EmmanuelJ2A

Going Green Sunday 4/20/08

• Coffee with Green Eggs & J2A
• Activities for kids
• Meet/Talk with our Green Mentors
• Shopping Bags 4 U
• Collect your Green Game 2 Go
• Wear Green

Getting Greener Saturday 4/26/08

• Teens host Used Clothing Sale on Emmanuel lawn
• Need donations of gently used: clothing, shoes, ties, pocketbooks

Gone Greener Sunday 4/27/08

• We’ve done it! Become one of the greenest churches in town.
• Rejoice in the gift of fellowship with YOU!
• Teens will join Peter in delivering his sermon from the Gospel of John

Journey with us - You’ll be glad you did!!

What a day…I feel so blessed to have had my family and friends together celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ today! Isn’t it funny how the usual annoyances and little arguments can just fade away (or even if they just take a “little break” for the day) when we come together as a community in celebration.

I wish everyone peace as they celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Carol Mowatt

Reminder - No J2A class on 12/30/07.

If I was to anwer my own question, I would have to say “no” I do not have all my shopping done! But…when I stop and think of this week (work has been very busy, I have an awful cold, blah…blah…blah…) I am very excited about Christmas. I LOVE Christmas Eve and the anticipation of it all!

In our class tomorrow morning we are going to celebrate the birthday of Jesus with a yummy cake (and candles, of course) as we talk about how we can each do something special for someone else as a “present” for the baby Jesus. (I wouldn’t know what to get Him anyway - my guess if He wants us to serve each other in this holiday season., and all the time for that matter…) I believe we are all being challenged to reach out to one another as Jesus calls us in our everyday life. I work with folks every day who mourn not having any financial resources to buy what they would like for their families and friends. It is hard for me to sit here and say that Christmas is not about money or giving gifts, etc., especially since I DO have the financial resources to at least buy everyone at least a little something. I still worry that I will not get just the “right gift” for someone, forgetting that it is really not what is important during this season. Being present for my children, family and friends is what it is all about, isn’t it?????

We in J2A are being present for your teens as they move forward in their spiritual journey to adulthood. ALL of us at Emmanuel Church need to be present for your teens in our words and our actions…love, support and encourage them. They need you…

As Lauren communicated in the email, we have exciting things happening in the next few months:

An activity that has been finalized is the Rhode Island Community Food Bank on Thursday February 7th from 6-8 PM. We will be looking for chaperones for the activity as well as drivers. If you have not had the opportunity to see how the Food Bank works, think about helping out this night. You will not be disappointed, come see your teens work together as a team! It’s an awesome sight!

There will be more commmunication in the next few weeks about future activities - tomorrow we are going to start identifying what issues your teens are most interested in (for example - hunger, teen depression, the environment, etc.) Their interests will drive what activities are planned for the next several months. As soon as we know, YOU will know. I promise…

Have a peaceful weekend, yes, even in the Emerald Square Mall parking lot!

Peace,

Carol Mowatt

The coordinator, Judy Emmett, of the St. Goeroge’s Soup Kitchen ministry called me a few minutes ago and it has officially been cancelled. A representative from St. George’s had contacted Judy to say that due to weather, the program would not be running today. We will have another opportunity to participate in the future. No worries!

If anyone had made a meatloaf for today, Judy suggested that we freeze them and bring them into church next weekend and she will bring them to St. George’s to see if they can use them on another Sunday afternoon.

Stay warm…Carol Mowatt

Wow, I cannot even get up my driveway! I live in a condo and the plow comes when the plow comes….Bob San Juan and I spoke this morning and it makes no sense to be on the road right now. We are going to talk to Peter about getting a message added in the future to Channel 10’s list of closings so there will be less confusion for everyone…please be patient, this is a “work in progress.” Reviewing the lessons learned are very important to making this the best youth program we can for the Emmanuel Church teens and their families.

I am not sure at this time whether St. George’s Soup Kitchen is cancelled or not. I am going to try to learn more about this in the next hour or two. I will repost what the plan is if anyone is still interested in heading over to Central Falls. Please stay safe - that is the priority for you and your family.

Peace,

Carol Mowatt

Good evening everyone!

I am looking at the weather channel and really, who knows what will happen…only God knows what he has in store for us tomorrow morning…It is tough leaving it up to Him isn’t it? I know that the plan is to have class tomorrow at 9AM as planned, but do not go crazy and get into any fender bender to get here. I will be there to meet with whoever is able to attend AND my meatloaf is ready to go into the oven any minute for the soup kitchen (someday maybe we will have soup…I have only served meatloaf whenever we have helped from Emmanuel!) I am able to drive two more teens to St. George’s in Central Falls.

See you tomorrow morning!

Peace, Carol Mowatt

I have no idea where that prayer disappeared to - cyber heaven???? Or did it disappear? Sometimes I can see it and sometimes I cannot - let me know please…I am going to try again! Carol Mowatt

Thomas Merton’s Prayer of Abandonment

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Where did the week go? I am sitting here looking at my calendar and am realizing that there are 17 days until Christmas…I don’t think I have even one gift bought, never mind wrapped! Work is running on overdrive as we transition to a new electronic medical record (I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Thundermist Health Center at both the West Warwick and Woonsocket sites). What a ride it has been!

What saves me from going totally crazy with all of this is remembering what is REALLY important in my life…namely, my faith in Jesus. Whenever I start unraveling, I stop and think about what I have to be thankful for (oh! so, so many things), like my family, my Emmanuel church community, my friends, my job, and so on…I know I have been blessed with a full life that is based on both the special qualities given to me by God and then, more importantly, what I am DOING in my life with all that He has given me.

This week in our class we are going to focus on “Our Unique Gifts and Abilities” or as I stated in the title - What Makes Us Special??? We tend to focus on the negative aspects of ourselves, especially as a teenager (I know that I did! I would not leave the house until my hair was absolutely perfect - at least in my fourteen year old mind). Tomorrow we are going to begin to look at those special qualities and how God may be calling us to use these qualities in our lives, even as teenagers in middle and high school. The Gospel according to Matthew 25:14-30 (The Parable of the Talents) will be read by all to help inspire our discussion on the “choices” we make in our lives, is it for us or for God to do what He wants through us? Tough questions, but very important to begin to look at we we grow in our faith…Everyone will be given an opportunity to identify (on an ‘inventory” worksheet) those unique gifts and abilities that he or she possesses as a gift from God.

Ask your teens about what they feel really are their unique gifts and abilities given to them from God…you might be surprised to hear what they say! As adults in the church community, we are all charged to support and encourage the teens as they look at these gifts and then (hopefully, with the grace of God) begin to use them as God is calling them to do in their young lives. I say - GO FOR IT! Take the risk! Be yourself! Practice here on Sunday mornings here with us - there is no safer place to be than here to start looking at these issues…

I am copying the prayer below once again in a color that hopefully can be read more easily on this blog - we will be reading this prayer together tomorrow in class.

Peace,

Carol Mowatt

Thomas Merton’s Prayer

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Good evening all…as I sit here watching the Patriots tie the game in the second quarter (yeah!) I am thinking about our first group yesterday morning. It was very exciting to see everyone sitting around the table beginning to share a little about their lives, eating M & Ms and donut holes! We start each group with a prayer to help us “center” oursleves and transition from the ride to church. Here is one of my favorite prayers that illustrates our journey that we have undertaken with teens in our church community:

Thomas Merton’s Prayer

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Peace,Carol Mowatt

Good evening all! As I sit here watching the Patriots win 24-21 I started to think about Peter’s sermon this morning and how it related to the Journey to Adulthood youth program that is kicking off next Sunday morning…

His discussion of WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) was very eye-opening when he spoke of what we really need to focus on is- WWWD (What Would WE Do) specifically when it comes to how we live our lives as Christians. I actually had a WWJD bracelet a while ago, but it really makes sense that what MATTERS is what we do in our lives, how do we serve others and behave in ways that Jesus taught us, such as loving your neighbor as yourself, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for those that are helpless, such as children and the disabled.

A major part of the “journey” to adulthood for our teens beginning the J2A program is learning to do just that - basically living our lives as Christians in the ways that Jesus taught us in the Gospel. We will study the Bible, learn more about our Christian faith, but we will also be serving food and cleaning up in the St. George’s soup kitchen or helping to pack food for distribution at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. ACTION also matters, not just sitting around a table eating Dunkin’ munchkins talking about these issues as young Christians.

I am personally very excited (as I know are the other leaders and resource staff) to begin this journey with our teens…let’s all support them and learn more of WWWD along the way!

Peace,

Carol Mowatt