FIASCO

The following is a copy of my “Rule of Life” which I worked on during the recent staff spiritual retreat.

FIASCO Rule of Life

By the power of God, I will strive to keep the following FIASCO Rule of Life from this day forward:

FOOD

Uphold good nutrition & well-being as my new spiritual practice. Eat one meal a day prayerfully, as if it was my last meal. Plan to share a meal with a friends each week.
IRINA (PRAY FOR PEACE)
Create a moment for prayer for people & concerns every day involving my own developed ritual. With Irina, schedule a time weekly to pray and reflect with each other about our concerns together.
ADVENTURE
Explore new disciplines regularly, strive to deepen existing ones, and do both of these with creativity & joy.
SCRIPTURE
Hang out a little time each day to read from Scripture.
COMPANY
Seek out companions & mentors who are dedicated to spiritual practice to share with and learn from.
OUTDOORS
Take regular retreats into nature to meet the divine with all my senses.

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Fiasco: a complete and ignominious failure.

Matthew Swain
Church Planter/Pastor

Pumped

At the time of this writing it is 10:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night and I am pumped! A conference call with our camping commission has just ended and there is a lot to be excited about.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the camping and reunion program is very important to our community. Hundreds of people will attend our camps this summer, each with hopes of experiencing combinations of activities that will produce relaxation, recreation, and spiritual renewal. In order to make all that happen, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. The work of preparation of the grounds and facilities is undertaken every year by the dedicated campground boards and dozens of volunteers who give freely of their time for the benefit of others. They work to meet provincial and other safety standards for grounds, building, safe drinking water and meal preparation facilities. They work to upgrade and maintain their facilities to make the camping experience not only enjoyable but wonderful. Their work is so important.

Then there is the camps themselves to be planned and provided for. Once again, there are provincial health and safety regulations to meet plus world church standards for risk management. We have four campground boards, each with their own guidelines that need to be understood and followed. Then there is the fact that our six reunions, five youth camps, and numerous retreats are all staffed by volunteers. Those volunteers need to be trained, not only so that we meet or exceed provincial and world church guidelines, but also so that we have safe and enjoyable camps. Their training is clearly very important.

When I was reassigned to Canada East Mission 2 ½ years ago, several people told me that the Director and Staff Retreat every fall was very helpful to them in understanding and planning for the following year, but the Camp Staff Training Day held in the spring needed to be strengthened. It was the weak link in the chain. Consequently, once our new camping commission got their feet under them, their attention was turned to this need. For the past several months, this group of five people has worked to develop a training session that will be not only meaningful but powerful. Tonight we met in teleconference to make final decisions. I truly believe they have nailed it.

This year, on June 17 – 19 at Ziontario, we will provide excellent and important training for all our staff,no matter what camp or grounds they work at. Sessions will be provided for directors, business managers, camp counselors, cooks, recreation leaders, lifeguards, and more. In addition, training will be offered in team building, group facilitation, and guidance in appropriate social media contact following the camp. Can you believe all that? It is amazing what this group has accomplished. PLUS, worship and worship training will be provided by our Apostle!

If you have any role in the camping program this summer, you need to be at Ziontario, June 17-19. Further, if you know someone else who is planning to be on staff, either now or in the future, they need to be there as well. I think you will be surprised and impressed.

Our camping program in CEM just got better. The weakest link in our camping chain has been reforged, and the entire season will be stronger. I am definitely pumped!

Those not yet registered, please contact Wendell Martin at whmartin@brucetelecom.com immediately. Registration is free, but we need to know you are coming, and the sooner the better.

See you on the 17th.

Posted by Carman

Options

Has anyone ever advised you to “keep your options open”?

It surely seems to me that many people have received that advice. Or they’ve decided it all by themselves. Oh I get it. It’s good to have choices. And sometimes it must seem that something better just might come along. It wouldn’t be good to be too tied up and to have to say “No” to some ultimate opportunity, would it?

There are opportunities aplenty for certain. Invitations to “events” fill up our facebook pages. Fundraisers, celebrations, concerts, workshops, parties, dinners…and on and on. Not to mention the essential preparations—shopping, cooking. Many of us are managing more than one calendar and need to synchronize a whole family, merging kids’ activities, parties, school trips, appointments with our own.

So we naturally adopt the very workable and understandable strategy of “keeping our options open.”

But here’s the thing. There are some things you’ve just gotta commit to! Face it: sometimes the best choice is the clear winner and you just must commit!

Next weekend all camp, reunion and retreat Directors get together for a weekend of focusing on this very, very important ministry. For this one time only we’ll be coming from every corner of the Mission. Many current directors will bring their good ideas, their leadership team, their potential successors, members of campground boards to expand the conversation and ensure great experiences to future campers. Some veteran directors will be there bringing their many years of experience and expertise to the mix. It will be amazing!

Our new Camping Commission is stepping up the plate this year and have organized this weekend’s program. They have the idea that sending out the invitation and planning a great agenda means that most folks will be there. I hope they’re right! This is no time to be “keeping your options open” folks. If you direct one of those major ministry events, or if you’d like to some day—camp, reunion, retreat—then this is for you! Nothing better is going to come along. We need you to commit and we’d sure like to hear that you’re coming. If you’re waiting for something better, forget it! There’s no better place to be.

Call Cheryl (1-888-411-7537) today and book your spot or email Pat Pallister (ppallister@yahoo.ca) and let her know you’ll be there. That’s CEM Directors’ Retreat, Scaroboro Missions, November 19-21. (See Events calender)

Posted by Marion

Retreat

I am aware of two different kinds of retreat going on at this very minute in our area. I know this, because I received invitations to both. Both retreats have something going for them that I really, really appreciate. In fact, I wish they weren’t happening at the same time, thus forcing me to choose.

This happens a lot. At one time I remember we used to check the calendar and try NOT to book things in conflict. But that was a losing venture. So we just try to remind ourselves, and others, that having choices among more than one excellent event is a blessing.

Now, back to what I was going to say about retreating. As it happens, the two retreats now taking place are quite different. (One might say opposite if one were not careful; but I am anything if not careful, so I won’t say that.) One of them is a silent retreat, focusing on meditation, reflection and loving kindness. Participants will spend time together and in solitude. They’ll eat good food and rest in the peaceful surroundings of the Ziontario campgrounds. The other group of retirees (not seniors or geezers or fogeys, no matter what you’ve heard!) will spend time in community. They’ll eat good food and spend time in study, play, visiting and laughing together in the peaceful surroundings of the Noronto campgrounds.

Both are right on track with ancient definitions of spiritual retreat, whether in solitude or in community. Both focus on the noble goal of separating oneself from the usual environment and happenings of daily life to immerse in a safe and uplifting location or community. Outcomes may be reduced stress, increased creativity and sense of encouragement, well-being and health, physical, emotional, spiritual.

Retreat is a military term too. Perhaps some of the comments about military retreats might help us too. Great care must be taken to understand the purpose of a military retreat or withdrawal, lest it turn into a rout. Excellent military strategists and leaders use retreats to reposition troops or to take a stronger position. An apparent retreat may be “feigned” to throw an adversary off his game plan or to use this time of calm to regroup for a stronger attack.

I like to think in the language of metaphor to see what I can find or learn from considering the different perspectives. What do you think?

Please chat among yourselves. I’m away from my computer connections at a retreat. I’ll check in with you next week.

Posted by Marion

Empowerment

At the CEM conference of 2009, we presented a ten year plan entitled 2020 Vision. The plan included five goals, the first of which is Young Adult Leader Empowerment. Simply stated, the goal is to give our fine young adult Community of Christ leaders a chance to lead. If we are successful in this goal, we will have excellent leaders willing to take the church into the future. If we do not succeed, we will have a problem. We are actively working at that goal.

Last Friday evening, a group of young adult leaders got together to work on the plans for an upcoming event; the 1st Presidency’s VISION PROJECT. On November 12-14, 2010, young adults from across CEM will gather at the downtown Toronto church for a weekend of fun and conversation with President Becky Savage. This planning team met to make sure we will be ready, and to determine if we had answered the appropriate questions.

• How many registrations do we have so far? Twelve, but it is early yet.
• Have we contacted all young adults in CEM? Not everybody? Well we had better get on it then!
• Do we have cooks? Yes.
• Do we have childcare for those who need it? Yes.
• Do we have sleeping accommodations? Yes, there are 22 cots at the church, and some will sleep elsewhere.
• Do we have people to lead great fun activities? Yes.
• Do we have people to lead the workshop sessions? Yes.
• Do we have people to plan and lead worship activities? Yes.
• Are those who come really going to enjoy this weekend together? YES!
  
  It is a pleasure for me to watch these young adult leaders in action. I am there to answer questions if needed, and to offer support, but mostly I am there to listen. I can sit back and let them lead. By being present, I know what the plans are and that the bases are covered. If they need my help, they have it, but mostly they don’t. They are capable, gifted leaders. I am grateful for their willingness and their gifts.
  
  Shortly, this team will send a small poster to each congregational pastor to be posted at church to help promote this event. Whether you see the poster or not, why not encourage young adults of your acquaintance to come? They will be blessed because they did, and I firmly believe, so will the church.
  
  Are there young adult leaders in your area? Are they being empowered to lead? If not, can you help? Don’t be afraid to let us know who they are and we will try to help too.
  
  Posted by Carman

Cymbal

So many things I might share from the very rich conversations shared at last week's Retirees' Retreat!

Thanks to Red Butler for suggesting the link between "symbols" and "cymbals." Our discussion had done some spiraling around the notion of sybolism and sacrament. How important is the physical or material stuff we employ in our sacramental rituals? What is the function of this piece of bread, this drop of oil, this pool or lake or river we immerse in? How essential is this symbol? And how to understand its significance?

Then Red raised his arms holding up a grand set of imagined cymbals and brought his hands together with such a flourish we could almost hear the crash.

"It's the coming together of the Divine and the Human, the spirit and the matter. That's the symbol's job. Just like these cymbals." From that point in our week's conversations, whenever we would dig out the kernal of meaning and finally grasp what we'd been seeking, someone would raise their cymbals and we'd hear that Crash! of the Divine smashing into our human minds.

It was a great week!