a few months ago, i wondered if anyone had developed a biodegradeable option for plastic garbage bags. upon further web surfing, i found that there is a brand name of BioBag that is available. expensive, but available. BioBag is a company in Norway, www.biobag.no, and their products are widely used in europe. “Over 10 million European citizens are using them, in more than a dozen countries.” (http://worldcentric.org/biocompostables/bags/kitchen-waste-bags) they even make doggie bags for cleaning up after your pets!

anyway, i thought this was interesting and i intend to make the switch if i can afford it!

http://www.barackobama.com/2008/08/28/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_108.php

unfortunately, he had to spend some time defending himself from negative attacks and the smear campaign that is being waged against him. if there is one thing i hate about politics, it is smear campaigns. i was impressed by the way he addressed the attacks on his character and patriotism:

These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.

But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.

So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.

(emphasis added)

i think a similar argument can be made with regards to religious debates. to alter his quote, “one of the things that we have to change in our religion is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other’s character and faith.”

i also admire obama’s humility in his acceptance of the nomination. he said something i’ve never heard a politician say before…maybe some have said it and i’m not aware…maybe many have said it and i’m not aware…but it struck me last night.

I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don’t fit the typical pedigree, and I haven’t spent my career in the halls of Washington.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me. It’s been about you.

(emphasis added)

i’m curious to see how mccain responds to the speech. i guess we’ll have to wait until next week to find out. november 4, here we come. and to quote obama, “eight is enough!”

i’ve been living with this diagnosis for about 5 years now. during that time i’ve tried to develop alternative sweet foods that i can eat without feeling woosy, sick, or having a headache. one of these is my recently-becoming famous cobbler. so, i’ll share the recipe.

no-sugar-added fruit cobbler

i developed this recipe as an alternative to “dump cake” as an easy cobbler that does not include any added sugars. this cobbler can be prepared in a dutch oven (of any size), cast-iron skillet (of any size), or oven dish, such as pyrex, corelle ware, or metal baking pans. the recipe given is proportioned for a 12-inch dutch oven (standard or deep). if using dutch oven, prepare outdoors.

ingredients:

• 1.5 cups bisquick mix
• 1 cup splenda sweetener (granulated)
• 10 tbsp butter (1.25 sticks)
• spoonful of splenda
• corn starch
• fresh (or frozen) fruit of choice (choose one of the following or try your own combination & quantities):
  • > 28-32 oz. fresh blueberries (optional 8-12 oz. fresh raspberries)
  • > 1.5-2 pounds fresh blackberries
  • > 5 large granny smith apples
  • > 5-6 large fresh peaches (optional 6-8 oz. fresh blueberries)

frozen fruit contains more water, leaving the cobbler runny. to compensate, either thaw and drain off some of the water, or add more corn starch to frozen fruit. also, if using packaged fruit (frozen or canned), make sure the fruit does not contain added sugar or syrup.

preparation:

1. if using apples or peaches, peel and cut into chunks. cover. set aside or return to fridge.
2. light 27-30 coals in charcoal chimney. while these are heating up, do steps 3-10.
3. line a 12-inch dutch oven with aluminum foil so that the bottom and sides are covered.
4. mix bisquick and splenda together in a bowl.
5. cut in butter with knives or pastry blender. set aside.
6. if using berries, rinse.
7. spread fruit across bottom of foil-lined oven.
8. sprinkle about a spoonful of splenda on the fruit (more or less depending upon how sour or ripe the fruit may be).
9. sprinkle some corn starch on the fruit (more or less depending upon how much water or juice will cook out of the fruit) and stir fruit, spreading it evenly across bottom of oven.
10. spread bisquick mixture across the top of the fruit, so that it covers the fruit (some fruit may still be visible).
11. place lid on oven. set oven above 9 hot coals, and place remaining 18-21 coals on lid.
12. bake 40-45 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and you can’t stand smelling the cobbler goodness any longer without eating it.

rotate oven and/or lid as desired. do not open lid of dutch oven while baking. allow the smell to tell when it is done.

allow cobbler to cool. enjoy it by itself, with ice cream, or with whipped cream.

this recipe can be prepared in an oven using any baking dish or cast-iron skillet. adjust proportions as needed for pans bigger or smaller than about 10- or 11-inch square. bake at 350-375 degrees for 40-45 minutes. maintain ratio of 1.5 cups bisquick to 1 cup splenda to 10 tbsp butter for topping mixture.

last summer, i took the group to see order of the phoenix during our mission trip to ohio. we had a blast going to see it together on opening night. most of the youth in GOOTH are HP fans, also…so, most of them get my references. with the next movie opening in november, i’m excited about taking the group to see it, too.

last summer was not the first time i took a youth group to see a harry potter movie. back in 2001, i took my then middle-school group in raleigh to see harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone on opening night during a lock-in. that was quite the adventure. several parents stood in line early in the morning, while drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, to get the group tickets. the place was so packed that we couldn’t all sit together…we were all over the theater.

i’ve already invited the facebooking GOOTH crowd to see the movie together, and will invite the rest very soon. i think it is important to see movies that generate a lot of controversial publicity – particularly religious controversy – as a group so that we can discuss any questions people may have. but aside from that, i think that the harry potter stories and movies have a lot to offer as illustrations of christian and religious themes.

the sixth book really begins to get at the heart of the themes in the harry potter books that make it so powerful. at the end of book five, we discover more about harry’s past and the reasons for voldemort’s actions. with that, we discover the power of love in the jk rowling-created world. dumbledore says there is a room in the department of mysteries that remains locked at all times, because it contains powerful magic. that magic is love. it is the magic that gives harry’s mother (lily) the ability to sacrifice herself for her son. in book six, we see harry learn the significance of love in his ongoing battle with voldemort and how it is love that will enable him to defeat him in the end. without love, one cannot grief the loss of a loved one. harry, who is initially disappointed to hear that love is the magic power that he has the “voldemort knows not,” finally realizes that it is more powerful than he can imagine. it is by love that he is able to face voldemort because of his own free will and not as a result of voldemorts actions. “It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew – and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents – that there was all the difference in the world.” ~J.K. Rowling, “Horcruxes,” Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 2005. i hope this scene is brought out in the movie.

the series is a powerful series on love, friendship, and forgiveness, among other themes. if you haven’t read the books, i encourage you to do so. but i warn you, you will enjoy it…and you will not get the full meaning of the themes until you have finished the entire series…all 4100+ pages.

if you haven’t seen the new trailer, view it at: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi215810329/

Jay’s #1 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=362&l=4c002&id=305700031

Jay’s #2 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=363&l=2e0ea&id=305700031

Jay’s #3 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=364&l=c0440&id=305700031

as i get more links from GOOTH, i’ll post them

Also, i’ve created a new GOOTH blog, where you can keep up with GOOTH’s adventures on trips and throughout the year. we will hopefully post daily reflections from Montreat like we did for nyc, so check back next week!

http://gooth.wordpress.com/

thursday’s devotion started like any other. we would let someone from each workgroup share their experience that day with the rest of the group. two simple comments were made that caught my attention in huge and complex ways. hannah platt, a graduated senior, commented that while we did a lot of “fun” stuff together as GOOTH, we needed to do more service stuff back in clemmons as a group. sarah hoyle, a rising 9^th grader, said that she and hannah had a deep conversation that day about their experience. sarah said that by working with people this week, it hit her that the once nameless homeless people now had names…and thus made more human in her mind. (you can read their own words in the sixth one about nyc.)

Hannah and sarah thought they were making simple observations…ones that, to them, were now obvious and “no-brainers.” they are simple observations. but, their comments hit me like a mack truck. their simple statements and the reactions, head-nods, and agreement of the GOOTH made me realize that they GOT it. these youth “got” it. there are many ways that youth react to such mission experiences, and many of them are self-centered or my-world-centered. but their reflections were NOT – they were neighbor-centered. since this was the first such experience for many of the youth, I expected to hear self-centered reflections, such as, “I learned that I’m very lucky to have what I have,” or “I learned that I’m fortunate to be born in clemmons and into a stable family,” or “It’s a shame these people don’t have what I have.” but, that’s not what I heard…not a single youth expressed these or similar comments to me or at the devotion. instead, the GOOTH saw Jesus in one another and the people with whom they worked and encountered during the week and their learning was truly neighbor-centered.

hannah’s observation about us doing lots of “fun” stuff was a significant observation, because that has been my plan all along. I came to CPC in august of 2006, but I had started planning for the youth group 7 years ago. in 2001, I learned my biggest lesson about youth ministry: It’s All About Relationships. over the years since, I began to be attentive to God’s leading for youth ministry and to make mental notes about ways that I could build relationships within the “youth group i would have one day.” we find a theological basis for relational theology in the greatest commandment: love God and love neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-31; Luke 10:27). and if you love neighbor as yourself, then it is clear that you are to also love yourself as your neighbor. Calvin says to know God is to know thyself. the inverse is also true: know thyself, know God. GOOTH has spent the last 2 years building and strengthening relationships within ourselves and developing an identity. by knowing who we are, and by loving ourselves – both as individuals and as a collective GOOTH – we can in turn love our neighbors as ourselves, love God, and know God.

only after a group knows and loves itself can meaningful things be born from it. GOOTH now wants to work side by side more often. GOOTH now understands who their neighbor is, and what it means to love them. GOOTH is closer to God because GOOTH knows who they are. this is the point i prayed for over the last 7 years. even before i knew who the youth at CPC were, before i was called to CPC, and even before i went to seminary, i began praying for God’s guidance to lead the youth group i would one day work with. i asked God to help me find the way to build relationships and create a youth ministry program that exemplified relationship theology. God has done that. and the GOOTH are ready to lead themselves on their continued faith journey.

they have reached this point quicker than i thought imaginable. when i heard hannah, sarah, and others talk about their experience with this mission trip, it hit me. i broke down and cried with joy, amazement, wonder, excitement, love, and praise to God for all that God has done with GOOTH. The Spirit was definitely present that night at the emotional devotional. God only knows what is in store for GOOTH, but i am excited to find out what it is!

]]> http://pastorjayban.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/the-seventh-one-about-nyc-final-reflection/feed/ 0 pastorjayban http://pastorjayban.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/the-sixth-one-about-nyc-the-free-day/ http://pastorjayban.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/the-sixth-one-about-nyc-the-free-day/#comments Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:24:53 +0000 jay banasiak http://pastorjayban.wordpress.com/?p=28 ]]> folks, friday was our “free day” to spend in manhattan. we had a blast, but it was a long, tiring day. we left at 7:45am and returned around 9:45pm. it’s late, and i don’t have time to really describe our adventures tonights, but i will do so later this week when i return from vacation. check back wednesday night for an update. i will also post my final reflections on the week later this week…hopefully by wednesday night.

here are two final reflections from 3 GOOTH about their experiences this week. hannah and sarah made some deep connections and conclusions that they shared with the group thursday night…which inspired our emotional devotion that night. they decided to write a blog entry together. i will blog more about it from my point of view in my final reflection, because even though it was not the last night, it was our “final” devotion for the week and we couldn’t top it friday night, so we didn’t try!

Sarah Hoyle (9th grade) and Hannah Platt (College Freshman)

This week has been an amazing experience for the both of us. We worked in a group together with three other youth and two adults. Although riding on all the ferries, subways, and walking everywhere was tiring, the work we did proved to be worthwhile; not only for us, but the people we helped. Working in soup kitchens and food pantries opened our eyes to the world outside of Clemmons. While the two of us helped line people up outside a soup kitchen on the last day, we came to the conclusion that these people we were feeding were more than just those homeless people we’d been seeing on the street. They had names. What was once that random person you saw sleeping on a bench became the Johns, Pauls, and Davids that walked through that door. We also came to the realization that we aren’t doing enough back home in Clemmons. Helping feed over 7,000 people here in New York showed the two of us how much a group of teenagers that get along how much we can accomplish. It’s not hard to help out in soup kitchens and if you’re working with people that you’ve become so close to, the time flies by and you don’t want to leave. GOOTH has grown so much this week; with each other and in our faith.

Brittany McGowan (college freshman)

This week has really opened my eyes as well as many others of the members of GOOTH this week. I spent my time on Manhattan and every day I went, along with 4 other youth and 2 adults. I went to different sites in many different boroughs throughout the week. I spent two days at two different soup kitchens, and two days at food pantries. On Monday I helped to serve lunch to the different people. The one thing that stuck out to me while there was that we served everyone like it was a restaurant. It helped us to actually be able to interact with these people. It made them more real to us than just faces. Another day that stuck out to me was Thursday’s trip to a food bank. We helped to bag food that would be given out to the people coming through later that day. When everyone got to the food bank we helped to hand out the food. We were encouraged to not only hand out the food but interact with the people. We were told to talk to at least say good morning and smile. Not only did I feel like we all benefitted a lot of people here, I also feel like our group itself was benefitted. We learned about a lot. One thing that was mentioned several times was that homeless people are not the only hungry people. Hungry was defined as those people who cannot afford to provide a healthy meal for themselves on a regular basis. We also learned a lot about each other as we spent time in groups with people we did not normally see on a regular basis. We have become stronger as a group. While we were here for others, we also ended up helping ourselves. It has over all been a very rewarding experience, and while I’m happy to be coming home to see everyone I am really going to miss everyone here and the bond that we have created.

the following two posts were written before the spirit-filled events of the evening devotion, and no one had the chance to blog anything tonight. hopefully tomorrow will include some reflection upon tonight’s devotion.

Erica Chatham (10th grade)

Thursday was fun, but it was also very difficult. The Staten Island team split into different groups; some went to a Moravian church to sort clothes and to put them in boxes and others went to the soup kitchen. I, on the other hand, went somewhere totally different. Stephen, the Stovalls, and I went across from the church that we are staying at and went to the Hospitality House. It had stories of apartments for the clients staying there. We were given a big job. We were told to dust the whole lobby. Sure that sounds easy, but when we got there, everything was covered with dust, dirt and what seemed like mold. So instead of dusting, we ended up washing everything. We grabbed a ladder, buckets of water, and wash rags to get started. I am extremely short so it was difficult to reach high places like the pipes and the exit signs. We were so determined to get the job done that we hardly took any breaks. When we finally finished it was after twelve and the four of us were the first ones back to the church. We had our lunch and took showers early, because we were covered in dust and dirt. It might have been a hard and serious job, but there were plenty of jokes for us to laugh at and that is what was enjoyable. When we left it was cleaner and a little bit brighter. The color of the lobby was a dirt white color and I hope that they paint it a dark blue, because it would match some of the weird lights in the lobby.

Tyler Hinshaw (9th grade)

Today, my group of Sara, Patrick, Ian, Niki, the Tellers, and I went to the Bronx. We worked at the Food Bank of New York. To get there we had to ride the ferry, the subway, and a bus. We had a short orientation to Food Bank using videos. Our job was to sort water, vinegar, bleach, and other similar liquids into boxes and only have a certain weight of the product in each box. Then we taped the boxes shut, labeled them, and put them in stacks. Four people (Patrick, Sara, Niki, and Ian/me) put the products into the boxes, taped them, and sorted them. The other three people got the products out of the original boxes they were in and put them on a long counter for the others. In the end, we sorted 4,183 lbs of liquids, which equaled about 3,217 meals. We finished at 12:30, so we got to leave earlier than we thought. Since we had extra time, we went to Chinatown and Little Italy. All of us teens got I <3 NY shirts for $3! After walking around for a while, we went back to YSOP for our final meeting, where we filled out evaluations and talked about our week. For dinner, we had pasta. A group from Michigan and the leaders from PH joined us. Now we are cleaning up, and soon we will begin our shareholder letters. Tomorrow is our free day. Can’t wait!

Adam Chatham (9^th grade)

Hi, during the baseball game it started raining badly. Lucky for me I was under a roof. Before the rain started we all went and got food and free baseball caps. Some of us went to get them signed but the hat was ruined by the rain. I think after 30 minutes of the rain me and two friends were getting bored. They had to cover the field and wait for the rain to stop. Stephen suggested we take a look in the gift shop. By the time we got there we realized that there was nothing there we could afford and the rain was still pouring heavily. So we played a game where we had to guess the prices of items. We first did the hat. I guessed 30 dollars and Stephen said 20. It was 15. Then we went to the t shirts. I guessed 25 and Stephen guessed 30. Well it was actually 40 dollars. We started to talk about how overpriced things are here. When we got to the jackets we made guesses and we were way off. The hoodys were 80 dollars. Finally we went to the replica Yankee shirts. They were over 200 dollars. We all started laughing. After that we went back outside and the rain had stopped so we took our seats and started watching the game again. The Yankees had a shutout going when we left.

Alyssa Brown (12^th grade)

Today was a busy day; my group went to a clothing bank at an old army terminal in Brooklyn. We sorted through tons of clothes, first men’s then women’s clothes. The clothing brand Chaps (for men) had just donated a boatload of shirts, jackets, sweaters, pants, etc. Most of the clothes that were donated were used as samples and were made in foreign countries such as Korea, China, and Taiwan. In order to get import taxes reduced, the factories cut minor holes in the clothes and we had to throw those clothes away because they sent a message of inferiority to those receiving the clothes. We also bundled a ton of women’s sweaters and on our break, we went down to the pier and saw the Manhattan skyline. When we got back to YSOP headquarters, two social workers talked to us about working with homeless people and how they lobby the NY State Congress to pass laws in favor of homeless/low income people. It was a pretty long seminar but also inspired me to want to help and volunteer more. Then we came home and went to the baseball game which you already read about and now we are about to go to bed to get ready for tomorrow!

Sarah Hoyle (9^th grade)

So, I guess none of you blog readers have heard from my group yet. But Jill, David, Hannah, Katie and our leaders Sam and Jennifer and I are all in a YSOP group on Manhattan. On Monday, we worked in a place called Food Change where we made food to ship out to different agencies that would distribute it to hungry people. Hannah, David and I chopped 250 POUNDS OF POTATOES! It was actually really fun. We also chopped some carrots and onions and celery and other vegetables to put in a delicious pot of beef stew. We had lots of fun. On Tuesday we worked in the Love Gospel Church…yea. It was defiantly a new experience, but there were WAY too many volunteers. 52 in a room half the size of the church fellowship hall. When we prayed as a group right before we served the food, there were lots of AMENS shouted. It was intense. We had the job of resetting the tables after they had been cleaned as the guests were leaving the soup kitchen. Then today our group worked in a place called Furnish a Future. Apparently it was on the Today Show, and for good reason. This two story warehouse building was filled with furniture and other necessary household items that had been donated and would be given to individuals who were starting in a new home from being homeless. I thought it was really great that there was SO much new/slightly worn furniture to give out. We had the job of putting the finishing coat of varnish on about 20 nightstands. During lunch break we walked around the neighborhood and it was very interesting to see the differences between each block we walked. We saw a VERY fresh poultry house that had chickens and rabbits sitting in cages to be slaughtered for meat. You definately don’t see places like that on your average street in Clemmons! This has been such an awesome experience for me and I’m really looking forward to these last few days!