Preperations for Nativity Plays

Preperations are now underway all over the country for Nativity Plays of one form or another.
Tea towels and blue dresses dug out from dusty cupboards, not forgetting where we put the baby Jesus (Wesley Caerphilly keep her under the pulpit wrapped in a white cloth so as not to scare the children).


http://natwivity.com/
If your looking for a fresh take on the Nativity story you can look at the Natwivity where the story unfolds in 140 character chunks throughout December, a great way of sharing and broadcasting the wonder of the Christmas Story and the Reason for the Season.

Advent is a real time for preperation, and not just remembering to book your 12lb Free Range Turkey and Christmas Sausage Meat from the butchers but also remembering the preperation that Mary and Joseph put in as they prepared for their baby Jesus to be born. In many ways a special baby as he is the "Son of God" but in many ways also a human baby. Mary went through the normal pain and trouble of pregnancy and childbirth as Jesus came into the world to be like us, through the ikkyness and risk of natural childbirth.

I've been preparing for the Nativity play at the Amelia Trust Farm on a Monday for a few weeks, doing little bits, finding where the outdoor lights are hidden, working out which wires need to be disconnected so that the wrong lights don't come on and blind people as we walk around telling the familiar story but in an every fresh way, altering the route does something to it but the unpredictability of involving real animals in the story is the one thing that for me makes it fresh every time I think about it as you really can't tell a Donkey that he has to behave for the next half an hour and not get frightened by the annoying lady who won't turn her camera flash off until he's safely back in his warm stable.
For some young people Christmas wishes can be as simple, yet difficult as "to see my dad" and in a time of buying mountains of presents we need to remember those for whom their 1 true wish cannot be made true this Christmas.

Lord, this is my prayer
Not only on Christmas Day
But until I see You face to face
May I live my life this way:

Just like the baby Jesus
I ever hope to be,
Resting in Your loving arms
Trusting in Your sovereignty.

And like the growing Christ child
In wisdom daily learning,
May I ever seek to know You
With my mind and spirit yearning.

Like the Son so faithful
Let me follow in Your light,
Meek and bold, humble and strong
Not afraid to face the night.

Nor cowardly to suffer
And stand for truth alone,
Knowing that Your kingdom
Awaits my going home.

Not afraid to sacrifice
Though great may be the cost,
Mindful how You rescued me
From broken-hearted loss.

Like my risen Savior
The babe, the child, the Son,
May my life forever speak
Of who You are and all You've done.

So while this world rejoices
And celebrates Your birth,
I treasure You, the greatest gift
Unequaled in Your worth.

I long to hear the same words
That welcomed home Your Son,
"Come, good and faithful servant,"
Your Master says, "Well done."

And may heaven welcome others
Who will join with me in praise
Because I lived for Jesus Christ
Not only Christmas Day

Uniformed Organisations

I was really proud last week to be in a Remembrance Service at Cyncoed Methodist Church and watch their Guides and Brownies parade into church with their colours.
The new uniform may not be as smart as the old shirt and tie but the girls (and their leaders too) were all well turned out and really showed how much young people can care about something in their dedication to Guiding.

The Methodist Church in Cardiff and Caerphilly has Boys' Brigade Companies, Girls' Brigade Companies, Guide Troops and a Scout Group meeting within our churches as a part of the Fellowship and Commitment to the Methodist Church in Cardiff.

So I share a Guides end of the day prayer that we can all pray

Beloved Lord,
Father of the whole humanity,
we thank You for what we have learned from our children today.
Stretch the capacity of our hearts
that we may better understand the lessons we have learned today.
Tune our heartstrings and renew our spirits
that we may serve Thee another day.
Amen

Beat Bullying

This article on "The Sprout" website talks about anti-bullying week better than I can.
http://www.thesprout.co.uk/en/news/anti-bullying-week/06545.html


There are always times when we feel unlovely and unloved, bewildered, lost, unsure of who we are and of what is expected of us.
There always seem to be dark times of pain and confusion, of misunderstandings that become like tangled roots - twisted - without space to grow deeply.
There are always times when we feel trashed and rejected, Sometimes by those close to us.
Help us to disentangle the knots of confusion and misunderstanding,
To understand the hurts that others feel - that we have ignored.
Help us to speak of what we feel,
Help us to know when others need to speak so that then we can l listen.
Help us to loosen the tight package of pain and move into new understandings.
Let us share, and search and listen,
Know ourselves more completely
And feel an awakened sense of all that is good and true spilling over into riches of brightness and love.

Dear Lord, we know that you have given us the freedom to choose.
We can choose whether to treat others with kindness and respect or to scorn, bully and abuse them.
Help us to choose rightly.
Help us to recognise the divine image in each one of us, however different we may be as individuals.
Help us to resist the pressures of others who want us to join them in making someone a victim of their cruelty.
Help us to know that in hurting others we are harming our better selves and hurting you. Amen

3Generate - Methodist Children and Youth Assembly

I hope you will forgive me. I have been a little lapse at adding our thoughts for the past few weeks. Those topics we haven’t published I promise we will come back to at some point. This week’s thought is about 3Generate or as you may know it Methodist Children Youth Assembly which once upon a time was known as the Methodist Youth Conference.

This weekend 4-7^th November 2011 children and young people aged 9 – 23 will be gathering near Kiddeminster. Cardiff are proud to be sending 6 young people this year.

Children and Youth Assembly – 3Generate – enables the church to hear from children and young people, and for children and young people to hear from each other, have fun, find support, learn and make a contribution.

Father God we pray for those young people attending 3Generate.
We think of those called to lead these young people and guide them to making their opinions count.

To find out more about 3Generate – Methodist Children and Youth Assembly visit the Methodist Children and Youth Website:-

http://www.childrenandyouth.org.uk/18-23s/events-18-23s/youth-assembly-18-23s/children-and-youth-assembly-2011-2/

Fostering and Adoption

In our post on extended family we briefly referred to the fact that for many young people "family" does not consist of birth parents and siblings. Many young people grow up in the adoption and fostering system. Some young people may have been adopted or long term fostered when they were so young that they have no memory of a time before and this is the only family that they have ever known. For some of these young people there can be a sense of not completely knowing who they are or where they came from. (although for many this may not be the case).
Some young people who have been in the foster care system may suddenly be faced with the reality that they are not going "home". That can mean that they are not going back to mum or dad tonight, but can also be the wrench of leaving a comfortable long term placement where they felt like a part of the family and were settled in their routine. Those who are in and out of care may also experience similar feelings. Even the everyday act of going to school is interupted.
Young people who are in fostering placements for their own protection. To remove them from a difficult situation at home or to help teach them a more healthy way of life. In particular we think of those in specialist remand fostering placements.
Some young people are adopted by their step parents. Whilst this can help cement relationships with their newly formed family and create a legal smoothness in many ways, it inevitably leads to a breaking of links with part of their history and a loss of a sense of connectedness with their original family for good or for bad.
It is often forgotten that the birth children of parents who adopt or foster have a vital role to play in the forming of a new family for however long, from a 1 night emergency placement to a lifetime of sibling rivalry! These young people also have to cope with changes to their family unit and routine although the benefits and learning for all can be huge.

Having said all of this sometimes the breaks created by fostering and adoption can create a positive effect for young people from the situations they find themselves in and help them to grow to be the best they can be in a happy healthy environment. For some young people fostering/adoption literally saves lives.

We pray for all those involved in fostering and adoption;
The young people, those being fostered and those with a foster sibling
The siblings left behind
The parents, grandparents, aunties and all others in any new formed family
The birth parents and their families
The Social Workers, Placement Workers, Youth Workers, Retrobation Service, LSB, information services, Letterbox Contact Workers and anyone else involved in the system
We also pray for those in need of fostering and adoption care and waiting for their first intervention.

Being invited to Church (Back to Church Sunday)

Church can seem like a scary place to those who have never been in.
I've grown up going to church and have never been scared to take my friends right up to the top balcony "That's where daddy is - lets go and see him", or at least those friends already in the building, but not everyone's dad is a local preacher.
When I first went off to university I went on a church hunt and it wasn't the amazing worship songs or the crush of people in the large churches I went to visit that I stayed with, nor the small churches where I could feel the stares on the back of my neck as there was a new person in the room. It was the one church where someone had bothered to do more than thrust a book in my hand as I came in through the door.
It takes an invitation, someone to show you what to do, where to sit and when to stand up so that you don't feel like an idiot that's doing it all wrong.
I know that the correct and proper answer is that we can't be doing it wrong but that doesn't stop me feeling like an idiot when I sit down and no-one else does because they know what's happening next and I've not been here before.
For young people who haven't grown up standing and sitting in the right places
The young person who has the courage to walk in through the door has made a bold first step. Now they need to feel the love of our Church Family (see last week) and to feel welcome, not with a new list of rules about who they can and can't be but someone who will talk to them about things that matter to them and make them feel welcome just as they are.
Welcome is not about adjusting new people to fit with us. Its about being flexible enough ourselves that we can work with what new people bring to us and mould ourselves to include them.

Loving God,
Make us a mould-able people prepared to change to embrace others,
Give us the courage to invite someone new in
May we have the strength to accept everyone who comes in through the door
And the wisdom to love them  just as you made them.

Amen

Extended Family

Many young people live with those who aren't their mum and dad but are still an important part of the family as they see it.
Some of these "relatives" may have little or no genetic links but all the same they love and care for one another.
Often the church is referred to as "The Family". In times of difficulty it can be a place of comfort, familiarity and safety.

Dear Lord, our Father, please have pity on me and my family,
for we fight with wrong in our minds and not right.
We fight without concern for other people and later we regret it.
Give us wisdom, faith and trust in our family.
Amen

 Having a "Gran and Gramps" (or other extended family) who live a long way away also has it's uses. A place to retreat to when parents or siblings get annoying. Someone to spoil you unconditionally on the rare treat of your visit and who see the excitement of the boring and mundane of your day to day.

Harvest at the Amelia Trust Farm

The Amelia Trust is a working farm is set in 160 acres of countryside in the beautiful Vale of Glamorgan. It offers a calming and therapeutic environment. The Trusts core objective is to support and educate vulnerable and disadvantaged young people. Through fun and work based activities the young people are empowered to participate, learn new skills and develop potential. The many people that make up the daily community on the farm include skilled staff and volunteers, young people who are discovering life, adults with learning difficulties in work placements and members of the public enjoying the countryside; it is a fantastic recipe that makes the Amelia Trust an amazing place to be.

This weekend sees Harvest Festival at the Amelia Trust Farm. (http://www.ameliatrust.org.uk/) The farm is a Methodist Project with Deacon Lorraine Brown as the Director of the Trust.

Looking at the readings for this Sunday (11^th September) - Matthew 18:21-35

"Then Peter came and said to him, 'Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.'" (vv. 21-22)

Often young people who are vulnerable simply need someone who will take them as who they are and give forgive them seventy-seven times, whilst they learn new ways to work in society or try to find a way to tell someone what is troubling them. But during this process it can be very rewarding to see young people who move to being able to trust an adult or realise that their actions are not the best way to deal with a situation and try to modify their habits.
The harvest of the farm does include tasty sausages, eggs and haylage for winter feed, but they also harvest developed young people who are prepared to go out and face the world prepared for further study or employment.

Young People who have to move schools

There are three groups of young people we are thinking of this week

1. Young people who have to move school because their family moves
2. Young people growing up and progressing to a higher level of education
3. Those who have left school

In Youth Space we think of one family particularly as they have moved away over the summer and the young people will be starting at new schools in September. Having to make new friends and find your way around a new environment which others already know well can be daunting but also allows new opportunities.

For those progressing in education (perhaps moving from Primary to Secondary School) it can be a scary big step but also a freeing step, going from the big fish in a small pond to the small fish in a bigger pond. It can also be freeing as you move to new friendship groups away from previous bullies and cliques or the nickname you just wish people would forget. Or perhaps your moving on with a group of people you know and can lean on each other whilst also taking the opportunity to make new friends and try something new.

Changes of school can also be something to be celebrated as a move of school can provide a more appropriate opportunity for learning, perhaps having a learning needs statement fulfilled and the support needs of a young person met or marking a move from Special Education into the Main Stream Classroom.

Finally we think of those who have left school. Those who are waiting to go to University or other Further Education and those moving on into work or still looking for the job or course for their next step in life.

Topics for the Autumn Term

Here are the topics for the Autumn term (up to the end of December 2011)
The full set of dates for the year can be downloaded from  http://youthspace.cardiffmethodist.org.uk/volunteers/pray/index.shtml

The dates shown are for the Sunday at the start of the relevant week

04/09/2011 Young People who have to move schools
11/09/2011 Harvest at the Amelia Trust Farm
18/09/2011 Extended Family
25/09/2011 Being invited to church (Back to Church Sunday)
02/10/2011 Fostering & Adoption
09/10/2011 Brothers & Sisters
16/10/2011 Circuit Youth Weekend
23/10/2011 Story Telling
30/10/2011 Youth Work Week (Thanks Sam)
06/11/2011 Methodist Youth Assembly
13/11/2011 Bullying (Beat Bullying & Cybermentors)
20/11/2011 Uniformed Organisations
27/11/2011 Preparations for Amelia Trust Farm Nativity
04/12/2011 Not my real Dad
11/12/2011 Football
18/12/2011 Young Carers (Last week of school)
25/12/2011 Christmas, Food & Presents

2011-12 Diary now completed

Praying for young people diary for 2011-12 is now prepared and sent for printing. It should be available in paper form for church congregations from Sunday but in the mean time you can download a copy from the Youth Space website.
http://youthspace.cardiffmethodist.org.uk/volunteers/pray/index.shtml

Musings on Section 7

We pray for young people in education

Young People who find school easy and need to find a challenge.

Young people who struggle in formal education

Young people who find themselves Not in Education, Employment or Training

These are your young people and we pray for them: We know you love them

Looking at this section I have to say something about the work of the Amelia Trust Farm.

From "http://www.ameliatrust.org.uk/"

The Amelia Trust is a working farm is set in 160 acres of countryside in the beautiful Vale of Glamorgan. It offers a calming and therapeutic environment. The Trusts core objective is to support and educate vulnerable and disadvantaged young people. Through fun and work based activities the young people are empowered to participate, learn new skills and develop potential. The many people that make up the daily community on the farm include skilled staff and volunteers, young people who are discovering life, adults with learning difficulties in work placements and members of the public enjoying the countryside; it is a fantastic recipe that makes the Amelia Trust an amazing place to be.

Some who although registered with a disability find the simple learning of a special needs school not quite challenging enough, others who have behavioural problems and need to escape from the static routine of the school day. Some young people who have simply never had the chance to learn some of the life skills that they need but find that the farm is a place where they feel comfortable to do so.

You will find me working outdoors here on a Monday, sometimes on my own improving the farm for those who use it, other times working alongside the Youth Workers of the Farm who all have their own practical skills in forestry, carpentry or animal husbandry to share with the young people as well as their Youth Work Skills. Together with a group of young people we can work towards much larger projects such as the Prayer Labyrinth installed with the assistance of Network (Now Methodist Women in Britain) or the latest project to improve the accessibility and usability of the pond area at the far end of the forest walks with a new dipping platform, bird hide and circular walk around the pond (due to be opened this summer).

But the farm is more than a classroom or a place for volunteers to keep busy it is also open to the public every day from dawn to dusk and sometimes I just find the peacefulness of a quiet spot on the farm away from people and the noisy machinery to sit and chill out for myself.

Also as exams come to an end we think of young people who are high achievers, those reaching for the top of their potential. Hoping for the results they deserve and a space to study further in whatever way that is for them be it a place in University, on a Modern Apprenticeship or some other form of training or simply the  results that mean they can start the career of their choice without the difficulty and stress of re-sits.

Musings on Section 6

We pray for young people with a caring responsibility in the home

Where without their contribution the family just wouldn’t work

Young people who cannot meet friends because they are caring for a relative.

Young people who take on extra responsibility

These are your young people and we pray for them: We know you love them

www.victoriacares.org.uk

Rather than me tell you about young carers see the Victoria Cares website where Spurgeons and Share Creative, tell the story of a 12 year old girl who cares for her mum, while her Dad works to put food on the table.

From http://www.spurgeons.org/young-carers

Many of the UK’s young carers live without the security and support that most of us would consider priceless. Family circumstances mean that from an early age they are expected to care for someone else. Often this is because parents work long hours, or are victims of domestic violence, depression or substance abuse. Other parents are simply too ill to look after things themselves.

Young carers are expected to assume a level of responsibility that would normally only be asked of an adult. The stress and anxiety of carrying adult burdens can leave them feeling isolated and left-out. Many miss out on their childhood as time constraints make it impossible for them to attend school or take part in leisure activities with their peers.

Spurgeons know that these children need help to overcome the challenges they face. We work in partnership with other agencies to support young carers individually and within their families in a range of ways, including:

• Days off to have fun with other children
• Information, advice and practical help for the family
• Access to educational support
• One-to-one sessions with a trained workers
• Homework clubs and tutorials
• Befriending and mentoring support

For many of these young people this isn’t an extra burden they have to carry its a normal way of life. That doesn’t mean to say that they shouldn’t get extra help and support just that we need to see what extra support looks like to them and find ways we can assist without making them feel helpless or useless to the one they usually care for. Nor does it mean that we shouldn't celebrate the work that they do and the good news for them in their lives.