Week 1: Why do we fear?
Week 2: Fear of not mattering
Week 3: Fear of disappointing God
Week 4: Fear of life's final moments
Week 5: Fear of global calamity
Week 6: Fear of God getting out of my box
Members of ERUMC are breaking off into small groups to discuss these topics from Lucado's book/video series, and we're joining in because these fears are pertinent to youth too. Fear of not mattering gets us into popularity contests and jealousy fits that are often artificial. Fear of disappointing God and God getting out of our boxes are a little less tangible, but still evident in our guilt of "not doing enough" for God, and are actualized in our challenge to love and serve Jesus by serving others. The fear of life's final moments and death are things that we all deal with and never know quite how to handle. These are real, real-life issues. Though fears range from passing a driver's test, to acing a chemistry test, to taking a pregnancy test, there are good conversations to be had about how God works in and through our fears to make us better Christians who are ever more confident in Him. Spark February 3: PersonalityLion, Beaver, Otter, Golden Retriever
Life Lessons from Sesame Street At SPARK, we just got done with a great series (that merged into Lux a little bit) and had a really good time diving into how Sesame Street still has things to teach us about life- and about how the Bible can teach us the same lessons. Here’s a little overview of what we discussed:
Life Lessons from Sesame Street:
Week 1: Count Your Blessings
Sesame Street Character: The Count; Song: That’s What Counts to the Count
It’s so much easier to complain than it is to share praises and rejoice! What would happen if each day, each of us proclaimed “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Pslam 118:14). I have a friend that does that every day, and he affirms that that’s what makes the difference in a good day. We should be quicker to count our blessings than we are to lament our misfortunes.
Week 2: Don’t be a Grouch
Sesame Street Character: Oscar the Grouch; Song: I Love Trash
We love trash. We consume ourselves in a busy schedule- life clutter- that gets in the way of us and God. And the time we could be spending with God, we often spend filling our minds and hearts with media trash- Cosmo, MTV, and celebrity scandal. Not that these are all inherently bad, but there is trash that we deem “quality trash” that really does get in the way of us and God. And the Bible says- time and time again- that we shouldn’t pollute ourselves in that way. We learn how to gossip this way, and often that leads to a third kind of trash- one that results in the carnage of toxic and broken friendships. These are only three different varieties of the trash we consume and love, but three that we have pretty sizable control over. Mediate and monitor your trash consumption- and take out the trash every now and then. If you’re surrounded by trash, you’re bound to be a Grouch.
Week 3: Taking care of the neighborhood
Sesame Street Character: Kermit the Frog; Song: It’s Not That Easy Being Green, Who Are The People in Your Neighborhood
Two kinds of Organic: Organic Faith and Organic/Sustainable Living. Organic Faith means boiling faith down to the bare bones- Love God, Love Others. So, who are the people in your neighborhood? Are you kind to them, know who they are, do nice things because they’re your neighbor? Can you set an example by caring for the people in your neighborhood? (And that can be defined broader than people on the same street- it can be people in the same club, class, lunch table…) We are called to be stewards of God’s love for us- and that said, we are to be stewards of God’s creation for us. It’s important to be environmental stewards- people who take care of, and are attentive to God’s great Earth.
Week 4: Believe in Yourself
Sesame Street Character: Elmo; Song: Believe in Yourself, One of These Things is Not Like the Other
Romans 12: 2 encourages us to not be conformed by the ways of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We are too live lives that glorify God, that understand and want to live by the fruits of the spirit, in a way that ultimately glorifies God by utilizing our God-given strengths. Alex and Brett Harris, authors of Do Hard Things, encourage us to not let our lives be wasted. We should believe in ourselves, strive for excellence, and affirm that God should be glorified therein.
This Life Lessons from Sesame Street summary is brought to you by the letter S and the number 4.
January 2010: Asking Big Questions
During college, I’d find my mind wandering sometime around 2am, after fishing that reading or that paper and preparing for bed, my mind would settle on some HUGE, cataclysmic “God-question.” The logical response to this, apparently, was to text a friend of mine (who lived upstairs) said question, and hope for a response. Note: texting cataclysmic questions at 2am is probably one of the least satisfying things to do.
That said, it was a chance to share big questions and get a conversation started.
My “big questions” phase ended, and today was resparked by reading an article in Relevant Magazine. And more than I took from that article, I wondered why I stopped asking big questions. Was it because I wouldn’t get answers? Or was I content with not knowing? Or did I not want to challenge others, nor be challenged? Maybe I just was asked to stop sending three-page texts…
Whatever it was, I am a little disappointed in myself that I’ve stopped asking big questions. With the onset of the new year, the new challenges that lie ahead, the conversations with friends who may now be strangers, I encourage you to ask big questions.
I hope that you are challenged by the curriculum of your Confirmation classes. I hope that you engage in Lux and Spark and are encouraged to ask questions and seek to wholly understand concepts. I hope that you’re not stifled by uncertain consequences and earnestly seek out the answers- or at least the conversations- or at the VERY LEAST, the opportunity to ask Big Questions…not by way of text message…
January 2: YOUTHCHURCH On Saturday, January 2, we will be presenting our second ever YOUTHCHURCH service.
What is a YOUTHCHURCH service? you may be asking yourself... And it is simply this: A church service designed with YOUTH in mind. The music is a little...a lot...a whole lot louder, the message is more pertinent and geared at what youth are interested in and talking about, and things are just generally more crazy. This time around, we're doing a ska piece, Sami's rapping, and watching clips from Fame! as we focus on the fame that we ascribe to other things, in place of the fame God truly deserves.
Who should come to a YOUTCHURCH service? Answer: EVERYBODY! Though it's geared at ERUMC Youth (grades 7-12), friends and family and younger and older siblings are more than welcome to come! We've got college kids on the music team, and lots of friends from out of town. We had parents and people who just love and care about youth at our last service and it was a great time! So, invite everybody you know to join in the fun at YOUTHCHURCH on January 2nd at ERUMC- in the Sanctuary. Contact Sami with any questions.
Operation Christmas Child: 200 Boxes! A week before we stopped collecting boxes for Operation Christmas Child, I was worried that we wouldn’t even meet our goal. We only had 60 boxes, and we needed 134, with only one week to go. To my surprise, in one week, we not only reached our goal, but went above and beyond, collecting 200 boxes total. I was so amazed by this, and it goes to show what our congregation can do for others. I want to thank everyone for the boxes and donations, and ask that you continue to pray for Operation Christmas Child and all the kids who’ll receive a box this Christmas. Together, the youth and the congregation were able to accomplish something big! -Gus Gleiter
November 8-22: Operation Christmas Child
ERUMC Youth are heading up this winter’s Operation Christmas Child Collection. In efforts to have a fruitful collection, we are beginning a week before national collection week, so your shoe boxes are welcome from November 8-November 22. There will be a drop off site located near the Welcome Center near the sanctuary. Information will be handed out at church in the weeks to come, but below is the general information about how you can participate:
Use an empty shoe box (standard size, please) or a small plastic container. You can wrap the box (lid separately), but wrapping is not required.
Most importantly, pray for the child who will receive your gift.
Determine whether your gift will be for a boy or a girl, and the child’s age category: 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14. Cut out the appropriate boy/girl label. Mark the correct age category on the label, and tape the label to the top of your box.
Fill the box with a variety of gifts that will bring delight to a child. Please donate $7 or more for each shoe box you prepare to help cover shipping and other project costs. You can give online by using our EZGIVE option, or you can write a check to Samaritan’s Purse (note “OCC” on memo line) and place it in an envelope on top of the gift items inside your box. If you or your family are preparing more than one shoe box, please make one combined donation. Place a rubber band around each closed shoe box and drop off at church.
Please do not include Used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures; chocolate or food; out-of-date candy; liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snowglobes or glass containers; aerosol cans.
Our Goal is 134 Boxes!
October 2009: Fire in Your Belly
Yesterday, I was talking with some folks about how the fire in my belly got started- the fire for sharing my faith and loving people and living an overtly Christian lifestyle. I started thinking about when and how I got that fire in my belly, that desire to pursue a life of leading ministry, and how I can best encourage others to fuel their fire, fan their flame, and do the same.
We’re a bunch of doers. We do things well. We do church. We do choirs. We do youth group. And I’ve seen a passion in our youth to do more than doing. We’ve talked at length about the person we want to be…after all we are human BEings, not human doings (I had a college professor who had a whole month long lecture on that). We strive to BE people who seek to fulfill the mission of the Church: Love God, Love Others, Reach Out. That’s done by orienting our doing into being…being people who have a heart aligned and oriented for Kingdom work. (I just read that phrase somewhere and think it’s beautiful.)
So, as we’re fueling the fire in our belly, it’s the whole process of fueling the BEing that we are, and not just doing things to fan the flame. We must fuel it, must find the best ways to build it up and sustain it and that’s not just by adding newspaper to it to keep it going haphazardly and as needed; we must learn how to fuel our fire, turn up the flame, and keep it healthy, glowing, and shining (Matthew 5:16).
Fall 2009: Active Listening
Summer has come and is mostly gone, and a “new year” begins as many are gearing up for a new school year. For some, it’s the first time away from home, off at college, ready for a life-changing experience. For others, it’s the first step into a high school or middle school they can now claim as their own, at long last. And for some, well, it’s back to the daily grind, nothing new, no adventures to be had, no apprehension about what’s next. Just. School.
Something I’ve been working on, and encourage you to as well, is approaching things as an active listener. Now, this may be much easier for some of you, but it’s been a real challenge for me. So, for those of you starting something new and for those of you going back to something you wish you didn’t have to, here’s my challenge: pay attention. There’s that song in Sister Act 2 that says, “If you wanna be somebody, if you wanna go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention.” So true. I think that we are so bombarded with things we don’t need to pay attention to, we stop paying attention. We are so conditioned to conversations not being important three days later that we just tune them out- we tune everything out- and we stop paying attention. So, I’ve been conditioning myself to be an active listener to things that may actually require my attention- to friends that I haven’t seen for a while, to conversations with my family, to the church sermon on Sunday.
It’s hard to train ones’ self into- actually figuring out what requires our attention, time, effort, but I can tell that it’s helping me discipline myself into focusing on what is important- as an active listener, not just a passerby in the conversation.
June 2009: Congrats Grads!
Congratulations ERUMC Seniors
Nick Werner, Noel Amborn, Danielle Goggins, Nick Geagan, Mike Creelman, David Hodd, Amy Jindra, Nick Lakings, Rachel Nichols, Dani Savage, Kassie Turner, Jane Lawrence, Kyle Bruntmeyer, Liz Dziuk, Ben Keyport
ERUMC would like to congratulate our Class of 2009 on their accomplishments and achievements! Best of luck and God's blessing as you go forth; know how much we care about you here and are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers!
April 2009: Thinking Spring!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
So, this spring thing has got every one in a frenzy. Yesterday, I was tempted to wear flip flops and a puffy vest. I thought that might be a little over the top, so I wore a ¾ length sleeved shirt and a puffy vest…and no socks with my ballet flats.
But you probably don’t care about my fashion choices and logic behind them as you are reading this website. So, onto other things: Spring.
New birth. New life springs forth. Flowers. Sunshine. Beautiful sunsets over the lake. Picnics. Shorts. Oh, spring.
But it’s a time where we get really bogged down by routine. We know how the flow goes by now- what’s going to happen next, and are just excited for SUMMER!
But poor spring, it gets about a week’s recognition around Easter and then we want the snow gone and the shorts on. Period.
Embrace spring. Embrace a time of new creation. As buds grow on flowers and trees, I encourage you to grow in your faith too. As the grass turns from bland and pale brown to a vibrant green, so too may the embracing of your faith give birth to new life. May you seek fresh, new, innovative ways to grow this spring. May you be challenged to grow and keep up with the gardening- keep the weeds out, they grow fast this time of the year too :)
October 1st: Believers and Activists!
Just as “believers” are a dime a dozen in the church, so are “activists” in social justice circles nowadays. But lovers are hard to come by. And I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of—lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the say, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about. We are trying to raise up an army not simply of street activists but of lovers—a community of people who have fallen desperately in love with God and with suffering people, and who allow those relationships to disturb and transform them. - Shane Claiborne, Irresistible Revolution, 295-296
This year, I hope to encourage you to embrace your love for others with a heart of service. It’s important to understand the revolutionary love of Christ, and the irresistible revolution that he calls us to. He calls us to be lovers, to be transformed by the heart of Christ, and embrace it as our own. This grows progressively difficult as our lives get cluttered and the school year gets into full swing.
But Christ calls us to be a shining city on a hill. Matthew 5:16 urges us to let our lights shine and let our good works glorify God and encourage others to do likewise. It calls us to be lovers, to embrace Christ’s revolutionary heart of service and love, and strive to participate in the irresistible revolution ourselves.
There are number of opportunities coming up for us to be able to develop this heart of service. In late October, an event called Step Into Africa is coming to Christ Church in Otsego with a youth night on October 24 at Alliance Church. In November, we have Revamp for senior high students, and later in the month, we will be collecting for and serving at Operation Christmas Child. We are to be living examples of making Matthew 5:16 a verb (something we do).
This is something I care a lot about, really trying to BE the church and live compassionately and with intention. I encourage you to embrace Christ’s heart for loving people and allow it to affect you and what you’re passionate about.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. –Matthew 5:16
(photo courtesy of Jeff Dokmo; www.jeffdokmophotography.com)
September 1st: Kickin’ it Old School!
Back to school means so many things to so many people. Some might not like going back to school because it means summer is officially over. Others may think it’s a nice change of pace and a great chance to see friends again. Those of us who are bookworms are eager to learn new things and go new places this school year. No matter what you chalk it up to, it’s a time and season of change.
And as the season changes, I encourage you to maybe try new things. No longer do you need to conform to the “old school” system of things; you can change this year and make sure that you’re focusing on living a life that glorifies Christ. As you make changes, meet new friends, and tackle your homework, and participate in sports and extracurricular activities, make sure that you’re challenging yourself to commit to your beliefs as a Christian.
Paul says, in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” What a great challenge for us during this season of change; what a great opportunity to try something different than kickin’ it old school.
I challenge you to kick old school outta the way and use the talents and gifts God’s blessed you with to rock out during this new season/school year.
Mark your calendar for Sunday August 24th for the "Catch-A-Fire" fall youth kick-off bonfire. All youth 7-12 grade are welcome at the Rhonemus residence. Bring something to burn in the bonfire, something that's got a story to it (AND that you're certain you're ready to get rid of). We'll share stories as we contribute to the flames. It will run from 7-9 PM E-mail youth@erumc.org for more information.
"God will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out."August 1st: What are you on fire for?-Matthew 3:11
August has just started, the stores are full of school supplies, and this weekend will be HOT-HOT-HOT with the temps projected in the mid-90's. In America we are constantly on the go looking for the next spot of excitement to capture our attention. It is hard for us to pause for even a moment to really look at what surrounds us. In the retail stores, school supplies are out in July, Halloween will be advirtised in September and the retail version of Christmas starts in October.
If you could just stop at some point though and look around you...what would you see? Would you see day by day go by with no real passion for what you are doing? Would you see moments of brillance sorounded vast pools of wasted time? Or would you see a life lived "on fire", living every moment to the extent that in can be? Do you spend your afternoons/evenings on the couch in front of the TV? Do you sleep in until noon? Do you grown about mowing the lawn or trudge out the door to take the trash outside?
I challenge you to live your life on fire.
August 1st: Welcome Sami!!
We want to formally welcome Sami to the Elk River United Methodist Church. She is coming to us from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, MN after graduating with a B.A. in English and minors in Visual Communication and Catholic Studies. Her list of favorites include: pizza and peanut butter (hopefully not together!), music, concerts, June 5th (her birthday), New York City, the Apostle Paul, and eclectic coffee shops (I don't think that includes the francise brands, but you'll have to ask her!). She dreams of opening a Christian Coffeehouse Music Venue (hmm, I think we could find a place for that in Elk River...).
Stop by and meet her! Sami would love to chat with you and you'll help her feel more welcome in her new church home. Click below for an interview from Sami coming soon!
July 31st: Up and Running
Well, as you can see, we've got the bones of a web-site coming together for you (youth), but we need your help. What are you looking for on YOUR site. We are setting up a youth blog that will be just for your group, we'll have your events, trips and missions, along with photos of your experiences. We'd love to have a spot for you to write your own thoughts/reflections on your trips and other youth activities. Maybe a monthly poll question? Music/Movie reviews? Upcoming events? We won't be able to do everything, but we'd like to put things up that you actually want and would use. Give us your thoughts, sooner instead of later, if possible. The link is below. Thanks!