Gems from General Assembly

Well, I'm back. I'm alive...I survived, mostly. My stomach was not entirely intact the evening of my return, but that is a story for another time. I'm here today just to share some sparkling little gems of real beauty from General Assembly (please do note the sarcasm):

• "I don't know if they got talked to by our conservative 'friends' or are just stupid."
• "The one-third of the denomination that's just stonewalling on ordination issues should just go start their own denomination."
• "The unity of the church is more important than the righteousness of following Christ."

There are times when I really wonder, and hope, and pray, and fear for us all...

"Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God." -Micah 6:8

General Assembly is Like...

Hello from San Jose, CA! I'm spending the week at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s biennial General Assembly and I've been thinking for a couple of days now of the best analogy for it. Many of you who know much about church in general is that the degrees of separation between churchfolk has got to be less than 10. I am convinced, however, that in the PC(U.S.A.) it's more like...two.

Along those lines, I've decided the most appropriate analogy for G.A. is a family reunion. This idea first came to me when I began running into friends, colleagues, and people I admire in the denomination that I haven't seen in a long while, most since the last assembly I attended in 2004. Yet the idea became even more clear when I ran into others, people with whom I have had, shall we say, "words," people with whom I do not see eye-to-eye with regards to diversity issues, theology, or any of the other multitude of issues that seem to divide us.

See, at your family reunion there are the long-lost cousins, aunts and uncles, and nieces and nephews. You hear about their achievements, their triumphs and losses through the grapevine. But when you finally see them, you celebrate in person, you hug and show your excitement to reconnect despite the distance and the time. But, at your family reunion, there is also the person with whom you disagree on nearly every issue and who takes the time to make that known. You avoid them when possible or appropriate, but at family reunions there is little room or time for that. Family reunions are where all our guts and passion and mistakes and love get strewn out across the table and we are called to defend them, sometimes vehemently and sometimes meekly. Family reunions are where fights happen, destructive, divisive fights. But, and this is so important to remember, family reunions are where healing can begin. They are where love can conquer when we take time to listen. See the word in there that's key: "reunion"?

Signing off for the night with a heart broken for the Church,

Megan

Fiascos, Felines, and Fresh Beginnings

Did that picture get you hooked or what?? =) Meet Chance. This is a very cute kitten my mom

found a week ago on the side of the road - we think he had been thrown out of a car - and brought home. We are working on bonding with him...not too hard, since he's very cute and likes to be held and cuddle. We're also trying to find him a good home, which I'm quite sad about.

Well, anyway, on to the real reason for a post. Any of you who have talked with me over the past 4 months or so will know that my summer plans have been kind of a fiasco from the beginning. I had hoped to work at Carp Community Church, but after 4 weeks of waiting finances ultimately derailed that plan. In the meantime, because I don't like to be without a plan, I had applied at a church in Fresno, CA (name witheld to protect the guilty) which would have been a great opportunity to grow in team ministry but turned out to have a very disappointing outlook on Princeton's theology and consequently felt the need to grill me for 2/3 of my interview to, what I presume was, "test my theology." At any rate, after agonizing about it (they offered me a position) for far too long I eventually told them no because I just had a feeling it wasn't where God was calling me. So, I put out some feelers...in May. After finals were over. A bit late to begin again in looking for a summer job.


But, when God provides, He really does. I contacted two churches, First Presbyterian Berkeley, and my home church, First Presbyterian, Visalia, hoping that one of them would have need of an intern, but not expecting too much. I suppose it's when you expect the least that God provides the most. Both churches responded with possibilities and I began pursuing an internship at my home church. I'll leave out all the nitty-gritty details, but I am proud and thankful to report I have a job for the summer!


So, what will I be doing? A little of this and a little of that...my main focus will be kick-starting the junior high group again and creating a program that will be sustainable into the fall as well as locating and training a junior high leader to pass the torch to after I leave. Youth group, a Bible study, "Coffee Hour with Megan," monthly events...so exciting!!! But I will also be...and this is the part I am most excited about...acting as the intern for the 210 center, a community center the church just opened a couple of months ago, helping with the college ministry, Elevate, which is 120 people strong, and helping run and coordinate the concert ministry at 210!


I'll definitely be picking up a second job, because you never do any ministry for the money...that's what Starbuck's is for! And I'll be taking a statistics class at the community college to cover one of my prereqs for my M.S.W. I think this is going to shape up to be a good summer! However, this post is getting a bit long, so I'll stop for now, but I'll be back in a couple of days to share about how 210 came into being!





"Gloria in excelsis Deo!"

10 Things...

...I did this past school year that surprised me.

1. I drove myself across the country...twice.
2. I learned that New Jersey is not all industrial and gross. There is a reason they call it the "Garden State."
3. I discovered a strange enjoyment of Malaysian food.
4. I enjoyed living in the snow. Really, it was the idea of four real seasons that made it.
5. I developed an intense and unexpected love for New York City and began acquiring "my favorite places" there.
6. I traveled...a lot. Daytona Beach, Florida; home for Thanksgiving and Christmas; Louisville, Kentucky twice in the first two months of 2008; NYC and the United Nations for four days; NYC and Boston with the girls for a week; Guatemala in April...and coming up later this month, San Jose, CA for the PC(USA) General Assembly. =)
7. I decided that Princeton is not as crazy-liberal as my previously all-West-coast mindset had told me.
8. I theologized systematically.
9. I grew to really enjoy Princeton, NJ and the east coast feel.
10. I turned down a job with money attached to it in favor of "The Great Unknown"...which will coincidentally be the topic of my next post.

Spring has Cometh

I have to admit, spring is so much better when you have to "earn" it. Here are some pictures for your perusal...which will just have to do until I can get some sleep and recover from finals. To that end, tonight I am going bowling, drinking cheap Smirnoff Ice, and then going to bed and getting up tomorrow only in time to get lunch and make it to my massage appointment. Yay! I'm getting a massage!

Unbearable Joy...

Current Princeton Temp: 64 and SUNNY!

It seems so unreal to be coming this close to the end of the semester. To be honest, with all the traveling I've been doing, it feels difficult to believe there even was a spring semester. However, the midterm grades, projects, and upcoming finals are just enough to jerk me back to reality. Guatemala was a rush, and amazing, even more wonderful and heart-touching and awe-inspiring than I expected, and the people I love there are just as incredibly faithful as they were three and a half years ago. Of course, since being there for a month was too short, I knew going back for just one weekend was going to be torture. But it was just as much, and more, worth it than all the torture it inflicted on me. =)

So, back to reality I came...reality introduced itself to me in the form of 35 degree weather on the train platform in Princeton after leaving beautiful 80 degree weather in Guatemala. And then it reintroduced itself to me in the form of schoolwork yet to be done, finals yet to be studied for (or taken) and the impossible amount of fun things I would like to do before the end of the year. Difficult, yes? I thought so too. Then I realized I still needed to get myself a job for the summer!

This is where I am now. Have you seen those Allstate commercials lately where there are people saying where they are and standing on a large red dot? That's how I feel right now. Tonight, the session of Carpinteria Community Church will meet and decide on whether they would like to hire an intern to take over the youth director position for the summer: me. I'm hoping so, and praying so. I love Carp Community, I love living there, and would relish the opportunity (and challenge) of this ministry and job. So, if you're getting this today...and really, whenever you get this...if you could send up a little prayer that my big red dot would move to Carp Community Church for the summer, I would really appreciate it. And if that isn't God's will, that God would show his will...and soon!





"The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
-Zephaniah 3:17

Update #4 from Princeton: "I Left My Heart in Guatemala"

...and now I'm heading back to get it. I am heading down to Guatemala for the weekend...yes, I know it's a short trip, but it's going to be so worth it. I probably won't want to come back, and if I'm honest with myself, I know I will probably end up leaving more of my heart there than bringing it back.

So, the reason for the trip: I went to Guatemala in 2004 with a team sponsored by an organization at my college. I fell in love with the country. We spent the majority of our trip in Uspantan, a small village in the highlands of Guatemala...absolutely the most breathtaking scenery...and people. We did demolition, construction, and learned how to enjoy the ministry of presence. It was fabulous. We climbed down waterfalls, hiked to swimming pools fed by cold water springs, drank from leaves, swung from vines in a large river, and sat together around the table fellowshipping. We lived and worked alongside two pillars of the community, now both in their 80's, Don Salomon and Dona Mery Hernandez (Don and Dona are titles of recognition and honor). Then we spent a month in Guatemala City helping work on a hospital, the Westmont-Bethel Hospital, run by the son and daughter-in-law of Don Salomon and Dona Mery. When we were there it only had a basement and two operational floors but the hospital operated anyway because health care is such a pervasive problem in the country. The action of this hospital, a ministry of the kingdom of God is that they provide health care to anyone who needs it, regardless of their race, gender, ability to pay or any other factor. Less than 1% of the GDP of Guatemala is spent on health care and over 20% of the population does not have any access to health care. The situation is grim, but it's looking up a bit thanks to the following wonderful news: Construction on the hospital has recently been completed, now with several (approx. 6) floors and a basement!

Because so much of the $150,000 needed to build and equip each floor, and so much of the construction itself has been made possible through donations of time, money, and love, the Hernandez have invited everyone who has been involved over the years back to Guatemala to celebrate! Since I've been itching to go back for a long time now...basically since I left...I am so thrilled about this opportunity. It, of course, would not have been possible without the support of my mom, both her love and finances, and a prayer that was a long time in the making being answered by God. The chance to go back really is an answer to prayer, although I'm sure I'll be praying even more fervently for another chance to go back when this one is over.

In the meantime, I'm going to really enjoy this chance. I'll keep you all posted when I get back (I have a lot to update you all on) and bring back some hopefully beautifully vibrant (in color and life) pictures to post. I'm off to sleep briefly before heading out early in the morning!

Vaya con Dios!

P.S. Don't worry...I know I'm still in grad school...that's what the plane rides and hours sitting in the airport are for...getting all that reading done!