The end of summer

Photo by Tara Lamont Eastman.

When does summer end? A quick consult to the indispensable Old Farmer's Almanac tells me right down to the minute: Saturday, September 22 at 10:48 am. A precise answer, no doubt, but it still doesn't quite sit right with me. Like many things in life, the truth seems more elusive.

First of all, September 22 just seems way too late. All the routine activities that make up our community life are well into full swing by then. Plus, anyone who has ever sat in a stuffy classroom wearing scratchy new school clothes can tell you that there is nothing even remotely summer-like about that experience. The last day of school vacation seems a more appropriate marker. Maybe Labor Day weekend. Yet there are still other options that aren't so calendar specific.

Summer may be over when…

• …I grab a blanket and forgo the fan/air conditioner at bedtime.
• …I wake up in the morning with a black and white beagle staring me in the face. I know the dog days of summer (sorry) are over when Aggie leaves her usual sleeping spot of the cool linoleum floor in the small bathroom and crawls in bed between my wife and I sometime during the night.
• …it makes more sense to bury my swimming trunks in a seldom-used dresser drawer than leave them out along with beach towels and sunscreen.
• …I stop wearing gym shorts every waking minute that I'm not at work. This is much to the relief of my children, my neighbors, and the general public at large and gives them something to look forward to every autumn.
• …hot dogs at dinner time only indicates that something has gone horribly awry with other, more elaborate dinner plans.

Perhaps the most personal indicator for me is the moment that I realize that I have once again fallen short of my annual summertime goal: To spend at least as much time swimming as it takes to set up, maintain, and winterize the pool. (Oops—mentioned the "W word.")

Summertime is so fleeting in these parts. I try to hold onto it as long as I can, ever knowing that I will soon wake up one morning and find leaves covering my yard. Maybe the thing to hold onto, if not the season itself, is the precious time enjoyed with family and friends. So I hold up a s’more in salute and look back with gratitude on those weeks: nights with the family "with nothing particular to do", swimming at Kinzua Dam, campfires, picnics (before hot dogs wore out their welcome), late night ice cream excursions, and the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans.

But my reverie must go on hold for the moment. It's Labor Day weekend and I may still have a shot at getting some of that "pool time" in!

Ian Eastman, M.A. is the Conference Youth Coordinator for the Southwestern Conference of the Upstate New York Synod, the Coordinator of the Shared Lutheran Youth Ministry in Jamestown NY, and a Youth Minister in the Pastoral Care Department at Gustavus Adolphus Family Services. He is a student at the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Sophie wants to be the change!

Today's guest blog is by Sophie White. Sophie, who attends Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, went to the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering this summer in New Orleans.

Imagine seeing over 33,000 people in one place all working for the same goal. I could walk up to any person I saw, no matter who they were, and ask their name and where they're from. I got a chance to really know and meet different people from around the country.

My life is changed because of this experience. I got to see that I wasn't alone. There were a ton of different people who want to make a difference too. Thousands of people from different corners of the country came together to be "Citizens with the Saints" (our week's theme). I want to carry out the quote, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Chautauqua Area Lutheran Youth gratefully acknowledges the support of the Karl Peterson Funds & Lynn Foundation Fund of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation in making this project a reality.

Back to School Planning: Confessions of a Slacker Mom

"My kids are generally happy. They do well in school. We and they have good relationships with their teachers and friends, and we all basically maintain our sanity and our patience with one another, even around seasonal transitions. So if that’s all stuff you’re looking for, here's the advice I can offer to help you get there..."

Read more from Jennifer Griffin-Wiesner here:


Back to School Planning: Confessions of a Slacker Mom | ParentFurther

Ease the transition to middle school

Have a child going into middle school? As with all stages of development, parents are a critical factor in helping their children succeed and enjoy life. Check out this link from USA Weekend about some key ways you can prepare your child.

Inspiration, surprise, and seeds of change in New Orleans

Today's guest blogger is Darcy Whitney from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Darcy was an adult chaperone with Chautauqua Area Lutheran Youth in New Orleans this July. 

The whole time at the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering was inspiring! Emily, my daughter, pointed out that the group was so large at the Superdome that we we worshipping with the population of Jamestown! The speakers were awesome. Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber and Shane Claiborne were fascinating in their honesty and ability to captivate the audience. I loved, loved, loved listening to them. They made you want to go out and help somebody. Nadia and Pastor Andrena Ingram let you know that it's OK to have a past and not be ashamed of it.

The enthusiasm of the gathering participants was surprising.  None of them were afraid to clap along with the music (and there was some GREAT music) or raise their hands in praise. Honestly I think if we did that in our church we would get some strange looks that would make us stop. I guess I didn't know Lutherans could be so open and happy about their faith!

The kids were a constant source of inspiration. Their enthusiasm was contagious! They were ready to get down and dirty and do whatever it took to help someone. The last evening in New Orleans Tara and Emily had half their dinner left over. The waitress asked if they wanted a box for the leftovers. We had seen homeless every night as we walked to our hotel sleeping in doorways and on benches and sitting on Bourbon Street in front of our hotel. Tara and Emily approached two homeless men asked them if they wanted dinner. They were happy to say yes! That was a great moment.

I hope I have come back changed for the better and that I can be more open about my faith. They told us to go out and do things like "love like Jesus" and "be the change you want to see" and be a "disciple of Christ." I really hope I can do that. It's easy to be inspired and enthusiastic while you're there; the challenge will be to keep it up back home. We want to keep meeting as a CALY group and I believe that will help. The group really bonded by the last day and I don't want to lose that. All, in all it was a wonderful time. I am so glad I get to be a part of it! The kids all want to go to the Detroit 2015 gathering and I hope I can go with them!

Darcy mentioned some speakers she found particularly inspiring. These have been recorded and posted on YouTube.
Check out Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber here.
Check out Shane Claiborne here.
Check out Rev. Andrena Ingram here.

Chautauqua Area Lutheran Youth gratefully acknowledges the support of the Karl Peterson Funds & Lynn Foundation Fund of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation in making this project a reality.

Making all things new--with dots!

Today's blog post is by Tara Eastman, the Youth & Family Director at First Lutheran in Jamestown.

It's amazing what can happen with a little paint, a handful of willing participants, and a lot of dots!

At the beginning of the week at the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary the attendees were encouraged to consider, dream and ponder around the idea of: "What is God creating or re-creating in your life and your ministry?"

In response to this question, a group of attendees and our facilitator, Lynne Farrow, worked on a community mural contemplating this question. The photo of the mural above was created from a scattering of dots placed on the canvas and the participants were encouraged to look and see what they could create from something that seemed so random. In the end we had trees, water, a cool car, the sun, plants and flowers and some wonderful abstract designs that creating a fantastic collaborative piece that was to adorn a communion table. But first, in order to begin to see what could potentially be created, it was necessary to let go and look for what could be... We pondered, dreamed about and made space for it.

In order to have God create or recreate in our lives, is it necessary to "let go" of anything?

When it all comes down to the beginnings of God creating or re-creating in my own life it's been necessary for me to: open up, surrender specific expectations, and let go of various things for God to have the space needed to make some new dots and help connections of faith begin to take root.

Letting go can be the first step to seeing the dots of life (and this mural project) in an entirely new way. A prayer: "God, help us let go of the spaces that need your creation or re-creation. Give us eyes to see what all the varied spaces of our lives can be with your help and direction. Amen!"

Tara Eastman is the Youth & Family Director at First Lutheran Church in Jamestown. She is a contributing writer to Connect, a new curriculum that helps preteens connect individual Bible stories with larger biblical themes, published by Sparkhouse (a division of Augsburg Fortress).

Five things Lutheran camps can teach the church

Today, Lake Chautauqua Lutheran Center will wrap up another successful summer camping season. It is truly one of the "sacred spaces" in our young people's lives. Pastor Geoff Sinibaldo writes in the Living Lutheran about what makes camps so significant to youth--and how our churches might take a cue from camping ministries. Check it out here:

Five things Lutheran camps can teach the church - Blogs - LivingLutheran.com

Exploring faith and a new culture in New Orleans

  
Today's guest blog is by young people from First Lutheran Church in Jamestown, NY. They reflect on the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering held recently in New Orleans.

From Jeremy Hatfield: "New Orleans was a fantastic experience. You could feel the energy almost instantly when you entered the dome and saw it lined with thousands of people. The many high fives and hugs happened no matter where you went and someone was always singing camp songs. Not only were the people vibrant, the city was as well. The different plants, strange stores, and smells (good and bad) all had a part in making the experience. It was a great trip to both explore our faith and a new culture."

From Nigel Eastman: "First of all, I would like to say how thankful I am that we were able to take 12 local youth to the city of New Orleans. Thank you to those who have helped us to get there. What really resonated with me about the gathering was first of all the city--interesting culture, the genuine hospitality of the locals, and how well the Youth Gathering was organized. Two of the dome speakers really impacted me. Shane Claiborne related how he saw God's work happening with honesty and selflessness. Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber brought a new perspective to the Lutheran faith as she wasn't born into it and joined later in life. Lastly, we all made new friends, and grew closer to the ones we already had."

Thank you to everyone who supported Chautauqua Area Lutheran Youth's participation in the Youth Gathering!

Chautauqua Area Lutheran Youth gratefully acknowledges the support of the Karl Peterson Funds & Lynn Foundation Fund of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation in making this project a reality.

Walking by faith

Abraham packed up his wife and nephew and headed to Canaan in response to the call of God. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. Jesus and the disciples always seemed to be walking somewhere in the Gospels. Down through the ages believers have gone on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela. I recently had the privilege of accompanying Chautauqua Area Lutheran Youth (CALY) on a sacred journey to 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans to practice discipleship, peacemaking, and justice.

We used the trolley system where we could, and even got to ride a school bus once, but many of our destinations required us to walk. That's a good thing. You see and experience a place differently when you walk. Years ago, when I first became involved in ministry I had the blessing and the curse of a 15 passenger van. It was a blessing because it made travel so much easier and pleasant: hotel to conference center on the thruway in ten minutes flat! A quick trip to the mall when youth needed to unwind! Easy access to familiar chain restaurants where the food would taste just like it did back home! It was a curse too, although I scarcely realized it at the time, because we never really experienced our destinations or got to know anyone, because after all, a stadium is a stadium is a stadium… A motel is a motel is a motel…

Walking a city is a very different experience. It engages all the senses. There was a sense of joyful discovery in New Orleans—live jazz and blues seemed to pour out of every window and door. The architecture, so different than back home, was delightful. We tried a lot of unfamiliar food (some of our group were more adventurous than others). The warmth and the humidity clung to our bodies and clothing. Not everything we experienced was so joyful—the homeless man hunkering down for the night during a thunderstorm. Drunks fighting and abusing each other. The women selling themselves on the street in broad daylight. Sirens at all hours of the day and night. The poverty, the garbage, the questionable smells every morning on Bourbon Street. Yet, these things were just as important to experience, because the youth are at an age when we do them a disservice to portray a myth of the perfect existence. If they are going to change the world—and this crew just might—they need to know the stakes.

Walking made us think intentionally about what we carried. We took things like canteens, maps, and other necessities. We didn't want to be weighed down with extras. We paid attention to our surroundings and each other. There was very little "tuning out" with headphones or texting. We met people that we wouldn't have otherwise by our slow mode of travel and took time to listen to their stories. We had to carve out time for rest and that fostered leisurely conversations about our experiences over lunch or resting on a bench. Our mode of travel was demanding—and we have the blistered feet to prove it. The dirty clothes in our luggage—phew—bore witness to the heat.

We came up with a joke during our time in New Orleans that went something like this:

Question: "What has 32 legs and stinks?"

Answer: "CALY!"

Yes, young people, you really did stink in the most wonderful way. Often we associate the smell of incense or altar flowers with spirituality. But there is something profoundly holy as well about a sweaty, stinky youth group doing its best to practice peacemaking with each other for a week, learn about justice issues, and walk as disciples. It was physically hard, but spiritually uplifting. May you never forget the sights, sounds, smells, taste, and touch of New Orleans.

The gospels would have been so much shorter had Jesus taken a taxi or a limo. He never would have met the Samaritan woman, or the Centurion with the sick servant, or called Nicodemus down from that tree, just to name a few. The faces and desert roads would have just been a blur from an air-conditioned capsule. And I think the message would have been different, too. Maybe there wouldn't have been so much in there about the poor if he didn't run into them so much. We would have never read the beautiful passage "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them" (Matthew 9:36 NRSV).

This trip has got me wondering. Now that I am back home, I wonder how it would impact my faith if I spent more time walking? Might I notice people and situations that need compassion and love that are invisible from behind my steering wheel? Might I be more apt to hear first-hand stories of my fellow travelers? Perhaps I may sneak out of worship some Sunday soon to see what the rest of neighborhood is up to and maybe even get a chance to chat. Maybe I will find that I have some compassion ready to spring forth, too. Anyone interested in a stroll?

Ian Eastman, M.A. is the Youth Coordinator for the Southwestern Conference of the Upstate New York Synod, the Coordinator of the Shared Lutheran Youth Ministry in Jamestown NY, and a Youth Minister in the Pastoral Care Department at Gustavus Adolphus Family Services. He is a student at the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Chautauqua Area Lutheran Youth gratefully acknowledges the support of the Karl Peterson Funds & Lynn Foundation Fund of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation in making this project a reality.

Easy Tips for Creating Fun Summer Memories | ParentFurther

ParentFurther has some easy tips--seven of 'em, in fact--for creating fun summer memories. Follow the link to find out how to have fun...

• ...on the road
• ...in your backyard
• ...when the doldrums hit
• ...on rainy (or brutally hot) days

Here's the link: Easy Tips for Creating Fun Summer Memories | ParentFurther

You're invited to a Pool Party & BBQ on August 10

We hope you are having a wonderful summer vacation. Rodger & Kay Edborg have once again graciously opened their home for a youth group pool party and barbecue. It is open to all youth in grades 5 - 12. Hot Dogs will be provided, and we ask everyone to bring a snack, dessert, or beverage to share. You must bring a signed permission form from your parents to participate.


3rd Annual SLYM Pool Party & BBQ
Friday, Aug. 10
6 pm - 8:30 pm
Details in the link!

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