From This Week's Newsletter

From this week's leader's e-mail newsletter.  Plus links to upcoming events, calendar and useful articles for people who minister to youth and their parents.  Do you get yours each week?  

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One of the great resources in our region is Chautauqua Institution. If you've never been there let me recommend it to you. Their (nearly complete) schedule for 2013 just arrived and there are several notables -

Week 2 (June 30- July 6) The afternoon lecture series (begins at 2 PM) will examine the future of faith for those currently under age 25. Included in the speakers list are:

Monday July 1 - Bishop Eugene Sutton, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and

Friday July 5 - Shane Claiborne, Founding Partner of The Simple Way

(Both worth hearing but I'm really excited about Claiborne)

The chaplain for Week 5 (July 21-26) is The Rev. Tony Campolo who I have always found to be an interesting and challenging Evangelical thinker and author. He will lead the morning service all week but the chaplain's get highlighted on Sunday (7/21) at the 10:45 AM service.

The chaplain for Week 8 (August 11-16) is The Rt Rev John Chane Retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington (DC) Same deal as Campolo

There are many other great speakers, plays, symphonies, dances, operas and other amazing things going on at Chautauqua this summer. Check out the calendar HERE (this is not a paid endorsement of Chautauqua Institution. I will note that 3 generations of my family have worked there over the years. :) )

Thoughts on Boston

From the EYouthWNY Facebook page:

"It's easy to react with anger and revulsion at what has happened in Boston. At the moment we don't know what has happened. Our best response at the moment is be calm and wait. Prayer would be useful.

But there is one other thing I want to remind everyone. IF this was done by a person they represent the smallest portion of humanity. We are surrounded by people who are basically decent peaceful people. WE are the majority. Let us not cut off our noses to spite our faces. We are called to meet anger with love."

It seems like the world spins ever more out of balance every day.  The media shows us more and more insanity until we believe that we may be the only sane people left in the world.  I think there's a couple very important points to be made.

The media makes it seem worse than it is.  I'm not saying that it's a conspiracy but rather that because they focus on the bad it seems like that's all there is.  That perception of the world is wrong.  The vast majority of us will go through the day without a bomb going off in our vicinity.  Most of us will go through an average day with nothing more than annoyances to disturb the calm of our passage.  Some times we want to pretend those annoyances are more than they are but that's on us not the world.  When all seems madness look around and see what's really going on.  Or more likely NOT going on.

And then be calm.

The other point for us to remember is that our belief and tradition tells us that God is with us.  We are also taught that we are to be God's hands in the world that the world might be changed.  Our call then in times like these is to respond not in anger but with love.  To be calm, to be helpful, to be soothing, to be gentle in a world that desperately needs all of that.

Wait.  Watch.  Find the truth and then do what you can do to heal the world.

Peace
Jay Phillippi
Youth Missioner