Seven down, three to go

So, yesterday's service went well. PR is visiting her mother, so we had a fill-in pastor, Pastor Rosa. Pastor Rosa arrived at the church nice and early, which gave us plenty of time to talk through the service and what may have been different than what she was use to. Service ran smoothly (no major mess-ups). I was veryh thankful that we had Pastor Rosa. For a while, it was looking like I might have had to lead service, which since I've done it once, it'd be okay, but not my first choice. Thankfully, I heard from PR on Monday or Tuesday that Pastor Rosa was coming. It took stress off of me :)

It is really hard to believe that I have three weeks left. This summer just seems to have flown by! It seems like just yesterday that I drove the four hours up the mountain to get to this wonderful place. I've thought about a lot, learned a lot, and prayed a lot.

After my three weeks, I will be home for a week and a half, and then it's straight back here (this time for actual school). When I come back to SOTH, I will return to being the normal campus ministry student.

I must admit, I'm looking forward to being home, even if it's just for ten days. I'm already starting to plan out those days with what I'm going to do and who I'm going to see. It's the only way to get done all I need to!

Have a blessed week!
Peace

Not gonna lie...

Today's self-defense class was one of the best, and one of the worst I've had. It was great because I got to work one-on-one and go over what the person had questions or fears about. The bad thing was, there was just one person.

That's one of the things about working in such a small community. I had four or five people tell me that they were going to come, and in reality only one showed up. Things happen; stuff comes up. You have to be prepared for having one- or no one- show up for activities planned. I get that now, but it still kind of hurts.

We went over A LOT of different things, though. Basic formation of the fist for punches (fold pinky-forefinger down, thumb resting in between second and third knuckles) to frisbee escapes to running like heck. We covered car defense which was something I just learned about during the past semester in my RAD class and we talked about elevator defense (if you're wary- don't get in).

All in all, it was a good two hours spent. Even though there was just one other person, I showed her things that could help save her life. In my opinion, if I can help one person, then the time was not wasted.

- Peace

Fun 4th and other things

Happy Fourth of July, to all of my American readers! I've heard fireworks going off the past three nights and hope you all have seen some beautiful ones.

I have to admit, this year is kind of weird for me. For the past, well since I can remember, I've always been in one of two places for the 4th. I've either been at the beach with my family (sometimes as many as 12 of us in a 3-bedroom condo) or I've been in A Place Apart- Lutheridge- with my L-Ridge family. This year, my blood family is at the beach, my L-Ridge family is at camp, and I'm in Sylva. I know it's part of growing up, but it's still kinda weird.

Shepherd of the Hills has a 4th of July picnic every year at a member's house. Bonnie's house is amazing. It is an old farmhouse, most likely dating back to the 1800's. Bonnie made all the trim in the house, and added a whole bunch of stuff. All by herself. It's pretty neat. She has a HUGE yard and a pretty full veggie garden. There are a bunch of trees, so we all had shade to sit in. It was a pretty good picnic.

Everyone brought a bunch of food and we had sausages, hot dogs and chicken. Twas really, really good. We had maybe 45 people show up, including a lot of kids. At one point, I was playing monkey in the middle with two of the older kids while tossing a ball back and forth with one of the younger ones. It was really nice to be able to sit back and relax with everyone from church. I always find it fascinating to see people outside of their normal habitat.

On Sunday, we got to install and bless a new communion set. The one used previously had been the communion set used since the formation of the church in 1974. The new communionware looks really good, and now we'll be able to retire the first set and display it with the Charter. It was the first Sunday in which I was not the Assistant Minister, so PR asked if I would be willing to bring part of the set up to represent the Campus Ministry aspect of the Church. I will always remember getting to help with the installation of the new set. That was pretty cool.

This Thursday, I'm going to be heading to WCU to see something called The Liars Bench. By the sounds of it, I'm gonna hear lots of local storytellers and learn about the Appalachian culture. I can't wait!!

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I'm going to be teaching a self-defense class on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to being able to share something that I absolutely love with others. The things I help teach people may only give them a few seconds, but sometimes a few seconds is all you need.

Next Sunday, I will be leading Sunday School. I'm looking forward to it, because PR has given me free reign with whatever I want to lead/discuss, as long as it deals with spirituality. I am planning on talking about labyrinths, and probably doing a craft with it too. I hope people will be open to doing something like that.

I hope you all have a great Holiday week!
God's Peace

As promised...

Here is the sermon I delivered this morning:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, o Lord our rock and our redeemer.

Amen

In the Gospel reading today from Matthew, the word welcome is used four times within the first verse alone. Four. As I was preparing the sermon for today, that word kind of jumped out at me, just a little bit. So, what exactly does the word welcome mean?

+ It can mean a word of kindly greeting, such as: “Welcome Stranger!”

+ It can be a kindly greeting or reception, such as: to give someone a warm welcome.

+ Another way it is used is to receive or accept with pleasure, or to regard as pleasant or good: to welcome a change.

+ The final one the dictionary gave me was: agreeable, as something arriving, occurring, or experienced: A welcomed rest.

Looking at the word biblically, welcome has several of the same meanings. However the one that struck me as being the most encompassing of all the ideas is: to receive favorably, give ear to, embrace, make one's own, approve, not to reject. The last part of that definition is what really caught my eye: not to reject.

In the scripture, Jesus is talking with the twelve apostles. He is getting ready to send them out among the people of Israel. They are going out without food or plans of shelter. They are going out, counting on people to be welcoming, for people not to reject them.

The idea of hospitality in the days of Jesus was astounding. People were expected to provide for travelers coming through their land, just as they would be provided for while they were traveling.

I can relate a bit to the apostles and their feelings of worry and anxiety. Starting school at a university where I knew all of one person was really intimidating. I was worried that I wouldn’t fit in, worried that people would not approve of me; that they would reject me. What was even harder was finding a faith family in which I would be welcome.

As many of you know, I started attending Shepherd of the Hills back in January, at the beginning of the Spring Semester. What most of you may not know is that during the previous fall semester, I had tried out other campus ministries and churches in the area. All stated that they welcome everyone. However, looking at the definition, they did not. They did not try to embrace me. Though they did not verbally reject me, I could tell that they did not approve of me.

The first time I had an experience with members of this church was the first Lutheran Campus Ministries meeting after the start of the semester. Somehow, I had gotten it into my head that the dinner and meeting started at 6:30, not 6. So I arrived at about 6:10 to find Pastor Rosemary and the rest of the group about to bless the meal. As I tried to quietly slip in, Pastor Rosemary looks at me and says “Are you Tara? Come, join us! We’re just about to pray.”

I felt more welcome in the first thirty seconds of LCM than I had in a semester of some of the other campus ministries. After the blessing, I talked with Pastor Rosemary a little more to find out that one of my home pastors had contacted her and asked her to watch out for me.

I came that first Sunday to Shepherd of the Hills, not quite sure what to expect. Thankfully, you all were just as open and welcoming as everyone at LCM. That day, I learned more names after service during the fellowship time than I could remember! Everyone was interested in me, the student and fellow sister in Christ, and how they could help me.

Throughout the semester, everyone continued to be as welcoming as they had that first week. In fact, that is the reason I am here this summer. You all agreed to welcome me as I try and figure out what God is doing with my life.

Even as I have new and different ideas, such as signing parts of the worship service, my ideas are welcomed. The sign for welcome “welcome” really fits the concept of the word, in my opinion. The word is signed with a smile on the face and open body posture, giving the appearance of being happy to meet someone. The sign is very similar to quite a few other signs including “good” “accept” and “mine,” which all conceptually fit with the definition of welcome.

Jesus said “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” In today’s society, I feel like sometimes people focus on embracing only those people they feel are acceptable and have things to offer, rather than focusing on not rejecting anyone, even if they don’t seem to have much to share. Not too long ago, I read an article about a young man with cerebral palsy who was asked to leave the sanctuary and watch the service from a different part of the church. I greatly appreciate you allowing me to try and welcome everyone by signing.

The good news, though, is that even if all we can do to welcome someone is give them a place to rest and a glass of water, that even then, we will not lose our reward as long as we do it with good intentions.

Having said that, I would like to leave you all with a parting thought in the form of a song. It is called ‘I Saw a Stranger Today’ and is based upon the Celtic Rune of Hospitality. There is an insert with the lyrics on it in your bulletin.

Here's the lyrics:

I saw a stranger today; a poor man wandering my way.
I put food for him in the eating place, and drink in the drinking place
And music from a violin in the listening place.

And in the name of the Holy Trinity
He blessed myself, and my family
And the lark with her song seemed to say:
“Often, often, often goes Christ in a stranger’s guise.”

I saw a young girl today, and why she wept I could not say

In her slender arms lay an infant child; she herself a forgotten child

She clutched me as I wiped her eyes, and the young girl smiled.

And in the name of the Holy Trinity
She blessed myself, and my family
And the lark with her song seemed to say:
"Often, often, often goes Christ in a stranger’s guise.”
“Often, often, often goes Christ in a stranger’s guise.”

I saw a stranger today.

Amen.

Another one bites the dust

My streak of bad luck seems to finally be coming to an end. At the beginning of this week, an ear issue had me traveling to the health center to see what was going on. They sent me home with the usual... "Oh there's nothing we can do for it. Take Sudefed and ibeprophen and it'll get better." Let's just say I was back the next day, because instead of getting better, it got worse. Now, after antibiotics and other fun stuff, I appear to be returning to healthy me.

This week has been an interesting week for me, because it's been the week of preparing my sermon. I am pleased with how it turned out and I hope everyone enjoys it tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, my mom and sister are coming up to hear me preach :-D I can't wait to see them!

Today, PR and I went to the Sylva Quilt Show, held at the new Jackson County Library. The library looks really cool, and I can't wait to go and check out a few books. I really enjoyed looking at all the different quilts, too. There were quilts of all shapes, sizes and colors! After viewing the quilts, we went to the luncheon, where PR did the invocation. The food was not bad, especially the chocolate cake! It was cool to get to meet some of the older population of the area. There was also a fashion show, spotlighting hand-made garmets. It was really cool to see what people are able to make. I wish I could do what some of those ladies can do!

Last night, I had dinner with a few of my good friends. We ate and then played a few rounds of a board game called "Last Word." It's a really fun game to play, especially with a group of chatty college women! Then we went to the local icecream shop. Jack the Dipper's has probably 50 different Blue Bell flavors. It's always a challenge for me to decide which to choose. I usually end up getting the Southern Blackberry Cobbler. It has pieces of cobbler crust in it!! But the best thing about Jack the Dipper's is that they make their waffle cones right when you order. You can choose from either vanilla or cinnomen. Then they mold it into a cone, put your icecream in it, and hand it to you. The cone is still hot. Sometimes the icecream starts to melt!

I am really enjoying this summer. Having this specific time to be with God and to really talk with him is starting to help me figure out my path. I love working in the church, because I can always walk the 30 feet to the sanctuary and just be if I need to.

I can't believe that this summer is almost half way over! It really seems to have flown by. I'm looking forward to starting back at WCU, especially working with my students. We're getting four new participants in the program, for a total of eight students with intellectual/developmental disabilities attending college. It's really cool to see that happen.

Well, I hope you've been able to follow this somewhat random post, and I'll catch you all later!!

God's Peace

Tornados, laptops and vehicles

This past week has been insane. I was planning on updating at the beginning of the week, when to my dismay, my laptop battery completely died. So, I had no computer until Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday evening, a line of severe storms moved through the area, spawning a tornado which knocked power out, both at the house I'm staying at and the church. Duke Energy was saying that power wouldn't be restored until 11pm, SUNDAY NIGHT, so you can imagine my surprise when I walked out of my room Thursday evening and saw the glorious sight of lights on in the house.

It's kind of cool to see how communities come together when something like this happens. The first strip where electricity was restored was where all of the stores/restaurants. So, you can imagine where everyone spent the days without electricity. I went to Wal-Mart the morning after the storm, and everyone there was really polite. No one was pushing or complaining about the really long lines. The people working were all at least putting on smiles. Whether they be real or fake I don't know, but there were smiles. The University, which also was one of the first things to get power back, opened its facilities so that people could come take showers.

I'm preparing a sermon to give next Sunday, on the texts of Jeremiah 28: 5-9, Psalm 89: 1-4, 15-18, Romans 6: 12-23, and Matthew 10: 40-42. I have a few ideas on where God is leading me, so we'll just have to see how it turns out.

PR and I talked about prayer, and the different ways of prayer. One of the things she mentioned was that I might like to try out a different way of praying. I decided to make prayer bead chains, and I really like them! It helps me have something to do with my hands while I allow my mind to talk with God.

One of the projects I am working on is signing the Sunday service. One of my passions is to work with people with disabilities, and providing translations to people who cannot hear is one way I can do that in the church. As of right now, I have The Lord's Prayer and The Words of Institution translated. Currently, we do not have any members who cannot hear, but who sign. I hope that as it becomes public knowledge that it is a service we're offering, that we will start to have some deaf/Deaf people come.

I am also employing another of my talents that I never considered to be ministry-related. As some of you know, another of my passions is Martial Arts, especially Tae Kwon Do. I will be leading a self-defense class for the members of the church, and any friends that they might want to bring. I never knew my interest in TKD would be something that I could turn into ministry.

I wonder what else there'll be?

Busy week, eh??

Hey Guys!

Sorry that it's been about a week since I've updated, but boy was this past week a doozy!
Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday were spent at Lenoir-Ryhne University, which was hosting the North Carolina Synod Assembly. Having been my first time going, I was kind of overwhelmed. I believe the last number I heard put the total people gathered around 600... Pastors, rostered leaders, lay voting members, and just plain old visitors, such as me.

But it was a lot of fun. At opening worship, during offering, a woman painted. At first, what she was painting was hard to figure out. I thought it might have been a candle, or maybe an angel. Looking back and forth, however, from the screen to the actual picture, I figured it out, but waited to say anything until she revealed it. When she was done, she flipped the painting over and "AHH's" could be heard from almost everyone. She had painted a portrait of Jesus, upsidedown, so that it was really hard to see it until you flipped it.

Later that night, I sat in on two forums that I thought would be cool. There was one on how to try and help get more youth into a congregation, and one on the 2012 NYG, being held in New Orleans again. While I was there, I ran into an old friend, Sarah Embry, so it was good getting to see her again. The next day, I had a fun job. Before the Assembly, PR made a white stole for Bishop Bolick, on which we were going to ask all the participants to leave a thumbprint. So, Friday was the day of painting. Since I knew what was suppose to happen, PR left me with the stole while she went and taught her forums. By lunchtime, we had the stole full of prints, and we were letting it dry. All this had happened without Bishop Bolick knowing, which was a feat in and of itself.

During the afternoon session,  PR, Tammy Jones West and I presented the stole to Bishop Bolick, and I think he was really surprised, and really liked it. He almost ruined it by walking backstage while we were getting ready with it, but PR and I distracted him by talking about Project Connect. Plus, he was too busy with other things to really notice his surroundings too much :)

Saturday morning came around, and we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Living Waters church in Cherokee. It was really cool, because the Pastor there, Jack Russell, led our closing worship. I have now experienced smudging, singing in the Cherokee language, and their directional prayers. It was really cool to see how they have been able to incorporate their traditions in with our Lutheran teachings.

We came back Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday morning, I got to help with communion for the first time at Shepherd of the Hills. That was a really good experience for me. I also got to sing the Kyrie again, which I love to do!

This week has  been a week of catching up on things around the Church itself. I got to have youth time again, with our one sole youth. He is such an adorable 2 1/2 month old!!

Tomorrow, I might be going tubing with one of the besties, as long as it doesn't storm! It's been thundering all day here, and two days ago, we had a horrible hail storm! The weather is kinda wacky here in the mountains... But the views are beautiful. We visited with some of the parishoners yesterday, and they have the most gorgeous view, westward facing the mountains. They said that when the sun sets, the whole sky turns the most beautiful shades of reds, pinks, and oranges.

Thank you, God for the BEAUTIFUL mountains!