the weekend

Last weekend was pretty manic, but all in all it was pretty cool.

I decided to have Friday off (well most of it) because I knew I would be working the rest of the weekend. I went to see Hotel Rwanda. If you haven't seen it I strongly recommend that you try to see it. I found it to be a fantastically emotive film. Set during the Rwandan civil war during the 1990s, it tells the true story of a hotel manageer who uses his hotel and his relationships with the Rwandan ruling classes to save the lives of hundreds of refugees. Go see it.

On Friday night we re-started the detached youth work. It's been a while since I've been out on detached, mainly because I've had nobody to work with. But it was really good to go out. I really feel that this is a key part of what I'm called to do during my time in Millhouses.

On Saturday I went to a day conference run by Nail the Truth . I have to admit that I was a litte sceptical beforehand. Nail the Truth is the youth ministry of one of our neighbouring parish churches. It's big. And its kind of on the more evangelical side than I'm currently used to. They're looking to launch a kind of citywide network/movement. This has got some people's backs up. Words such as 'empire building' have been used to describe it.

I still have questions (as ever) about some of the things that they're looking to do, but I have to admit I really enjoyed the conference. It was great to be able to hang out with people that I see every so often, but don't get to spend a lot of time with. I felt a real sense of unity and purpose (which I recognise can sometimes be hyped up at big events), but I was really challenged to be positive, and to trust God. Ultimately, if this is of Him, it will succeed, and I kind of want to be involved in God's plans.

Chesterfield beat Huddersfield 2-1 today. It was the first home match I hadn't been to in ages and we finally managed to win at home again. Grrrr.

On Sunday we had Sunday School (crazy I know). We had a really open discussion about 'Other Religions' and why different people beleive different things. It was cool. I really enjoyed it, I think the young people did too. What was really encouraging was hearing some of the young people say what they do believe in, I know that a number of them know quite a lot, but to hear some of them articulate it in the way that they did was encouraging.

On Sunday evening we had our Informal Evening Service at Carterknowle Methodist Church (we run these informal services every couple of months between Holy Trinity and the two local Methodist Churches). It was pretty good I think. We were thinking about Freedom, which follows on from what we've been talking about with the youth group.

All in all, last weekend was good. It'll be Easter soon, which will be pretty busy. But generally, work is going well. I'm enjoying it. Reflecting on recent times, it's been a while since I've been able to say this. :-)