Youth Peace Travel Team

YPTT at Camp Eder

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YPTT at Camp Eder

June 16 – 27, 2013

God is everywhere, and he smiles a lot. I grew up knowing that God’s presence was all around me but I’ve never thought of it as I have this week. God is always present, and it is me that is arriving on the scene. I have felt that way this week at Camp Eder in Fairfield, PA. I understand my role as a part of Christ’s body better now and I feel that he loves me more than ever. Please enjoy my top ten reasons to return to Camp Eder.

10) To count how many toads I see. (I saw three on the first night!)

9) There is a camp dog! (Buddy, a beagle)

8) Laying under the shade tree with Jacob and campers in the ball field after a little hike up to that area or laying in the hammocks.

7) Playing beach ball beside the pool with the Junior Highers.

6) Daily practicing early morning Lectio Divina with my team members by the river.

5) Coming back from a peace walk in the orchard with Amanda and two campers, and getting drenched in Godkisses as cold
fat rain drops fall from the sky in an almost summer rain.

4) The skits that the campers performed when we asked them to enact peacemaking during our Biblical Peacemaking
session.

3) Hearing campers explain to each other who Jesus is.

2) Painting a mural and explaining to campers that with all of their paint strokes together – they could only paint one thing on the mural. “We could make a beautiful thing” (a peace analogy).

1) Weeping by the campfire as we gave our old things to God and also gave God the permission to do new things in our lives. This reminded me why I wish to go into Outdoor Ministry.

Bonus: A camper had a birthday on Friday and the camp cook made her a cake (each table had a cake that day). What a display of love.

Making like Ghandi and peacin’ out,
Heather

Youth Peace Travel Team

Camp Shepherd’s Spring

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This week we were at Shepherd’s Spring in Maryland. It was a busy time for us because we led three peace sessions per day everyday, but the campers enjoyed learning about peace and made goals for how they will be peacemakers when they return home. The campers were little kids (8-11 years old), and our patience was tried at times, but we loved teaching and spending time with them. Besides leading peace, we had fun swimming, worshiping, hiking, eating, canoeing, and playing four square with the campers and counselors. Shepherd’s Spring is a gorgeous camp, and we saw God do great things here in the staff’s loving care and the campers’ growth.

Youth Peace Travel Team

YPTT 2013 at Camp Mack!

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Camp Mack was such an accommodating and hospitable place to begin our summer’s travel. The camp focuses on reconnecting with various parts of nature from it’s lakefront activities, to rock walls and ropes courses, to a labyrinth, archery range, and trails all-the-while keeping up with modern commodities. We’re all trying vegetarianism, so we loved the cooks who provided a vegetarian option to all the meals! Mack had four camps of different age groups here at the same time throughout the week and it was lovely meeting everyone, participating in activities together, and experiencing God in a beautiful place. During some of the Morning News times (a Mack tradition), Curt Rowland enthusiastically presented a “Top 10 Reasons Why _____ Should Come Back to Camp Mack” list for the camp that would leave later that day so here is our “Top 10 Reasons Why the Youth Peace Travel Team Should Come Back to Camp Mack”

10. Experience yurt life.

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9. Re-join the Straw Hat Band at opening campfire.

8. Get splashed in the face at Water Carnival.

7. See a swan and a great blue heron fly over the lake

6. Play toilet tag

5. Row to rock island

4. Play in the Arky Parky

3. Get egg and hot sauce smeared in your beard

2. Dance to “Be Our Guest” dressed as giant silverware, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Belle, and the Beast.

1. Seek God in all things new with amazing campers, counselors, and staff!

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Youth Peace Travel Team

Orientation 2013

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Heather Gentry, Jacob Crouse, Amanda McLearn-Montz. Photo by Marie Benner-Rhoades.

Heather Gentry, Jacob Crouse, Amanda McLearn-Montz. Photo by Marie Benner-Rhoades.

All was quite tranquil at the Brethren offices in Elgin
until early that first of June
when arrived a white van filled with Mss’ers from afar
who’d come to town the previous afternoon.

Lectio Divina – a divine reading –
not the fictional incantation you might think
prepared our minds and hearts each day
for thought, reflection, and key theological links.

Then, around a big table we would attend
sessions packed to the gills
with hermeneutical triangles, 16 pf’s,
Brethren living peacefully, together, without frills,
ethics, logistics, tradition, vocation,
liturgy, worship, and praise,
teaching, leading, and jamming to some scripture
preparing us to go on our ways.

After long days, the food would taste great
at the homes of our gracious hosts.
We’d fellowship cheerily before our daily examen
to discover where God has touched us the most.

From swimming in the hotel pool and playing contact
to singing about rain on a TARDIS,
of all the things we did in just a few days,
saying ‘good-bye’ was the hardest.

This thought inspires hope as we spread across the country
to do the Lord’s will as we may
because it shows the great love in our hearts
that we will share with all we meet
through peace, joy, and grace.

Devotional

Called by name

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Lent 2013 Cover   John 20:1-18

Question for reflection:
Why at times is it so hard to recognize Jesus?  What does it sound like to you when Jesus says your name? How do you respond?

Prayer for the day:
Heighten all my senses, God, so that I might know Jesus is near. I am straining to hear my name. Surprise me with your familiarity. Turn my mourning into rejoicing. Send me into the world, proclaiming like Mary, “I have seen the Lord!”  Amen.

~ Jonathan Shively, executive director, Congregational Life Ministries

Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Lenten devotional, The Practice of Paying Attention, written by Dana Cassell, Minister of Youth Formation at the Manassas Church of the Brethren. (Available from Brethren Press in print and E-Book formats) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Dana’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on this blog.

Devotional

Constant love

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Lent 2013 Cover  1 Peter 4:1-8

Question for reflection:
How do I show those around me that I love them? Who could I love better? What is preventing me from being more loving?

Prayer for the day:
I want to be loving, God, spilling over with the kind of love that transforms the world, your love. Break down the barriers that get in the way of my loving. Love me through the waiting between Friday’s crucifixion and Sunday’s resurrection, so that I, too, can love. Amen.

~ Jonathan Shively, executive director, Congregational Life Ministries

Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Lenten devotional, The Practice of Paying Attention, written by Dana Cassell, Minister of Youth Formation at the Manassas Church of the Brethren. (Available from Brethren Press in print and E-Book formats) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Dana’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on this blog.

Devotional

Graceful obedience

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Lent 2013 Cover   John 18:1–19:42

Question for reflection:
What am I holding onto too tightly? What do I need to learn, experience, or do in order to live more trustingly with God?

Prayer for the day:
Help me let go, God, of everything that gets between me and you. Open me to experiences of grace. Compel me toward your promises. Usher me from death into life. Amen.

~ Jonathan Shively, executive director, Congregational Life Ministries

Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Lenten devotional, The Practice of Paying Attention, written by Dana Cassell, Minister of Youth Formation at the Manassas Church of the Brethren. (Available from Brethren Press in print and E-Book formats) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Dana’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on this blog.

Devotional

Washing feet

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Lent 2013 Cover   John 13:1-17, 31-35

Question for reflection:
Whose feet do I need to wash today? Whose act of servanthood do I need to be prepared to receive?

Prayer for the day:
God, prepare me to wash the feet of my sisters and brothers in Christ, but also ready me to serve less familiar folks in uncomfortable places. Remind me that sometimes it’s just as important to humble myself for others to wash my feet as well. Orient my life through the power of the towel. Amen.

(follow this link for a musical meditation on washing feet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kSe0xbcAmo&feature=youtu.be)

~ Jonathan Shively, executive director, Congregational Life Ministries

Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Lenten devotional, The Practice of Paying Attention, written by Dana Cassell, Minister of Youth Formation at the Manassas Church of the Brethren. (Available from Brethren Press in print and E-Book formats) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Dana’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on this blog.

Devotional

Single-mindedness

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Lent 2013 Cover   Isaiah 50:4-9

Question for reflection:
What does silence mean to you? When is the last time you practiced the art of being silent? How will you listen for God today?

Prayer for the day:
<take a deep breath> <exhale> <inhale> <exhale> <inhale> <hold…> <exhale> <breathe regularly> <be silent> <listen>

~ Jonathan Shively, executive director, Congregational Life Ministries

Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Lenten devotional, The Practice of Paying Attention, written by Dana Cassell, Minister of Youth Formation at the Manassas Church of the Brethren. (Available from Brethren Press in print and E-Book formats) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Dana’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on this blog.

Devotional

Impossible possibilities

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Lent 2013 Cover    1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Question for reflection:
How has God surprised you lately? How has that surprise changed you?

Prayer for the day:
Surprising God, turn my casual regard for daily living toward alert expectation that things can and will be different. Startle me out of my complacency and make me attentive to sharper ways of seeing and deeper ways of understanding. In the name of Christ, the power and wisdom of God, I pray. Amen.

~ Jonathan Shively, executive director of Congregational Life Ministries

Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Lenten devotional, The Practice of Paying Attention, written by Dana Cassell, Minister of Youth Formation at the Manassas Church of the Brethren. (Available from Brethren Press in print and E-Book formats) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Dana’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on this blog.