A year ago I lead a retreat to a little place called Children's Country Home, which supports medically fragile kids and their families. The group was of all 6-8th grade students. We set discussed service, loving others, and also being afraid. This was to prep them to see kids there age who needed machines to breathe and live. We spent the day with the medically fragile children working on the yard, painting, and playing with them. At the end of the day we sat down and discussed the experience.
I asked all the students a classic youth ministry question, what was your high moment of the day and "Ah ha!" moment of the day (vague so they do not have to have a "low" but could also be something that God taught them). The students all were obviously touched with what had happened, and came away with some great thoughts. Many let us know how blessed they realize now they are and how they appreciate the things they have much more now after being with the medically fragile students. While nice on the surface it made me cringe a little inside after every student who said it.
The experience sat with me for a long time after and continued to churn my soul like an unsettled stomach. What was missing is their sense of blessing. The students associated blessing with material items, or physical ability. They had yet to see the real blessing that the medically fragile students had that they could not fathom. The simplest and most amazing blessings, joy and love.
Their life experiences of living in a wealthy area had given many of them a sense of entitlement and scued version of value. I saw this recently as I was asked by a student about my phone. They wanted to see how "cool" the stuff was that I have. When finally showed them (I resisted for a while but when they start reaching for your pockets it is better to just get it out) they commented on how simple and boring it was. My heart was broken. Not because I care how cool my phone is, but that a young child already places so much worth on material goods.
Mother Teresa weighed in when she said "It is among the wealthy that we can find the most terrible poverty of all - loneliness." It is through this loneliness that we try and find a home. We try and find an identity. A reason. This has lead to seeing value in material items beacuse they will help us fit in or achieve our identity. This is why people want to create an identity using the internet or have a million friends on facebook. We no longer understand what is really vaulable. We no longer remember our community and what it truly means to love others as we love our selves. I am not sure I ever learned how to do this as it took me decades just to learn how to love myself.
We live in the richest country in the world. Even when we say we don't have much it is a lie and deep down we know it. We are among the top 2% of entire planets population. I may not have as much as those living next to me, but I know I make more than 1 dollar a day like most in third world countries. We are called to more. More than simply pray for those whom we like. More than tithe when it is convenient. It might be hard to hear, but we know it is the truth.
"You may recall the old comic in which two pastors are talking, and one of them asks the other, "How's your church?" The other pastor boasts, "Quite well, I should say. When I got there, we had only thirty members and I have only been there a year. Now we are seeing over four hundred people on Sunday morning. And how's your church?" The first pastor says, "Well, I don't know. When I got there we were seeing about a hundred. I've been preaching the gospel, and I've preached that ole church down to ten." (Irresistible Revolution pg 317)
The truth is hard for us to hear. I have seen huge congregations that were there because it was easy. I have knew many people in college who did not like to hear the challenging messages during chapel. They want it to be simple. In the end "Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love more."
The beautiful thing about loving is that it cures the poverty that afflicts the wealthy, since we can not love without community.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
All the small things
It has been a while since I have posted on here. I have had so many thoughts over the last few weeks (or month) to write about, but unfortunately life has been in the way. Today though I am going to try and go back to some of those thoughts over the last month and delve into some of the ideas.
The big thing that has taken up my time was Vacation Bible School. It was a great week, but very tiring. The week had me thinking about children's ministry, what is our goal with VBS weeks, and also some of the different ministries like "Puppet Ministry."
Then I took a vacation. It was great to get away. Kessia and I went around the Olympic Peninsula. There we enjoyed lots of reading, hiking, long car rides, debates over where to go next, and beautiful places. I found myself wanting to write about creation while on the hikes. The different pace of life had me thinking about culture and our reliance on technology and media. The vacation in general had me thinking about writing some thoughts about the sabbath.
The winner for my first post in this hiatus is going to be "Irresistible Revolution". There were so many points and thought in it that took me a while of digesting. It was not comprehension that was difficult, but the internalization of what the concept would look like in reality. Over the next week I hope to look at several different quotes and flush out what they mean to me.
I have big dreams. When I think of a project at church I enter into a fantasy land of how much of an impact it will make to the church, community, and world. Point in case: We had a movie night planned for once a week this summer. I had thought that it could become a far reaching community event. It would start out small, 10 people, and as they shared with their friends and neighbors it would grow. I envisioned 20, 30, 40, 50 coming to the movie and having it become a hit. I thought intensely about each movie and when it would fall during the summer to maximize the attendance. I thought of ways to help it spring board, like advertising to the school. I thought of how this could help accomplish the mission of the church and help everyone grow together towards Christ.
Now into August we are around 4 people. We have had showings where no one has showed up and I have been left by myself wondering where I went wrong with this event. Why did my dreams not come true?
"We can not do great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it." Mother Teresa
As I read this quote in Irresistible Revolution I thought of all the things I try and do. All the big plans, ideas, thoughts. Instead of realistic I am often trying to accomplish great things. I do not think there is anything wrong with that, but I was missing the most important aspect of what I was doing. I need to make sure Love is at the center of it.
During Vacation Bible School we had a missions component. I threw it in there as an add on to most of the great things I thought we were doing. We had a great theme, stations, decorations, and plans. In the end it was the add on that made the most impact.
We started the week by asking kids to bring in socks to help out the homeless. I thought most of them would forget and we would end up with maybe a pair of socks or two (most likely the ones I bought!). On third day the box was almost completely full. By Friday it was over flowing and takes three garbage bags to hold. This came from 25 students. We had over 6 pairs of socks per child! It was simply a small thing done with lots of love.
Working in a small church that is something I need to constantly remember. It is not about the numbers, but about the heart. It is about the amount of love and care that we put in. It is about showing Christ.
In the end it is not about lowering expectations. This not about trying less, or not having dreams. But instead, making sure that we remember the small things.
The individual.
The heart.
The love.
The big thing that has taken up my time was Vacation Bible School. It was a great week, but very tiring. The week had me thinking about children's ministry, what is our goal with VBS weeks, and also some of the different ministries like "Puppet Ministry."
Then I took a vacation. It was great to get away. Kessia and I went around the Olympic Peninsula. There we enjoyed lots of reading, hiking, long car rides, debates over where to go next, and beautiful places. I found myself wanting to write about creation while on the hikes. The different pace of life had me thinking about culture and our reliance on technology and media. The vacation in general had me thinking about writing some thoughts about the sabbath.
The winner for my first post in this hiatus is going to be "Irresistible Revolution". There were so many points and thought in it that took me a while of digesting. It was not comprehension that was difficult, but the internalization of what the concept would look like in reality. Over the next week I hope to look at several different quotes and flush out what they mean to me.
I have big dreams. When I think of a project at church I enter into a fantasy land of how much of an impact it will make to the church, community, and world. Point in case: We had a movie night planned for once a week this summer. I had thought that it could become a far reaching community event. It would start out small, 10 people, and as they shared with their friends and neighbors it would grow. I envisioned 20, 30, 40, 50 coming to the movie and having it become a hit. I thought intensely about each movie and when it would fall during the summer to maximize the attendance. I thought of ways to help it spring board, like advertising to the school. I thought of how this could help accomplish the mission of the church and help everyone grow together towards Christ.
Now into August we are around 4 people. We have had showings where no one has showed up and I have been left by myself wondering where I went wrong with this event. Why did my dreams not come true?
"We can not do great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it." Mother Teresa
As I read this quote in Irresistible Revolution I thought of all the things I try and do. All the big plans, ideas, thoughts. Instead of realistic I am often trying to accomplish great things. I do not think there is anything wrong with that, but I was missing the most important aspect of what I was doing. I need to make sure Love is at the center of it.
During Vacation Bible School we had a missions component. I threw it in there as an add on to most of the great things I thought we were doing. We had a great theme, stations, decorations, and plans. In the end it was the add on that made the most impact.
We started the week by asking kids to bring in socks to help out the homeless. I thought most of them would forget and we would end up with maybe a pair of socks or two (most likely the ones I bought!). On third day the box was almost completely full. By Friday it was over flowing and takes three garbage bags to hold. This came from 25 students. We had over 6 pairs of socks per child! It was simply a small thing done with lots of love.
Working in a small church that is something I need to constantly remember. It is not about the numbers, but about the heart. It is about the amount of love and care that we put in. It is about showing Christ.
In the end it is not about lowering expectations. This not about trying less, or not having dreams. But instead, making sure that we remember the small things.
The individual.
The heart.
The love.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)