It's already time to reflect on my YAV year?!

Today was YAV Sunday at 2PC, so in addition to putting together the liturgy and picking the music for the morning, Mary Kate and I shared some reflections during the sermon time. Below is what I said, more or less. Some of it's been written on this blog before, some of it's new. (If you've been reading this blog or talking to me with any regularity over the past year you can probably just skip the first paragraph.) All in all I think this morning went really well...and I really don't think I'm ready to leave in two weeks.

For those of you that like listening more than reading, you can hear our sermon here. To just read my half:

For those of you that are visiting, or who I may not have had the chance to meet, my name is Allison and I am one of the Young Adult Volunteers (or YAVs) that has spent the past 10.5 months living in what is lovingly known as “the Toolshed,” just on the other side of the playground. In addition to worshiping here at Second and getting to know the fantastic city that is Nashville, TN, I’ve spent my time this year working for the Presbyterian Student Fellowship at Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities. PSF, as it’s also known, strives to give students an opportunity to experience Christian community through weekly worship services, as well as through mission experiences and fellowship events. It’s been a whirlwind adventure of sorts, learning the in’s and out’s of campus ministry. Not having been involved in any religious groups during my time as a student at Furman University, I jumped rather blindly into a year of setting up projectors and tables of name tags, of going to movie nights, tie dying, hosting Room In the Inn, doing flood relief work here in Nashville and drinking countless cups of coffee. Throw into that mix a handful of other opportunities, like speaking at Presbytery, preaching at PSF, and attending a gathering of the synod’s campus ministers. All of those things and a host of others have been the puzzle pieces of my year as a YAV. 

One of those other pieces of the PSF puzzle was spending most Tuesdays serving lunch for Isaiah 58, which is a part of Belmont Church’s outreach to Nashville’s homeless population. I started going every week as a PSF missions event, in hopes that students would join me. Sometimes one or two actually would, other times it was just me, but either way it was always a great part of my day. One Tuesday back in the fall, I met a woman who was also volunteering. In the process of getting ready to serve the meal for the day, as we were pouring water and tea, she said: "You know, this is what we can do for others. We're pouring ourselves out, pouring God's love out." 

And there it was. All that meaning crammed into a few glasses of ice water and sweet tea. I couldn’t help but wonder, during the many times I’ve thought of that conversation since it happened, what it means exactly to pour oneself out. To pour God’s love out. 

I think it can often show up in subtle acts of kindness and caring, and in things that may not seem as blatantly faithful as Sunday school or a Bible study.

As part of our weekly worship at PSF this year, once each month we would replace the sermon with a different type of spiritual practice. One of the last spiritual practices of the year was Sabbath. On that particular Tuesday evening, we gave students the opportunity to do one of several activities, from walking in Centennial park to baking cookies, to watching an episode of Modern Family. After that week at PSF, several students expressed their thanks for the space and time in which to experience some Sabbath. Sabbath, is, I think, a spiritual practice that is often overlooked, especially in college as exam season looms just over the horizon. So perhaps things as simple as some chocolate chip cookie dough and a walk around the Parthenon can be an outpouring of God’s love.

The text from Romans for this morning talks about the members of creation in this period of anticipation. Waiting for freedom from bondage and waiting to be adopted into this family made up of the children of God. It says “and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, and the redemption of our bodies. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” 

“We, ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit.”

The fruits are already there, it’s just that, in the process of this adoption, we can figure out how to translate those inward fruits into our outward lives. I read in one interpretation of this scripture, that as we are adopted as children of God we gain an entirely new identity. And much like the peace of Christ that we shared earlier this morning, these new identities of ours are not easy, insignificant, or half-hearted. 

They also probably aren’t obvious. So patiently we wait, going about our lives trying to pour out examples of God’s love, in whatever form that happens to take. We can’t always see the results of our efforts, but we try anyway, we hope, and we wait. It’s not always easy but here we are, an assortment of the children of God, living in hopeful anticipation that this ever-changing new identity will form our lives and maybe the lives of others.

One interesting part about being a YAV in campus ministry, is that come mid-May,  a good 2.5 months before the end of our YAV year, the school year ends and the vast majority of our students leave for summer break. While I’ve managed to have several coffee and frozen yogurt appointments since the end of the school year, this summer I was given two weeks to do greater service the the church, one of which I spent as a small group leader at Montreat Conference Center’s high school youth conference. During youth conference high schoolers from all of the country converge at Montreat for a week of energizers, keynotes, worship, and small group discussions. For a total of three hours each day conferees meet in small groups to process the morning’s keynote, play some games, and further explore the day’s scriptures. Having never been to a youth conference before, I’d be lying if I said I was totally confident going into my first couple small group sessions. And for most of the week, the feedback I’d received about how our small group was going was pretty much limited to things like “that activity was pretty fun” or “really? another name game?” It seemed like things were going well though, and the conversations had been great. Each time we gathered--25 high schoolers, one adult chaperone and me--the conversations grew more meaningful, and I was amazed by the willingness of most of my group to share their personal thoughts and experiences. From youth who go to church every week by themselves because their families just aren’t into it, to children of church leaders who aren’t sure they even like going to church in the first place, there were all sorts of faith journeys represented. During our last meeting together, we ended our week by writing affirmations on a piece of paper for each member of our small group. After a group picture and some frisbee throwing, small group number 53 disbanded and went our separate ways, and it wasn’t until later that I got around to reading my piece of paper. But when I did, four simple words stopped me in my tracks. 

There I stood on the last day of week 2 of the Montreat Youth Conference, and in teal Crayola marker staring up at me from the page was the assurance that I had been looking for. Just four words.

“God pours through you.” 

To read that these youth--or at least one of them--had experienced God in our time together was truly a blessing. 

My brother asked me on the phone the other day to sum up my year in six words. I quickly told him that was impossible. Maybe with a substantial amount of thought I could do it, but I haven’t attempted to tackle that yet. I remember being at YAV orientation at the beginning of this year, reading the YAV slogan--A year of service for a lifetime of change. I didn’t really doubt the truth of that phrase, but I was eager to see the ways in which I would be changed this year. 

Here I faced the challenge of being farther away from my friends and family than ever before, but I gained self-assuredness and a handful of friendships that will, I hope, be life-long. I faced the challenge of a job that I was entirely unfamiliar with, but gained a year’s worth of priceless experience and relationships. I faced the challenge of brown recluse spiders, and gained the ability to be fine with all of those non-poisonous bugs that bothered me before. The list goes on, but in all seriousness I think it’s safe to say that those YAV tshirts and water bottles are right on--this one year of service has certainly changed my life.

Next year I will continue my journey as a YAV, this time working in a hospital chaplains department in New Orleans. Some challenges will stay the same, some will be added--being even further away from those friends and family, fundraising all over again, having a completely different job...in their differences though, I can only hope that these challenges will be equally rewarding. 

And I want you all to know, in case you haven’t been told or even if you have, that God pours through you. Through this congregation, through your welcoming Mary Kate and I into your community, and through all of the things that each of you does every day.  God pours through you.

The response and support we got after the service was really heartwarming, and made me even more thankful to have been a part of 2PC this year. It seems a little bit crazy that it's the end of the year already, and that two weeks from now I won't be a Nashville YAV anymore. Granted, I'm super excited about getting a totally new YAV experience in New Orleans, but I don't feel like I'm quite ready to give up Nashville yet. But here I go, jumping off the Nashville cliff into another unknown...we'll just see what happens! 


I read a Bible verse on camp's Facebook page (don't judge) yesterday that I feel like speaks to the YAV experience quite well. I'll leave you with that...

‎You are a letter from Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Cor. 3:3

Love, 

Allison

Being Together

This morning was Confirmation Sunday at 2PC. Depsite the fact that don't actually know any of the confirmands personally, it got me thinking. Thinking about how lovely church communities are, how important they are, and how powerful they are. 


I feel like I should say first, though, that I am aware of how truly lucky I am to have been a part of congregations that I am comfortable in and that love and accept me. I know that's not always the case, and that different people have different experiences and views on going to church. But here are my thoughts...


This morning there was a part of the confirmation part of the service during which the confirmands spread out down the aisles, and the congregation laid hands on them to pray for them and welcome them into the church as members. Now...laying on of hands can be awkward. At least I think so. But that could be because I rarely like being the center of attention. I can also say, though, that I think to be prayed for is an incredibly meaningful thing, and the added aspect of physical contact can make it even more special. There we were, a whole congregation connecting literally and figuratively to 2PC's newest members.

At one of the last PSF worship services of the year, there was a commissioning service for a student who will be a YAV in Guatemala next year (her blog is here...check it out come fall!), and for me (as I'm heading to New Orleans in August). As we knelt facing the front of the chapel, the other students that were there walked up and put their hands on us (or on someone whose hands were on us), and Jennifer said a prayer for our upcoming journeys.

Now, I met these people in early September. That's not all that long to have known them, but if we're going to be honest here I almost cried during that prayer. (Almost.) It was so wonderful and a little overwhelming the amount of support I felt just from our modest little Tuesday night church of college students.

Who knows if this morning's confirmands had the same powerful experience, but I sure hope they did.

I just think it has given me so much joy to be part of these loving communities, that I hope everybody else out there can find one (or a couple) too. And I mean maybe that doesn't even mean church church. Sure PSF and camp don't have their own church buildings but they sure as heck are just as meaningful to me. And I'm not saying it doesn't count unless a whole congregation lays their hands on you. I just think Jesus was serious when he talked about being together.

 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.

(Matthew 18:20)

Love,

Allison

Jesus was a cool dude...

Well, I feel rather hypocritical that I blogged about not forgetting the hard stuff that happens during Holy Week and only said a few things about Good Friday. But, I'd feel weird writing about Good Friday now, since it's already Easter. I'll just have to promise a Good Friday blog next year.

This Easter has been interesting. Good, but strange because for the first time in my life, I am not with my family today. I mean, I am, in a way, since I think at this point I consider some people here a family of sorts. But you know what I mean. But like I said, it has indeed been good. Today started with a "sunrise" service down at Room In the Inn's Campus for Human Development. (I use the quotation marks only because by the time the service started at 7am the sun was already up.) 2PC co-sponsored it, so there were a lot of familiar faces. The wonderful thing though is that there were unfamiliar ones too. A good number of Room In the Inn participants were there along with folks from 2PC and other Nashville churches. It was such a wonderful mix of people, dressed in everything from dresses and ties to whatever clothes a person had happened to find at a donation center. I noticed the communion table too, which as it seemed sort paralleled the crowd that was there. The pretty standard ceramic chalice and table cloth, next to the plastic pitcher of grape juice from the kitchen, and the bread still in the foil plate it came on. It all went together quite beautifully if you ask me.

After helping serve breakfast to some participants after the service, Mary Kate and I headed back to 2PC for breakfast! Though we didn't actually contribute anything ourselves, it was technically a potluck so there was quite the array of delicious things. Drank some coffee, filled our bellies and after a quick trip to Vandy to pick up a student I was back for the 11am service. I forgot how crazy church is on Easter. New vocab word I learned today: Chreasters. Pronounced like...kreester. C&E's. Christmas/Easter people. It's kind of wonderful. Regular Sundays are lovely enough, but to have people spilling out of the sanctuary? Kiiiind of exciting. And everybody's all happy and excited and the choir busts out the happiest parts of their repertoires. I'm not one to talk outwardly about Jesus all the time, mainly because I don't want it to seem like I'm trying to shove Christianity down anybody's throat. But friends, at least for me, this is what it's all about. Like...no wonder everybody's so happy on Easter. No wonder I couldn't help but smile during most of the service(s) this morning. To know that no matter how much we mess up, how much we struggle, things will be ok and we will be loved? That is awesome. And I don't mean awesome like "oh dude that tie dye is awesome." (Though that statement is totally legit.) I mean that I am in awe of how wonderful that that is.

We spent dinner at Mary Kate's 2PC adoptive family's house, and it was just really lovely to get some home cooked food and hang out in a real living room with a family. Granted it obviously wasn't my house, but it was nice, to say the least, to be in some sort of pleasant homey setting on Easter. All in all a joyful day indeed.

All sortsa Easter Love,
Allison

My adoptive 2PC mom kindly dedicated a lily in the sanctuary to me.
Now the Toolshed has a real live plant for decoration!

P.S. - The title of this post is inspired by a camp song called "Jesus Was a Cool Dude." Sing it to the tune of "We Will Rock You." And ideally stomp and clap just like the real song...

Jesus was a cool dude

Forty days with no food

He wrote the golden rule

And that's okay

He's got blood on His face

Thanks for the grace 

Spreadin' His love all over the place 

Singin' we will, we will praise Him (whoop!) [the whoops are important!]

Praise Him (whoop!)  

We will, we will praise Him (whoop!)

Praise Him (whoop!) 

...yeah. You're welcome for that. Happy Easter, friends.

This is weird.

It's weird that last night was PSF's last worship service for the year.

It's weird that that means last night was my last worship service with PSF.

It's weird that the students I work with are leaving in a matter of weeks.

It's weird that I feel so supported and loved by those people, though I see most of them only on Tuesday nights.

It's weird that Nashville feels like home.

It's weird that my days of actually living in Davidson are over.

It's weird that I think that makes me kind of almost a grown up.

It's weird that the people I love are so spread out.

It's weird that I know for sure where I'll be next year. 

It's weird that my plan for after that is finally coming together.

It's weird that I think I'll end up attending more Holy Week services this week than I have the past four   years combined.

It's weird that I've been alive for 22 Easters and this is the first time I feel like I've really, truly paid attention to the days that lead up to them. 

It's weird that I want feathers in my hair. (Seriously.) 

Weird is a weird word. 

But I think weird is good.

PSF still has one more week of hanging out, but our end-of-year festivities will be at Jennifer's house next week so last night was our last evening at St. A's. Seriously, when did that happen? It's weird (yeah...that word again) that in my head I've been saying there are a few more months left in this year. There are, technically, but things will change after Vandy's graduation. Most of the people I've gotten to know will be going their separate ways, back home or off to a summer job or a different new adventure. A couple months after that I'll be off on my own new adventure (more on that later). But it's strange for these end-of-year things to be happening a good while before the end of my year. It's lovely though to think about the connections I've made at PSF, and the community that I at least feel like I'm a part of. Like for example. During worship last night there was a part where myself and a senior who will be a YAV next year went up front and Jennifer prayed for us, while everyone else came forward and laid a hand on us. My eyes were closed and my back was to most of the folks there...so, I don't know whose hands were whose, but I felt like they meant it, you know? Whatever "it" is in a laying on of hands. It's such a supportive and loving community here, and even though we met just seven-or-so months ago, it's real.

There was a lot of emotion in the air last night in general. Not only was it the seniors' last worship service with PSF, but in observance of Maundy Thursday we had our own little foot washing during worship. All this thinking and talking about servanthood and humility, added on to the end of end of the year. There may not have been tears or outward displays, but the emotion was almost palpable in the air. And powerful too, at least for me.

All this talk of new adventures, and I haven't blogged about my plans yet, at least in any detail. Official news (that has already been shared with the Facebook world): I'm going to New Orleans next year! Though I don't know what my specific job will be yet, I've officially accepted a placement in the Big Easy for, as fellow YAV Emily calls it, some "YAV double dipping." The plan is to spend the year further discerning what I feel is a call to go to seminary. Figuring out where to go and what in the world to do with that theological education. So we'll see where that step takes me, but at least I've got a place to live next year!

Love,
Allison.

Thoughts on Preachin'

Well, first off, I've noticed my Southern upbringing (by which I mean being-raised-by-Ohioans-that-happened-to-move-to-the-South) quite a bit lately, because I've said the word "preaching" a lot in the past week or two, and always I drop the g. Hmmm...

Anyway. Towards the beginning of the semester (or maybe the end of last...I don't know. Sometime.), Jennifer asked if I wanted to preach a sermon this term. Sure, that'd be a good experience, right? So I said yes.Well, then I actually thought about it, and realized I had to pick a scripture (yeah that's right, we rebels at PSF don't follow the lectionary...) and actually come up with something good/useful/insightful/interesting to say about it. That stressed me out a whole lot. I feel like I know a lot of ministers who are really great at what they do, which (despite the grace that comes along with one's first sermon ever) is still pretty intimidating. But then I started writing. My semi-nerdy religion major self really really enjoyed sitting in the Shed's living room with reference books, notes and a couple Bibles spread out around me. The scripture I picked was Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd..."), which as it turns out was one of Sunday's lectionary texts, so I guess we're not that rebellious after all. I didn't know it was when I picked it...honestly I came across Psalm 23 on my way to look at another one, and for some reason I just decided to pick it. Then that stress kicked in of "Oh man. Everybody knows this one. How in the world am I going to make this interesting?"

But it just happened. I started writing and with a little help next thing you know I had 5 pages. The whole time I was just thinking about how this probably isn't the last time I'll be writing a sermon. And I'm really, really ok with that. Not to mention all the support that came along after I actually gave my sermon at PSF. It's a wonderful thing to get some affirmation after you put yourself on the line a little.

So anyway. To read my sermon go here, and scroll down until you see a link to the PDF file. Not exactly word-for-word what I said, but it's mostly the same.

Love, Allison.

Simplicity

The devo I wrote for PSF's email today, in case anyone's interested:

“Simple living” is a topic often discussed and emphasized in the YAV community, and one that we Nashville YAVs recently learned more about in the book we’re currently reading together. Something I’ve been thinking about since our latest discussion is the fact that living simply is not solely about living with less money or fewer belongings. It’s never a bad practice to really think about what you buy and to avoid unnecessary clutter, but simple living can equally emphasize conscientiousness regarding the things we do acquire. The book we’ve been reading mentions the Quaker tradition’s emphasis on simplicity, for example, and quotes Thomas Kelly, a Quaker leader: “Prune and trim we must, but not with ruthless haste and ready pruning knife, until we have reflected upon the tree we trim, the environment it lives in, and the sap of life which feeds it.” There isn’t an overarching rule amongst Quakers against earning or investing money. Instead exists an emphasis on analyzation and reflection by each individual. It’s all about context, and figure out what’s right for yours.

The right way for you to live simply might indeed be to trim down purchases and go through all that stuff lying around. Or maybe it’s deciding to buy fair trade foods and clothing. Perhaps, though, it doesn’t even have to do with money at all. Thomas Kelly is again quoted, this time about simplifying the way we use our time: “Too many of us have too many irons in the fire. We get distracted by...our interest in a thousand and one good things...simplicity needs to be expressed not merely in the dress and architecture and the height of tombstones but also in...opposition to the hurried, superficial tendencies of our age.”

So, take a few minutes and think about how you can simplify. You don’t have to get rid of everything in your dorm room or apartment. You don’t have to commit to never earning any money. Think about what’s right for you, and give it a try.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

In case you're curious, the aforementioned YAV book is Practicing Our Faith, and is edited by Dorothy Bass. Also, speaking of books, I've been sorely lacking in my efforts towards crossing things off of my literary adventure list, but I'm working on it! Still on Mere Christianity...

Love,

Allison

A story.

My story, to be exact. Or part of it at least. Our theme for the year at PSF is "Connect," so once a month we connect through story telling, and someone offers a part of their faith journey, or some meaningful experience they've had. Tonight was my turn and in case you're interested, here's what I said (ish)...

Here I stand, somewhere around 4.5 months into my year as a Young Adult Volunteer. But instead of telling a YAV story tonight, I’m going to share a little of how I ended up here in the first place.

I grew up in a Presbyterian church, and my mom is what I like to call the quintessential “church lady.” She’s always helping with some project or another...delivering meals, knitting shawls or hats for various organizations, baking casseroles for those who need them. Each Sunday brought with it the mandatory trip to Sunday school, with “big church” to follow (we were not early service people...). For a good six or seven years, you could find me at choir practice on Sunday nights too. Once middle school came along, the church activities became less mandatory. Church on Sunday morning was still a given, but the other stuff was a little negotiable. I took up playing handbells, but fizzled out on the whole choir thing. I went to youth group off and on, but conversations usually (and understandably) revolved around school...which tended to be a little awkward, as I was one of a handful of private school kids in a youth group that mainly went to the local public school. Youth group was never an unpleasant experience, I just wasn’t exactly super involved. 

About halfway through high school, we got a new youth pastor named Shelli. She really made an effort to include me in things at church. This was probably in part because my mom, naturally, volunteered to host a welcome party of sorts at our house soon after Shelli moved to Davidson. Handbell rehearsal was at the same time as youth group, but I’d go to events relatively regularly, when I could. Still, I wasn’t the type that wanted to be on youth council or the pastor nominating committee or anything. I do, however, credit Shelli with keeping me interested and relatively involved, and since then she’s put up with countless emails and cups of coffee helping me process potential life plans.

Off I went to Furman. A few different times over breaks I went as a chaperone on middle or high school youth trips with my church in Davidson, but I never really got involved Furman’s version of PSF. I went once, but there were only four or five people there, and they didn’t have a weekly worship service or anything like this. That’s not to say they weren’t very welcoming and friendly, I just decided it wasn’t particularly my thing. I also definitely slacked on the whole finding-a-church-in-Greenville thing. I tried some, freshman year, but none of the places I went really felt right for me. It probably didn’t help that very few of my close friends were particularly outwardly religious. (But to keep the record straight, they were still lovely friends!)

So I continued on with college, all the while trying to be a faithful person, but without a real, concrete faith community. After junior year though, I found myself with a summer job at Camp Grier, a PC(USA) camp right down the road from Montreat. Now if you’ve talked to more for more than like 15 minutes, camp has probably come up. I’m still working on remembering the fact that not everyone in real life wants to hear a camp story every five minutes. But in all honesty, the fact that it so often pops into my head has made me realize what an impact the past two summers have had on me. That’s only four months total at camp, but I’ve made friendships that I’m quite sure will be life long, and it really gave me that faithful community I’d been looking for in college. 

Here I am, a lifelong Presbyterian with a religion degree who in all honesty really doesn’t know all that much about the ins and outs of her denomination. A girl that kind of went to youth group and volunteered at church, but never made it to a youth conference and until a few weeks ago had never been to a college conference. And despite these things, here I am spending a whole year volunteering for the PC(USA), directly involved in campus ministry. 

Funny how things work out the way they do. 

So there ya have it, a wee bit o' the life of Allison. It's nice being around at the beginning of the term and actually knowing what's going on. (As opposed to showing up in the fall a few weeks after school's started and taking a month or two to figure stuff out...) We're busy busy bees planning all sorts of things for spring term. (I just said busy busy bees...oh dear.) The Shed even has a brand new bathroom door! I mean, I'm guessing it's not brand new, but it's new to us. :) Instead of one of those sliding folding doors, Beth and I have a real life regular door! Whoo!

Love,

Allison

Plotting hope.

Well happy 2011, friends!


After watching the ball drop with some lovely friends from camp (let's just say one of them juggles fire...), I headed to Montreat for College Conference. Technically my intern self isn't in college anymore, but the theme for this year was Wondering Wanderers...which I've gotta say, fits me pretty well. Having thought a lot about the topic over the few days we were there, I think the title can fit just about anybody. We're all somewhere on the journey, you know?


All in all, there were about 1,000 people there. Some were college students, some ministers, and others Montreat staff. Plenty of Presbyterians, but certainly not everyone was. At any rate...that is a LOT of people. Maybe not in the grand scope of the world, but for a three day conference in the mountains North Carolina? At Tuesday night's worship service they played a clip from the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? during which  the movie's three main characters see a group of white-clad people walking towards a pond to be baptized, singing "Down to the River to Pray." (For your aural pleasure, here's the movie's version of the song on YouTube.) The three men are some combination of mesmerized and confused at the whole situation, and one of them eventually rushes into the water to be baptized himself. The point of this little story though, is that, without any instruction to do so, the entire auditorium started singing along. There we were, almost 1000 strong, sitting together singing. No words on the screen, so music leader up front, just singing because we could. It was haunting, in the best of ways. God was so in that place and in that time that it literally gave me chills. 


In addition to keynote speaker Brian McLaren and the other conference/worship leaders, the Resurrection Dance Theater was there. Based out of St. Joseph's Home for Boys in Haiti, these inspiring people have been spending time traveling the US and Canada in hopes of raising money to rebuild two of their three homes (which were destroyed in the earthquake that shook Haiti country almost exactly a year ago), and for continuing support of their mission. Find more info about them here. In addition to a keynote Q & A session during which a few members shared their experiences in Haiti and with St. Joseph's, there was a spectacular dance performance after worship one night...and that was definitely a highlight of the conference. Here's a group of men, all of whom were once orphaned on the street and have since been touched by St. Joseph's, dancing to glorify God. I mean, of course they share their dancing with different people in part to raise awareness and funding, but that's not why they do it. You could see it in their faces...the sheer joy as they moved to the drums and soaked in the thunderous applause. The fact that their faith is so strong despite having gone through far more than I probably ever will: it's incredible. One night at worship an offering was collected and dedicated to St. Joseph's. The wonderful part: it was $4,000. Combined with the proceeds from crafts and tshirts the Resurrection folks had brought with them, college conference attendees raised around $8,000 for St. Joseph's, Wings of Hope, and Trinity House. If you ask me, the fact that a bunch of college students gave that much over the course of a day and a half is pretty awe inspiring. 


All in all it was a fantastic few days full of really great conversation, worship, and fellowship. The tricky part will be to pay as much attention to God out here in the real world as I could with a thousand other wondering wanderers at Montreat.


Brian McLaren wrote about us on his blog, and the conference co-directors read this at closing worship:

Presbyterians love to make jokes about themselves (God's frozen chosen, declining in a decent and orderly way, etc.). But the 900+ young adults I met this week in Montreat, NC, exemplify an inspiring future for the Presbyterian church ... if they're taken seriously and listened to and encouraged. The quality of conversation and interaction was at the "wow" level. My level of hope and enthusiasm about new things breaking forth in Mainline Protestantism continues to rise. What a great way to start the year - with tremendous young disciples like these!

Apparently we Presbyterians can hold our own. :) 
Love,
Allison.

Adventures of a Non-Baker

Well friends, I think I might've found a new hobby. :) PSF's been helping sponsor this even called Alternative Gift Fair, which happened today. It's a super cool event during which 22 Nashville nonprofits congregated in St. A's, and people could come "shop" for intangible gifts by making donations to the organizations in honor of friends/family/whoever. As part of our contribution we decided to chip in some baked goods in the form of cookies. Two students and I headed to a former board member's house on Tuesday to make the dough (which Jennifer and I would bake later) with the expectation of the standard chocolate chip business. But by the time we left to head back towards campus, we had seven different kinds of made-from-scratch dough! We only ended up baking six of them (the last is going to make an appearance at our PSF Advent party Tuesday night), but AGF-goers got to enjoy sugar cookies (in the form of green and read Christmas trees), lemon glazed ginger snaps, crescent cookies, thumbprint cookies with raspberry jam, gingerbread men, and molasses spice cookies!

Now, those of you who know me will probably know that the extent of my baking ability has up to this point largely involved boxed mixes that just involve adding some combination of eggs, water, milk, and/or oil. Why would one think to ask for an egg separator when you can just crack the whole thing into a bowl and pick the yolk up with your hand? While it definitely took some trial and error to not completely mangle my Christmas tree creations, and I may or may not have scorched the bottom of the first batch of molasses spice, all in all it was a lovely experience! And obviously I was obligated to eat the cookies I broke taking off of the cookie sheets. Oopsie daisy. So, who knows if I'll actually keep up this whole baking-from-scratch thing (there'll always be a place in my heart for break 'n' bake), but I've quite enjoyed my latest culinary adventures!

I ended up leaving my camera (and phone) at home today, but here's some documentation of yesterday's pre-AGF baking...

All sortsa dough, complete with baking instructions. :)

I rolled out the dough and everything!

Molasses spice.

Reject trees and experiments. A.k.a. the best cookies all day.

Day one of baking adventures: four doughs down!

More festive happenings coming up this weekend: Christmas lights at Opryland and Elf tomorrow with PSF! Oh how I do enjoy the holidays. 

Love,

Allison

UPDATE: A picture of the finished products, courtesy of Jessie, one of our lovely dough makers. :)

We did not, in fact, make the apples from scratch...

Devo #2

Twice now I've written the devotion (aka devo) for PSF's weekly newsletter, and I thought I'd post them here too, for those of you that are interested but don't get the email. The first one was back in September in a post titled Grace. Here's number two:

Back in August before I had settled in to the YAV life here in Nashville, all of the Young Adult Volunteers had a week-long orientation together at a conference center in New York. The week was filled with plenty of worship, singing, and lectures providing us with the information we’d need to make our 11 months of service a meaningful experience. There was also ample opportunity for discussion with the other YAVs--what we thought our different cities and countries might be like, what we thought the challenges and rewards would be. In one of our large group discussions, one new YAV made a statement that still, two months later, stands out to me. 

“You will never go where God is not.”

Now just think about that for a minute. At first it took me a little while to truly appreciate the significance of that one small sentence. And sometimes, I think, it can be really hard to believe it. How is it possible that God is keeping a watchful eye over places consumed by poverty, natural disasters, war and other tragedy? Or even in that stressful week with two million tests and papers, when not a single thing seems to go right? I don’t know, exactly, but it reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses, Joshua 1:9. It says: “I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." (NRSV) The world in which we live may challenge that idea from time to time, but the notion that we're never going it alone can certainly be comforting as well.

Love, Allison

Peace and Playgrounds

Hey friends! 

All sorts of things have been happening lately (including a lovely weekend with some very dear camp friends), but I'm just going to write about a couple here...in all likelihood this'll still probably turn out to be a lengthy post. It won't hurt my feelings if you just want to skim...


The sermon at PSF this past Tuesday was about peace. About sharing it, and about receiving it, with and from the most unlikely of people. We heard about how most people nowadays (myself included) worry too much about "stranger danger" to really consider sharing the peace of Christ (or whatever sort of peace you believe in) with people that are different from us. As unfortunate as it is, we live in a world where sometimes you really do have to worry about strangers...there are just some really mean people out there. But I'm hoping that this year I can challenge myself to go out on a limb and share a different kind of peace. Or if it's the same kind, maybe share it in a new way. Passing the Peace is common practice in a lot of churches (at least the ones I've been to), but as with a lot of things we say in church, I think it sort of becomes a reflex. "Peace be with you...and also with you." That's not to say it's not meaningful, but once we say something enough, I think we tend to stop really thinking about what it means. The beginning of passing the peace during PSF worship is a little different...in a really great way. Before the standard hand shaking (or ideally, if you ask me, hugging), whoever happens to be the liturgist that night says: "Not an easy peace, not an insignificant peace, not a half-hearted peace, but the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." I don't mean by saying all this that the regular kind of peace we pass is bad. But if the peace of Christ isn't easy or half-hearted, why should sharing it with other people be? So...I don't know. Just something to think about.


I've spent the past few days on PSF's fall break "trip" doing flood relief work here in Nashville. The first two days we worked on houses through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and the third day we cleaned out a (mostly) dry river/creek bed. If you don't really know anything about the flood that happened this past May (I didn't, really, until I came here) and you're interested, here's a Youtube video somebody made. On the first day we (the four students and four PSF staffers that were there) arrived at a house with an empty dumpster and huge piles of stuff in the backyard. We left at the end of the day with a full dumpster and significantly fewer piles. :) Seriously...there was some legit strategy going on to pack that dumpster. The entire first level of this house had to be gutted because of the water damage, so the piles we cleaned up consisted of everything from soggy drywall and wood to a sink, carpet, and broken tiles. We even came across two black widows in a dresser we had to take apart...yes, the sledgehammer I used to kill one might've been a wee bit excessive, but hey, the sledgehammer was already in my hand. One of the students did the other one in with a shoe. Day two's house was being rebuilt by Habitat for Humanity, which in the Nashville area has added rebuilding/flood relief to their usual building-houses-from-the-ground-up agenda. We PSFers worked on several different parts of the house, but I spent the day painting baseboards and pieces of door frame. Six hours of the same white paint got a little tedious, but it was still great to be able to help get a house that much closer to being livable again. Day three was my favorite...maybe the hardest, work-wise, but the best nonetheless. We cleaned debris out of a (mostly) dry river bed. Now this was some serious debris. Like...there was someone's wooden porch in a tree. (Also in trees: a gas can, and a couple hoses.) I think I might now be somewhat of an expert in using a crowbar to pry apart pieces of decks/porches. It was crazy though, some of the stuff we found. I mean I'd heard that the flood was really bad, but finding a little girl's shoe, a pink Crayola marker, a stuffed monkey caked in dry mud and practically squished flat...I can't imagine just having life as I know it washed right away. It was pretty surreal to listen to the chainsaw cutting the washed up playground into pieces small enough for us to carry away. And to think of all the new things that have happened to me since May, compared to the fact that there are still so many people here just trying to get back to life as it was. 


Well, congrats if you made it through that whole post...until next time, friends.
Love,
Allison.

How NOT to settle in to a new city...

I would not suggest, my dear friends, that you welcome yourself to new surroundings by wrecking your car. For the record, some stop signs in Nashville are not in fact four way stops like they might appear to be. Tuesday was a rather stressful day, and it's looking like I'll be car-less for a couple weeks, but no one was hurt, so it definitely could've been far worse. And having gotten past the really scared oh-#$&*-I-just-wrecked-my-car phase of the experience, I've been thinking a lot about the ways that the Big Guy (or Girl?) Upstairs was looking out for me throughout the whole thing. There's the obvious one, that no one got hurt, and then there are the littler things. Like all of the people I met or talked to that day, for most of whom I never even learned a name. There's the nice businessman that gave me his handkerchief (don't worry, it was clean) and told me to stand in the shade, the random guy who told me which phone number to call, the kind policewoman and the friendly tow-truck man who helped get MB where she needed to go to be fixed. There are the facts that I have a boss that was willing to come get me from the car place, that my co-workers and fellow YAVs are willing to drive me around, and that my parents aren't too mad about me for messing up my car. (Or if they are, they did a really good job of hiding it during the multiple it'll-be-ok phone calls.) And I think the worshiping and dinner-ing of PSF was just what I needed that night. So to all of the people that helped me that day whether they know it or not, thanks friends.

Despite the aforementioned dramatic events (yeah...aforementioned), the week wasn't all bad. I had my first couple appointments with students (if you ask me, the word "appointment" makes it sound super formal/kind of awkward, but they were neither of those things), which involved delicious food and coffee. For real, I think Bongo Java and I are going to become good friends in the next 10 months. Next week should be good too, because I'll be starting our every-Monday lunch in the Commons (Commons is to Vandy as the DH is to Furman...dining hall) for any PSFers or others that want to join. Coloring books will be present, along with my Crayola 120-pack. Admit it, everybody likes coloring every now and then, and every college student can use some stress relief! Also on Tuesday, Holly (div school intern at PSF) and I are heading to Luke 14:12 one more time before we start taking students every week. And by "one more time" I mean the first time was supposed to be this past Tuesday, and we all know now how that went for me...Holly made it there though.

TOT (Theology on Tap) happened again on Thursday, as it does every week, and the Live on the Green concert downtown this week was The Wailers! In the company of some of my fellow YAVs and some new friends too, it was pretty awesome. (And I mean, after the past few days I'd been having I think it was good to hear some happy reggae guys sing that "every little thing is gonna be alright...") For "community night" last night we all went out to dinner to a place called Copper Kettle, and it was aaabsolutely delicious. It's a meat-and-three type place (I'd never heard of this meat-and-three concept until I got here...) and I had fried catfish with mac n cheese, green bean casserole, and some other veggies. Mm mmm good (Campbell's Soup blessing, anybody?).

So, things have been looking up since Tuesday, that's for sure. Church in the morning and my second handbell practice tomorrow afternoon! Hopefully some more YAV bonding tonight too. :) But that's all the news for now, friends.

Love,
Allison.

P.S. - Furman 31, Citadel 14. Despite the fact that football and sports in general are pretty far down on my list of priorities in life, it's still pretty fun when your alma mater wins!

Chicken Tetrazzini and a Night in the Woods

Hey friends!

Well, two weeks of work down, and things in Nashville are still going swimmingly. I'm slowly but surely getting to know people at work and at church, and I think it's starting to sink in that I actually live in Nashville (and that I'm not just hanging out here for a couple weeks). This week a couple new things happened at work. I figured out how to set up the projector on Tuesday night almost all by myself (so many cords...), not to mention the delectable leftovers I got to take home after dinner at PSF. Chicken tetrazzini two days in a row? Yes please. Anyway I also started working on taking a group of students to Luke 14:12 for lunch once a week. It's a place that serves lunch to the homeless every Tuesday and Friday out of a church fellowship hall, and we're going to hopefully go volunteer there on a regular basis. Still a bit of organizing/advertising to do before that one can actually happen though. Other thrilling parts of my week included entering donation checks into our database, and updated email addresses in said database. Whooo non-profits! Good stuff.

Favorite part of the week, though, was going camping at Fall Creek Falls State Park with PSF on Friday night. I got to build a fire and eat a delicious TFD (Tin Foil Dinner). Seriously though, no lie, forget the frozen burger patties and consistent potatoes/carrots/onions of camp and add some red and green bell peppers and shredded cheddar cheese...mmmm. Can't go wrong with that. As it turns out it gets pretty cold in the middle of the night in Tennessee in September, but spending the night in my hammock was still quite enjoyable. :) Also we went on a hike Saturday before we left the park, and ate lunch here...

The camping adventure was followed by girls night at the Toolshed, given the fact that Vic and Michael abandoned us for the weekend. Girls night consisted watching a girly movie, but also keeping track of our dear old alma maters...four football games at a time!

Ok ok, so Mary Kate's school is the only one that won, but hey, Furman could've done a lot worse!

This morning was church as usual, which has been quite a lovely experience so far. Turns out there are a lot of Furman/Davidson connections here, too. The plus side of only going as far as Tennessee is that people have actually heard of Furman before. Hooray! Anyway tonight I decided to check out 2PC's  handbell choir (2PC = 2nd Pres). I was one of four people there ringing, plus the director, but apparently there are more people that couldn't make it tonight. At any rate, it's lovely to be making music again.

In all seriousness though, it kind of blows my mind how many different pieces of my life so far have gotten me ready for this year. Everything from playing bells to being a religion major to building a fire for TFDs. God is good, that's for sure.

And that's all for now, folks.

Love,

Allison.

It's off to work we go...

Hey friends,

After a pretty chill Labor Day, we Nashville YAVs started our jobs this week! For anybody reading who may not know, I’m spending the year working with Vanderbilt’s Presbyterian Student Fellowship (PSF), which really is more like Nashville PSF given that some Belmont students come too. There’s a link to the PSF website to the right, if you’re interested. Anyway, I work in the Religious Life office, also known as the Tarpley Building (it’s on Vandy’s campus). I have an office and keys and everything! I mean I share my office with two other interns, but still. Real life...weird stuff. 

That's my desk!

This week’s biggest event was the weekly worship/dinner that PSF has every Tuesday (what a day to start on!), which went well. I met lots of new people, and it's never a bad evening when free dinner's involved. We worship and eat at St. Augustine's Chapel, which is a little Episcopal chapel near the office. Other than that I'm slowly but surely figuring out what I'll be doing this year. One of the things I'll be doing is sending the weekly email for TOT (Theology on Tap), which is a group of young adults in the area that gets together for dinner once a week and talks about a difference theological topic. For September though, we decided to make our TOT time this cool (and free) concert series that's happening in downtown Nashville called Live on the Green. This past Thursday was awesome...heard this new (to me) band called Hightide Blues, plus Five for Fighting and Tonic. Hooray for free music! 

Live on the Green. The zoom on my camera is currently not functioning, but that's Hightide Blues on the stage. The building behind the stage is the courthouse downtown.

Yesterday we visited the last two agencies at which Nashville YAVs will be working for the year. I realized that I don't know if I've said a lot about these places, but they're all doing pretty incredible things for the community. In case you want to know more, here's the list of where we spend our days...check out the links if you're interested.
Preston Taylor Ministries (that's Mary Kate's placement)
Nations Ministry Center (Beth)
Room In The Inn (Sally)
Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penatly (Vic)
Martha O'Brian Center (Michael)
Conexion Americas (Emily)
And there's me, at PSF.

This morning we went to a Greek festival in town. We didn't last very long because it was approximately a billion degrees outside, but we saw some cool Greek dancing and got some delicious food...and hey, it was something interesting to do with our early afternoon!

That's all for now, friends. If you want to know more you know where to find me. :)
Love,
Allison.

P.S. - Furman 45, Colgate 15. Gooo Paladins!