Who Am I?

Some of the L.O.G. #64 team members – who’s that squashed in the very middle??  Thanks to Cody for sharing this photo!

Mary Kate led us in our devotional time at the LOG #64 team meeting tonight.  She talked about self worth – referring to one of the lines in our theme song “Who Am I?” 

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth,

Would care to know my name, would care to feel my hurt?

(Who Am I as recorded by Casting Crowns)

Mary Kate shared how if a younger sibling was to give one of us a piece of their artwork, most of us would make a big deal over it and tell the child how much we loved it even if it were rough and not perfect or pretty.  We’d do that because we loved them and they created the artwork – so we’d love the artwork.

She then reminded us that God loves us because he created us – and what’s more, loves us just the way we are – even as rough and imperfect as we might be.  God loves us and because of that we should love ourselves and stop trying to be something or someone else.

When I got home, Cody sent me the following Facebook message:

After tonight’s devotional, I began to think, what would life be like without me? (I don’t mean to sound suicidal).  But if I hadn’t come to LOG, I wouldn’t have met these people, and they wouldn't have met me. If I hadn’t been there for some of my friends today, they would be different. I just got to thinking how much someone’s life is really worth, not only to themselves, but to other people. If school bullies at school weren't there, the bullied would be a lot happier and not let down. idk its something i thought about the entire drive home.

God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.  1 John 4: 9-11 CEV

And maybe we should add:  Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love ourselves.

Where Are You Hiding?

When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God. God called to the Man: “Where are

you?”  He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”  Genesis 3: 8-10 (MSG)

First of all, don’t you love the imagery of God “strolling … in the evening breeze”?  During the cooler season of Fall, I like to take walks around my neighborhood.  Sometimes I just walk and try to appreciate the smell of cut grass or burning leaves or how the lighted windows cast a warm glow into the darkening night.  Sometimes I think and reflect and sometimes I talk to God – out loud – almost as if he was strolling right along beside me.  Try it sometime before the snow flies …

“Where are you?” God is still asking us. 

Some of us hide intentionally.  We hide behind masks and excuses.  We don’t want to feel exposed.  We try not to let anyone, much less God, know who we really are. 

One of the things I value about L.O.G. weekends is the way we offer welcome and acceptance so we can slowly but surely allow ourselves to come out and be known to each other.  This certainly is reflective of the Love Of God.

But then, the other way we often hide from God isn’t an active, intentional thing as much as a passive, sorta-unintentional thing – a prodigal thing – – we just forget God is right there strolling in the evening breeze with us.

When life gets overwhelming, or becomes too much fun, remember that you are never alone.  There’s someone who loves you within arm’s reach.

Ps – thanks to Maia for this photo of Kayla at the last L.O.G. #62 team meeting

Shhh ... it's not a secret, it's a ______

Throughout the years, one of the best, and yet also most problematic parts of L.O.G. is the element of surprise.

We love to hear the participants draw in their collective breath as they open their eyes to the joy of agape.  We work hard on palanca and we can't wait to "clap, elbow, elbow, gentle tap" for the first time.

But this wonderful aspect of a L.O.G. weekend has filled some participants with great anxiety and made some parents wonder what kind of a group we really are.

Many of you have heard me say that I refused to attend my first Cursillo weekend until the person who invited me could explain to me why she "couldn't tell me anything except that I would have  great time".  Afterwards, I understood better what she was trying to do, but I think it wouldn't have made much of a difference if I had known "everything" or not.

My children have grown up hearing me talk about L.O.G. and explain many things as I call parents of participants from my desk at home.  Tyler attended L.O.G. #34 but has told me that even though he already knew about many of the surprises, it was meaningful to him because it was "his" weekend.  He had some idea of what was coming, but it wasn't real until he experienced it himself.  Alyssa will be a participant at L.O.G. #64.  I hope and pray the same for her.

Every time we begin a team process, I tell team members that they should be sure to tell their potential participants a few important things:

1 - that L.O.G. is an experience of God's love in Christian community
2 - that L.O.G. is open to anyone who wants to explore their relationship to God
3 - that we sing, laugh, share, listen and love one another and the fun is in the relationships

I also tell team members that they can talk as much they want to about the weekend - often the more the better - and that there are only a few things better left untold - the surprises.  But I also say that if it takes telling their potential participants about the surprises so they are comfortable attending L.O.G. then by all means tell them.  Better to have them come and participate in L.O.G. than stay home and miss it all just so we don't have to give away a surprise!

What I'm not sure we are very good at explaining to participants or team is that the surprises are really just a way of incarnating - putting flesh on - grace.  The weekend is designed to be an experience of God's love.  God's love is given to us without regard to our having earned or deserved it, because, in fact, we can't and don't. It's only by God's grace that we can be in relationship with our God who loves us so much.

In order to give our participants an experience of God's abundant and gracious love, we design parts of the weekend to be surprises - unmerited and unexpected.  Every time we surprise the participants, we are trying to make real and tangible for them how much God loves them. 

One of my favorite authors, Frederick Buechner, has written:

 "Grace is something you can never get but only be given. There's no way to earn it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth. A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. Have you ever tried to love somebody?

A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do.

The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't be complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you.

There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it.”  (Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC (c) 1973 Harper Rowe)

May it be our prayer that L.O.G. will help all of us, participants and team, to reach out and accept this gift from God.

 


 

  
ps - thanks to Marissa for the photo of Cody at the last L.O.G. #64 team meeting!

Moving Toward the Fall L.O.G.s – Part #2: Teams

In March of 1997, Stephanie King, Brad Voth and I went to Santa Barbara, CA to participate in L.O.G. #15 sponsored by Goleta Presbyterian Church. A few months later, in August, eighteen youth and three adults flew all the way from California to plant L.O.G. #1 at First Presbyterian Church in South Bend.

Since that time, we have had 60 more L.O.G. weekends in the Michiana area and planted L.O.G. #1 at Lawrence Road Presbyterian Church near Trenton, New Jersey this past month.

Our first L.O.G. weekend had only 12 participants. Our church’s youth group was so small that we had to reach out beyond our group to get enough participants to make the weekend go.  So from the very beginning we’ve been ecumenical – open to people from any church or denomination as well as to those who were not connected to any church at all.  Although we didn’t recognize it then, we had already embraced that which is now a hallmark of L.O.G. and M.Y.M - - many youth from many churches, many schools and many communities.

We continued having two L.O.G.s each year – by the time we reached L.O.G. #13 in the spring of 2003, we had 58 youth serving on the team and they had invited 33 participants to come to the weekend.  That meant nearly 100 people (including adult advisors) out at Camp Ray Bird – it was pretty crazy!

When Michiana Youth Ministries was formed in 2005, we made the decision to offer two fall L.O.G. weekends: #19 and #20.  We did this so we could offer L.O.G. to more of the youth of Michiana – and because so many team and participants on a single weekend seemed to greatly reduce the intimacy of the retreat and make it less likely that first-time participants would come back to serve on a team.

It turned out that this was a controversial decision – one full of angst and anguish as the team members had to make hard choices about on which team they would serve.  Who would the CoLeaders be? Who else would be on which team? On what night would the team meetings take place and what weekend fit the schedule better? 

Two and a half years later, we scheduled three spring weekends: #29, #30 and #31.  You’d think that this might have ratcheted up the angst even higher, but by then we were all pretty used to the idea that not everyone could be on a team with all their best friends.  In fact, smaller communities had formed within our larger L.O.G. community.  We encouraged all LOGgers to try different smaller teams and then come together for special events and vertical worship nights so new friendships could be established and old friendships could be nurtured.

Through the years, we have come to the belief that the ideal size for a team is somewhere between 20-30 – big enough but not too big.  Any smaller and we wouldn’t have enough people for all the skits, talks, table groups etc.  Any bigger and we tend toward more cliquishness and not really knowing everyone on the team.

Our Summer 2012 Team had 54 youth serving on it.  But with summer camps, mission trips and vacations, we usually ended up with 35-45 at any one meeting.  This was bigger than ideal but, remarkably, this team had a strong sense of unity and love for one another.  And it helped that only 38 youth served at either Bsahor or New Jersey – much closer to that ideal number.

Sometimes a team ends up being too small, as is the case right now with L.O.G. #62 that currently only has 15 team members.  In cases like this, we rely on those daring souls that are willing to serve by going beyond their comfort zone and joining a team that wasn’t their first choice. 

It seems that some people are inclined to seek the comfort of being on a team with their friends and really want to support their friends who are serving as Co’s.  We have also seen some youth who are willing to step out in faith and join a team where they may not already know everyone – and really benefit by doing so as they build new friendships and stretch themselves in new ways.

Many of us really believe that as powerful and fun one’s participant L.O.G. may be, it is in coming back to serve on a team that one grows closer to the community and deeper in faith – and are better prepared to serve on and in a much bigger team: the family of God.

Moving Toward the Fall L.O.G.s – Teams (part #1)

Now that the summer season is over, we’ve begun moving toward the fall L.O.G.s - #62, #63 and #64.

The first step was to call CoLeaders.  The adult advisors were in conversation on and off all summer, seeking to discern which of our students God was leading us to ask to serve as the CoLeaders for the three Teams.  The qualities we always look for in Co’s include a personal faith in God that is lived out in the student’s life beyond L.O.G., a commitment to our program that includes a minimum of one time serving on a L.O.G. Team as well as the ability to lead and the respect of one’s peers. This is not easy because there are many more candidates than we can use - even in a whole year of L.O.G.s!

After much deliberation and prayer, we called six seniors to serve for the fall season:  Neil Infalt and Claire Soisson for L.O.G. #62; Gabby Marzke and Shea Slayter for L.O.G. #63 and Alex Jones and Bethany Van Alstine for L.O.G. #64.  Thanks be to God that each one of them said “yes”!

Then we opened up the sign ups for L.O.G. Team.

L.O.G. #63 filled up first, in part because some of the youth from New Jersey will be coming out to share in that weekend with us.  When we reached 25 members we began a waiting list, which now has three names on it.  L.O.G. #64 filled up a week or so later – no waiting list at this time.  As I write this, L.O.G. #62 has not filled up yet.

The reason we had to cap the two Teams at 25 is because it usually takes a minimum of 16-18 Team members to successfully prepare and present a L.O.G. weekend.  We cannot move forward with the fall L.O.G.s until we have enough Team members signed up for each L.O.G. Team.

Check back here tomorrow for part #2 of this blog Moving Toward the Fall L.O.G.s - Teams in which I’ll reflect on some or all of these questions:

-       what are the pro’s and con’s of small or large Teams?

-       why do we even do Teams?

-       What will we have to do to balance out the three Teams?

Teams begin next week!

In the love of God,

ter