Overhauling the Bungalow

Yesterday was a long day, but it was VERY productive.  Bruce and I got up early to go to the 8:30 service at church.  I'm preaching in two weeks and Kim told me that the early service is very different from the late service that I've always attended.  She suggested me attending a service just so I have an idea as to what it's going to be like when I head in to preach.  I'm really glad we did that.  One of the regular attendees of the early service is Jewish and so he brought some of the traditions of the Passover and of the High Holy Days (which are this week) into our communion service.  It was REALLY moving.  I think all too often we forget that Jesus was a Jew and that it's okay to celebrate Jewish traditions and customs.  I'm hoping to be able to explore this a little bit more in seminary and possibly bring it into my first church.

The early service backed right up into the late service.  I was scheduled to do the children's sermon, which was absolutely terrifying to me.  For some reason, children's sermons just do not come naturally to me.  I would much prefer to get up and preach for adults than I would for children.  Children have a much shorter attention span than adults do and you need to have a gimmick.  Also - as you're doing the children's sermon the adults are watching you too and that's equally terrifying!!  It sounds irrational, but that's just how I've always viewed them.  All things considered, however, it went really well.  I first asked the kids if they knew who I was - I had met some of them at VBS but have pretty much been focused on the youth so I wanted them to know that I wasn't some random person up there with them.  This helped me not only get to know some of the kids, but it also made me more approachable for the adults too.  A lot of people came up to me afterwards that I had never talked to before and that made me happy.

After church and sunday school we had our first youth group of the semester.  We were in the first stage of our youth trailer "bungalow" overhaul.  I thought it went really well - we got a lot accomplished on the trailer and the kids were building a really strong foundation for community.  It was still a long day, though.  Bruce and Heidi and I didn't leave the church until 6 p.m. and went straight to O'Charley's for a beer.  We didn't get home until close to 9.

I feel like I didn't get a whole lot accomplished this weekend but it was still a good weekend nonetheless.  My Con Ed II experience is off to a great start and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year!!

With Content Exhaustion,

Sarah :)