I've come to Lesson #1. If you're looking at "Walking Martha Home" for the first time, you might want to look back at May 29th to have an idea how this got started. Little did I know then that this lesson would come at this moment in time. It was much easier to write the original list for an intern that was leaving and to make a scrapbook of memories for him from Camp Rainbow Connection than it is to look back on my own time. Ten years ago, I wasn't thinking about how I would personally have to live out this faith lesson in such a dramatic way in my life. Here's Lesson #1:
Memories are great treasures. Using what you have learned from your experiences – not just remembering with fondness what took place in the past – will lead you forward in your spiritual journey and make even a small part of our world a better place.
Back in October, I wrote an entry to this blog while sitting in a hotel in Nashville waiting for the start of the meeting of the directors of the General Board of Discipleship. I was pondering how I got to that moment, that place - the opportunity to serve the denomination and the Virginia Conference. I was reflecting that morning on the many opportunities that God had set before me. I wrote that we never know where God will lead us, what opportunities will present themselves or what roadblocks there might be along the way. (What did God have up God's sleeve that day???)
Today, I sit in a hotel in Manilla anticipating the start of another GBOD board meeting. I have even more things to ponder as I've seen life here these last two days - a life so very different from my comfortable setting in Glen Allen. Despite the challenges of educating children in a place where life is so hard, I saw the dedication of the faculty and staff of Harris Memorial College yesterday as they talked about the dream of early Methodist missionaries to The Philippines to provide learning and experiences to young women who would become deaconesses across the islands, bringing people to know and follow Jesus Christ. Today, almost every UMC here has 2 or more deaconesses leading program and worship ministries. And several times we heard them say they do it for little recognition and less money. I heard the current administrator at Mary Johnston Hospital say he immediately said no to taking the position when first asked because the hospital was in dire financial and physical states. But God nudged him on, and now as the hospital continues to improve financially and in its physical equipment and buildings, the work of providing care to the poorest of the poor is strong in a part of the city that in many ways has been cast aside. I worshiped with the staff and District Superintendents of the Manilla Episcopal Area, singing "Blest Be the Tie That Binds" at the end of the service as we held hands across the room. Then tonight, we met and shared a meal with the Division of Ministries with Young People, hearing the personal stories of those who attended the Global Young People's Convocation and Legislative Assembly only to encounter super typhoon Glenda. Yet, before the Convo ended, the young people - current and future leaders of our church - agreed to a statement of unity which will be a model for the rest of us. And I wonder how I got here....
I've also been thinking a lot about the task (physical and emotional) of returning to the Conference Office next week to try to wrap up 14 years of service: all the memories, all the stories, all the mistakes I'd like to forget. I've been pondering the start of new adventures with the Virginia United Methodist Homes and other changes in our personal lives - all at ages when most people would probably like to tell me and Steve that we are completely crazy for making drastic changes in our comfortable, stable lives. And I wonder how I got here....
Quite a few years ago now (my guess is 1997-98), Fieldale United Methodist Church where I grew up and was confirmed, had planned a summer revival service with a guest speaker. I don’t remember who the speaker was to be, but I very clearly remember the night my phone rang and the church lay leader asked for help. They were just a couple of weeks from the start of the revival and the speaker was hospitalized. After an emergency meeting, the church leadership decided to have a laity-led revival. There were some speakers from the area they were going to invite and a few of us who had grown up in the church. He asked if I would come speak one of the nights. I was honored that they thought I had something worth sharing!
As I thought back on revivals I had attended, all the guest speakers had vivid, grabbing stories of how Jesus touched their hearts. Many of the personal witnesses I could recall were about events or moments in time when these people knew God had changed their lives. I don’t have that type of story. I can’t talk about the moment I knew I believed and accepted Jesus. What I told the people of Fieldale Church was that I had a legacy. Because of them, their faith and example…my faith had grown and become strong. Because of their commitment along with my parents on the day I was baptized to nurture me in the faith and raise me in the church, I could stand before them sharing the witness of what God has done in my life. I constantly give thanks for how they shared their faith with me. And I know how I got here!
I've come to the end of my “Top 10 Lessons of Faith," but certainly not the end of the story. We each have our own story of faith to share, a witness, a legacy, a testimony…however you want to describe it. Don’t let your story become just a treasured memory. I challenge you to use your story to transform the lives of those around you for Jesus Christ.
My prayer is that we may be the ones that the children and youth of today someday give thanks to for the lessons of faith that we offer to them.
