Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a time in which we prepare for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  But Ash Wednesday is especially significant for me.  It was on Ash Wednesday three years ago that I understood my calling to ministry.

As a child, I always thought that Ash Wednesday was the day when I got ashes smeared on my face.  It was the day I started giving up something for Lent. My parents never forced us kids to give up anything for Lent, but it was certainly encouraged in the church I grew up in.  For  me, that meant giving up bubble gum every single year.

Then, I got braces.  Which, for those of you who were blessed with those lovely little wires on your teeth, meant that you already weren’t chewing gum (if you were a nerdy rule follower like me).  This required me to be a bit more creative, which then led me to give up candy bars.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I started to figure out what this whole Lent thing was all about–that there was more to life than Trident and Twix.  I began to grasp that Lent really was a time of preparation.  It was a time when we as the Church and as the Body of Christ prepared for Easter Sunday, the day in which we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.  But I still didn’t get what it required of me in those 40+ days in between.

A few years later, I moved to South Carolina after I graduated college.  As always, I was trying to figure out what I was giving up for Lent, when my sweet roommate Jessica said, “Why don’t you add something this year instead of taking something away?”  I had never really thought of that before.  Lent always seemed a time of sacrifice, a time when we had to give up something.  I never thought of how adding something could be a spiritual discipline, too.

So I raided the prayer room at Wesley and borrowed a book Narcie had about journaling as a spiritual practice.  I never opened it, but it sat next to my journal for the Lenten period, as a daily reminder that I had committed to journaling through this period of preparation.  Little did I know that I’d embrace a calling to ministry during this time, and I’d hold onto that journal as a reminder of the time I, too, was preparing–preparing to delete all of my grad school applications, preparing for this crazy thing called the ordination process, and preparing for the affirmation of family, friends, parishioners, and mentors of my calling to ministry.

Now a few steps into this ordination process and fully immersed in another type of preparation (for my vocation as a pastor), I think I’m finally beginning to wrap my head around Ash Wednesday and Lent.  I’ve learned that it’s neither about chewing gum nor candy bars.  It’s not about giving something up just for the sake of giving something up.  It’s a time when we take on sacrifice and spiritual disciplines to grow closer to God.  It’s a time when we examine ourselves and ask, ‘What can I do to help me love God and love my neighbors better?’   Maybe that does mean giving something up, but perhaps it can mean adding something in, too.

Most of all, I’ve learned that Lent can be a time not just of giving something up, but giving into God.  Giving into the grace and mercy bestowed upon us everyday.  Giving into the peace that comes with knowing we are mortal and there is hope in the resurrection.  And giving into the love of God who transcends all understanding and enables us to live into a faith that is life-giving and life-changing.  Because if there is anything worth sacrificing for, it is this.

One of the best parts of my trip to Israel was serving as a delegate to the World Methodist Evangelism Institute.

The WMEI happens every 5 years, and I feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to meet so many people from around the world who are part of the Methodist connection.  There were over 35 countries present including the United States, Italy, New Zealand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Angola, Finland, China, Belize, Nigeria, Brazil, France, Zimbabwe, Estonia, India, Germany, Kenya, the Congo, South Africa, Chile, Russia, Romania, Jamaica, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Barbados, Japan, Australia, Latvia, Colombia, Tonga, Serbia, and Ghana.  Whew!  Just writing all that out made me realize how cool it was to be a part of such an amazing conference.

During worship on the first night, I got all teary eyed.  And let me preface this by saying I’m not one of those people who cries in worship all the time.  But there were people praying in all of these different languages, and hearts from all around the world were gathered in this land where our Savior walked and talked and ministered and died and was resurrected for us.  It was just a beautiful, beautiful thing.

There were so many opportunities for us to hear from pastors and bishops both in our Methodist connection and outside of it.  One of the best speakers at the WMEI was Archbishop Elias Chacour.  He’s a globally recognized peace advocate who strives for non-violence.  He’s a Palestinian Arab Christian who works for reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis.  He’s the author of Blood Brothers, which I haven’t yet read, but I hear it’s fantastic.  Learning about him and his story really brought light to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and it was truly a blessing to hear from him.

Additionally, the conference provided a lot of opportunities for us to gather in small groups and go on tours with different people.  It was so wonderful to connect with pastors, bishops, professors, and laity from around the globe–it was definitely an experience I will not forget!

I wanted to post details about each day of my pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but school has certainly taken priority over that!  I hope to still write about the experience, but I will say that being in the places where Jesus walked and talked and ministered was simply amazing.  My Bible is now like a children’s pop-up book!  I can visualize all of these places and see the ways in which they have been changed over time.

But most of all, I loved being a delegate to the World Methodist Evangelism Institute because it helped me understand the nature of our Methodist connection.  I left the conference with friends and colleagues from around the globe.  I now know Methodist pastors from every continent.  That’s insane and incredibly cool.  And thanks to that crazy piece of technology called Facebook, I’m able to keep up with them (with the help of online translators!) to see what they’re doing in their ministries and how that’s similar to what I’m doing over here.  I see how, despite the differences in all of the places we serve, we’re all in this together.  As diverse as we may be, we are the Church.  We are the Body of Christ.  And I’m beginning to realize that’s beauty at its finest.

…you can’t figure out why your gym bag is so heavy, and then you find this inside

(which, of course, isn’t your only gigantic study Bible.  It’s just the only one that somehow ended up in your gym bag this week).

Throughout the school year, I find it increasingly difficult to find time to update my little corner of the blogosphere. This probably has to do with my current course overload, involvement in way too many organizations on campus, internship at Duke Wesley Fellowship, job as a fitness instructor on Duke’s campus, and desire to spend my free time with my friends, cheering on the Blue Devils, or sleeping.

In an effort to not completely ignore my blog, I’ve decided to start a series or perhaps a motif of posts that will highlight quotes from books or articles that I’m reading. Some I’ll agree with, others I may not. Most of them will be ones I just can’t stop thinking about and feel the need to share. Hopefully they will give you some insight into the things I study and the variety of thoughts and convictions that are thrown my way.

Today’s quote is from The Hauerwas Reader, which is one of the required books for my Christian Ethics course taught by world-renowned theologian Dr. Stanley Hauerwas.

“What is needed to sustain the struggle for social justice is not, as the social gospel presumed, a grand idealistic vision, but the possibility of forgiveness which is necessarily a “moral achievement which is possible only when morality is transcended in religion.” Thus, for Neibuhr, Jesus’ cross represents the ultimate sacrificial love that will always call into question every social and political order. Such a cross is necessary to sustain moral action in an inherently unjust world, for only as it stands on the edge of history do we have the basis for a hope that does not result in either despair or utopianism.”

I hope to post more pictures and a summary of my experience in Israel & Palestine soon. In the meantime, look forward to some more posts like this one where you can get a tiny glimpse into my theological education. Also, this is the first time I’ve ever blogged on mu iPad, so fingers crossed that this post actually goes public

The following post was written when I was in Israel.  I didn’t have internet access at the time, so I couldn’t publish the post immediately.  I’m back in the States and have nearly unlimited internet, so if you have any questions or comments, please leave them in a comment below the post and I will reply as quickly as possible.

Why hello there!

Our second day in the Holy Land was absolutely beautiful!  Though I must admit, it got off to a rough start.  My roommate Lydia and I were awoken quite early by our neighbors in the room next door.  They were chanting and praying at the top of their lungs.  It sounded like there wasn’t even a wall between us!  Lydia woke up at 1am (meaning she only got 2 hours of sleep!) but I didn’t hear them until 4am.  I generally sleep like a champ—in college I even slept through a fire alarm once.  But these guys from Nigeria gave me a run for my money.  They finally stopped around 6am, but our wakeup call was at 6:30.

Nonetheless, we had a great breakfast of Mediterranean deliciousness before we went started to explore.  But before we get started, here’s some background on the Holy Land:

The Holy Land (presently Israel & Palestine) is about the size of Delaware.  51% of the land is desert, and the remaining 49% would be desert as well if people didn’t care for the land.  It’s the “land of milk and honey,” meaning it’s incredibly fertile.  And it’s the only land connection between Asia and Africa.

Our first stop for the day was Caesarea!

Fun fact: All of the statues are head-less because back in the day, they would keep the bodies and just replace the heads every time there was a new emperor/god/important dude.

We hung out in this ancient amphitheater,

saw some gorgeous views of the Mediterranean Sea,

checked out the remains of King Herod’s temple,

and walked along ruins that were discovered less than 10 years ago!

We then traveled to Mt. Carmel, one of 5 really famous mountains in the Holy Land.  Others include Mt. Moriah (where Isaac was sacrificed) and Mt. Sinai (where Moses received the 10 commandments).  The name Carmel means “garden of God” (El means God and Car means garden). 1 Kings 18 tells us that Mt. Carmel was where Elijah confronts the false prophets and all of the people declare that the Lord is God.

You can almost see all of Israel and parts of Palestine from the top of Mt. Carmel.  It was hazy and cloudy out, but everything was still beautiful!

There’s even a sanctuary and monastery at the top of the mountain.

On the roof of the monastery, there is a compass telling you everything that you can see from Mt. Carmel.  I couldn’t fit it all in the picture!

Check back soon for part 2 of our first full day in Israel! 

Hello from Israel!  We made it!

We arrived as the sun was setting over the Mediterranean Sea.  The waves were crashing over the sand and it was absolutely beautiful.  It was hard to get a picture from the van, but hopefully this one gives you an idea:

Yesterday was a crazy day of traveling.  My friend Elizabeth was a lifesaver helping me get to the Atlanta airport in the morning, and we managed to avoid traffic and make it on time.  We then had a 5 hour layover in New York City before our 13 hour flight to Tel-Aviv.

I was hoping to sleep on the plane (I even took a sleeping pill), but I wasn’t feeling so hot and didn’t get much sleep.  Plus it’s always awkward when you’re trying to sleep in the middle seat and then you wake up and realize your head has turned to the side and is suddenly 4 inches from the stranger in the seat next to you.  I did manage to see 3 of the 4 movies on the flight: Moneyball, Larry Crowne, and parts of Jane Eyre.  The other movie was Crazy, Stupid, Love, which I had already seen and thought was mostly the middle word in the title.

We finally arrived in Tel-Aviv and it is undoubtedly the most beautiful airport I’ve ever been to.  It’s sleek, modern, stylish, clean, and surprisingly quiet.  We then drove through Tel-Aviv to a smaller town 20 minutes outside of the city where we’ll be staying the next few days (I have no idea what the name of this town is…whoops!).  It’s funny–when we got to our hotel, we were quickly reminded that Israel is indeed in Asia.  The room is minimalist, modern, and tiny!  Even our beds are super small–I’m only 5’3 and the mattress is almost too short for me!

We ended our first night in Israel with a short time for Scripture, prayer, and some introductions.  There are 19 students from 3 different seminaries in our group (the actual conference with people from all over the world doesn’t start for a few days–we’re just doing some touring before it begins!).  It was great to learn from everyone and learn about their seminaries, too.  Our tour guide joined us, which was awesome.  He told us about how he got involved in tourism.  His name is Wisam and he’s a Palestinian and a Christian.  He has a degree in social work and everyone in his family works on art carvings, so he didn’t get involved in tourism for business or the money.  He wanted to meet people and share his faith.  He said groups would tour his hometown (Bethlehem), and tourists would ask him when he converted to Christianity.  He quickly told us to always remember that Christianity is this area’s biggest export to the West–after all, this is where it all began!

And, Wisam has a pretty interesting Duke Divinity connection that my classmates might appreciate.  That beautiful mother of pearl carving of Jerusalem in the Terrace Room?  Wisam and his family made that!

So all in all, day 1 in Israel was brief but very good.  It’s so strange having internet access and being able to update this as we go.  I always disconnect from the world when I travel, but since this trip and the seminar are for one of my courses this spring semester, we all needed to bring our computers.  I’m not sure what the internet connection will be like in Jerusalem, but we’re trying to figure out a way to watch the national championship game on Monday (it will be on at 3am on Tuesday here!).  As for the Steelers, it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to watch the playoff games, but I’m still sporting the black and gold here.  Tomorrow includes tours of Caesarea, Nazareth, and 2 other places tomorrow.  Goodnight!!

Hello friends!  It’s been so long since I’ve posted on here.  Things have been crazy lately!

My sister went into labor during my finals week and I had to rearrange my travel plans, flights, and meetings with friends and old colleagues to get to Ohio as soon as I could.  My sweet little nephew Rowan was born 2 months early.  He’s still in the NICU, so it would mean a lot to me if you could keep him, my sister Laura, and brother-in-law Tyler in your prayers.  It was beautiful to be reminded of the gift of life in its tiniest packages.  Our God is truly an awesome God.  Many thanks to the incredibly supportive people in my district for encouraging me to be with my family and helping me reschedule my meeting with my District Committee on Ordained Ministry.  And of course to my friends and family who kept me sane and lifted me in prayer–it was a crazy time and I couldn’t have made it without y’all.

Christmas break was equally as busy, but it was so much fun.  We put a lot of miles on between Columbus and Pittsburgh, and it was great to be at home with my friends and family.  Words can’t even describe the moment when I got to hold my nephew for the first time.  He might be tiny, but he is one cute little nugget.  I love being an aunt already.

I’m currently in the JFK airport in New York City on a very long layover before we fly out to Israel tonight!  I’ll be spending 3 days touring different cities and sites in Israel and the remainder of the time I will serve as a North American delegate to the World Methodist Evangelism Institute.  Hopefully there will be some wifi so I can share all of the details with y’all!  And so I can keep up with my Steelers in the playoffs, of course.

Hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season.  I’m excited to catch up on some blog reading and share more stuff on here as well.  Blessings and love to each and every one of you!

I know I’ve been living in the South for quite a few years now, but most of y’all know I bleed black and gold.  I grew up just outside of the city of Pittsburgh, and even though I don’t plan on moving back there, it will always be home.

After reading Julie’s blog post tonight, I’d like to share with you another way you can make a difference this holiday season.  Earlier this week I posted about how you can make a global difference this holiday season, but tonight I’d like to share a way you can make another way you can make a great impact in the life of one young boy.

Max, an 8 year old boy from Belle Vernon, PA (not too far from my hometown), is battling leukemia and won’t be able to make it home for Christmas.  He has one crazy wild Christmas wish, and I think we can all help it come true.

Max would like to receive 1,000,000 Christmas cards in the mail.  

[Not an actual card, but it gave me an excuse to doodle!]

Yes folks, that’s one million.  But I think we can make it happen!

Just send a happy little card to:

Max c/o Hailey Remish

417 Jones St.

Belle Vernon, PA 15012

Spread some holiday love!

It’s hard for me to believe Christmas is right around the corner.  I haven’t bought a single present yet.

Slacker, I know.  I didn’t even wake up until 10am on Black Friday.  The thought of waiting in line at midnight or 3am just sounds atrocious to me.  I guess I’m just not a shopper.  Or maybe it was just because I didn’t see any cute boots on sale this year.

At any rate, the older I get, the more I realize this craziness of buying a gazillion presents that just take up space is simply…craziness.  Don’t get me wrong–I love me some Christmas presents.  I was the kid that always snuck downstairs to be the first one to see all of the presents under the tree.  And I still get excited every time I open a Christmas present.  Though these days, I’ve somehow become the queen of wrapping Christmas presents.  Those obnoxiously shaped kids toys?  I can magically make them look like a Martha Stewart masterpiece.  I blame it on a combination of my inner perfectionist and love of Christmas.  But when it’s all said and done, there’s nothing like sharing gifts with the ones you love.

This year, I was able to open a unique gift.  Three of my friends and I received the gift of toilet twinning. Never heard of it?  Well I hadn’t either until a few days ago.  But it’s one of those gifts that keeps on giving.  And I hope that’s what the spirit of Christmas can be about.

Photo courtesy of toilettwinning.org

Toilet Twinning is a UK based company that enables you to “twin” your toilet (or loo!) with one in a developing country.  They’re currently working in rural villages of Burundi and Cambodia, and I’m excited that my toilet’s twin is in rural Cambodia.  The money for the toilet twin builds a safe and clean latrine in a rural village, where the community members are both educated on domestic hygiene and given access to clean water.  We will even get the exact GPS coordinates so that we can find our latrine on Google Maps.  How cool is that?!?

This gift got me thinking of the global world that we’re in, and how we can really make a difference this holiday season.  In a time of stocking stuffers and white elephant (or dirty santa) gifts, I think it would be awesome if we instead looked at alternative gifts to give to friends and family this year.

Here are some awesome organizations that can not only help you wrap up some alternative presents for your friends and family but also help our neighbors around the globe:

 ZOE Ministry is an organization that works to break the cycle of poverty and give hope to orphaned children in Africa.  Through the ZOE Orphan Empowerment Program, African children are given training and access to farming, business education, and HIV/AIDS prevention.  Through partnership with local churches, orphans form communities in order to become self-sufficient.  Alternative Christmas presents through ZOE Ministry include cows, goats, pigs, rabbits, and chickens.  These animals provide income, fertilizer for fields, and nourishment as orphans journey through the Orphan Empowerment Program.  In turn, you receive an ornament to give to loved ones of each of the animals you ordered.  It’s a great way to impact the lives of orphans in Africa.  Bonus information:  You can give directly to ZOE Ministry through the United Methodist Church.  The GBGM Advance number is 982023, so you can make a direct donation in the offering plate this Sunday.  You can also give online, by mail, or over the phone.  For more information on giving through United Methodist Advance, click here.

Heifer International is a global non-profit organization working to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way.  Heifer teaches recipients around the world how to raise and care for livestock, seeds, or trees in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.  They then give these gifts to families as a means of food and income.  Alternative Christmas presents through Heifer International include llamas, goats, water buffaloes, chicks, trees, and honeybees.

And don’t forget your local campus ministry! Now is a great time to support collegiate ministries, as campus ministries across America are planning formation retreats, social justice programs, and mission teams.  I currently intern with Duke Wesley Fellowship, and we are sending mission teams to Haiti over spring break and to rural Armenia this summer.  These students will make a global impact as they bring donations to support the local community, learn from our neighbors in developing countries and form relations with people they otherwise may not know.

Do you know of any other alternative gifts this holiday season?  Share thoughts and suggestions in the comment section!

Me praying with someone who affirmed their calling to ordained ministry in the UMC at Exploration 2011. Photo courtesy of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry's Facebook page.

Before Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to attend Exploration 2011–a conference for young adults who are exploring calls to ministry in the United Methodist Church.  I attended Exploration 2 years ago and absolutely loved it.  Although I had already begun the candidacy process for ordination in the UMC, I still found the experience of attending Exploration to be incredibly beneficial.  At the time I had no idea what seminaries I would apply to and still had a lot of questions about this crazy thing called the ordination process.  Exploration gave me the opportunity to re-affirm my calling in the midst of my peers, attend workshops related to seminary and what this whole ordained minister thing is all about, and meet representatives from all of the different UMC seminaries.

This year, I had the opportunity to attend Exploration as a small group leader and represent Duke Divinity School at the conference.  It was a great opportunity to attend Exploration again, connect with so many people, and run into old friends I met at Exploration a few years ago.  What I think is so great about Exploration is the fact that it provides the tools to help you articulate your call.  The point is that we’re all called to ministry.  The workshops and small groups at Exploration help you further discern your calling and provide the questions for helping you figure out exactly what that ministry looks like.  For some, it’s being an ordained elder.  For others, it’s being an ordained deacon.  And for others, it’s serving as a lay leader or in some other type of ministry.  But Exploration provides the opportunity to at least start to figure that out, since discernment is certainly an ongoing process.

I was honestly just really excited to go back to Exploration, since I had such a great time in ‘09.  I mostly remember the workshops when I attended as a participant, and although I didn’t participate in the workshops this time, I did hear that they were helpful to a lot of participants.  But this time around, I’d have to say that worship stood out the most to me.  I found the music to be just okay, but I thought he preachers were absolutely phenomenal.  Rev. Adam Hamilton, Bishop Hayes, and Rev. Shalom Agtarap all had amazing messages.  And I can’t tell you how much I appreciated hearing a young female clergy preach at Exploration.  It was great.

What I didn’t expect was to feel so affirmed in my calling while attending Exploration a second time.  I loved being able to lead a small group and help people wrestle with the many questions of discernment.  And I especially loved being able to pray over people after they affirmed their calling to ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church.  The Holy Spirit was alive and certainly gave me the words to say–I still don’t even know what I prayed that night, LOL!  But I was able to pray with so many people, including an engaged couple as they both affirmed their callings and my friend Shawn, who I met over Twitter and Facebook a few months ago, but finally got to meet in person at Exploration.  I also prayed with another man who was truly a gentle giant–all I remember is him screaming “Yes, Lord!” and “Amen!” in the midst of our prayer, and it finished with tears streaming down both of our faces.  It was such a beautiful moment to be a part of, and I’m so grateful I had the opportunity.

Events like Exploration are what we young United Methodists need. Of course we’re learning and growing each year we have the event, and I can’t see what Exploration 2013 will look like.  Exploration gives us the opportunity to connect with our peers from across the nation.   It provides workshops where we learn what exactly chaplains do and what extension ministries are.  It allows us to learn from young pastors and ask them questions about what life is really like in the fishbowl of the local church.  It gives us the chance to be in small groups and form relationships with people.  It’s in those small groups that we’re able to ask the questions that we’re maybe not so comfortable asking our pastor or campus minister.  And most importantly, it takes us out of our comfort zone and into a safe place where we discern.  That’s what we all need, especially those of us who are just beginning the journey.