!). Many teens commented that this one the best sleepover ever. Almost as good as a retreat. I thought so too. I left feeling positive and happy. No small part due to your teenage energy, discussions, music and beautiful creative spirit. Thank you! What a great lead in to the upcoming Memorial retreat.

Former League President Rev. Sage Serene Currie

2010-04-08T19:45:00.006-04:00

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

This month's featured former League President:

Rev. Sage Serene Currie
Served 1995

It was a sunny day in May when I naively hopped into a car headed for the Blairhaven retreat center with Rev. Jim Lawrence and three teens from Fryeburg, Maine. A few weeks earlier my mom had seen a flyer for an SCYL Memorial Day retreat and asked me if I'd wanted to go. The only teen in the Portland New Church at the time it must have been an angelic influence that led me to say "Sure," and to get into that car with that strange bunch of characters I'd never met before in my life. I should have been scared, or at least tentative about the whole thing but somehow I wasn't, and I went, and my life has never been the same since.

I spent that first retreat mostly as a quiet observer, watching the kids around me, and the ministers, and the way they all related to each other. Everyone was so loving towards each other, and open with how they felt, this was so different from the way my friends at school seemed to relate with each other. People were odd, and creative, and fun, and I fell in love with them all.

Now this is perhaps where my story gets a little weird. After I returned from that first retreat my parents got a call from my homeroom teacher at school. "Mr. and Mrs. Currie, um, I don't know exactly how to ask this but, did something happen to Sage? She's going around and telling all of her classmates that she loves them?"

It was true. I returned home from that retreat in a kind of blissful state and tried to spread that joy and love to my school community. I have memories of that week and they're pretty funny now. I remember my joy was a bit contagious to some of my classmates and we all got a little bit closer, and some people thought I was a freak. Maybe I was a freak, and maybe I was just doing my best to share the Good News of Swedenborgian Community to my 7th grade classmates!

Well, I'm still sharing that Good News 20 years later, as a minister in the Swedenborgian Church, and pastor now in Fryeburg, Maine. Funny how that circle has some how become complete as it was those Fryeburg teens so long ago that first introduced me to this church that I love.

I went on to go to every Memorial Day and Winter Retreat that happened between my 13th and 18th birthday, attended every session of the Fryeburg New Church Assembly, Convention in St. Louis and San Francisco, and at 18 served as the President of the SCYL.

When I was 23 I was hired by Convention to serve as the SCYL Coordinator and organized and led teen retreats until entering seminary in 2002. Being a part of the SCYL has had a huge impact on my life. Having a place where I could be fully myself, where there were adults who cared about and respected me, and being in an environment where I could ask big questions about why we are here and what God is all about gave me a grounding that helped me through the challenges of coming of age, and finding my place in the world.

My biggest learning from the SCYL, was that there was a place for me that would always be there, that I was loved, by God and by the church. And that the angels would keep guiding me along the path, just as they did that sunny day in May.

Easter

2010-04-04T07:29:00.001-04:00

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

An angry mob could not keep Jesus down. Death itself, could not conquer the Divine Human. On Easter Day, God and Man became one being as Jesus rose from the grave.

This is a very difficult idea to believe in. I know many people who respect Jesus as a prophet, and a teacher; and who follow His teachings. But they find it too difficult to believe that Jesus was the Divine Human and that Jesus rose from the grave.

God became a human when Jesus was born. And all through Jesus’ life, God and human came closer and closer. It wasn’t until the final temptation on the cross and the death of Jesus, that God and Human became one Being. Now God can come close to each one of us because He is Human like we are. Jesus rose body and soul, like no human can do. This means that God came down to the physical level, and now God is a physical presence with everyone.

God is now no longer a mystery. We can understand God by looking at Jesus. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). God came to earth to bring His presence to humans in a way that humans could understand God. In the New testament, we have stories of Jesus, and by reading them, we can learn about God. With the full union of God and Man in the risen Jesus Christ, we now know God and God can come to us wherever we are, however we feel. For God is a human.

Good Friday

2010-04-01T11:23:00.003-04:00

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

Jesus was crucified on Good Friday as the result of mob violence. People will do things in a mob or in a gang that they wouldn’t dream of doing on their own. The same mob that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday turned against Him and called for His death one week later.

We see mob behavior everywhere. People get together and gossip in groups against a school mate, a neighbor, or a teacher or work supervisor. It is similar with political parties, who band together against the other party. Sometimes the party itself becomes the most important thing, and the issues or the people’s welfare are forgotten. We see mob behavior in street gangs, where drive-by shootings happen for vengeance or control of a neighborhood or drug trade. We see it in riots, where people loot and destroy with reckless abandon. How many of these actions would be committed one-on-one, or person to person?

Pilate found no cause to convict Jesus. He handed Him over to the mob because he feared a riot. We learn one lesson from Good Friday: do not follow a crowd in doing wrong. Stand alone, if need be to do the next right thing.

Teen Profile: Holly

2010-03-30T09:55:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-03-25T11:07:00.010-04:00

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

2010-03-23T12:42:00.003-04:00

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

2010-03-18T21:57:00.006-04:00

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

2010-02-27T11:59:00.006-05:00

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

2010-02-14T22:16:00.004-05:00

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

2010-01-28T10:30:00.006-05:00

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.”

2010 SCYL Officers

2010-01-22T15:01:00.005-05:00

The 2010 Swedenborgian Church Youth League (SCYL) Officer and Chaplain elections took place at the Almont Winter Retreat this past December. The results are:

President - Nina

East Coast and Public Relations Officer - Rachel

Midwest and Activities Officer - Janice

Canada and Service Officer - Joseph

West Coast and Fundraising & Finance Officer - Cody

Editor, Clear Blue Sky and Communication Officer - Holly

League Chaplain - Rev. Dr. David Fekete

12345 82nd St. Apt 201

Edmonton, AB T5B 2X3

Canada

feketedavid@yahoo.com

cell: (780) 995-6063

We've got some new officers and some returning officers. We are sad to say goodbye to 2009 officers Alex, Sam and Jake who are 19 now and must leave the SCYL. We look forward to seeing them at Transitions retreats, Convention and summer camps.

We have a great group of officers elected to serve in 2010. Nina, returns for a second term as SCYL President. Nina was an inspirational and amazingly positive leader last year and we are so excited to have her back again. She is busy applying to colleges and singing (Nina is excited to play the lead villain in her high school production of “Once Upon a Mattress”). She is very involved in church retreats, camps and Convention so your almost sure to meet her if you attend one of these events. Watch out, her happy, playful spirit is contagious!

Janice and Joseph are new officers. Janice has been very active in her participation at Almont Summer Camp, Convention and retreats. We are so pleased to have her finally as an officer! She is a gifted musician and expressive conversationalist. You’re sure to get an interesting story and lots of questions when talking with Janice! Joseph is new to the SCYL and we are so excited to see

him playing such an important role in the future of the League at such a young age. We look forward to his insight and energy.

Cody begins his fifth year of service to the SCYL returning as the West and Fundraising/Finance Officer. Rachel returns for her third year as East Coast and Public Relations Officer. Holly begins the challenging job as CBS editor for a second year. She did an amazing job putting out three great issues in 2009 and we are excited and blessed to have her continuing on. Please help her out by sending her stories, poems, pictures, articles, drawings, whatever you want to share with the other teens.

Rev. Dr. David Fekete was re-elected to his

third year as the League Chaplain. Dr. Dave as he is commonly known, spends a lot time traveling to retreats and camps to help make them great. He writes monthly chaplain posts that you can read here. Best of all, he writes some hilarious Mad Libs that are highly entertaining!

Please join me in congratulating all of our 2010 SCYL Officers and our League Chaplain. This marks another year where we are thrilled to have a great mix of teens leading the League. I’m elated to be working with this group and I hope that you get a chance to meet them if you haven't already.

Winter Retreat Worship Service Poem

2010-01-19T11:25:00.003-05:00

Balance Your Peace and Love

Peace,
without who am i,
or who are you.
War solves none,
just does more,
evil.

Love,
something,
something I found,
we found really,
when we're born,
it gained never lost.

Balance,
Peace and Love,
seize and dove,
it creates us....

as one

~ by Josh

Almont Winter Retreat

2010-01-12T13:52:00.002-05:00

Winter retreat at Almont was incredible. Despite many of us being sick (including me) with persistent lingering colds (some have renamed the retreat Snotfest 2009, yuck!). The retreat was lively, full of life and energy. Coma couch got a workout, as usual. Did you know that this was the first Almont winter retreat for thirteen teens? Ten teens who attended had never even visited Almont before. It was wonderful to see the "longtime" SCYL teens greet the new teens and help to welcome them into our community. It is hard for someone to break into a new group and I really appreciate all that everyone did to make the new teens feel comfortable and accepted. It is my hope and prayer that teens new to Almont will find it to be a positive environment where the soul is nourished, the spirit is lifted - a place where lifelong caring friends can be found. And I hope new Almonters come back year after year, to SCYL retreats, summer camps and other events. This is my experience, and it has made all the difference in my life. And it is the SCYL spirit of acceptance and your care for one another that perhaps I value most.

What memories did I take home from this retreat? Bowling and pizza, bringing that nasty Satan into the light, frozen Ultimate, watching the joy that is Coma Couch, talking about Old Testament laws and how they apply today, Catch Phrase, discussing marriage and same sex relationships, Foreigner in the van, and singing grace at interstate service plazas. What did you take home from this retreat? Please add your comments to those of Nina and Rachel here and let everyone know!

My mind is flooding with memories of all the fun things we did— getting all dressed for everything (especially bowling), sharing stories while washing dishes, freezing during Ultimate Frisbee, devouring popsicles and garlic bread, bonding with the girls at 3 a.m., and having a raving dance party in Pfister lounge with glow sticks! ~ Nina

The four days I spent there were so filled with love and laughter and happiness and excitement and back-breaking, rib-cracking hugs. ~ Nina

Upon arriving we were quickly acquainted with the beloved tap water, we had all managed to forget about. From this point on, everything is one giant blur; once other people started showing up we were on retreat time, which means that an hour feels like it's three. ~ Rachel

The sessions were really intriguing. I especially enjoyed Sage’s topic of same sex marriage and of course the closing worship service that ended with all the teens singing along to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” I found that moment to be truly touching. ~ Nina

...i'd say the amount of fun and everlasting experiences can be measured by the number of people who keep coming back and the new ones who have been convinced into coming. ~ Rachel

Almont was incredible, and I thank all the teens and staff for making it such a beautiful place. ~ Nina

Happy New Year!

2010-01-08T22:27:00.002-05:00

Sorry that I have not gotten a post up recently. I've been very busy. I promise Almont winter retreat pictures and stories very soon. Keep checking in. Hope you are healthy, happy and enjoying the new year.

Christmas Lights

2009-12-23T10:00:00.010-05:00

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

In the dark December days, there is a blessed light. The whole month seems to be filled with Christmas cheer. Lights go up on houses and trees. Decorations go up inside houses. People seem happier. The dark December days are lit up with the cheer of Christmas.

Our church calendar is also brightened with the coming of Christmas. We think of that little baby in the manger, of innocent shepherds, of the chorus of angels singing praises to the newborn Christ child. This is a season that especially honors the family. In this season, motherhood is placed in the center of religious observance. Christmas is especially about that special bond between a mother and her child.

Christmas demands a great leap of faith. Our theology teaches that in Christ’s birth, God came to humanity. The word Immanuel in Hebrew means “God with us.” And that is what this church teaches. The miracle of Christ’s birth is that God took on a human form. God came to a world that was darker than December nights. The Word of God had been replaced with rituals and customs of men. Inhumanity reigned free. Horrible acts of cruelty were commonplace.

Into that darkness a light was born. Into an insignificant manger, a baby and his mother celebrated the miracle of birth. Into a quiet manger, a baby was born who would transform the world. This is what Christmas means to me. It means all of the above: cheer, Christmas lights, giving gifts, the bond of mother and child, and the coming of God into the darkest night, in the darkest age of humanity. This Christmas season, let Christ come into your hearts. Let Christ’s Spirit fill you with joy. Let Christ’s love shine through you. Celebrate the coming of Immanuel, and let God be with you.

Former League President Rev. Dr. David Fekete

2009-12-13T15:26:00.013-05:00

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

This month's featured former League President:

Rev. Dr. David Fekete
Served 1973

(current SCYL Chaplain)

[Dave at age 19]

When I became President of the SCYL, things were pretty dismal. I was elected at Convention in 1973. There were maybe 7 of us, and that represented about how big the SCYL was then. Church membership was falling off at alarming rates. There was no League Journal. There were only us few. It looked to us like the SCYL was going to die out.

I decided to revive the Journal that year. We gave it the title Clear Blue Sky, because we had hopes for a new, greater future.

[Dave preaching at age 13 in the Almont Chapel]

That summer I was hitch-hiking across the US and Canada. People were doing that back then, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it today. I decided to visit all the leaguers who were spread across the country and get in touch with them. I also got their addresses so we could send them Clear Blue Sky and keep those in touch who were spread out, though there weren’t many. We published a Journal each month from Detroit, where I lived then.

We had Christmas retreats at Almont then. But the only minister there was the Detroit minister, and most of the leaguers were from the Detroit church. We got a few from New England. As it is today, we all had a great time together. We enjoyed religious sessions and having fun with each other.

[Rev. Dr. Dave today]

It is thrilling for me to see how the SCYL has grown since I was president. You now have significant numbers and close ties of friendship. The SCYL is a strong organization now. The hopes we had way back in 1973 of a vibrant youth group are realized today. And the SCYL is growing stronger by the day.

Fryeburg Youth Group Christmas Sleepover

2009-12-07T13:47:00.012-05:00

Our Christmas sleepover was great last Saturday night. Eleven of us gathered at the Fryeburg New Church to swap gifts, eat spaghetti, talk Swedenborg, play Sardines (of course), Apples to Apples, Psychiatrist, and other reindeer games. Hungry Hungry Hippo and the Rudolph play set keep us entertained. Holly and Celie came from Portland and joined the Fryeburg teens. Ian was the only boy, so that was quite interesting (he did not stay overnight, but left late and returned in the morning). As it was the first snowfall, once it got dark the teens made a little snowman and snuck around outside the church hunting each other and attacking with snowballs. This raised suspicion amongst the local residents who called the police suspecting foul play or a b&e in progress! A police officer crept in the church at 1 am and quietly came downstairs to observe what was going on (a rousing game of Apples to Apples). When we heard the upstairs door open and close, of course we suspected a ghost. When the officer came around the corner, all the girls screamed! I'm surprised he didn't pull out his gun. Lee and I straightened out the situation and then we had a good laugh. We went to bed around 1:30 am and then got up to a bagel breakfast and worship. This was a really fun overnight. I hope even more teens can join us for our next sleepover in the spring.

Teen Profile: Dorothy

2009-11-30T15:01:00.016-05:00

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.