Sept. 10

Hellooooooooooo, I am alive!

I'm sure you've been wondering to yourself, "Has C. not written an update because she was stoned to death after her first sermon?" So, to ease your worry, no, I was not stoned to death. In fact the sermon went off well at all 3 services. And guess what else? I actually like preaching! Crazy, crazy, I know. It is a much more positive experience when doing it in an actual service rather than in a classroom with a bunch of critical and/or bitter seminary students. If anyone would like a copy of the sermon or would actually like to hear it, let me know and I'll send you the paper work or a cd with the entire service. You can have C. in Stereo!

Now that my sermon is over with; though there will be plenty more to come, I've been working on confirmation prep stuff, sr. high prep, and learning all sorts of things about how to keep a large church moving, on the edge, communicating, and of course, Christ centered. Abiding Hope really is an amazing model that I am learning from. Authenticity is a key word that the staff and congregation takes very seriously. They are constantly at work to keep things liturgical and authentic to the Christian message, but contextual at the same time. As some of you may know, I was a little nervous about doing an internship at a large suburban church, but it is because of those things I just listed that I can see now that God definitely works things out better than anything I can imagine on my own. It has been a great fit. God has also been blessing my life all over the place with affirmation of call. I guess God really does know what's up, even when you're not so sure about it.

There are some other great things going on in my life right now. For instance, Lola, the cutest puppy ever, is still that cute. Things have been going well with her. We started working with a trainer two weeks ago and it's been great for her! She learns very quickly. However, she does like to be what she is -- a LABRADOR PUPPY, so she loves to chew on things (particularly me!) and push my buttons sometimes. Other than that, she is a great pal to have around. She can always make me happy and gives me a great reason to get out of the apartment.

I'm also looking forward to visiting Dubuque at the end of the month to go to a friend's wedding. Of course one of the nicest things about this trip is that I'll be able to spend time with my boyfriend, Andrew, who will of course be my date to the wedding. We've been apart since the beginning of the summer, so this trip will be great for us. We are also hoping that soon he'll be moving out here to Colorado. I'm pretty sure this will be the last month we're apart, so that's good news for both of us!

Hmmm...what else?

This has been a big week at the church as we have been preparing for Launch Weekend (Sunday morning) where all of the small groups, confirmation, etc. begin for the year. Tomorrow should be a lot of fun. I'm the organizer and one of the leaders for the intro/worship part of confirmation, so keep me and all of the other leaders in your prayers tomorrow evening as Confirmation starts up for the year!

For those who are interested, music I've been listening to lately: Arcade Fire (of course, favorite band of the last year hands down), Sleater-Kinney's new album, Andrew Bird, and Feist.

I hope you are all doing very well. I miss you and think of you often!
love,
c.