Life Happens

Get Over It Already (MP3)

2011-02-17T22:39:00.001-05:00

I was sent the mp3 of this sermon today... A struggle with a cold has me sounding slightly more hesitant and nervous than I really was, but such is life. It's a whopping 17 minutes (heh, I'd timed it out at 12), but as promised, here we go! You can download it here or read it here.

A Sermon: Get Over It Already

2011-02-13T15:11:00.000-05:00

Been a while since I posted, again... Happy New Year! I preached this morning at Union UMC, Boston, and here is a transcript for it. As always, I didn't follow the 'script verbatim, but it's close. A slightly more academic version of this was also preached for my Intro to Preaching class at school this past week, but I wrote it with Sunday morning in mind. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Coincidences?

2010-09-21T10:00:00.001-04:00

I actually do believe in coincidences. I believe that God is still active in the world, and probably even (since my theology says so) that He knows what's going to happen to us... But by virtue of the fact that He gave us free will, I also believe in real, genuine, true coincidences. Shortly after I posted my first sermon here (Why Can't We All Be So Lucky), a "coincidence" happened. My dad

A Sermon: Christian Love

2010-09-20T17:05:00.001-04:00

I took a class at the end of August on "Race and American Christianity." For my final project, I decided to write a sermon. On September 12, I preached a majorly slimmed down version at a contemporary service; now that I've actually e-mailed the thing in (today) I'm posting the sermon here pretty much in full. I'm not the most PC person around - in fact, I often delight in not being PC. I'm

I Remember

2010-09-11T22:15:00.003-04:00

I've never before posted any kind of blog or remembrance for September 11. Over the last 8 years, the date mostly just irritates me, because it's SO political. I have my opinions, yes, but I usually would rather not get in the middle. Next year makes ten years though... I'm posting this now just as my statement that I hope there's a little less hate in the world by this time next year. I

Growth

2010-09-09T23:29:00.003-04:00

I have ALWAYS loved this picture. I took it in Bosnia, and it just makes me smile. Granted, this isn't the orginal; the original was picture-like, and the point-and-shoot camera focused on grass rather than flower, but I LIKE IT. So I GIMP-ified it. Anyway, I'm posting it BECAUSE it makes me smile. And that's the kind of mood I'm in. Smily. They changed my meds, you see. No, kidding, I'm

A Glance...

2010-09-06T00:54:00.001-04:00

1. I kinda like Farscape, and Star Trek:TOS, and StarGate Atlantis. Those are my current guilty pleasures, thanks to Netflix and CBS online TV. 2. Two weeks ago, I had a week long intensive class on Race and American Christianity. I'm writing a sermon for my final project. I'll post it here, even though I didn't get to preach it (would've been tonight if not for a schedule change). 3. Said

A Sermon: Why Can't We All Be So Lucky

2010-08-19T20:53:00.002-04:00

I preached a sermon tonight loosely inspired by 1 Samuel 3:1-10 and Matthew 9:9-13 Hearing God's call, and the faith we have to maintain. You may not agree with it all, or even like it all (meh, I'm not sure I even do), but it's the first one I've done in a long time, so give me some credit! What I'm going to link to appears to be a full manuscript, and really could be used as one, but I

Prayer

2010-08-14T19:43:00.003-04:00

Prayer takes many forms, but few question its importance to the practice of Christianity (or almost any religion, for that matter). John Wesley, in particular, emphasized disciplined prayer as a "Means of Grace." I've never been particularly good at remembering to pray - in a disciplined manner or otherwise. In fact, they usually take this form - when I remember: Please Please PleaseHelp Help

Grove? What Grove?

2010-07-29T23:55:00.002-04:00

I took a job this summer as a youth director (official title: Senior Chapel Leader) at Asbury Grove Camp Meeting.* *I keep trying to type "Asburgy..." This is a 150 year old traditional Methodist Campground, and I get to build experience working with youth on Bible studies, fundraisers, fun events, devotions, etc. I also get to live part time at the Grove and participate in alllllll

Cooking for a Crowd

2010-07-24T22:05:00.002-04:00

Oh my Lord in Heaven. Anyone want some Chicken Pot Biscuit? Cuz I just cooked it for 100-ish people. In case you're wondering, that's: 25+ pounds of chicken breast 30+ fluid ounces of condensed soup 192 (I think?) ounces of frozen mixed veggies 180+ frozen buttermilk biscuits Not to mention some insane number of brownies, and several tubs of vanilla ice cream. But it was goooood. And my feet

A Collection of Random

2010-07-23T15:02:00.001-04:00

The Marquee Blog reports that there's going to be a new Sweet Valley book in 2011. I totally read these as a kid. Started with SV Twins, read a few Kids, moved on to High, poked at the Unicorn Club, and read quite a bit of University. Kind of gave up on things at Senior Year, though. By then, I was moving onto "grown-up" books. Nevertheless, the idea of reading about the twins at 27 (and the

My Brain on Exhaustion

2010-07-15T13:32:00.006-04:00

I have friends who put up with my random ramblings, believe it or not. Sue tends to tolerate my whining, in large part because I tolerate hers. Usually. Instant messenger conversations usually wind up being the most bizarre, but sometimes they truly embody the way I'm feeling. Me: so's it September? Sue: not yetSue: sorry Me: dang Sue: yeah Me: August? Sue: nope, not yet, either Me: dangMe:

Love, Summer School Style

2010-07-14T17:46:00.001-04:00

So with everything else that it was, the trip to Ukraine and Russia was also Summer School. This Friday, I have due a project that is something of a "report" expressing my "personal spiritual transformation" during the trip. With what the trip was, the amount of writing I do during the year, and the summer job I've got, I decided I was neither motivated nor possessing of the time to write a

Moscow, Russia

2010-07-11T13:00:00.001-04:00

So, like, ages ago I said I'd do the Moscow post. Then I got a job. But more on that later. Or next week. Or something. So anyway. Week three of our trip saw us hopping another overnight train to Kiev, where most folks either went back to the community center for the day, or went to the souvenir shopping district. I did neither - being pretty sick by that point, I stayed back and slept on

Chernovtsy, Ukraine

2010-06-28T14:08:00.003-04:00

The second week in the Ukraine (following a HOT overnight train ride) was interesting, as far as my camera was concerned. I had to edit out a portion of pictures because - this time by my own choice - I wanted to limit the posting of the faces of the people we were ministering to. They don't really know me and I don't really know them, so, you know. As an aside, God love Flickr. For the last

Kiev, Ukraine

2010-06-26T13:56:00.001-04:00

I have a good excuse for disappearing this time! I spent three weeks in the Ukraine and Russia with a group from BU's School of Theology and Moscow's United Methodist Seminary, exploring how the Methodist Church is expanding its ministry in that region of the world... So... PICTURES! I have over 300 of them, so obviously I'm only showing you the best of the best, but enjoy :) Week 1 was

Sing and Shout Praises!

2010-05-24T22:04:00.001-04:00

Possibly tonight or tomorrow morning, I'll update my pics from my trip out west last August (man, that was almost a year ago now!). Tomorrow afternoon, I leave for three weeks in the Ukraine and then Russia... Woot! The school year is over... Amazing. A third of the way through seminary! In the meantime, I leave you with this little sound-bite from the BU Seminary Singers' spring concert

Church Attendance

2010-04-18T12:18:00.003-04:00

Study: US Still a Church-Going Nation Actually a rather ridiculous article. It'll probably just make you dummer. But it does bring up some interesting points: Under-developed nations tend to be more religious. Women tend to be more religious. In the US, the south tends to be more religious. People think religion is dead in the US. This article attempts to debunk the last point (and fails

Sometimes, You Get a Big Pile of Steaming Life

2010-04-18T11:27:00.004-04:00

I changed my blog title. Again :) I think this one better reflects who I am and what I'm about. Which, obviously, is forgetting to post on my blog. I overslept today, despite my best intentions to go to Church, so I'm updating this instead. So, what's coming in the near future? 1. The second set of pictures from my summer trip out west. 2. The pictures from my Seminary Singers trip down the

My Lent... and Beyond

2010-02-17T08:23:00.005-05:00

Something that's big in Christianity is taking care of God's creations. We preach taking care of the environment/earth/animals/other humans... But what about taking care of ourselves? Sure, there are definitely those out there who remind us that we should do this for God, but Christians aren't overly good on following through on this. John Wesley, and his fellow early Methodists, were big on

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T13:36:00.008-05:00

So obviously I'm not Catholic, but there's more to today than just candy hearts... St. Valentine - Who was he? (besides my middle-namesake) Patron of love, young people, and happy marriage (apropos, no?) The first Valentine was one of those Roman Catholic priests who lived during the days of serious persecution (against the Christians) in the Holy Roman Empire. He was martyred, which then was

What is my Identity?

2010-02-12T06:01:00.004-05:00

With thanks to one of my Methodist Polity professors... Scratch a United Methodist in New England, you'll find a Congregationalist Scratch a United Methodist in the South, you'll find a Southern Baptist I can't rightly argue with either of these statements; in fact, they're what has made it so hard for me to find comfortable fits in both regions. Despite having spent the majority of my life in

The Personal "IT"

2010-02-06T17:48:00.003-05:00

A big thing at school - and I suppose in the broader religious community, as well - is inclusive language. I don't consider myself prejudiced in any form (RE race, age, sex, sexuality, handicaps, whatever), but I have some issues with the over PC-ness of "inclusive language." 1. Jesus had a penis. Get over it. 2. Not all black people are African-Americans. It's okay for me to say "white,"

The Church and Politics, Part Deux

2010-02-01T23:10:00.009-05:00

So I went on a mini-rant, ah, two weeks ago now? About the rash of political messages coming from the pulpit recently. See here :) This evening, I read from the United Methodist Social Principles in the Book of Discipline, 2008. Quickly: The Social Principles, while not to be considered church law, are a prayerful and thoughtful effort on the part of the General Conference to speak to the

Priestly Bloggers

2010-01-23T13:56:00.003-05:00

Pope to priests: For God's sake, blog! VATICAN CITY - For God's sake, blog! Pope Benedict told priests on Saturday, saying they must learn to use new forms of communication to spread the gospel message... Click to read the rest I can totally dig this. A lot of the Churches out there that are in their death throws are those that won't evolve with the times. I'm not talking their overall

A Spiritual Autobiography

2010-01-20T21:12:00.006-05:00

First off... If anyone on Facebook glances at this, there IS more to the post! In fact, most of the notes recently :) Facebook's not real good about making it clear that these notes are a feed from a more extensive blog. Moving on. We had to write a Spiritual Autobiography for our Methodist Discipline (Doctrine/Polity/&c) class, and I thought I'd re-post it here, as some background on where

My Massachusetts Duty...

2010-01-19T19:21:00.004-05:00

I just got back from voting in the Massachusetts special election. If you don't know (how could you not, really?), it's for the vacant senate seat formerly belonging to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for, and I'm not going to tell YOU who to vote for, because that's not what this blog is about and I don't want to alienate any readers I may somehow have

Jesus' Baptism

2010-01-13T01:47:00.007-05:00

In chapel tomorrow (well, today, now) I'm giving a prayer. It's the first community chapel of the new semester, and the sermon will be on the baptism of Jesus. The second half of my prayer is a combination of the "same" prayer taken from a number of different faiths (though the base of what I used is the Methodist version). Simple prayer, really, but I thought I'd include it, since this is the

And You Wonder Why I'm Weird...

2010-01-09T23:57:00.002-05:00

So I've been doing some reminiscing today...

Women's Ordination; Facebook Repost

2010-01-07T23:33:00.006-05:00

I posted this on FB some two months ago, but felt it bore reposting here. So in my class on female leadership in church organizations, we discussed the Roman Catholic WomenPriests movement. These women were technically ordained by a Roman Catholic bishop, but as this goes against Canon Law, they've been excommunicated. These women "reject" their excommunication, and view themselves as

Bit of Explanation

2010-01-06T21:03:00.004-05:00

Despite allll my best-meaning promises, I've been not so good at keeping up with this blog. November and December were somewhat crazy for me and the family. Most importantly of all, my Grandpa Val had a heart attack and pretty major stroke, and has been moving between hospital and various care facilities ever since. He's still pretty weak, and he's had some setbacks, but as of Dec 30, they

Not Cool. COLD

2010-01-04T09:39:00.004-05:00

I spent Christmas in Atlanta, GA; Cordele, GA; and Tallahassee, FL. I came home to these wind chills and 3 days of snow. I LOVE snow, don't get me wrong. But OKAY! I give. I'm cold.

Kreativ Blogger?

2009-11-08T08:09:00.004-05:00

I'm not a blogger, in case you haven't figured this out. I rather suck at it (I STILL need to find my dang camera cord - that'll help!).But Sara, from Little Rhody Girl, bless her heart, gave me a Kreativ Blogger award about two weeks ago. I'm not even enough a part of the blogging community to do this thing justice, but I'll try :)Here are the Rules for this award:1. Thank the person who

Julie & Julia (movie review)

2009-10-17T01:22:00.001-04:00

Wow... Seminary takes a lot out of you! This post should have been put in back in August, or early September at the latest. Oh well. Tonight, a quick movie review of Julie & Julia, which Jennie and I saw on opening weekend, and many of you have probably seen by NOW :)If you haven't, it's not a must see for theaters, but it is a nice, relaxing movie for a quiet night at home.Click to read the rest

Wild West, Part 1

2009-10-14T23:26:00.006-04:00

Took a trip out west this summer; visited family in Washington (no pics of that, bum), road tripped through Oregon and northern Cali (lots of car pics there), and then headed into Anaheim for Blizzcon (yes, I'm a dork, and I embrace it). Blizzcon will be in Part 2; for now, the rest:That's our trip mascot, Corky. My travel buddy and her friend dragged me into Archy McPhee's, which ended up

Journalling

2009-10-07T08:07:00.003-04:00

Or journaling? I think journalling. Hmmm... My spell-checker doesn't like either of those. But then, it doesn't like "doesn't," either. John Wesley was a big Journaller/Journaler(or?). He saw it as one of the many roads to Grace; a way in which you could keep track of what you were doing to better yourself and bring yourself closer to God. I didn't know that. Certainly, I've heard of

New Foody Blog

2009-08-04T01:46:00.004-04:00

Jennie and I've started a new blog, Cheap and Easy... We'll be doing recipes and cooking tips, specially geared towards small households and people on a budget. Right now, we have recipes for a Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle and Hard-Boiled Eggs, along with some other random tid-bits. Click the image or site name to check it out! I'll try to remember to post updates from it here, too.

New Beginnings

2007-02-24T23:46:00.002-05:00

Thought I would start this in response to the many requests I've received in past days to write a blog. We'll see how it goes!

How the Spirit Moves Me

2000-01-20T21:18:00.002-05:00

My senior year of college, I was a veteran member of Emory's Wesley Fellowship. I'd been on the Student Leadership Team for three years, the treasurer my sophomore and junior years, and the “university liaison” my senior year. One of my best friends at the time was a veteran of the group and its leadership team. We came

Christian Love

2000-01-20T16:44:00.001-05:00

Preached (in part) 12 September 2010 at Asbury Grove Contemporary Service by Cassie Helms Please don't reuse without permission Prayer Lord, Bless my words today, that those listening may know they come from you, and be open to them. Let all know that they are delivered with love, and let them be received with love. In your name, Amen The Sermon Maybe I'll call this my “summer of love.” It

Why Can't We All Be So Lucky

2000-01-19T20:38:00.003-05:00

Preached 19 August 2010 at Asbury Grove by Cassie Helms Please don't reuse without permission With thanks to Kelly, Andrew, and Lourey, who all acted as God's media of inspiration. Prayer Lord, bless these words that I am about to say, that they may deliver your will and not my own. Bless the hearts and minds of those listening, that they may be open to your message, and your call. In your name

Get Over It Already

2000-01-13T14:46:00.018-05:00

Preached 13 February 2011 at Union, UMC, Boston by Cassie Helms Please don't reuse without permission Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 There are over 6.8 billion people in the world today – and there's probably not a one of them out there who sees eye to eye on every little detail with you. This leads to some questions that are pretty hard to think about, but I've got to ask some of these

Women in Ministry

2000-01-01T01:57:00.001-05:00

So in my class on female leadership in church organizations, we discussed the Roman Catholic WomenPriests movement. ( http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/ ) These women were technically ordained by a Roman Catholic bishop, but as this goes against Canon Law, they've been excommunicated. These women "reject" their excommunication, and view themselves as practicing Roman Catholic priests (