This Just In! Attention!

Greetings and Salutations,

My hope is that you all had a great Thanksgiving! For those of you gearing up for finals (like I am), my condolences and prayers are with you. Just a little further – we’re almost there.

I wanted to let you know about a couple of changes to the Young Adult calendar (view it here, or click the link on the right hand side of this site). FIRST off, sign-up hasn’t been very good for the Christmas Tree decorating fundraiser on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9th. SO, we are making it a half day instead of all day. We will meet at the church at 11:30am, go get some lunch together, and then decorate a few trees. Be as festive as you’re comfortable with…I for one plan on wearing a Santa Claus hat.

SECOND, the last Thursday night Ecclesia & Coffee (meeting at Panera Bread off of Somerville Circle and hanging out) will be on December 28^th. It isn’t filling a niche for people, and next semester I’ll be having class on Thursday nights. So, the remaining dates are 11/30, 12/7, 12/21, 12/28. If you are home on break, or off from work, on 12/28 stop by. We can begin at Panera Bread and then head off somewhere else if the mood strikes us.

THIRD, the Young Adult group is handling lunch for the District Day of Learning at the church on Saturday, January 13^th. What this means from your end is that I need as many people as possible to be at the BUMC at 9am (or earlier if you can be there!) on that Saturday to help make sandwiches and put lunches together. This is a fundraiser and the proceeds will go towards are mission trip. This is an important point because we are in the midst of a budget crunch at the church and the Young Adult group may end up with a smaller budget than last year…which means we need all the fundraising we can get if we want to go anywhere this summer!

OK, folks. I know this has been a very nuts-and-bolts type of email, but sometimes those are necessary. Grace and peace to you.

Blessings,

Kevin

Young Adult Mission Trip 2007 (eh?)

Hey Y’all,

No, I’m not from the South. BUT, I am a country boy, so I’m allowed to say “y’all”. I’m also allowed to say “crick” instead of “creek” for what you swim in, “dressing” instead of “stuffing” for what you eat with turkey, and I can call the midday meal “dinner” and the evening meal “supper”. So there!

OK, now that I’ve defended my rustic roots (as opposed to Rusted Root, who is pictured) we can talk about the mission trip next summer. We are headed for Toronto...where the band Bare Naked Ladies is from. Did you know that their song 'Jane' is named after two streets in Toronto (Jane and St. Claire)? You can watch the video here.

Back to the topic at hand! This is a bit different than trips over the past two years. For starters, it’s close enough to drive rather than fly. This will help to keep costs down, and I know that cost has been an issue for some in the past. It is also a different kind of ministry than the disaster relief the group has been doing the past two years: we will be working with the homeless (shelters, soup kitchens, street ministry, etc).

The dates of the trip are going to be August 5-11. That’s more or less firm, and is the same week that we went on mission this past summer. I don’t have numbers for you yet in terms of what it’s going to cost to go. But I can tell you this: it will be cheaper than the last couple years. I don’t want cost to be a barrier to people going on this mission trip.

More info will of course be coming out over time, including mandatory pre-trip meetings, etc. The hosting organization is CSM.

Have questions or comments? Ask me or tell me! I went on this mission trip in 2004 and it was good stuff. I’m looking forward to being the hands and feet of Christ with Y’ALL.

Grace and Peace,

Kevin

How to Solve The World's Problems

Hey Gang,

Holy Election Batman! (If you’re confused, that’s a reference to a campy 60’s TV series based on the comic book character…here is a picture of Adam West and Burt Ward, who played Batman and Robin, respectively.)

We’re already into the thick of November and we find ourselves with a new Congress. Both the House and the Senate are going to switch from Republican to Democrat come January. Nancy Pelosi is going to be the first female Speaker of the House…but by and large we are changing one group of rich white men for another group of rich white men (most of whom are also lawyers). Makes me wonder just how much of a difference it will make in our society…and its our society that needs more fixing than you might think. Most of the hotly debating issues in our country, from war to gay marriage and everything in between, boil down to this: we as individuals not treating the people we meet in life with love, respect, and compassion.

And that’s where the Jesus business comes in. The lessons on how to live in community with one another, taught to us by Jesus through the accounts of his life found in the Bible, are absolutely invaluable. More Jesus = Less Suffering. There endith the lesson.

Whoa! What’s all this then? Why is Kevin getting all heavy on us? Because this is the kind of stuff you aren’t going to get on YouTube, Fox, Fuse, or XM. Peace.

Blessings,

Kevin

PS There’s also a theological term called ‘election’, which is a topic best handled in live conversation rather than me trying to explain it here…but let’s talk about it sometime! You might be surprised how it may or may not apply to your daily life.