A month in the life

[bleedsdaylight]

So I'm sitting around last night, enjoying a marathon of Coronation Street, when suddeny a brick smashes through my window and a car peels out of the Canadian Tire parking lot! I cautiously go to the brick, which has a note attached and find a note attached: "Why the Christ haven't you updated your Livejournal, you fucktard?!"

So I thought, well, fair enough, I guess I deserve that...

I'm not sure how to measure the impact of the last four weeks... it's been the hardest I've worked, yet possibly the most rewarding work experience of my life. It was certainly the most important spiritual time of the last few years.

I don't want to go into boring details, but it all centres around a program that I run every three years as a part of the United Church's General Council meeting, a gathering of 800+ people from across the country to make major decisions for the church. I run the Youth Forum, which gathers about 90 youth aged 15-20 together with 24 leaders for 10 days of intense study, music, debate, prayer and deep searching. This year, it took place Aug 7-21 in Thunder Bay ON. Leadership people arrive early to prepare for the arrival of youth.

Highlights for me were:

• Creating a separate space for queer youth to meet one another and find support and affirmation. At least 2 of them came out for the first time! And it was in a receptive, accepting atmosphere.


• Showing solidarity with our First Nations participants who encountered racist statements from a speaker at the mike. The youth stood up and gathered around their Aboriginal friends and held them, weeping with them, and it did more than any words of apology could have.


• Convincing the Agenda and Planning committee to allow us to have 2 dry nights in the pub so youth could participate. The first night was a coffee house and the following night was a dance, and they both rocked hard! It was such a great atmosphere!


• Working with a leadership team that was creative and responsive, who gave me no grief, but who began thinking together in the same way... it was one of those rare and wonderful times that you can't plan for but when it happens, you are so grateful for it.


• Going to Mt. McKay  a sacred pow wow site for the Ojibwa people, where the thunder beings live, under the omnipresence of the Sleeping Giant


• Watching kids who felt distant and disconnected at the beginning find belonging and acceptance and community together as the time went on - seeing them sing and hold each other and dance and laugh, and then move into deep prayer and mutual struggle.


• Having the kids who were the most resistant and hostile at first, come up and give me a big hug and thank me for the event.


• Leading some of the sessions for the entire council and seeing how profoundly they were received and affected people's lives
  

There was lots of crap too, of course, but in the end, the good stuff seems to be lodging itself in my head and heart and the bad stuff is dissipating. Pretty good, I'd say.

And in the rest of my life, my paid Livejournal account has expired but considering how much I've neglected it of late, i guess I have to expect that. I'm too broke to buy another one, but I'm sure I'll get by ok. I'm way overdue to see dear friends like
sweetjimmyto and
arielspirit and
drew1963 not to mention the immanent arrival of
greekcub and
mason5280 as brand new Canadians!! Yay!

And there's more, but  I need lunch...