Yoblog – Musings of a Church Youth Officer

I’m finally starting to come down from a whirlwind week.  I feel like I’ve not been able to to give as much attention to several people as I would have perhaps liked ( sorry S)- a week of spreading yourself too thinly can’t always be predicted.  But I’ve been touched by the kindness and understanding people have shown, especially when I’ve been stressed and gibbering!

My first dabble in Messy Church went really well on Saturday.  Around 50 people from the West Forth Area Council met together in Bathgate for ‘Messy Pentecost’ and we certainly made mess (and enjoyed it).  I’ve realised what a lot of work this was to organise and hadn’t been expecting such a great response, so it was a super effort from the team (if 3 people are ‘a team’!).  We took some great photos for the Diocesan website (not uploaded yet) which H managed to delete by mistake last night and then spent the early hours of the morning trying to make the laptop restore them to the card which he says he did finally achieve…not checked yet!  I could imagine some more Messy events, but not for a wee while until I recover and I clear the spare room of the debris of this one!

I’ve been back and forward to Perth (and today, Dundee) visiting my mother in hospital and keeping everything ticking over.  I went to church in Perth this morning and loved going to a service with no strings attached…no duties to be performed or discussed, nor did I have my work hat on. I could just be me.  But I did get to spy on the St Andrew’s Diocese Casting the Net launch, which started with a lovely service including paper fish and a net.  Although I have not been a regular member of this congregation for about 15 years, it was a joy to see an catch up with all the people who I knew from my time there.  In a way this lack of change  was comforting, but at the same time, there have been big changes elsewhere in the life of the church.  It’ll be interesting to see how the Casting the Net strategy manifests itself in real terms and longer term than paper fishes.

And I’ve just remembered that I am 19 weeks pregnant – little prods in my tummy remind me from time to time when I am calm and quiet enough to notice.  Hopefully there will be some calmer times in the week ahead!

I notice other bloggers also have blank times where for no particular reason they haven’t got anything to say.  I’ve just noticed that I’ve been doing that.

I think I’ve either been busy or asleep!

Busy at the moment preparing for Messy Pentecost on Saturday.  This is my first foray into Messy Church and I’ve realised a bit late that I should probably be not trying to organise and run it single handed.  Especially now that about 50 people are coming.  But that is a lesson for next time.  My dining room is being taken over with craft material, the garage has been a studio for red paint…  I’m panicing about feeding the multitude.

I’m sure it’ll be fine on the day, but I can see why groups who do Messy Church regularly refuse to put it on more than once  a month!

It is funny how you can plan a great session for the Sunday Club, but the best bits are generally the unplanned bits.

Yesterday, we started with a prayer and one of the 3 year olds at the end of it announced that it was a bit short.  Thus ensued a discussion between mainly pre-school children about prayer, how long or short it should be, what they like and what they think God likes about prayer.  They all had different opinions and were willing to share them.

One of those Sundays when I was more than happy to have been leading the children rather than sitting in church!

Sometimes I tell myself off for being very judgemental about people based on very minimal facts.

Over my dinner I was scanning the local paper and started looking at some of the names of the entries in the ‘cute kids competition’.

Would you call your child: Leomie, Kayden, Caiden, Alivia, Blare, Ami-Jay, Courtnie, Brayden, Maycee, Ambar…..???

Well, would you? Could you?

Perhaps I am simply not cool enough to be living in West Lothian.

My son got a birthday party invitation from one of his little nursery friends today.  The thing that niggles me is that it is for a Sunday morning.  It is not a close friend where I would feel particularly guilty saying no.

Do I make up a white lie excuse not to go?  Do I say that we go to church and that I prioritise that over a party? Do I change the family routine one Sunday so that he can go?

Hmmmm….

A great day was had by a group of youngsters and some leaders at the Edinburgh Climbing Arena on Saturday.

They warmed up with some easy rock climbing but quickly progressed to some higher walls before tackling the aerial assault course which is suspended 100ft above the quarry floor.

People were scared, people got wedgies from the unflattering harnesses, people made new friends and supported each other wonderfully, people said ‘never again’ but were thrilled that they did it.

I’ve put some photos on the Diocesan website but still need to rotate a few so that you don’t get a sore neck looking at them sideways!

I can’t remember if I have plugged Freecycle here before or not, but if not, it is a great way to pass on (or acquire) stuff which you may have ended up dumping.

Take a look – there are local groups all round the UK.

And if anybody needs a pair of sofas- give me a shout!

I’m doing my to-do list for the week and am wondering where last weekend went?!

There’s last minute preparation for “Holding On” at the EICA, Ratho this Saturday, a Godly Play demonstration evening so I better start cramming my stories, the local playgroup that needs a lot of TLC as I appear to be the only committee member doing anything (why do people volunteer if they won’t participate), some child protection stuff to be got in order and other bits and bobs.

Did I say that the Fischy Music concert on Saturday was great?  They were launching a new album called “Down to Earth” and this one is especially designed to resource churches (some previous ones were more generic about emotions and used a lot in schools).   I have the CD and resource pack available to borrow (reluctantly, as I want to use it too!).

On the way home in the car, with the petrol tank on less than empty and me muttering “where’s there a petrol station??”, Adrian (4) quoted one of the songs  in response to my plea. “God knows everything, Mummy” he offered helpfully.