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Muchos Gracias to the most excellent Marvin Methodist Muchachos y Muchachas for hosting the May Meeting of the Youth Council. We came, we saw, we sang, we gamed, we art & crafted, we spoke, we ate (many thanks for the pupusas and sandwiches de pollo...El Salvadorean food gets much respect)! We spoke, you say, about what, you might ask? Nothing really...just about a little something I like to call..."LOVE!" We read and shared our thoughts on some scriptures: Song of Solomon 8: 6-7, 1st Corinthians 13: 1-8 , & Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8.

For A Further Conversation:

• What is love?
• When do you know you're in love?
• What do you think about people who are of different religious backgrounds being in love?
• What do you think about people who are of different ages being in love?

Feel free to post you own thoughts, comments, and/or questions. After all, that is why this website is called "a further conversation."

Gathering for May...

Our gathering this month is Monday May 15 from 7 to 8:15pm at Marvin UMC in Winston-Salem (click here for directions). Snacks will be served... Thoughts will be shared... God will be experienced... We're talking about "love." No...this will not be an evening of preachers and youth ministers giving their rendition of "the Talk." (Its funny how any discussion of "love" has to be qualified because we associate love and sex way too easily.) So what to expect at this gathering. Well, to keep it simple, the Bible uses three words when it talks about love: eros, philos, and agape.

Pink Floyd and Jesus

As a Christian I hate to admit that sometimes I am less Shema and more Pink Floyd. (Huh? What is the Shema, click here: Shema. Pink Floyd...go ask your parents.) The Shema is what Jesus quotes when he is asked what is the greatest commandment, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind." (Mark 12: 29) However, Jesus wasn't done! He then hits his questioners with, "and the second is like the first, you must love your neighbor as you love yourself." As a Christian I should be all about loving the Lord our God with all my heart, soul, and mind. I should be all about loving my neighbor as good as I love and take care of myself. Right? Yet, I find I am less Shema and more Pink Floyd. I am more like Pink Floyd's song "Comfortably Numb" (it is on "The Wall" album). Less Shema, more "I have become comfortably numb!" I no longer feel the pain and suffering of those around me...I am comfortably numb. At least I was comfortably numb! For those of you who shared in our fellowship at Open Arms Ministry and heard Vicki speak about the this ministry...I think you would agree that you too find yourself no longer "comfortably numb." In her sharing about the ministry and inviting our churches to get involved she opened the door for the Spirit to come in and make us "wonderfully aware." And that night we were made "wonderfully aware," as the Spirit moved us to share from our comfort with those who were in need. Feel free to post some of your thoughts on our time together or share some of your experiences of how being in mission has made you "wonderfully aware" of the presence and power of the Lord who is always standing with the most unlikely of neighbors.

April Gathering...

During WWII, the Germans bombed many English cities, especially hard hit was the industrial and shipping hub of Liverpool (the city of later "We're-the-Hometown-of-the-Beatles" fame). You can still see signs of the war's devestation. One site bombed particularly hard is one of the city's first Anglican churches. It was once a tall spired cathedral with breathtaking stained glass windows. Now, it is a hollow shell of its former self. Amazingly, the locals (called Liverpudlians) never rebuilt it and it stands as a reminder of WWII's destruction. However, the flower gardens surrounding the church are still maintained. Within this garden is a statue of Christ and it bears the wounds of the WWII in that the statue has no arms. Yet, it is beautifully marred! At the base of the statue is an inscription that reads, "Jesus has no hands, but yours." As Casting Crowns asks, in their song "If We Are the Body," "If we are the body? Why are his arms not reaching?" This is the thought that we are discussing at this month's gathering. This month, Monday April 24 at 7pm, we are gathering at the Open Arms Ministry of the Winston-Salem District. Where we will discuss the importance of faith in action and engage in a small mission activity. For directions click here. For more on Open Arms click here.

Actions Speak Louder than Words!

First, thanks to the good people of Casanova's Coffee & Fudge. A veritable Mecca for Caffeine and Sweet-tooth junkies! If you are ever in that area of our District check them out! Your groups can even reserve the whole place any Friday between May 5 and August 18. Visit them at www.casanovascoffees.com or, better yet, stop by!

Much respect and thanks to the good folks at Lewisville UMC for organizing our chance to have a further conversation about how our actions speak far louder than our words do when it comes to sharing our faith with others. Awesome furthering of our conversation from February. Actually, it picks up where we left our conversation last month. We spoke of how we know God and then began the discussion of how we can share that knowledge with others.

So, to offer a further conversation here are some of the questions that were posed last night. Join in the conversation, post to any of the parts of the blog...post thoughts on this month's meeting... Again, this is a place for you!

• Who are the five most influential people in your life and why are they influential?
• What fears do people have when it comes to telling others about Jesus Christ?
• How do you think the disciples felt after hearing Jesus' promise in Matthew 28: 20 (his last words before he went back to heaven... "I will be with you even until the ends of the age.")? How do you feel as a disciple now hearing his words?
• What makes the Great Commission (make disciples of everyone) such an important task?
• What challenges does this commission give us a Christians?
• Challenge Steps: Who in your life right now needs your love, care, and witness of Jesus Christ? List three people. Can you begin to fulfill the Great Commission during this week? What can your youth group do as...well...a group? (Notice that we started by asking who has influenced you and end by challenging ourselves to influence someone else!)

March Meeting

A further conversation...this time we further our conversation in Lewisville (thanks to the good folks at Lewisville United Methodist Church) at Casanova's Coffee Shop (6275 Shallowford Rd. there in Lewisville...this place is like right across from Lewisville UMC). We will gather at 7pm and wrap up at 8:30pm. Come for the conversation, come for the free-coffee-shop-style treats (my favorite adjective in the previous sentence was "free.") If you need more information contact June Hayes (you can get up with her through the church's webpage www.lewisvilleumc.org). This month's conversation is about how "Actions Speak Louder than Words."