Oh, Hello September

Woah - Hello September! When did you arrive?

September will always feel like "back to school" time. Time to bring out the pants and socks, the new notebooks, the pens and the backpacks. Time to leave the flexible summer days behind and enter into the schedule filled with school, extra-curricular activities, and youth group. It's time for packed lunches, late night paper writing, Saturday sleep-ins and life being organized by the agenda book.

For the second year, September does not have me going back to school (although late-fall may see an online course). September now means cooler days, a more relaxed schedule and the next set of projects and deadlines approaching alongside a very full schedule. September still has the joy of bringing out the fall wardrobe (I'm one of those people who love fall and winter clothes!) and doing some preparations for children and youth ministry in the church... which is sort of like school preparations!

My work has the summer months as the most full and most busy months of the year. The summer months are filled with some of the most joyful and holy days as people gather together to form community, to pray, to play and to learn. Which means that when the fall days come I have both a more relaxed and more flexible schedule alongside a more full schedule as commitments beyond Sorrento Centre come back to life and the meeting commitments I have made fill up many days and weeks of the year.

At the Cathedral everything starts up again in September: Sunday School, Youth Group, Young Adults, Staff Meetings, Bible Study, Parish Dinners, and the list goes on and on and on! And I am so excited and so ready to continue the planning and get back in touch with everyone. Alongside this my National Church commitments begin again: meetings, readings, writing, gatherings, traveling. There is much new for this year, namely - heading off to the World Council of Churches in South Korea as one of the handful of delegates representing the Anglican Church of Canada. Excited. Terrified. Honoured.

For me, the fall days also are the days when I get back into my cooking and preparing of meals. And I love cooking and baking - so when the time comes for me to get back into the kitchen I find myself filled with peace.

Fall means planning, traveling, preparing, cooking, resting.
Fall means new challenges and opportunities.
So, as much as I am surprised that September has already arrived I am also so very ready for it!

Ten on Tuesday: Changes

Nothing like almost four months down the road to pick up where I left off... only now summer has past,  new adventures have started, a new routine is trying to be discovered, fall has settled in and winter is around the corner. Where oh where do I start off? How about in the past week?!

Ten on Tuesday

Fall at Sorrento Centre

1) I've been settling into not only the job as Program Director at Sorrento Centre over the past month but have also been settling into my apartment over the past few weeks. It's coming together but will not happen overnight. A few items still need to come in from Savona... nevertheless it is so nice to have my own space to call home. My own space to make mine. My own space to be who I need to be outside of the rest of my life. Rest, Renewal, Sleep, Peace, Prayer.

2) Cooking... oh how I truly have missed cooking. This week I made some delicious beef patties with mushroom and feta in them. Enjoyed on top of a bed of green spinach and I was set! Tonight "Spinach Tomato Orzo Soup" is in my crock pot... so looking forward to enjoying that tonight!

3) Speaking of all things cooking... it's vital to get some stuff into the freezer so I can pull it out and take it with me for lunch and/or dinner during the many trips to Kamloops I'm making.

4) Last week I spent five days in the Calgary area gathering with representatives from each diocese of people who have a passion for working with youth. It was wonderful to gather with friends and colleagues. It was much needed time of sharing, conversation, worship, laughter and rest.

Play time with Theo!!

5) I'm not going to lie... one of the best parts of my resent time in Calgary was spending time with my friend Su from the Island and her 10 month old baby, Theo. I'll be bold enough to say that Theo and I became pretty good friends and had way too much fun playing with toys, crawling on the ground, and laughing. There is something about spending time with infants that reminds me of what is really important in life and how some things are really just not worth our time.

6) Youth Group - it's all happening again!! Some new ideas, some new adventures, some new faces and a whole lot of similar fun!!

7) A new church experience. I've been helping out with Sunday School here and there at the Cathedral during the 10am service. Sunday School is where I started out many years ago in the small town of Savona. It's where I learned about God, it's where I discovered my passion, it's where a group of adults believed in me, mentored me, and encouraged me - even though I didn't know I needed it. 8 years of Sunday School ministry and I'm once again dipping my toes into it and loving it. Right, back to the point. Because of this it means that I miss the scripture reading and reflection at the 10am service... so I've started to attend the 8am service (when I'm organized enough). This service is Book of Common Prayer, an unfamiliar book with unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable language.

8) I think I'm enjoying this 8am service thing. Yes, that is what I just wrote. There is something nice about the simplicity of it (no music, no interaction with neighbor, etc...), the unfamiliarity and the fact that I have no responsibilities and no one has any expectations for me (well, except maybe God). I sit in that small chapel with the small gathered group and I stop. I pause. I breathe. And sometimes, I just want to cry. It's the break I obviously need right now.

9) I have some pretty remarkable, caring and influential friends out there... just saying!

10) I slowly but surly beginning to feel settled for which I am very grateful.

Video on Vocation... What is God calling you to do?

Well... this was supposed to be posted on January 23rd, but for some reason it got lost in the process... and okay - I think I might have thought that I was failing at trying to upload the video on to the blog page!

Anyway - this is a short and sweet video on vocation that a friend shared on Facebook and that I used in the Senior Sunday School class on January 23rd... it goes really well with the Gospel Reading, Matthew 2:12-23.

In particular verses 18-23... Jesus calling the disciples:

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen.
And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people."
Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them.
Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

So - what is Jesus calling you to do??

God can use you!

This was sent to me in an email the other week... very true and simply stated! God calls us all!

The next time you feel like God can't use you, just remember...
 


Noah was a drunk
 


Abraham was too old
 


Isaac was a daydreamer
 


Jacob was a liar
 


Leah was ugly
 


Joseph was abused
 


Moses had a stuttering problem
 


Gideon was afraid
 


Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer
 


Rahab was a prostitute
 


Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
 


David had an affair and was a murderer
 


Elijah was suicidal
 


Isaiah preached naked
 


Jonah ran from God
 


Naomi was a widow
 


Job went bankrupt
 


John the Baptist ate bugs
 


Peter denied Christ
 


The Disciples fell asleep while praying
 


Martha worried about everything
 


The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
 


Zaccheus was too small
 


Paul was too religious
 


Timothy had an ulcer...
 


AND Lazarus was dead!

No more excuses now!! God can use you to your full potential.