After my whirlwind 5 week Europe adventure, I had just a few days to adjust to the California time zone before I left it again! two summers in a row now I've been a chaperone for my church's high school choir tour. Every summer the choir, Starfire, takes an original musical written by the lovely Carol and Dirk Damonte on tour. For the next two weeks we will be traveling from California to Colorado to share this musical, called the Project.

The Project addresses how church can become relevant to our daily lives, and become more than a repetition of old traditions and unquestioned creeds.

Last year, the Methodist Church had a wonderful campaign to "Rethink Church", which essentially challenges churches and individuals to go out an be the church in the world by incorporating our faith into our everyday actions. It felt like church was really taking a step in the right direction! Then, this year at general conference, the greater United Methodist Church voted down an proposal to agree to disagree about the acceptance of the LGBTQ community in church. Needless to say, it was an incredibly low moment for the UMC.

In a world where exclusion is backed up by Bible verses, The Project presents the teachings of Jesus in the way that I think they ring most true - that Jesus preached humility, forgiveness, and acceptance of every individual in the world as the path to God and love. And these kids preach it better than I ever could, so check it out!

Follow us at starfiresingers.com, and go to laumc.org/live to watch the live stream!