A ministry of the Youth & Young Adult Ministry Office of the Church of the Brethren General Board
Daily Coverage

Friday, July 19, 2002
"COURAGE . . . FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS"

Mennonite comedy team Ted & Lee portray Jacob and Esau in a newly created drama Friday morning.

WEATHER: Again sunny and warm with some haze from wildfire smoke, high in the mid- to upper 90s

KEY EVENTS: Morning and evening worship celebrations; small-group meetings; more district hike days in the Rockies; more workshops and service projects; next-to-last day of volleyball tournament; late-night activities including comedy/drama by Ted & Lee, concert by "Wake-Up Call," Taize' worship, and open mic night.

TODAY'S QUOTES: "There is no problem that a cookie dough Blizzard can't solve." — line from Ted & Lee drama "Fight for the Blessing"

"We belong to the God who will turn things upside-down." — musician Ken Medema, in a song performed as a response to the Friday night worship.

Athena Gibble of Jacobus, Pa., enjoys a lake view during the afternoon hike trip into the Rockies.

WORSHIP CELEBRATIONS: In the morning service, Mennonite comedians/thespians Ted & Lee (Ted Swartz and Lee Eshleman) joined with musician Ken Medema to present the "world premiere" of a work — titled "Fight for the Blessing" — commissioned by National Youth Conference. It told the Genesis story of brothers Jacob and Esau through separation and their journey to forgiveness — a journey that included humorous detours to Dairy Queen.

Swartz said the piece originated about two years ago when a Lutheran convention wanted a piece on forgiveness. The idea of doing a story on Jacob and Esau had been "floating around," Swartz said, so they wrote a sketch that eventually became the final scene of the drama they presented Friday. After a standing ovation, the worship concluded with a passing of the peace and the song, "We Are One Body."

The evening service lifted up the day's "Courage" theme with a video clip of the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz" along with drama and a clown sketch. A canned food drive was taken up for the offering, resulting in a mound of cans and boxes eight feet wide and several feet high in front of the stage. The food will be donated to pantries in the Fort Collins area.

NYCers bring forward a mountain of food donations for Friday night's offering.

Puerto Rican Brethren Jaime (Jimmy) Diaz delivered the evening message in his native Spanish, with translation to English. He said that our fears are conquered through an intimate relationship with God and the opening of our hearts to Christ's work. "There is a difference between knowing about Christ and knowing Christ," he said. Diaz urged the NYCers to "seek the power of the Holy Spirit, and you will find courage." Medema again responded with a song, doing a takeoff on "Send In the Clowns."

OTHER NOTES, EVENTS, AND THINGS OF INTEREST: In earlier offerings this week, a total of $9,406.64 was received to support a youth conference in the Dominican Republic, and $32,778.82 was collected in cash and checks for the project of sending clinic boxes, not including all the material goods donated for the boxes themselves. . . . The NYC staff declared Friday to be "Dave Day," with all staff wearing a "Dave" nametag in honor of the 10 Daves on this year's NYC staff. The tradition of having a name day dates back to 1990. . . . All of the people who have coordinated National Youth Conferences past and present gathered for a reunion Friday evening. . . . Steve Van Houten, the NYC dean of discipline, has become something of a cult hero at the conference, drawing huge cheers every time he takes the stage to make announcements. . . . In addition to the very popular theme song "For Such a Time as This," a new chorus from Ghana titled "N'nung yeh dah!" has become an NYC favorite this week. . . . In a video advertisement for the Brethren colleges, Todd Reish declared "because Brethren colleges have the best Jello!" as a reason to attend. Others gave more usual reasons.