Details:

Sunday, January 22nd
5:00 pm – Potluck Dinner (see list below)
5:45 pm – Parents’ Meeting (running concurrently with Youth Connections)
7:00 pm – SHYC Participants meeting

Who is this for?

The Parents of 6th-12th graders at FPCGV!

Discussing: 

The Sunday Schedule and how it might change!!
February – May Calendar
Summer Mission & Other Trips
Chaperone/Cook/Driver sign-ups

And what will we eat?

Please bring a potluck item to share & enjoy after the meeting with Youth Connections!
Middle School Parents – Side Dishes
High School Parents – Entrees
Parents of both – Desserts:

You Are Loved. . .

So often, when we call, it’s to ask you for something (meal, driving, chaperone, etc.). Perhaps we need to stop and just say “thank you” for all that you do. And to let you know that you are loved by a great big God who made those wonderful teenagers in your life. Hopefully, this little parents meeting will show that a bit!

It’s that time of year again for the WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE!! Yay!! The white elephant gift exchange is a good time filled with smiles, laughter, stealing, and wacky gifts. Which brings me to the point of this. How many times have you thought: “Golly gee, the white elephant gift exchange is coming up soon! Whatever shall I bring?” Well fret no more because maaaaaggie burks is here to help!

Websters Defines “White Elephant” as “an Indian elephant of a pale color that is sometimes venerated in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar”

However, when we say white elephant we mean something goofy. The point of a white elephant gift exchange is to entertain rather than to get really useful gifts. Here are some example gifts that you are welcome to use! You can use any of these ideas, adapt them, or some up with your own! I can’t wait to see what y’all come up with!!

• A stuffed white elephant (very literal, but very clever)
• A garden gnome
• A pet rock complete with rock habitat
• A framed picture of yourself (Like what I did last year)
• Make a mix CD of fun crazy (Church appropriate) songs! (bonus points if you sing it yourself)
• Anything Homemade is excellent
• Something Ridiculous (Like a tiger rug?)
• Children’s toys (Like a jack in the box?)
• Anything Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber, or something like that (Because it is funny to see high school boys end up with items like these)

With whatever you bring, it is nice to throw in a box of candy to sweeten the deal! (see what I did there?) Before bringing your gift, ask yourself: “If I got this gift, would I be satisfied?” You would want the answer to that question to lie between “Yes this is too awesome for words” and “No this is too ridiculous for anyone”.

Remember, a gift card by itself or a stuffed animal is boring. Have fun with this. Be goofy. My gift will be AMAZING! You will all want it I’m sure! Ta ta for now!
–Maaaaaggieburks

On our way through West, Texas, we stopped at the Czech Stop Bakery on the northbound access road of I-35. If you’ve never had a kolache from the Czech Stop, I’m afraid that you might have a new item for your bucket list. I tried a sauerkraut, sausage, Swiss cheese kolache and experienced a bit of gastronomical nirvana (I paid for it later. . . .). Don’t get me wrong, the sausage and American cheese version was also quite good, but this was a doughy heaven. On my next trip, I’ll try one of the fruit varieties.

Go see the yum here: http://www.czechstop.net/home.php

Then we proceeded to Killeen, Texas, where we made a stop at Fire Station #3 and got a tour of the station and a less-than-modern fire truck. Our new friends at the K.F.D. lamented that their truck was 15 years old and they were hoping to get a new one within a year.

Our new friends at the K.F.D. 

On our way home, we stopped at the KFC in Temple. While the food was quite ordinary, one of the staff was really quite philosophical with us. We also met up with our friend Calli, who is a tremendous joy to be around.

But Kolaches, Fire Trucks and Calli were not our reason for making this trip, amazing as that may sound. We made this trip because I believe God called us to do so.

Many of you are aware that the youth of FPCGV Youth Connections have an annual tradition of taking some of their Christmas Magic fundraising money and some of their own money to purchase Christmas presents for adopted families. This year, we adopted five families. Two of our families came from Dove Elementary and one came from Grapevine Middle School. Another adopted family is a mother and son whom we adopted last year and requested our help again.

Our fifth family was a unique situation. From a friend of a member of our church community, we heard the story a family of three kids and their mom. Their father served as an Army Chaplain’s Assistant and was deployed in the Middle East. While serving, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and this family lost their husband and father at Thanksgiving. Their financial situation was already difficult, but now this family lost their dad.

So, on an overcast December morning, eight of us made the 3 hour drive to Killeen to deliver presents. We also took the youngest member of the family, a 6-year old named Dacian, on a tour of the Fire Station #3, because he loves fire trucks (really, who doesn’t?). We helped assemble one of the toys, shared stories and pictures with the mom and then said our goodbyes (and we saw our friend Calli on the way home).

Often times, youth ministries are criticized for making trips and planning events that might be seen as “frivolous”. One could easily ask: Why didn’t you call the Presbyterian Church in Killeen and ask for their help? Why didn’t you just ship the gifts? Or just purchased a bunch of gift cards and mail them?

These questions are not without merit. Often times, it can seem that youth ministries take their kids too far away when there are problems and poor people “in our own backyard”. I hope that this youth ministry has demonstrated that our trips (this summer to New Orleans and San Antonio) are not the only form of mission work that we do. We contribute in so many ways throughout the year to missions and outreach opportunities on our campus, in our city and throughout the community.

Our reason for serving at GRACE in Grapevine or at Project Homecoming in New Orleans isn’t because of where it is or what’s involved. Our decision to help at the Presbyterian Night Shelter in Ft. Worth or at Goodland Boys Home in Hugo, OK doesn’t come from what we think is cool or fun. Our motivation to go to Presbyterian Village North in Dallas or Heifer Ranch in Arkansas doesn’t come from us.

Our reason for going anywhere, be it in our backyard, in Louisiana, in Honduras or anywhere else doesn’t come from our own will. It comes from the will of God. It comes from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

What does that inspiration look like? It’s different in every case. In the instance of us taking a couple of hundred dollars of clothes and toys to Killeen, it was a conversation. After hearing a story of need, two friends felt compelled (dare I say, “called”) to make it happen in the way that it did last Monday. We knew that taking a whole day was harder than sending gift cards, but when you’re called by God, you often realize that responding is often going to be harder. When you’re called by God, the things you do aren’t necessarily going to make sense to those who are not responding to or understand the call.

Sometimes, the call of God looks like a magical moment or a long consideration. It can be a thought that keeps you up in the middle of the night or pervades your thinking for months or years. The movement of the Holy Spirit can be a conversation between two friends over coffee or a bothersome nudge during a sermon. It can be as dramatic as a flash of light and the voice of God (Acts 9), a still small voice (1 Kings 19), the invitation of a friend who says “come and see” (John 1) or even in the belly of a giant fish (Jonah).

In this case, a few friends talked over e-mail, in person, over the phone and at a gathering. And poof, a road trip was born.

So, the real question is: Where is God leading you? How is God calling you to step out of your comfort zone and go forth? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to respond faithfully to God’s call?

Last Monday, the response was in several hundred dollars in clothes and gifts, wrapping paper, eight hours of travel and visiting, driving through a rain storm and two tanks of gas.

The kolaches, fire station and Calli were just pleasant additions to the trip.

There’s not a kid who doesn’t love Christmas. What’s not to love about presents and time off from school? But I was a kid who actually looked forward to Advent. To me, Advent was the last 10 miles on a 300 mile journey.

I loved the Advent calendars (still do) when you could open up a window and see a tiny picture or read a tiny print of scripture. I loved the Advent wreath (still do) and I always looked forward to Sundays so we could light the next candle in the wreath. I loved purple candles (even though my color blindness informed me they were blue) and the pink candle and the white candle in the middle.

http://bustedhalo.com/features/advent-calendar-2011 - Try out this online Advent calendar!

Most of all, I loved the time at the end of the day, before bedtime, when my mother would call my brother, sister and I to the living room to do our Advent devotional. I couldn’t put this idea into words then, but in reflecting back, I remember feeling a sense of transcendent peace and calm that surpassed understanding. It actually felt like I was in the presence of God.

http://www.d365.org/followingthestar/ - Here’s the online devotional we’ve been using. Yes, we gather around the iPad for our devotional time.

We’ve taken to doing Advent devotionals in our home. I don’t know if my daughters “get” Advent like I did when I was a kid, but I know that they don’t fight doing it. I think they actually like the contemplative, quiet, “settle down before bedtime” feel of our time together. It’s a part of the routine, but a part that we all seem to like.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to love Advent even more. But this year’s season of Advent has meant something more to me. And it’s because of friends I’ve never met. 

A newly found social-media friend, a Lutheran pastor from somewhere in Texas, has invited me to #OccupyAdvent. This “rev_david” (his Twitter handle) probably has a name, but I’m perfectly fine not knowing his full name, just as he’s probably fine knowing me just as “anglibyerian”. I’m quite certain that “rev_david” and “anglibyerian” would be friends in the “real” world, but I’m afraid that social convention, distance, and commitments might not have ever made it possible.

“rev_david” started a blog, Facebook page, and Twitter feed called #OccupyAdvent. Through this social media outlet, a group of us have become what I would like to call “Advent friends”. We write articles that we share with one another, we recommend articles and artwork to each other, and we remind each other to keep the season of Advent at the forefront.

http://occupyadvent.blogspot.com/ - Here’s the blog. It’s pretty awesome!

“rev_david” wrote a wonderful article the other day about waiting that has transformed my waiting times in traffic and in stores. Through his words, I was reminded that I have “important waiting to do,” Another blogger reminded me of the little “c” and the big “C” in the word “catholic. And yet another article has made me a permanent follower of a blog called “Two Friars and a Fool”.

I have read poetry, listened to music, considered art work and pondered how I am waiting. I have had the following thoughts put to my consideration (just in the past two days):

“We mustn’t take the atheism of atheists & religions of other people more seriously than the love God has for them.”
“God desires more than our worries and wants; He wants our whole being and all that encompasses.”
“The virginal womb & the sealed grave are like trumpets for a deaf people, shouted in its ear.”
“For those for whom holiday shopping is not an option, because having food on the table is already a struggle.”
“Mercy: What God gave us for Christmas. What we need most; what we deserve least.”

Most of all, my newly found friends have taught me to slow down, to consider, to be gracious, to be watchful. When I do these things, when I allow myself to #OccupyAdvent, I see where Jesus comes.

I saw a nurse give my daughter rapt attention after her emergency surgery, hanging on her every word and blessing her every need. Jesus came.
I saw 50 or so teenagers give up a Saturday so that they could raise a little money to go serve the homeless and the helpless next summer (which means, they’re also giving up a week next summer). Jesus showed up.
I listened to the children and youth proclaim in song a Christ that was coming. Jesus sat on the front row and smiled.
A piece of artwork, one that I had seen a dozen times before, sprung to life for me. Jesus was in the picture.
While slogging through construction caused, indeterminable traffic, I thought of my friends in India and prayed for their safety, their lives and for their mission. Jesus heard my prayer.
In the stillness of a quiet lunchtime, I found myself talking with Audrey about life and our children and how we are blessed. The words of Jesus spoke through us.
And I can’t even begin to tell you how Jesus daily confronts me about hunger among children, victims of abuse, the forgotten and the lost and those for whom Christmas is going to be an awful day, not a celebratory day.

This Advent season has been different and special for me because I have been reminded that Jesus shows up everyday, everywhere, all of the time. I just needed a few friends I’ve never met and a few friends in my surrounding faith community that are deep friends to remind me. These friends (and I count you among them) remind me of Advent’s central message: Jesus shows up.

Jesus shows up in the manger. Jesus continues to show up all around me. And Jesus will show up again triumphantly. Gloria! Gloria indeed!

I’m not sure about all of that, but suffice it to say that I thought it was truly astounding and those sentiments are shared by those who enjoyed and those who labored.

Of course, it’s important to recognize those who made it possible and to say a most genuine “thank you”! Allana Patterson, Amy Smith, Kirsten Golly, Jodi Haun and many others put in a great deal of time organizing, decorating, recruiting, acquiring and setting up.

So many, many friends (many of whom are not youth parents) spent hours of time in the kitchen chopping, simmering, cooking, baking and plating. Kim and Kaye Hutchinson are simply amazing and their donation of time, talent and treasure is priceless. And no Xmas Magic is complete without Pastor Bob fussing over soup!

Then, there are the creative-types who made the room spectacular, including Tom Jensen (the lamp posts & hanging lights) and Sandra Taylor (table decorations). We are also indebted to the trio of youth from CHS whose background music was the perfect touch to the evening.

Parents took on roles not previously assigned and just ran with whatever needed to be done, whether it was in the days and weeks running up to the event or the hours of the event. Cooking, setting up, hanging lights, moving tables, hooking up sound, selling tickets, contributing elements or just chaperoning and overseeing things. Parents are used to contributing to the organizations to which their children belong, but this contribution seems to be executed so joyfully, and for that we are all thankful.

Then there are the youth of Youth Connections. There are stories of youth leaving All-Region competitions early, “throwing” their audition or not going to playoff football games to be present. Mountains of homework were left to Sunday afternoon (thus, the Sunday youth group Sabbath). There was one particularly dirty job that three girls handled well, with words like “gross” and “disgusting” being kept to a minimum. They set-up, waited tables, served appetizers like it was a mission, watched children, took down decorations, moved furniture, arrived early and stayed late.

The room was amazing, the food was fantastic, the atmosphere was authentic. . . .the evening was simply amazing.

It does need to be said that we raised a little over $10,000. This means that summer mission trips and van rentals for other events will be at a “zero dollar impact” on the church budget. It means that San Antonio and New Orleans costs are greatly reduced. It means that van rentals for SHYC, YouthQuake, Synod and Mo-Ranch will be minimal (if needed). It also means that the youth will start with a $1000 buffer when going Christmas Shopping for their 5 adopted families this Sunday.

But here’s my reason why I think that Christmas Magic 2011 was such a success: It was because we all enjoy the act of serving. It’s fun and rewarding for us. We identify ourselves by this moniker. And it fits us well.

Whether it’s the cooks in the kitchen, the youth waiting tables, the parents setting up the silent auction or the organizers slaving over the details, I think we all are servants at heart. This event highlights the “servant-leaders” that we model for our youth and that they have learned to take servant-leadership on for themselves.

At the bottom of this article is the list (and it is incomplete) of ways that youth from our Youth Connections served from Xmas Magic 2010 to 2011. Take a moment to thank God for this. And when we head off to San Antonio next June and New Orleans next July, we will fondly remember a cold, rainy December night when 130 people enjoyed Christmas Magic in the French Quarter.

Some of the service projects and community service undertaken by some or all of Youth Connections since Xmas Magic 2010:

• Adopted four families for Christmas 2010
• Serving as helpers for Wednesday Night Live children’s programs
• Church clean up projects, including clearing the labyrinth during VBS
• Making valentine’s cards for the Presbyterian Night Shelter in Ft. Worth
• Visiting with children and doing cemetery maintenance at Goodland Boys Home in Hugo, OK.
• Remodeling, repairing and building homes for Project Homecoming in New Orleans, LA.
• Collecting funds on SuperBowl of Caring Sunday, donating to GRACE and SoupMan in Dallas
• Visiting and playing with kids being serving at “Feed Our Kids”
• Spending a day with kids at Mission Arlington
• Making greeting cards for residents at Presbyterian Village North
• Serving as helpers for Vacation Bible School
• Visiting shut-ins as a part of VBS
• Lake shore clean-up at Lake Grapevine for the City of Grapevine
• Trunk or Treat Booths
• Most recently, over 50 youth & parents served over 200 friends at Church Under the Bridge in Waco
• Thanksgiving food distribution at GRACE

There was a time, when I was a youth minister in beautiful East Texas, that I supported SYATP more vigorously. In serving the dual role of youth minister and private school campus chaplain, I helped students (often times, reluctantly) organize a SYATP event on our school campus, while encouraging our public school students to attend the SYATP event at their school. I bought the stickers. I owned the t-shirt.

Fast forward 20 years later.

On Wednesday morning, while I was dropping my daughter off at GHS, I was reminded that it was the fourth Wednesday of September. There, at the flagpole, was a group of students (probably about 20 or so) holding hands, eyes closed, head bowed. My first thought was “oh, I didn’t get a mailing from SYATP. . .I forgot that was today.”

But then my second thought was to the group of hispanic students walking together past the homogeneous group of students at the flagpole. And the goth student who steered clear of the group completely. And the kid walking by himself, carrying backpack, band instrument, science project and extra books, with no one to help. And the kid that might be considered a “skater” kid with no backpack or books at all, as if he never took them home.

Then I started thinking about the kids I didn’t see. The band kids who came in the side entrance. The theatre kids who walk right by. And the kids, never having any exposure to organized religion, who are likely thinking to themselves “Is this what Christians do?”

My friend Lee Wyatt (a friend whom I call my “favorite heretic”) has a very good blogsite called “God’s Words, Our Words and the World“. He re-posted this comment from the award winning blog site of Richard Beck called Experimental Theology from an article called “The Gospel According to Lady Gaga”. Here’s what Beck writes:

This is what I think. I think every Christ-following church should start talking to their youth groups, saying unambiguously: We want you to be a wall of protection for kids like Jamey. Seek out and protect–emotionally and socially–every weird, weak, nerdy, lonely, queer kid at your school. We don’t care if they are a goth, or a druggy, or a queer. Doesn’t matter. Protect these kids. Churches should train their youth groups to be angels of protection, teaching them to find these kids and say, “Hey, I love you. Jesus loves you. So no one’s going to bully you. Not on my watch. Come sit with me at lunch.” That’s what I think. I think every Christ-following church should start Guardian Angel programs like this, teaching their kids to stick up for kids like Jamey. Not with violence. But with welcome and solidarity. Because it’s hard to bully a group. So let’s welcome these kids into a halo of protection and friendship.

That’s what I think Christians should be doing to change our public schools. We shouldn’t be fighting battles over stuff like school prayer. Because you know what I think God thinks about our battles regarding school prayer? I think God is shouting from the heavens, “Why don’t you shut the hell up about school prayer and start sticking up for Jamey?” (The “Jamey” to whom Beck refers is Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old boy from Williamsville, NY, who took his life last week after years of bullying because of his struggles with his sexuality.)

I actually liked SYATP when it first started. It was organic, truly student-led, and you didn’t have to own the T-Shirt or belong to the club. It was a group of kids who thought praying was a good idea (by the way, praying still is a good idea, publicly or privately). But like every good “organic” idea, it was co-opted, spun, merchandised and endorsed. But being co-opted isn’t the main problem.

The problem is that SYATP never changed or adapted. It encouraged prayer and “reaching out”, but only if that “reaching out” had the agenda of evangelizing other kids. SYATP didn’t embrace others without agenda. Prayers were lifted for students, teachers, administrators (which is very good), but rarely did SYTAP encourage much beyond prayer.  Now, I think it’s time for SYATP to either adapt or go away.

Twenty years of overtly Jesus kids gathering around a flagpole on the fourth Wednesday of September hasn’t done much to prevent the rise of bullying, sexting, or gay-bashing. In fact, in some ways, I think that some Christian “movements” have contributed to bullying, as these events/programs/initiatives often create a dichotomy of who’s “in” and who’s “out”. Who’s saved and who’s not.

Picture this: Instead of a group of Christian students holding hands in a circle around a flagpole once a year, how about a group of Christian students holding hands WITH outcast kids, bullied kids, hyper-busy kids and abused kids everyday? How about a group of Christian students buying T-shirts from the group To Write Love on Her Arms and It Gets Better and StopBullying.gov instead of See You At The Pole? What would happen if an organic, student-led organization of “Guardian Angels” (as Richard Beck calls them) was formed to protect “the least of these”. Instead of students praying at a flagpole “Father, may Your will be done on my campus as it is in heaven” that students prayed “God, may Your will be done through my actions as it is in heaven”.

We have to speak (and teach our youth to speak) to the brokenness, sadness, loneliness and isolation. Praying around a flagpole might be a start. But Jesus ate with prostitutes and tax collectors. That’s where our prayers become action.

One of those words he called out one day that stuck is the word orthopraxy, which is defined as “The belief that right action is as important as religious faith.” One has to be careful how to use this word in a Protestant setting, but I have come to adopt this word to mean that ‘what I do helps define who I am to those who know me to be Christian’. If you are practicing good orthopraxy, then you are not “saying one thing and doing another”. Keep this fabulous word in mind as we continue (assuming you’re still with me!).

Recently, an article by UCC pastor Rev. Lillian Daniels in the Huffington Post railed against those persons who claim that they are “Spiritual, but not religious”. Rev. Dainels argues that “there is nothing challenging about having deep thoughts all by oneself. What is interesting is doing this work in community, where other people might call you on stuff, or heaven forbid, disagree with you. Where life with God gets rich and provocative is when you dig deeply into a tradition that you did not invent all for yourself.“

Her article has some interesting responses. One of my favorite authors, Diana Butler Bass on Patheos.com, contends that “Maybe we should listen as non-defensively and fully as we possibly can (to SBNRs), with wide-open hearts and nimble theological imaginations.” Another response from Associate Professor Kate Blanchard on religiousdispaches.org argues “that it’s probably not fair to stereotype these folks as ‘bland’ or ‘self-centered’ or cowardly sunset people who are too weak for big-league religion.“

Why is the youth minister talking about this? And why did he start with defining the word orthopraxy?

As far back as I can remember (which, in youth ministry terms, is the mid 1980′s), youth have always been very spiritual creatures. Their behavior isn’t always orthopraxical, as their actions do not always match that which they say they believe. But the mile marker of adolescents almost always makes them very spiritually cognizant and curious. It is at this age (and, in particular, this generation of teenagers) that the questions of spirituality come out. If they are a part of a church community, then they have a better than zero chance of dealing with those issues.

One of our goals as youth ministers is to help youth develop for themselves a spirituality that continues to question, that continues to explore and that continues to provide. When our youth are involved in the life of the church (note: not just the life of the youth group, but in the whole life of the church), they end up in a beautiful community of friends who continue to refine, test, learn and relearn what it means to not only be orthodox, but also to be orthopraxical. One study indicates that the likelihood of a typical churched teenager taking their religious affiliation into their adult years is directly proportional to the number of churched adults with whom they had a positive relationship.

If you read the statistics over the past decade (here’s an interesting article about the decline), it appears that the church is cranking out way more SBNRs than ever before. I agree with Diana Butler Bass that the church needs to listen more and flex their imaginations. But I also contend that the way our youth don’t end up SBNR (which Kate Blanchard argues may not necessarily be a bad thing) is not through our youth ministries, but through our entire church community.

The moment that we, as the entire body of believers, start being more orthopraxical, is the moment where our potential SBNRs begin to see the value of belonging to community.

Please note that this is a program that MANY of you have asked about in the past. It’s an outstanding program, put on by a quality organization and it’s FREE. I will be attending this event and would love to have some company!

Please take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about Internet safety issues. Click on the link and/or picture for more information!

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