Ask Bigger Questions

I subscribe to several email newsletters that are published on a bi/weekly basis. Some weeks, I am able to take time to really read an article that catches my eye; other times I might just have to delete the email because I am so overwhelmed with other tasks. This morning, I took a moment to scan the Lewis Center's email (out of Wesley Theological Seminary), and ran across an article that was hugely inspiring.

In it, the author tells a story about a presentation by Steve Jobs to the city council where the new Apple headquarters is located. Instead of being excited about all that Apple was going to bring to the city via taxes, affluence (i.e., more money), and green space, the people asked, "Will we get free Wi-Fi?" To which the author of the article writes,"Most of the time our questions are too small. When faced with great challenge, great possibility, great vision, great people, we tend to ask small questions. Here was Steve Jobs presenting a visionary new project, and the first question was, 'Can we have free Wi-Fi?' Really?"

And that got me thinking about all of us, who hold visions, offer visions, dream about great possibilities in response to being Kingdom children. In offering our visions, people respond to us with the small questions, to which we think really? And unfortunately, I find myself not offering those visions because I'm not sure how others will respond, or if it is the right way to go. It's much easier to meet a challenge when the majority sees the vision.

The article also got me thinking about Advent, and what I am preparing for. Fr. Richard Rohr writes, "'Come, Lord Jesus,' the Advent prayer, means that all of Christian history has to live out of a kind of deliberate emptiness or chosen non-fulfillment. Perfect fullness is always to come, and we do not need to demand it now. This keeps the field of life wide open and especially open to grace and to a future created by God rather than us. This is what it means to be 'awake,' as the gospel urges us (Matt 24.42)!"

In ministries all across the world right now, we are all in a fund raising mode, whether that is for our end of the year finances or for direct services that are in such high need at this time of the year (think heating costs, Christmas presents, homelessness in cold temps) or to capitalize on the Christmas gift-giving frenzy. We are either hold our breath in hopes to make it through the end of the year, or we find ourselves engulfed by overwhelming needs on our door steps. Instead of biding our time until 12/31/11, maybe we need to remember that Advent is the perfect time to keep awake, to let our dreams unfold, to keep the field of life wide open, to as the bigger questions.

The article concludes this way:

"Right now is a time for asking big questions... Big questions open us to unthought-of possibilities. Big questions, as Jobs knew, lead to innovation. Big questions leave room for God and the work of the Holy Spirit. When we are confronted with the limits of our own knowledge and understanding, it is then that we turn to God and others."

Circles of influence

It's nice to know that there are so many places I can go in the US and be close to a church that has some sort of relationship with Mountain T.O.P. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I was vacationing with my family in Florida, and I attended church at UMC of the Palm Beaches. A group of youth and adults from this church attended YSM this past summer. It was good to see familiar faces in worship! I always find it a gift to be able to worship with MTOP campers at their home church.

The associate pastor, Jen Harner Sims, grew up in a church that attended MTOP when she was a youth. During the service, Jen spoke about how much MTOP was an influence on her as a youth and then in choosing a vocation in ministry. Even though Jen and I only knew each other through phone calls and emails, I was proud to know MTOP had been such a great influence in her life.

Again, I was reminded of how important our presence is in one another's lives. We never know the influence we might have, or the transformation that the experiences we foster can bring. I am so grateful for the 80+ youth workers who gather together hundreds of youth to come do mission with MTOP. This reminder helps me move beyond the sentimentality of Christmas and the Advent season - that the incarnational ministry in which we participate IS God in the flesh, not just some sweet story that we like to repeat on an annual basis or some mission trip that is fun or cool to be a part of. 

I think that one of the best gifts I could receive would be to know that somewhere, along in my past, someone was transformed by knowing Christ through my actions.

The Change

Claire Schottelkotte wrote this article for her church newsletter, "Redeemer News", for The Church of the Redeemer in Cincinnati, OH. Enjoy!

"Two years ago, I was in the eighth grade, I had good friends, I got along with my brother and sister (most of the time), and I got along with my parents (most of the time). There was one day a week when we wouldn't get along at all. Always the same day. Always Sunday. None of us ever wanted to go to church so we tried everything we could to avoid it. If you woke up early on Sunday morning, no one would move at all, just in case our parents had forgot about church, we didn't want to take a chance of waking them up and reminding them. But they never forgot, and eventually we would have to go. One day my mom came to me and told me about this new mission trip for my age group to the Appalachian mountains and she wanted me to go. I talked to some friends of mine who were also going to go. We got excited for it and I looked forward to it.

The day we drove down to Tennessee was a lot of fun. We played games, sang, talked, and everything was good. We made it to the Roberts' lake house, we swam and hung out, Kyle briefed us on what was to come, and we were all having a good time. We left early to drive the rest of the way to the camp site. The second we actually got to the camp it hit me - I was about to spend an entire week basically at church. I couldn't stand to sit through an hour of church once a week, what made me think I wanted to do this? I don't know anything about religion and I really have no desire to learn. I had totally freaked myself out at that point, and was really concerned with what the week would have in store for me. I was only sure of one thing, this week was not going to be what I was expecting. That, I was right about. By the end of the night my mind had been changed (maybe not quite yet completely because I was still a little iffy on the next day when everything actually started). I got the chance to work on people's houses and help them when they were in need. I built a porch for someone and gave them a person to talk to because many of them do not get a lot of visitors. Also I got to meet new people and make great friends that I otherwise would have never met. By the end of the week I knew that there was a reason that I was there and I knew I would never be the same person.

After anyone goes on a mission trip, almost everyone will say that they got more out of it than they gave. For me, this was more than just an awesome feeling I got from being there. Because of Mountain T.O.P., I really found the importance of religion and what I was missing out on before. Since then, religion has been a big part of my life. Since my first trip to Mountain T.O.P I have really begun to question and strengthen my faith, I have begun to enjoy and explore my faith and without Mountain T.O.P., I honestly believe I would not be where I am. I wouldn't be who I am today, I wouldn't have some of the friends I do, and I definitely wouldn't be standing in front of you now. If I had not been given the opportunity to go on this trip, nothing in my life would be as it is, and I am truly blessed and grateful to be given the chance. Thanks to you, this entire experience was possible for me and many others, and i can't begin to express my gratitude. I want to sincerely thank all of you for your support".

ReFramed

Over the past 2 days, the Mountain T.O.P. staff participated in ReFrame, a conference for home repair non-profits working in Appalachia. The whole premise of this gathering was to collaborate, share ideas, best practices, wisdom, and information.

Truth be known, I think it's typical to leave conferences feeling drained or overwhelmed. But that didn't happen this time! I think that's because the format of the conference valued the wisdom of every attendee. We relied on the experience and knowledge of the participants in each session. Facilitators were in place to do just that, help guide the conversations.

Not only did we walk away with new ideas, we walked away invigorated by the collaboration. That's really hard to do, spending 7.5 hours in workshops in just over 24 hours. I think the key was that we didn't spend a lot of our time listening to "special" speakers or presentations. Instead, we listened to each other, everyone, no matter if you did 700 projects a year or 5 projects a year. And that made A LOT of difference.

Well,...that, and Jay's performance at the Holiday Inn's Karaoke Klub. I think Bo has the video. You should ask him about it.