"Every New Beginning...

...comes from some other beginning's end. Yeah."

So says Semisonic anyway.

Well, I officially started my new internship on Sunday. We had church then went to lunch at T.G.I. Friday's with whichever youth group kids wanted to go. There were about 25 of us! Then we had a swim party that night to welcome the new 7th graders into the group. It was a lot of fun.

I think my old youth group (it still feels weird to call the kids at Hillcrest that) somehow knew that I had started my new job, because they all started texting, calling, and Facebooking me this weekend. I love them and miss them so much.

I'm beginning to realize how hard ministry can be when it comes to saying goodbye. The sad thing is, that's just the "nature of the beast". Even if I stay at one church for a long time, kids will pass through my youth group and on to college every year. Fortunately, I have found the only remedy I think there is to this: continuing in ministry. The new relationships that I have begun here have already helped to ease the pain of leaving. No matter how many goodbyes I have to say, there will always be more people waiting to be served, befriended, and loved.

And that is something to look forward to.

Stubborn as Mules

The more I read and hear about Harold Camping's prediction of Judgment Day (tomorrow...I thought about posting this at 6 pm tomorrow when supposedly things would be kicking off...but I decided not to be THAT petty) the more I am astounded by the human capacity for stubbornness. This is not Camping's first prediction of The End. He made the very same prediction in 1994. His first assessment was that the world would end in September of that year. When September came and went, he redacted his prediction to extend until the last day of 1994. Lo and behold, December 31 passed uneventfully.

This time, he claims there can be no doubt. He has cracked the code, which as we all know is what scripture is and was always intended to be. Some people will talk about the Bible being stories, letters, and literature meant to pass on truth about the Living God and the saving work performed for all humanity. They talk of peace, hope, and love. What kind of religion is that? The "facts" clearly point to hidden messages and numerology.

So as the day swiftly approaches, I think about Harold Camping, the stubborn 89 year-old. I wonder what would happen in a world without fanatics like him. Would the world suddenly say, "Hey, this Christianity business makes perfect sense! Now that those wackos are gone, I'm on board!" A nice dream, but I highly doubt that would be the case.

Would we instead be forced to look at our own stubbornness? Would we be forced to acknowledge the ways that we abuse scripture ourselves? Without a scapegoat of higher stubbornness, would we actually begin to fix our own problems? Maybe on Sunday we'll get started...

Blessings,

Matt