Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Telling the Easter Story

When walking through the doors of Whitehouse Presbyterian Church during this Easter season, visitors encounter a depiction of Palm Sunday, complete with a donkey, palm branches and the words "Hopes and Dreams."  This display, which is set up in the foyer of the church, is one of six displays set up around the church which recreate the Easter story.  The stations are set up for the two weeks leading up to Easter in order to give people a chance to remember the last days of Jesus' life on Earth. 

From the Palm Sunday display, you are invited to move along to the next display which is titled "The Servant King."  It is complete with a wash basin, towels and sandals in order to remind us of the humbling and serving attitude that Christ had for his disciples and those in his presence. 


From the washing of the feet, you then proceed upstairs to the upper lounge where the Last Supper is set up.  On the table is a jug of wine, matzo bread, figs, grapes, olive oil and honey and the words "Remember Me."  At this display we are reminded of the last supper that Jesus shared with His disciples and of His instruction to eat of the bread and drink of the cup in remembrance of Him. 


After viewing the depiction of the Last Supper, you are invited to move to the display of the Garden of Gethsemane.  Here you see the word "Alone," which speaks to how Jesus felt when anticipating his arrest and crucifixion. 


From the garden, you then move into the vestibule of the church where the crucifixion is depicted.  A cross sits in the corner of the entry, decorated with a crown of thorns, a drapery of red ribbon, dice and robes, and a sponge with vinegar.


The last display of the Easter story is set up in the sanctuary, and it depicts Christ's Resurrection.  There is tomb, decorated with flowers and a butterfly, with a stone rolled away from the opening.  It is a great portrayal of the promise of new life which was given to us through Jesus Christ. 


A lot, and I mean A LOT, of work was put into setting up the portrayal of the Easter story.  Two women of the church, along with the caretaker, put hours of hard work into assembling and decorating all aspects of the displays.  This hard work is well worth it, though, because the six depictions are set up for the enjoyment of members of the church and community, but are also set up as part of an outreach to schools in the local area.  Over the course of this week, almost 150 students (aged 8-10) will visit Whitehouse Presbyterian to listen to and see the Easter story.

On Monday and Tuesday I was able to be a part of the school outreach.  Each morning, students came to the church and were split into two groups.  One group went around the six stations and heard the Easter story, while the other group stayed in the church hall to create fun Easter crafts.  The groups then came together for a cup of juice and a biscuit and switched activities.   I went around the stations with the groups and helped to tell the Easter story.  Getting to see the depictions of the parts of the story really helped to engage the students.  It was great to see the attentiveness and enthusiasm of the children.

Items handed out to the children at the stations - palm cross,
red ribbon from crucifixion & Easter eggs as a sign of new life

Easter crafts

Friday, March 16, 2012

The Simple Joys in Life

Yesterday was one of those days in which I realized just how great the simple things in life are.  I had a wonderful day, even though nothing extraordinary happened during it. 

My day started with Thursday luncheon club.  This is a lunch club for those over the age of fifty in the church and surrounding community.  The club starts at 10:30 with tea and coffee, then proceeds to some sort of entertainment or program until 12:30, when lunch is served.  The entertainment for yesterday's club was Karl Heimbuck himself.  Karl came to play the guitar and sing a number of old gospel and western tunes.  I had a blast singing along on some of the songs and having him at one of my normal weekly events.

After luncheon club, one of the other leaders for the Tremont mission trip took me on a shopping trip to some outlet stores a little ways out of Belfast.  Both he and I were in need of some new shoes, and I was having a hard time finding any in town that were reasonably priced, so he kindly took me to the outlets.  I was excited to find a pair of cute adidas trainers for only 23 pounds, but most of all was pleased to build on a friendship with this leader.  I get to spend a ton of time with people from Whitehouse in the church at the various activities and programs I help out with, but rarely have the opportunity to build on those relationships outside of the church in a social setting.

I came home from my shopping trip and made a batch of puppy chow for one of the other volunteers who is travelling to London and then started prepping Karl's and my living room for a painting job. 
          --side story here:  Karl helps out with a youth program called Urban Magnets in which he had hundreds of fliers to write "Thursday Nights" on.  As with most projects, Karl procrastinated, and the fliers sat on our coffee table for weeks!  I was getting quite annoyed with their presence in our living room, so as a practical joke Ellison, Zoe (two of the other volunteers) and I proceeded to cover an entire wall in our living room with them.  Not thinking, we used sello-tape to do so.  The next week, when the joke had run its course, I started removing the fliers, along with a lot of paint from the wall!  Needless to say Karl had the last laugh, which brings us back at yesterday and my painting job.

After getting a first coat of paint on the living room wall, it was time to go to Boys' Brigade for the evening.  I got to the church and went into the main hall where the boys kick around footballs until the start of BB.  As I walked through the doors of the hall, one of the boys ran up to me with his hand in the air, motioning for a high-five.  I gave him a high-five as he said, "Hey Kendra, last week's assembly was class!"   He was speaking of the assembly I did at Whitehouse Primary for the P5-P7 classes in which I talked about the life skills I learned from playing basketball.  During the assembly, I dribbled the ball through my legs and behind my back and spun the ball on my finger - nothing too extremely showy, but impressive for kids who mainly use their feet to control a ball.  This seemed to have impressed this boy, as he tried doing those things with his football after greeting me last night.  It felt pretty good to receive such a compliment from this boy, who up until last night I thought didn't remember my name or even paid attention to my presence at Boys' Brigade.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Spring is in the air

Spring is definitely in the air in Belfast.  The weather is warmer, and you can just feel a spring energy about the place.  With springtime comes a faster pace of activities in Whitehouse Presbyterian and Whitehouse Primary.  The Girls' and Boys' Brigades are busily working to prepare for their respective Display/Parents' Nights.  Both of the organizations are putting a lot of time and effort into planning programs to honor the work that the girls and boys have been doing this year.  Each group has a different flare that they are putting on their display:  the girls with a bit more classy and dance filled program, the boys with a comedy filled program (the more laughs the better). 

Making pizza with the Girls' Brigade

This is also an exciting time of year for SWAT (the youth group at Whitehouse).  Eight of the youth are preparing to go to Tremont, IL for a ten day mission trip around Easter.  They, and their leaders, have been working very hard to raise funds for the trip.  In the past month, I have had a great time attending various fundraisers - a disco night, pub quiz, Chinese buffet meal, and a movie premier of "We Bought a Zoo."  Of most recent activity with the group, a leader was added to the list of people going on the trip, and that leader is me!  That's right, I will be heading back to the states over Easter to take part in the mission trip.  The itinerary is filled with a number of activities which will strengthen the relationships in the group and allow the youth to see God at work in an entirely different context.  Those two aspects of the trip (building relationships and experiencing God in a different context) are at the core of my YAV year, so I am thrilled for the opportunity to share these experiences with people from Northern Ireland in the United States. 

I have also been spending an increased amount of time at Whitehouse Primary school in these past couple of weeks.  I am absolutely loving the time that I get to spend in the P4 classroom.  This week, the teacher asked me if I could prepare a lesson on Martin Luther King, Jr.  This was a challenge for me, as I have never planned lessons for that age of children.  But in the end, I put together a pretty fun lesson for the kids.  I started out by sharing about slaves in the United States and the progression to the abolition of slavery.  We then talked about Jim Crow Laws and segregation in schools and public areas.  I had the kids take part in a civil rights march, in which they made their own posters and marched around the classroom chanting "Jobs for all," "Equal treatment," and "Voting rights." 


Making Civil Rights Posters

Another new happening for me in the primary school was speaking at a school assembly on Friday.  The principal approached me on Monday and asked if I would be willing to talk at the P5-P7 morning assembly.  I wasn't sure about what I should speak about, and Karl told me (as he is quite experienced in doing assemblies here) that I should just tell them about who I am and the types of changes I have experienced since moving to Northern Ireland.  I started the assembly by talking about differences between the United States and Northern Ireland - driving on the other side of the road, the currency, and jargon like pants/trousers and chips/crisps.  I then moved on to talk about popular sports in the United States like American football, baseball and basketball.  As basketball is not a very popular sport here, I thought it would be fun to talk about it in more depth, so I shared about my experiences growing up playing the sport.  Through my involvement in the sport I learned many valuable life skills such as work ethic, the value of teamwork, making commitments and learning how to succeed humbly and bounce back from failure.  I went to a sporting shop before the assembly and bought a basketball so that I could bring it into the assembly and show some of the skills I learned through hard work and practice as a kid.  I was very happy to I receive some 'oohs' and 'aws' from the kids when I spun the ball on my finger and dribbled the ball through my legs and behind my back.

Well there is an update on life in North Belfast.  As always, thank you for reading and supporting Karl and me through this year.  Please continue to keep us, our work, and the communities that we are working amongst in your prayers. 

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Mountain Top Experiences

In my last post, I mentioned that I led worship and shared the message during church two Sundays ago.  I followed the lectionary, so I spoke on the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-9).  I shared about mountain top experiences and how we all have (or will have) them during our lives.  A mountain top experience is one in which we feel so utterly close to God that we can seem Him and His glory in true clarity.  When we have mountain top experiences, it is easy to want to stay in them and never go back down the mountain.  But the reality is that we have to go back down the mountain.  However, we can take that feeling and the spiritual refueling from the mountain top experience with us and use it to serve and work alongside those people at the bottom of our mountain...I don't want to go on any further because I will spoil the video below!

Whitehouse Presbyterian Church is equipped with wonderful sound and video equipment, and they capture every service on video to share with members of the congregation who have a difficult time physically getting to church on a Sunday morning.  I uploaded video from the service, but had to cut out some parts for confidentiality reasons.  The video is in two parts: the first is the beginning portion of the service (including the children's address in which I accidentally used the word pants for trousers...oops!), and the second is my address.  I hope you enjoy!