Working. Driving. Voting.

We have rules about these kinds of things. We have rules, and we attach age limits to them. 14, 16, 18.

Now then. At what age does a person become a full member of the body of Christ? At what age is a young person given a voice in the church? At what age do we hand them the keys? At what age do we release them into their God-given vocations?

I’ll understand if you want to take a moment to grab a pen and paper for the theological mathematics. Or, if you’d prefer, pull out a mat and a trampoline for some further mental gymnastics. I know we all explore these questions in different ways.

So Tony Jones is blogging through Kenda Dean‘s recently released book “Almost Christian.” As Tony puts it, “In chapter one, Kenda lays out her thesis: the reason that youth ministry is failing to make disciples is because churches suck.”

Of course, Kenda puts it a lot more softly than this. But no matter. This is an interesting place to start. It should, inspire those of us in churchland (whether young people or adults, whether youth leaders, or clergy or whatever) to ask some important questions.

Do we really suck? If so, why do we, and furthermore should we continue in this so-called sucking?

So things have slowed down around the office a lot lately. Folks are on vacation, parishes have entered summer mode, and fewer people seem to be calling (or available to grab coffee). That doesn’t mean, of course, that there’s been nothing to do.

The past few weeks have involved planning for September, preparing Synod reports and workshops, working on the partnership agreement for The Open Table, writing a grant proposal, and sitting in on some interviews for a parish looking to hire a new half-time youth minister. That seems like more than enough to keep me busy until September hits again.

In my reading this past week, I came across an interesting blog post speaking about the investments we make in youth ministry. How do the time and money we put towards ministry amongst youth and young adults affect their active participation for years to come? Do they stay? Do they leave? How are they involved?.

As we come to the end of the month of June, it often means wrapping up our various youth ministry activities as many of our young people head away on holidays.

For the new The Open Table partnership amongst several Anglican parishes and churches from 4 denominations, it means that things are wrapping up for the season. It’s hard to believe that an idea hatched in Spring 2009, just celebrated its last meal of the season at All Saints Sandy Hill.

I want to thank the dedicated folks from All Saints Sandy Hill, Church of the Ascension, St. John the Evangelist, St Thomas the Apostle and St. Mark’s Ottawa who took part in supporting this ministry over the course of this year. Working alongside our partners from the Lutheran, United and Presbyterian churches, these Anglican parishes contributed time and energy and food and space and money towards seeing this project through it’s inaugural year. What a year it’s been!

So what is this youth ministry thing all about anyways?

I get asked this question time and again (and it’s a great question – with an ever-shifting answer!). We all approach this question, as askers or hearers, with our own assumptions. Maybe those assumptions have programs or curricula attached to them. Maybe they have particular outcomes in mind (keep the kids out of trouble, instill moral values, increase biblical literacy, make good friends). These are all important aspects of our ministry amongst youth, and they speak to some of the ways in which we minister, the programs we administer, and the topics we cover in our ministries.

And yet, as communities of faith centered around the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, our task is much more holistic. In our ministries amongst youth – as in our ministries amongst children and adults and seniors, we invite young people to join an awe-inspiring cloud of witnesses that includes thousands upon thousands of patriarchs and matriarchs of our faith. We invite them, as we have been invited, to follow Jesus with our whole lives, and to participate in his ongoing ministry in this world.

It’s a challenge, isn’t it, to figure out how to incorporate faith stuff into our youth ministry? Sometimes we stop and rejoice that we have a group of youth willing to meet, and in the church, for that matter. This is something in which we should rejoice, and yet our task, as Christian Educators and Mentors and Youth Ministers and Priests is to invite these young people into the whole life of the church.

Did you know that they’ve been talking about us this week at General Synod in Halifax? Did you know that they’ve been talking about Youth Ministry and Youth Leaders and the ways in which we can better engage in our ministries amongst youth? If you didn’t know before, I guess you do now.

Here are some notes via The Anglican Journal from Judy Steers’ presentation at General Synod. But before we get to that, a quick reminder that you can keep up to date on General Synod by viewing “Synod on Demand” on Youtube or by following General Synod on Twitter (#gs2010). There are apparently some tech-savvy Anglicans to be found out there!

Also – Be sure to check out Roots Among the Rocks (premiering tomorrow at General Synod) as they make their stop in Ottawa on Friday June 18, 2010.

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

So the group is home. Everyone, that is, except me. I guess you gotta love it when the airlines overbook the flights, and everyone shows up at the gate. Anyhow – we promised that all the participants would get home in one piece. We forgot to include the leaders in that. Perhaps next time!

Tonight will be a night of sleep back home (for most everyone) in our own beds, and the comfort that brings. Even with the comfort of our beds, I suspect that some of us will find ourselves more uncomfortably reflecting back on the past week and each little moment that caught us from a different angle, caused us to ask questions, and to seek answers. Why is this world the way it is? What can we do about the bits that are in need of a little TLC?

This has been a week of new experiences, and all in a culture not altogether unlike our own. New Orleans may have quite the sassy reputation, and it may have a variety of differences from our home culture in the diocese of Ottawa, but at the base are people in relationship with one another, in the midst of a set of circumstances in which everyone needs help in one form or another (whether acknowledged or ignored).

This is as true of New Orleans, Louisiana as it is of our homes in and around Ottawa, Ontario.

Over the course of the week we’ve had the opportunity to ask ourselves what it’s been about this trip that’s been so different from our lives back home. Why is it that we’ve been so open to the stories around us? What is it about this place that’s connected with us at a deeper level – a soul level?

Perhaps it’s been the unfamiliarity. We don’t know this place, its streets, how to get around. We don’t talk in southern drawl (unless we have a propensity for adopting local accents), and we’re not used to such open hospitality. Perhaps that’s what’s throwing us of guard. Perhaps it’s something else.

There is something to be said about the draw of community. About the loyalty to family, no matter what. Down in New Orleans, like everywhere else, it’s impossible to choose your family. But in New Orleans, that seems to mean something more. The family is core to existence. Even if family steals from you, is thrown in prison, whatever…they’re still your blood.

I wonder what we as the church can learn about true community from this example.

Reflecting back on this strange connection to a city and people in the southern United States, I think that there might be something important about the unfamiliarity of our circumstances that has granted us new perspectives. Perhaps that’s why pilgrimages like this one are so valuable – they furnish us with the opportunity to look at life from a different angle. They provide us with new tools for understanding the world, and broaden our localized perspectives.

Unfamiliarity helps us to see that the story is much bigger than simply my story, your story, or even our story. Unfamiliarity, analogy and metaphor help us to see things from different angles. And perhaps, if we’re paying attention, this same unfamiliarity will help us to understand that this is not just about you or me, but also, and primarily, about God’s involvement in this broken/beautiful world.

And this is a world where we get to help. This is a world where we get to participate in God’s mission. A mission to care for, to be stewards of God’s good creation, to build houses, to plant gardens and to love everyone.

Those things helped us to frame our experiences here in New Orleans – the prophecy of Jeremiah 29 aided us as we came down here to help build houses, to plant new seeds of hope, and to love everyone we met in whatever way we could. That’s what we did, and that’s what we as a team hope to continue to do upon our return. What a challenge!

It may be a challenge, and yet it is all too simple. Build Houses. Plant Gardens. Love Everyone. It’s what God calls the church to do. Whether we like it or not, whether we heed it or not, this is what God is calling us to. And if we are to truly be the church, then I guess we better get out of those pews, roll up our sleeves and find ways to live this out at home, in whatever way we can.

Because if we don’t…if we refuse to be renewed by our gatherings as church in order to move out and seek the welfare of our cities, towns, and all of our neighbours, what could that possibly mean about the state of our faith?

Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jeremiah 29:5-7

Well, we’ve finished what we came to do.  Today at the build site, we finished the second coat of mud on seams, screws, and corner beading, and got started on the levelline at the ceiling/wall junction.  It was messy, and we got delightfully dirty in it, but we had a great time.  Our crew chief, Tommy, was right: it’s really hard to leave.

This week has passed so quickly, and we’ve accomplished a lot, but along the way we were shown so much it feels like one week was barely getting our toes wet, let alone wading in the water.  I think we’ve learned a lot about New Orleans and Katrina, but even more about ourselves and our call to service.  No one wants to go home.  But we’ll be there, Moms, don’t worry.

After work, we headed down to the French Quarter for dinner and to see the sites.  We ate at a reeeaaaally nice place called NOLA and then headed down to…. Bourbon Street!  It was a little crazy – people and beads dangling over the balconies, partiers all decked out in the street, and lots of noise, people, and beads everywhere.

We’ve had a lot of discussion about what to do when we return.  All of us feel a need to bring this experience home into our own lives, but we’re still processing the week and haven’t quite figured out how to do this.  Our group experience has been phenomenal; we definitely want to continue doing things together as a group.  It is not often you get a group of strangers together for a week and find incredible friends, and we all feel very blessed that this has been our experience.  We also want to find other places to volunteer, doing similar or entirely different activities.  The more mud, the better, though, really   Things we’re interested in exploring are affordable housing in Ottawa, aboriginal issues across Canada, and improving interparish cooperation in justice and mission initiatives.

We’ve been so fortunate in our leadership as well – a HUGE thank you to Andrew and Linda for organizing and facilitating this adventure.  It has been such a meaningful experience for all of us, and a Reading Week/vacation we will never forget.  Truly, words cannot express our thanks!!!!

And so, with calloused hands and multicoloured beads, we must sign off.  Catch you on the flip.

So we’re here in New Orleans, the week before Mardi Gras. We’ve been working hard all week, but did you expect us to avoid the parades entirely?

After a long day at the house finishing the window-sills, taping seams, mudding walls, and getting mucky all over, we returned to our home base at St. Augustine’s church in Metairie, LA. Quick showers for all of us, and we were back in the cars to meet up with our crew chief, and some newfound friends from Toronto at St. George’s Episcopal Church.

St. George’s is about 3 blocks from the parade route, and we used it as our base for the evening’s activities. We ate a delicious dinner of Jambalaya and Red Beans, and then hit the parade route to soak up a small piece of New Orleans culture.

Three parades rolled tonight, and we got caught up in all of the fun. Tomorow’s our last day on the jobsite, and it feels like we’ve already accomplished more than we set out to do. A good part of that has been the crazy amazing way in which our team has been getting along, the way we’ve all been keeping an eye out for one another, and the amazing encouragement from our crew chief, Tommy.

I don’t know if we can even explain how incredible an experience this has been. Wrapping up tomorrow might be one of the hardest things we ever do…but we knew from the start that we’d only be here a week, and that our time here would come to an end.

When we come back home, I think we’ll all return changed by this trip – the experiences, the people we’ve met, the work we’ve done, and our reflections on what God may be calling us to do to put our faith into practice. That’ll be the next great adventure…but we’re not there yet.

Right now, it’s time to sleep, and to get ready for our last work day tomorrow.

This morning, we began our day with breakfast and morning prayer. All along the way we’ve been working in the kitchen together, preparing great meals for one another. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are cooperative ventures. We work in the kitchen like we do on the worksite – everyone pitching in, making sure everything’s taken care of.

Let’s just say we’re working and eating well.

We may be getting progressively tired, some of us using muscles we never knew we had, but we sure are figuring this whole thing out. And by figuring it out, we mean bringing coffee in a thermos to the worksite, and enough cups for the whole team. That kind of thinking probably gave us an extra boost for the day.

This morning we spent time reading from Psalm 81 and Mark 10 – the story of the rich young ruler. We talked about what stuck out to us about the passages. Everyone offered a different perspective, but we did spend a lot of time talking about our crew chief, Tommy, and some of the other volunteers we’ve met here who truly have gotten rid of all they have, and are giving their heart, soul and strength to serving others here in New Orleans.

We’ve been asking questions about what this might mean for us back home. We’ve been asking questions about what our friends, family (especially our parents) would say if any of us decided to make this kind of service our lifestyle.

We’ve been blessed to have our crew chief’s family with us this week, to get to know them, and to hear a part of their perspective on Tommy’s lifestyle. It’s a bit off the beaten path, it’s not upwardly mobile, and yet his parents have such a great respect for the work he’s doing. There’s something beautiful about that.

Later tonight we’re heading to Tulane University where we’ll spend some time with local students as well as a group from Toronto who are also here this week, sharing a meal, conversation, and evening prayer. We may blog again before the night is up, but it depends how late we get in.