It's a Small World After All!

Yesterday, three of my friends and I played hooky (with permission from our bosses, of course) and spent the day at Disneyland! And for once, I wasn't even the nerdiest one in the group. Since we went on a weekday, the lines were pretty short. We started at California Adventure, and we rode Tower of Terror, Radiator Springs Racers (first time), California Screamin', Ariel's Undersea Adventure (first time), and Soarin' Over California. We sat through Turtle Talk With Crush, and Crush talked to me! He gave me a new nickname "Laguna Lauren" duuuuude. Then a hop, skip and a jump over to the Happiest Place on Earth for Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Space Mountain (twice!), Buzz Lightyear and straight to the front of the line for the Matterhorn (favorite!) because my friend was wearing a Matterhorn shirt. As magical as all of that was the true magic happened, coincidentally, after getting off of It's a Small World. When what to my wondering eyes should appear? Two of my favorite people, the camp directors at El Camino Pines (the second happiest place on earth!) I love that one of the first things they said to me was 'Of course we would run into you at Disneyland'.
Then, Disney magic and Christmas magic joined forces, and we got to hear a beautiful choir singing some of my favorite holiday hymns, and even some scripture readings about the Reason for the Season!

Even though I wasn't able to find a Disney Christmas mug worthy of my collection, it's pretty safe to say it was one of the best Disney Days ever!!

Put it into practice...

I 'follow' the ELCA on twitter...well, I follow a lot of people/organizations on twitter, but who ever is in charge of tweeting on behalf of the ELCA will once in a while ask a really awesome 'think about it' question. This past Saturday the question was 'Do you remember your confirmation verse?' And I actually have a really interesting 'relationship' with my confirmation verse.

When it was given to 15 year-old me at my confirmation, I was like 'sure, this verse is, like, cool and stuff'. Then I tucked it away in my Bible and didn't really give it much thought. I'd revisit it from time to time, but it didn't really click what my verse was about. The meaning of the verse was fairly clear, but I didn't understand why my pastor had picked this verse for me. I didn't get it.

In fact, I didn't 'get' why my pastor chose this verse for me until about 2 years ago.

The verse is Philippians 4:9 "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice and the God of Peace will be with you". The entire book of Philippians is a letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Philippi, and in the fourth chapter (the last chapter) Paul is leaving the Philippians with some final instructions and encouragement. With this particular verse, Paul is encouraging the recipients of the letter to follow in his example of ministry and spread the word of Christ to the community.

Now there's some back ground on the verse, here is some background on 15-year-old me and why she didn't think this verse particularly applied to her:

When I was 15 I was toying with the idea of being an interior designer when I grew up. And while I knew I was still going to go to church and 'all that stuff' I didn't really see myself going out into the community to talk to people about Jesus...well, not intentionally, anyway.

Then about four years later, I decided to declare as a religion major in college. I came home from college for the summer and was asked to help with the 7-12th grade class for vacation Bible school at my home church. The next winter, I was asked to come along as a chaperone for the winter retreat. I talked to my youth director. I talked to the current youth director. I talked to my pastor. I talked to my parents. I talked to them about the possibility of going into youth ministry. These two small fortes into being a youth leader sparked a fire. Working as a camp counselor fanned the flame, and all this time, my confirmation verse stayed tucked away in my Bible and tucked way away in the back of my head.

After graduating and devoting one last summer to ECP, I made several attempts to be a youth director in the 'real world'. I got a bunch of 'no's which was incredibly discouraging. Maybe I wasn't supposed to be in youth ministry after all. Then my mom told me the story about how I used to teach Sunday school to my stuffed animals. After nearly a year of 'we're looking for someone with more experience', I approached my pastor and the current youth director at the church and asked if I could do some sort of 'internship' at the church in order to gain the 'experience' that I lacked. I got the 'job'. And my own office!! As I was getting my new office all set up, I decided the bevy of Bibles I have would look good on the shelves, and as I was placing my 'Teen Study Bible' up on the shelf, I decided to thumb through it. I found the slip of paper with Philippians 4:9 typed on it that I had received at my confirmation.

I was taking the things that I had learned and I was putting them into practice. This verse that was 'cool and stuff' may not have applied to 15-year-old me, but youth director me has discovered a whole new side to this verse that makes me wonder if my pastor knew something back then that I didn't...

No one ever said it would be easy...

...try explaining this in a children's message:
Luke 21: 16-17 "You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of me." ...I mean yeah, it gets better since 18-19 says "But not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life." But what part do you think an 8 year old is going to focus on?
This is harder than when I gave my children's sermon about Jesus healing on the Sabbath and I had to come up with a way to say "it's okay to break the rules sometimes" without losing my job or having the parents of the congregation hate me. Or the time my children's message resulted in half of the kids begging their parents for puppies...that's the last time I use that as a metaphor for perseverance.
Give me "congratulations, you're not perfect" any Sunday. Heck, when I gave that one, people were talking about it for weeks. Weeks, I tell you, weeks!!!

Now I have to talk children into loving Jesus without scaring them out of it? There is no way I can pull this off without getting in some kind of trouble with someone.

The Third Commandment

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy ~ Exodus 20:8 (MSG)
I take this to mean many things. I go to church on Sundays, yes...but I also use a holy mug. Well, today I did. I only have one, so we'll have to wait and see what happens the rest of the Sundays in August.
This mug was a promotion for the building project that the church I grew up in was doing. It has a pun on the back. Such a cute play on words...well...you'll see
It feels like I'm cheating on my current church to say this, but I really miss Christ Lutheran. Maybe it's just a feeling you get from a community that has know you since you were 'this big' (hand held about two feet off the ground). I do like the church I'm at now (and I'm not just a member, but an employee as well), but CLC will always hold a special place in my heart.



I really like the cruciform cross that is on the front of this mug. I also have it as a necklace, which I wear almost every day. It reminds me that, yes, Jesus died on the cross...but He's not there anymore. He conquered death to save us all!! Amen!