Another video to be used with young people.

In this season of Advent, we are about waiting.

Our programming in February and spring will likely be talking Created to Love / True Love Waits / (or) whatever it is that you sue to talk about a Christian perspective on sex and marriage.

As with so very much of our teaching, we can trace it back to Genesis 1:27, that we are created in the image and likeness of our Creator God.

And we teach all the way around that scripture but slam poet Janette…ikz who discusses that when we settle for less, we get Luke Warm and his sorta kinda false companionship with sweet empty nothings.

Our discipleship calls for us to serve the author of time and so we can wait for you, Lord.

As a back-up resource, you might want to check out this post from Life in Student Ministry

>> (8) Jarring Video >>

A year or two ago, I was getting some notes about the tone I was setting for youth ministry.  I was shocked to be accused of being pessimistic.  From that moment, I noted that if I was linking towards an article that was not optimistic about our shared future that I was responsible to convey my own sense of hopefulness.

So, it was intriguing that one of the more popular blog posts this year took a look at the challenges of the Church today and still looked towards where we can be going next.

The quotes to note…  So, despite the notes that I occasionally receive about a perceived pessimistic tone to the blog about our field (which I report from other blogs more than write my own…), I opted to tune into what was being said recently about church (outside of youth ministry) In doing so, I aspire to serve within a Church that, according to Gaudium et Spes, “has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel…”

… “Do we still sense America as a work in progress, an unfinished enterprise that would constantly be in need of change, adjustment and repair. Do we feel that way about church? AND, YET I REMAIN POSITIVE AND HOPEFUL. My e-mail signature still includes Opera Christi Non Deficiunt, Sed Proficiunt.” (still does!) Read the whole post.

>> (6) RebuildMyChurch >>

It is a monumental day today for all Millers

My youngest, Meghan, turns 20 today.  My lineage no longer contains teenagers.

Happy Birthday and Good Morning, Sunshine (I’m posting this at 2:10pm in your honor!)

We’ve been working under the same format for just about three month’s now.  It  this might be a little too much “Inside Baseball” and might mean nothing to you but it helps me to organize content… just like a newspaper. You know, the arts calendar appears on Thursday, religion news on Saturday, that sort of stuff.

Anyway, January is a logical time to change up stuff, if needed.  What do you think of the basic elements? We always run general content as well on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I’m more interested in the standard elements.  Please fill out the survey and/or comment below. (Scroll Down for all the questions.)

<< (9) Missionary Audacity >>

This has been a year that has involved a reasonable amount of video. We reformatted the blog calendar to ensure regular Tuesday and Thursday postings with video.  The #6 best of blog involved using videos in a new and different way – - sorta live. As #2 and #1 were both longer posting, video was added, but only as a “moving picture” to assist tangentially in making the point.  So were are celebrating video use…

My favorites were an oldie but goodie Think Beyond the Lid and a new favorite for which I already have designs in the new year Keep Repeating. Curiously, both involve jars… No, I do not know what  that means.

>> (7) Scrutinizing the Signs >>

Our prayer for this day, the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday.

The spirit of the Lord God is upon us. And with His Spirit, we rejoice in God our Savior. In all circumstances we give thanks, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing. We seek to recognize the Lord as the One Who is among us, the One whose very sandal strap we are worthy to untie.

We rejoice heartily in the Lord, our God is the joy of our soul. We proclaim the greatness of the Lord. He has filled us with good things, we seek not to quench the Spirit nor despise prophetic utterances. We trust that the Lord will make justice and praise spring up before all the nations. We desire that this God of peace make us perfectly holy – spirit, soul, and body.

When asked to respond in faith, accounting for what it is we have to say for ourselves…  May we be the anointed voice that cries out for the Life in this desert of a world, bringing glad tidings to the poor, healing to the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to captives. May we baptize with water and Spirit announce the timeless favor from the Lord. We know that we are not the source of our Light of joy, but we come to testify to the Light, to rejoice within it.<image source>

Yes, we had one posted last weekend, but pulled it because… just because.

So, let’s try again. I have a co-worker that has a magnificent collection of nativity sets in a wide variety of art forms from a diverse set of artists. I have a few nativities as well… but this set is actually my prized part of my meager collection.  It is displayed over the holiday season in the bathroom, where else?

Winner goes to blog chaplain, Father Austin with

“…and they were ducks with great fear…” – No, guys. It’s they were “struck” with great fear! Doesn’t anyone read the script anymore??

 Education
is not
the filling of a pail,

but

the lighting
of a fire.

William Butler Yates

<< #10 Youth Ministry Benedict’s Way <<

This posting landed just outside the top ten in terms of hits, possibly due to the late October date of it. Nonetheless, I am confident that the concept on “missionary audacity” is one to which we will return with the forthcoming Synod on the New Evangelization and the Year of Faith.

Money quote: All this is only possible if, following the example of the Christians of the Acts of the Apostles, we open ourselves up in a new way to the Holy Spirit: ‘There will be no new evangelization without a new Pentecost!’" Make space in your imagination for a new Pentecost in our Church – or, in the vernacular of a generation or two previous to today’s youth – it’s time to blow the roof off of this joint. Read it here.    
>> (8) Jarring Video >>