Hey everyone (or at least the two of you who still check the blog). We are meeting tomorrow from 7:00-8:15. Be sure to tell anyone you see and try to be there. We have lots to talk about, I'm sure. Hope summer was fun and that everyone likes whatever classes they're taking and all that. See you tomorrow!
We're not going to be able to meet again for a couple of weeks. I'm getting ready for St. John's Camp, but hopefully we can get together after that. Remember, it's not too late to sign up for camp, just let me know. Hope you're all enjoying your summer. One month left!
Hey guys, we are meeting again this Wednesday (7/18/2007) from 7:00-8:15. I'd like to hear a bit about how the monastery trip went and also we won't be able to meet again for at least another 3 weeks, because I'm getting ready for Camp. So, hopefully you all can show up. Let me know if you can't make it and I hope everyone's having a good summer. See you Wednesday!
Our next meeting is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, 6/27/07. Same time (7:00-8:15), same place (St. Nicholas House). I haven't confirmed with Fr. David that we can do this for sure yet, so keep an eye out on your emails in case something changes. Hope to see you all there!
Next meeting this Wednesday (6/20/07). I hope everyone has air conditioning at home this summer.
Man, you guys are impatient. I guess if the three of you who check the blog are going to keep checking, I'll try to do better about posting stuff. Right now I'm just trying to make sure we can do a group this Wednesday, then I'll send out an official announcement about it. How was the monastery trip?
Our next meeting will be Thursday, 5/31/2007, from 7:00-8:15. Plan to be there and be sure to spread the word. If everyone shows up, we'll do our guy/girl talks that have been postponed long enough.
Also, next Wednesday Bridget and Claire are graduating and have invited all of us to go to their graduation. I forget what time it starts and I don't have the card that Bridget gave, but it's at Oaks Academy? I'll try to remember to add the details later. But there will be cake and punch of sorts.
*UPDATE*
Okay, So the graduation ceremony is next Wednesday (5/30) at 7:00 PM at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. Here is a link to a map of where it is MAP. Clara and I are planning to go and maybe if everyone comes, we can convince them all to play a round of mafia or spoons or something fun. If not, at least they'll have cake and punch.
Okay, that's all I've got for now. It's Friday!
Our last meeting was more of the same- Fr. Arseny, discussion (we read a passage from the Last Battle and discussed), and some Spoons for the last ten minutes. We're still working on when our next meeting will be.
Just a reminder that you can register for the St. John's summer camp already. Just click the link over there to your right and follow the instructions. If you have any questions about the camp, you can ask me or some of the others who have been in the past (Zimmermans, McDonalds, Wilsons, Michael, Daniel). If money is your only excuse for not going, PLEASE SEE ME! That is no excuse and we will find a way to make it work.
Stay tuned for our next meeting and I hope you guys are having fun studying for finals and such. You're almost there!
Hopefully you'll all get the email from me, but our next meeting has been moved to Thursday night. This is because next Wednesday, May 16, is the Vigil for the Ascension at the church. I'm sure you all already knew that, but I forgot. Anyways, that's good because we'll see each other twice that week, since I hope to see everyone at the vigil.
So remember, our next meeting will be next Thursday May 17th from 7:00-8:15. Hope to see you all there!
Our next meeting will be Wednesday 5/16/2007, from 7:00-8:15. Plan to be there and be sure to spread the word. We'll be doing further readings from Father Arseny, hopefully wrapping up our previous discussion on Orthodoxy vs. every other religion (sorry, I couldn't come up with a better description of the topic), and starting our next discussion on Guy/Girl relationships. Remember to bring questions and topics on this topic and remember that guys and girls will be meeting in separate places for this one.
Yesterday's meeting went well. We read Fr. Arseny and talked about the above topic for a while. After group, Hannah did a brief guard "rifle" demonstration and I proved that not everyone can spin a fake rifle around.
This weekend, Clara and I will be visiting the youth group in Crawfordsville at St. Stephen's. Be sure to remind us to tell you about our experience and then we can decide if we want to head up there for one of their meetings, or invite them to one of ours, or do some activity somewhere in between. Don't let me forget, because I will.
That's all for now. Here's something interesting for you to ponder if you're bored:
St. Barbaro?
Just so everyone knows, we are planning on meeting this Wednesday. Let me know if anyone has questions or anything. Hope to see you all there! (Sounds like we might finally get to figure out what a guard rifle is)
Just a quick reminder that we are meeting again this Wednesday at 7:00. For those who missed last week, we had a little birthday party for Clara. Unfortunately, she wasn't there. But we still ate cake and brownies and sang happy birthday to her over the phone. We also started reading Father Arseny, which we will continue this week. Remember to bring any topics that you may want to discuss. We'll look over them and decide what's worthy to talk about. Okay, hope to see you all there!
We are planning on meeting this Wednesday, 4/18/2007. Plan on being there at 7:00 and leaving after 8:15, as usual. If for some reason we have to cancel, I'll post it on this blog and send out an email. Remember to be thinking of topics and we'll probably read a passage from a book of Clara's choice.
Does anyone else have an April birthday? She posted it in the comments, but if you didn't know, her birthday is the 19th. She'll be turning 18 and she wants a new car. Whatever you do, don't buy her a kitten. She hates cats because they smell, don't perform tricks, bring dead rodents to your bed, put hair all over the house, and generally don't provide much companionship.
Hope you're all enjoying this temperate and clement weather!
Sorry for those who missed last night's meeting, we missed you too. First we read a brief section of Great Lent and tried to decipher what was actually being said. We talked about secularism and "religiosity" and paradigms. After that, we decided to celebrate Jake Z.'s birthday by playing some freeze-tag. That was fun, but I'm too old for that stuff, so then the guys threw the frisbee around while the girls made fun of us.
We won't be meeting next week, or the week after, so be sure to check the blog for the next meeting time. Hopefully around that same time we'll be setting up the guys/girls night. No, we won't forget. Alright, that's it for now. Happy Friday!
CONGRATULATIONS! I just wanted to take the time to congratulate Matt on his fine accomplishment. Also remember that we are having group this Thursday. Good work Matt!
We WILL be meeting this Thursday (unless something comes up and I'll email you all if it does). Be sure to spread the word to your family and friends. Hope you all are having a good week, and no Ali didn't have the baby...yet. She probably will have had it by the time you read this.
Thanks again to Tim Richardson for his teaching last night. And thanks to everyone who came and learned a few things. Remember that we're not meeting next week, but keep an eye on this blog to see when the next meeting will be. Also remember that this Saturday is the Church Work Day, any amount of time you can spare to help out will be much appreciated. The more, the merrier. Plus, be sure to make it to the service next Thursday evening.
That's all I've got for now. Hope to see you all this weekend!
Hey guys, don't forget to come to group this Thursday. We'll be having a discussion led by Tim Richardson. He has asked me to put the following up here for you to read for the meeting. Please do so. Thanks and see you Thursday!
Reading: When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic --"I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home." And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" - Mark 2:1-12
Question: What do we mean by the words body, soul, mind, heart and spirit?
For help please see the following:
I Corinthians 6:19
Matthew 6:25
Matthew 10:28
Mark 12:29-30, Deuteronomy 6:4-6
Luke 24:45
Romans 1:28 and 12:2
Luke 24:15-35
Psalm 63:1
Psalm 105:18
Psalm 68:32
John 6:48-58
Psalm 51
Luke 2:19
Ephesians 3:16-19
I Corinthians 16:17-18
I Corinthians 6:17
I Thessalonians 2:17
I Corinthians 5:3
Just an announcement: We are having a meeting tomorrow, Thursday 3/8. We'll plan on starting at 7:00 and go for about an hour. You can tell your folks to pick you up around 8:15.
We've got lots to talk about, so everyone try to be on time. Spread the word to make sure everyone hears about this. See you tomorrow!
Well, hopefully all the guys had fun this last weekend. I've got a few pictures to share and will give a brief recap of our trip.
First, we all met at the church at 1:00. That is, all of us except the McDonald crew, who decided to arrive around 1:40. But as we've all learned, "A McDonald is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." (I've got a pat on the back for the first person to name that movie)
We made a few stops on the way to get some grub and gas, then to make things interesting, we decided to get lost when we were five minutes away from the camp. Paul is to blame for this, as he was the one who made us turn around (after we were already going the right way).
When we got to the camp, we met Fr. Michael (who runs the camp) and ate a few snacks. Jeremy ate a few more snacks. Unfortunately, we were the only guys to show up for this retreat. Very disappointing. I was really looking forward to hearing other guys do R2D2 impressions, but oh well.
It was already around 11:00, so we decided to go to bed. Michael kept most of us awake for the next three hours with his continuous fog-horn snore and frequent screaming-himself-awake nightmares. He kept screaming something like, "Cupcake? Bunny-slipper? NOOOO!!!" I have no idea what that was about.
In the morning we got up bright and early for Matins. Those of us who hadn't met Fr. Calinic got to meet him. The little church they have is awesome. I have a few pictures, but they don't do it justice. Here it is from the outside:
This is the outside door:
You'll have to wait for inside pictures from our Vespers service.
After Matins, we had breakfast and they served sticky buns. They were good, but Fr. Michael talked them up so much that we were almost disappointed. The way he described them, we thought eating them would allow us to transcend time and space. He (Fr. Michael) was also very enthusiastic about serving us seconds. I remember saying that I felt like one of those little yippy dogs where the owner gets the dog all excited. Fr. Michael was like, "Hey boys! You want more food! Come on! I'll hook it up! Let's go boys! Do it up!" I was so excited to eat. Anyways, the food was good.
After breakfast we had a couple teachings from Fr. Calinic. He spoke to us about the life of King David. The one thing he told us to remember for sure is that "human opinion does not matter." If only it were that easy to believe. I wish I could tell you how important it is to remember that, but I can't. So, just know that the sooner you can learn that, the better off you'll be.
Lunch was more of the same. We had some shrimps that were tasty and Fr. Michael coerced me into eating about ten too many. After lunch we were given lots of free time. We used the majority of it playing ping-pong and various games. The game room had ping-pong, pool, foosball, air hockey, video games and a quarter-devouring pinball machine. Unfortunately, these games were not free. We had to pay fifty cents for every ping-pong ball, fifty cents for every game of pool, a dollar for the air hockey, fifty for the foosball, fifty for the driving game, and fifty for the pinball machine that eats your quarters so you can never really play it anyways.
Here's Matt playing the driving game. It looks like he's doing very well, but I'm pretty sure he crashed into that cactus right after I took the picture.
That's Jake trying to play pool. After getting his hind end kicked in ping-pong, he thought he'd try some billiards instead. I'm pretty sure he missed that shot. In my opinion, Jake stinks at pool and is even worse at ping-pong. But then again, human opinion does not mattter...
Jeremy and James playing some pong. Look at the form on that backhand! It's a thing of beauty!
After our free time, Justin (a guy we met who is in seminary, I think) talked to us for a while about living the Christian life. The highlight of this talk was hearing about a "silent retreat" that Justin took for eight days where he wasn't allowed to talk. Except for like 30 minutes a day to talk with their priest (I think), they did not talk for eight days! A few of us were actually interested in doing something similar, so we'll see what happens. James was actually the biggest advocate of doing our own silent retreat. I don't think I need to explain the irony here.
We had another small break and then Fr. Calinic was brave enough to do an anonymous question and answer session. He answered all of our questions with wisdom and grace, and I can assure you that I will never give my own Q&A.
After this we had Vespers. A few of us got there a little early and thought we witnessed a weeping icon. Daniel rubbed some of the "tears" into his hands, hoping it might improve his ping-pong skills. Unfortunately, we were informed that what we were witnessing was merely some run-off from an icon being annointed. And of course, I'm kidding about Daniel.
Here's all of us at Vespers.
They had a beautiful iconostasis. You can barely see Fr. Calinic behind it, at the altar.
This is the icon of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the namesake of this little church.
A close up of the iconostasis.
All of us after vespers. Yes, that's Fr. John in the middle there.
Confession at Sts. Cyril and Methodius. You can kind of see the chandelier in this picture. It was awesome. I have a better picture of it somewhere, but can't find it right now. I'll keep looking.
This icon hangs over the door as you leave the church.
After Vespers, we had dinner. Some spaghetti with sauce that reminded me of Spaghetti-O's. I had finally learned my lesson and refused seconds and thirds. We were given more free-time and decided to set up a ping-pong tournament. 
This is Matt and Jonathon in the midst of a heated battle during the tournament. Luckily, Fr. Calinic and Brian McDonald were disqualified from the tournament. Ever a McDonald, I think Brian convinced Fr. Calinic to show up late, thereby ensuring his removal from the tournament. With those two out of the way, I easily breezed through the competition and was utterly victorious. Proving once again that youth and speed is no match for being smarter than a rock.
Since the games were too expensive, we took to inventing our own. This is quad-pong. I think Paul is spitting out the ping-pong ball to begin play.
This one is air-pong. A cue stick is used as the net on top of an air-hockey table.
After our tournament, we watched a video on the Shroud of Turin. It was very interesting and I wish you all could have seen it. I wish some of the guys had stayed awake to see the whole thing too. Here's a picture of the shroud:
After that, we went to bed. In the morning, we went to Fr. Calinic's church for liturgy. This is the same church that Fr. Joseph Morris used to be at, Holy Cross in Hermitage, PA. They were gracious enough to feed us after the service, and then we were on our way home.
Many thanks to Brian McDonald and Brett Zimmerman for doing the dirty work- driving. Thanks also to Fr. Calinic for sharing his time and wisdom with us. Thanks to all you guys for going, hopefully we can do another retreat sometime soon. Please leave your own comments on the weekend in the comment section of this post. Thanks!
Big thanks again to the Zimmermans for having us over Sunday night for pizza, movies and ping pong. I spent the next day at work trying not to fall asleep, but it was worth it. Hope you all had fun and didn't leave too much of a mess and nothing broken.
As for our next meeting, we will have to wait and see. We won't be meeting at all this week and I encourage all of you to attend the Lenten church services throughout the week. Please be mindful of what this season is about and try to push yourself to take advantage of what Lent can teach us. We'll try to meet again some time next week, so please keep checking this blog to find out when.
Guys have a retreat this weekend. Remember to bring a sleeping bag and towel, along with everything else you would normally bring. Since I've never been, please leave a comment to let us know if there's anything else we may need to bring that we wouldn't normally think of.
Also, as a heads up for next month, Tim Richardson will be doing another one of his teachings (I believe you've had a few already) hopefully the week before March 22. I'm not sure of the exact date and time, but make sure to be there. I'll give more details when I have them. Thanks!
Alright, here's the plan: We're going to keep everything scheduled as normal. If you want to spend the night, you can. If you have to go to school, see if you can come over for a few hours of fun and then go home. I have to work Monday morning early, so you're not alone. I'm going to plan on spending the night and then leave really early Monday AM. Maybe your parents will let you do the same? Clara will be spending the night and not working Monday (lucky!). We'll be there at 5:00, hope to see you all there. If you need directions, contact one of the Zimmermans. If you have any other questions, be sure to contact Clara or myself. Have a great weekend!
Hey, today is Bridget's Birthday, so everyone be sure to wish her a happy day (even though it's almost over). Maybe if Bridget reads this, she can give us an interesting birthday fact about herself. Hope you guys enjoyed the snow day. Stay tuned to hear what happens for Sunday. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIDGET!! Hope you have an awesome day!
Darn this snow! What do you guys want to do this weekend? A lot of people now have school this Monday because of the snow. Do you still want to have a pizza/movie night on Sunday and not spend the night? If so, you could just leave afterwards and have your parents pick you up then. Otherwise, if we cancel altogether....we probably can't have a sleep-over again until after Pascha. Let me know, comment on here or email Josh or I!!!!!!!! We'll go with the majority vote...I'm up for just doing a movie night anyway but I don't have to work on Monday.
ALSO- I'll recap the girls' retreat soon....I officially won the love of all the ladies!!!!! Good luck Josh in catching up with the boys, you might have to make some last minute gas station outings!!!
I repeat: We will not be meeting this Wednesday! Sorry! I know how much you were all looking forward to another discussion on Lent, but we're not going to be able to meet this Wednesday. There's supposed to be a big snowstorm coming through this week, plus it's Valentine's Day, plus I had a crazy dream last night where we were all at our Youthodorx meeting and Michael showed up with some weird book that exploded and killed everyone. I don't want to risk that happening. So WE AREN'T MEETING THIS WEDNESDAY! Please tell everyone you know, even if they have no clue what you're talking about. I will send out an email to everyone. If you do not comment on this blog, or email me (so I know you got the message), I WILL be calling you. So unless you're just dying to hear my voice, please leave a comment or email us to let us know that you got the message.
We will be celebrating our February birthdays on Sunday with cupcakes and whatever wonderful presents you bring for your friends. We can use this blog as a place to vote for movies. Just throw your suggestions in the comments. If we can't decide on one, Clara and I will bring episodes of the Dog Whisperer for everyone to enjoy. Trust me, it's awesome. We will be meeting at the Zimmerman's on Sunday, anytime after 5:00. Remember to bring your own personal paddle if you plan to beat Daniel at ping-pong. If you need me to talk to any of your parents because they aren't letting you come, please email me and let me know. Guys will be sleeping in a different room, in case they ask. Remember to bring toothbrushes and sleeping bags and all that fun sleep-over stuff. At least one guy needs to bring a lighter for our late-night fun.
Just to Claire-ify- So if a dress only goes to your knees, it's still a dress as long as it has a top? And a skirt is still a skirt, even if it goes to your ankles, as long as it doesn't have a top? What if the skirt is long and poofy like a wedding dress, then it would become a dress? And shorts become capris if they go past your knees? Right?
Hope all the girls had fun. I'm sure we'll hear ALL about it (including all the exciting information about "blueberry sour straws." Unless it involves an axe-wielding murderer, I can guarantee it won't be as exciting as the guys trip).
Everyone remember to keep the girls in your prayers this week as they travel to the monastery. Hope you all have fun and get home safe. Don't forget to bring a long skirt (doesn't that make it a dress?) to wear during services.
Next week (Wednesday 2/14) we will be meeting. We'll celebrate Bridget and Jeremy's February birthdays. Also remember to bring a list of like three movies that you would want to watch at the Z-man lock-in night (only list movies that you could actually bring).
To recap last night's group: We talked briefly about how awesome the Colts are and about who got out of school. Daniel and Matthew were smart enough to go to school when nobody else was there. Bridget tried doing nature poetry, so we decided to go ahead and start the group before things got too crazy. We talked about this Sunday being meat-fare Sunday and the Last Judgment parable. Remember to try to see Christ in others and in all things. You'll be happier for it. Don't disrespect people and when you do, try to think about why you did that. Don't just do things without thinking about it. And remember "in as much as you did it to the least of your bretheren, you did it to Me." Something like that. You'll hear the real quote this Sunday. Then we played mafia and Jeremy got caught trying to lie and say that he was the Sheriff. Jeremy will be first in line for confession this Sunday.
Alright, hope you all have a good week. Girls, be safe. Guys, go to church. Everyone try to be there next Wednesday.
Oh yeah, one last thing. You should be able to comment on this blog even if you don't have an account. Just click on the comments link and a new little window should pop up. Type in whatever witty little comment you want to make. Then where it says "Choose an identity," near the bottom, choose Other (if you have a website that you want to be seen- like a myspace page or something) or Anonymous and just fill in those fields. Then click "Publish your comment." If you still have problems commenting, let me know and I'll try to help. Peace!
For those of you who missed Wednesday's meeting- thanks to the brave and generous Zimmeramans, we'll be having our first "lock-in" on Sunday, February 18th. Mark your calendars.
Be sure to bring a movie (Appropriate movie please. No, "Anchorman" is not appropriate). Also bring your "A" game if you plan on challenging a Clevenger in some ping pong. Also bring a toothbrush and deodorant, cause if you don't, that's just nasty.
To recap the last meeting: We talked about Lent and fasting for a bit. Be sure to think about what you are willing to give up or add (i.e. 5 minutes of prayer or something) this Lenten season. Make it a goal you can actually achieve (i.e. don't say, "I'm going to try to be as humble as Josh." It's just not possible) Also remember to question why you are doing it. DON'T JUST GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS!
We learned how to play "4 on the Couch" and played some more "musical" chairs. Be sure to check your email and check back here to see when the next meeting will be.
GO COLTS!!!!!!
Just a summary of what we did at our last meeting- for those who weren't able to make it.
We had a fun time and I'm thankful the majority of you guys were able to come, we missed the rest of you!
We first played a "get to know you" game. Each person had to answer about 30 random questions about themselves and put them in a pile. Then we mixed up all the papers and each chose a different paper. We read out some answers and then tried to guess who the person was, based on their responses.......I really need to get to know you guys better, I missed 11 out of 14! I believe Claire won the game and Daniel Clevinger (I think?) came in 2nd place. Good job guys!
We learned that someone is afraid of holes and Josh Clemens wants his name to be Payton Manning....
Then we played a "musical-chairs" type game...we had 14 people and only 13 chairs. One person stands in the middle of the chairs and has to say something about themselves...Whoever has done the same thing as that person or has that same thing in common has to get up and run and find another chair....Last person standing then says something unique about themselves and it starts over. Jake Zimmerman and Jacob Wilson had to sing songs out loud because they pushed people during this game- naughty naughty. Their voices were average. :) JK
We found out Jenny was treated at a Spanish speaking hospital, all the kids fight over rooms at the monastery, Jeremy can lift 2 million pounds, Jake Z. likes to wrestle girls, all a lot of other useless information.
Be thinking of what you guys want to start talking about during our youth group meetings....any topics...any books we'd like to read together...
Hope to see you again on Wednesday!
Welcome to the Youthodorx website. Here you can check up on upcoming events, when our next meeting will be, and various other fun and exciting things. Feel free to leave comments on this site. If you have any questions, you can contact us. Have fun with it and let me know if you have any advice/suggestions.
