The sunset on Friday Night

Just got back yesterday from a really great retreat up at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria! It had the most amazing ocean views and was just a really great place to get in touch with God and ourselves. We had the honor of Pastor Rebecca Schlatter as our guest speaker. She wrote The Treasure Hunt of Your Life and we had some great discussions about what clues God might have left for you in your life and how you life is well… a treasure hunt. It was a refreshing way of seeing a sometimes very frustrating world were we don’t know what major to be in, what job to get, and other places in our lives where we look for guidance from God. We had some fun hang out times too which included a trip to the beach, late night games of Pit and on Saturday night, the Passion Play where people showed off their talents and passions. It was such a fun retreat and I can’t wait for the next one!!!

-Casey

Everyone together on Sunday Morning

Action Shot! Alex and Allison are rocking the ice!

Last Saturday we went Ice Skating!!!! Personally, I hadn’t been ice skating in quite a few years so it took a while to get the feeling for the ice again. We had all levels of ability, including Lexi who had taken many lessons a kid, and who looked amazing on the ice, to Alex who had never been in his entire life. That was a little interesting… Everyone seemed to want to pitch in to help him get the hang of it, but in the end I think there are some people who are just better at standing on land than on ice Even though we had lots of falls, everyone had lots of fun and many people wanted to go back this week. After ice skating we were all SUPER hungry and went and enjoyed In N Out, a special treat for us kids living in SLO, where there aren’t any. All in all, an awesome day with LCM!

The Whole Group!

-Casey Wright

This October, 11 LCMers traveled to El Camino Pines for a weekend of JOY! While the theme was joy, there was also just a lot of joy during the whole weekend. The trip started with a little mishap with rain and some yummy In n Out for dinner. We then drove 2.5 hours to get to camp. It was late when we arrived so we all voted to go to sleep.

Cameron and Alex love In N Out!

In the morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast followed by a session about what joy is for us. We took a break for journaling outside in the beautiful Los Padres National Forest then ate some lunch.The afternoon held another session about joy, this time about joy with others, plus some free time where almost everyone rock climbed up the side of the Dining Hall, played some card games, and some people even did homework! Then we got ready for our big hike which took us up to the top of the mountain for a view of the sunset which we watched while eating our sack dinners. Even though it was cold and dark on the way back we all made it back safely. After some showers there were Prayer Stations in the Chapel which focused even more on Joy and our connections with God. We ended our busy Saturday with games and talking in the Dining Hall.

Martha and Ryan made it to the top!

Sunday morning began with the most amazing cinnamon rolls known to man (created by the amazing camp cooks, Mike and Lynn) and enriching worship. We then had our last session about joy with God and shared with each other ways that we bring each other joy which led to lots of laughter. Then it was time to pack up, clean the cabins, eat lunch and start the long drive home.

We all made it to the top!

As I look back I think about all the fun we had and the meaningful conversations about God and our relationship with him. Looking back also excites me for our next retreat, this February 4-6 at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, called the Life ‘N Faith Retreat. This one should be really fun because we will be joining with other campus ministries from Cal Poly, and talking about how your future life and faith can be combined. The form for that retreat is on our homepage and it is due Jan 25^th so get your spot soon!!

Feeling full of Joy!

- Casey Wright

Pancake palooza
“Wait. Shouldn’t the title say ‘pancakes at midnight?’” No, you read the title correctly! This year we made a few changes to our awesome quarterly event, and the name was just the start!
LCMers arrived at the church sanctuary at 8 o’clock to set up; however, no one made pancakes during this time! Instead of making pancakes hours in advance, we decided to serve them hot off the griddle while still offering a good variety of flavors!
People  arrived at 10 o’clock hungry and ready to eat some amazing pancakes! Some people came, ate, and left; others stayed to listen to music and have some great conversations with old and new friends! The sanctuary was wonderful because it provided a bigger space for people to sit and enjoy their food without being squished (as the case was in the lcm house).
When all the excitement was over, wonderful volunteers offered to clean up. This quarter, clean up wasn’t as bad because it was finished at a decent hour giving us more time for some well deserved sleep! Overall, the event was a success, changes and all!
-Kaitlyn Kennett

This quarter in our Tuesday evening Bible conversations our discussions were spurred by what it means to be part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, talking about central concepts and ideas (such as grace), learning about the history of the church, and going over some social statements. Looking through this Lutheran lens, students had several great conversations about their own individual faiths, both agreeing and disagreeing with the Lutheran stance. Because our community is unapologetically Lutheran, we are very open to differing opinions, and find great importance in understanding the view of others.

This quarter we also had two wonderful guest student groups, Hillel (Cal Poly’s Jewish Community) and the Seventh Day Adventists, come to our discussions on different Tuesday nights. On both evenings we told each group about what it means to be Lutheran, and heard from them what it means to be a part of their respective faith systems; talking less about the theology of their faith, and more about each individual’s view of God and the world having been shaped and guided by their experience of being a part of different faith backgrounds.

We found that we had many more similarities than differences. Most of us put importance on loving and looking out for others and ourselves, having similar morals even if come by and gone about in different ways. Most of us found truth in analytically thinking through ways of living a life of faith, while also listening hard one’s gut and heart. We also find truth in the beauty and comfort of our respective traditions. We find importance in the community that comes from being a member of a church, while also putting importance on the church’s effect on our morals and the way we live our lives.

Most of us could agree on the validity of these truths, and many more, as they are not mutually exclusive. No one contested that any of the beliefs spoken were not true, that everything we talked about had some importance, but where we differed was which truths we found to be the most important to us and closest to our hearts, the truths we want to guide our days and our lives.

This quarter we had several conversations about the communities with which we come together in faith, and have learned more about our own faiths in the process. Next quarter we will have at least one more guest group, Cal Poly’s Muslim Student Association (MSA), and will continue to have conversations about the journey of living lives of faith.

–Katie DeLaurentis

I’ve had so many questions floating around my head before our journey to the Holy Land.  What is life like in the prayer-drenched birthplace of Christianity?  How do residents find peace, shalom, salaam?  As Americans, what role do we play in the affecting their lives?

Our group discussed and heard all about these questions as we walked where Jesus walked in the Holy Land, Spring of 2010.  We prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, broke bread on the shore of Sea of Galilee, reaffirmed our baptism in the Jordan River, and processed in the Palm Sunday celebrations.  Our Palestinian Lutheran guide also arranged for us to be in Nazareth for the celebration of the Annunciation, angel Gabriel’s announcement of the birth of Jesus.  It was truly a special time to be in the Holy Land, both spiritually and politically.  We spoke with Lutheran leaders and heads of schools, hospitals, refugee camps, and other nongovernmental organizations.  All inspired hope and instilled a sense of urgency for the re-commitment to prayers of peace for those living in Palestine and Israel.  So may God’s peace fill your life.

- Cameron Beck

See Katie’s Blog with lots more commentary and photos!

LCM students hosted twenty-one children from the church and the community for our first Parent’s Night Out Event.  Everyone made Valentines, ate pizza, watched the ever popular “Charlie Brown’s Valentine’s Day”, enjoyed a magic trick, and decorated cookies (inhaling WAY too much sugar).  LCM students adapted traditional party games to a Valentine’s Day theme.  We played everything from pin the heart on the heart (like pin the tail on the donkey except with a bull’s eye of hearts) to a heart hunt (like an Easter egg hunt with hearts). Duck, duck, goose was a flop while Simon Says was a huge success–who knew.

We played a game similar to musical chairs, except rather than music we turned off the lights (and wore glow-in-the-dark necklaces). The necklaces were a big hit, but a couple of inquisitive kids bent them in every which way, so much so that a few cracked open and some of the “glowing” chemicals spilled out.  Luckily we weren’t doing this right before Sunday morning worship so we weren’t left to explain the surreal blue glowing patches on the floor to the congregation members.

With twenty one children (we were thrilled with the turnout for our first time) from age three to twelve, there was quite a difference in their capabilities and interests.  LCM students had to improvise because what was totally fascinating to a three year old was perceived as lame to a twelve year old.  In fact, the glow-in-the-dark necklaces used by the younger children for a roaring game of musical chairs were adapted as “lasers” to be dodged by the twelve year old boys.  LCM students definitely learned to be flexible.

We felt the evening out for parents of young children was a great outreach for Mt. Carmel and surrounding community members.  It was a fun evening for the LCM students and children alike, and the parents seemed thrilled!  LCMs next outreach event will be a total 180 degrees from this event as we enter the Relay for Life to raise awareness and money for cancer research on May 15-16; our team is LutheRUN for Life!

-Katie DeLaurentis

“Well, believe it or not (with those 80 degree days we’ve been having??) Fall is in full swing, and with those falling leaves and pumpkin pies came our LCM Halloween Party! College students…or so I assume they were, though you wouldn’t have known it from their costumes … heaped into the LCM house (which, thanks to Pam Wood and Marc and Patti Frey, was festooned with cob-webs, spiders, ghosts and pumpkins galore!) to carve pumpkins and get into the Halloween spirit with some ghoulish fellowship and games. The floor of the dining room and living room was quickly converted into a jack-o-lantern factory, where pumpkin guts and seeds spread across the newspaper laden tiles and floor boards, giving birth to funny (and scary!) faced pumpkins. Costume-clad LCM-ers, from fairies and cowboys to salt and pepper shakers tested their non-verbal skills with some charades; and, of course, being the diligent college students we are, we didn’t forget to hone in on our vocabulary skills with a few rounds of ‘Taboo’. Top it off with waaaay too much Halloween candy and some warm apple cider, and it was one fun night! Thanks to everyone who came out and made the night enjoyable! Keep your eyes peeled for more fun events to come!”

-julie

So this is the first message after our hosting changes. . . .  all that means for you is that our previous blog posts have been lost in cyberspace for good. . . .

Welcome to the LCM SLO blog.  Check back for blurbs of recent events with photos and random musings of the peer ministers and others.  If you’d like to see something special, comment and let us know!

Pismo Sunset