Jessica's Adventures

Two Sundays ago, on October 9, we had our drivers license covenant service to lift up and celebrate those youth who had gotten their license in the past year. This service grew up out of tragedy. Years ago, two young men in our church were involved in a very bad car accident and lost their lives. Since that time, we have conducted this service to celebrate a milestone but also to make clear the responsibility of joining the community of drivers.

Since July, I’ve been starting my third year in this pastorate. The first year, all young pastors are admonished to change nothing, so the service flowed as it had been designed in previous years. Then last year, I was out on maternity leave during the fall. But this year, with ordination around my shoulders, an intern on my staff, and a passion to do more and better, we revamped this service.

The first thing was to set the table. With the help of a congregant who owns a local salvage yard, I was able to get a tire, a steering column, and a dash from various cars. Then I put the cross in the center (where it should always be, right?) and three candles in front representing our triune God. I borrowed the licenses of all the adults present and placed them around the altar. A small bowl with the items our new drivers would be receiving – an ichthus keychain and a “dnt txt n drv” thumb ring – was put on top of the tire. One of our offering plates was placed front and center for use during the service.

Following a prayer for admission to the community of drivers, these newly licensed folks came and put their licenses in the offering plate. Then a youth read this scripture:

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵ Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ⁸ Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹ Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:4-9

 Then I gave a message which sounded something like this: This could easily be a time of admonishment – don’t speed, don’t be distracted while driving, etc. etc. But that’s what you’ve probably been hearing from everyone else. So tonight, I invite us to rejoice! You were one thing and now you are another and in the church, we rejoice when that happens. We see it in baptism – you were outside the church and now you have been washed and united to the Body of Christ. We see it in baptism – you were two separate people and now you have been united together. We see it in a funeral – you were here among us where we could see you and now you have gone on to glory in God. So, tonight, we have come to another one of those points – you were one thing, and now you’re another.

You are a driver. You are the wielder/director of massively engineered pieces of metal. Your status has changed to be a blessing to the community. Now you can be the one who asks another, “Do you need a ride to church?” Or maybe later in your life, “Let me drive you home.” You have the capability to move people and things from one place to another with speed and care. It’s amazing.

I never thought much about my own driving until I became a seminary student and put the sticker on my rear windshield “SMU: Perkins School of Theology.” I was so proud, so excited to be a seminary student. But then I realized that everyone knew exactly who I was, and whose I was, every time I drove. The person I pulled in front of, the person I sped past, the person I gave a dirty look – they all knew I wasn’t living up to who I said I was and who had claimed my life.

You’ve put your drivers licenses in the offering plate because you are offering that part of your life to God. No part of your life is out of God’s sight or reach or care. So, with that in mind, I would simply lift up a piece of our scripture reading – “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen, and the God of peace will be with you.”

I invited them to stand before the altar, to receive back their licenses, and to receive the keychains and rings with the words, “Remember who you are and whose you are.”

For those of us whose days and lives are so fragmented – a lot of work here, a little time for family there, a little time for self shoved off to the side – it’s hard to see our lives as whole offerings to God. But that’s what I’ve finally concluded is true.

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of they love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.
- UMH 399

Which makes this video funny to me, because it’s true, too: Wrong Worship. Or at least in our selfish, normal mindset it is. But God is always asking more of us – whole lives offered as living sacrifices on the altar – hands motivated by holy love – feet (and cars) quick to serve.

I’m so tired. That is the uppermost thought and it’s only Monday. Yesterday I met 17 youth and their parents as well as 3 adult counselors in our church parking lot at 5:30am to set off an adventure to grow and serve in Nashville. While we didn’t actually hit the road til 6:07am, which put us behind to make a 6pm arrival time, travel went well. (Note: there’s not much in the way of restaurants between Little Rock and Memphis). It was amazing how my eyes were filled with the green trees and then mountains as we traveled east. I remember that I missed the trees when I first moved to Texas, but to see the landscape change so dramatically in just a few hours was just cool.

So we arrived, unloaded, stood awkwardly near the folks from other United Methodist churches, divided into work crews, ate dinner, played, worshipped, debriefed as a church, then finally slept. A good first day.

Today began as I heard the crew assigned to breakfast getting ready to prepare our food. Groggy but thankful, I rolled out and headed downstairs (girls are on the 3rd floor, guys on the 4th floor of McKendree United Methodist Church, which hosts this program all summer; talk about extravagant generosity and radical hospitality). Breakfast, packed lunches, then devotional time, something I don’t do in my ordinary life that I definitely should. Then our crews (Carrie Underwood, Reba, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Johnny Cash, and my crew Taylor Swift) made sure the coolers were ready as we sized each other up (each crew is made up of at least 2 churches). TSwift, with its folks from Texas and Ohio, headed off to Harvest Hands.

We’ll be there all week, playing with kids in their morning Rex program, working in the garden, clearing a field as they prepare to work on affordable housing projects for neighbors, and teaching children in the afternoon camp. It was amazing. I made a spoon puppet with a girl who shared a story of being lost in a store and walking home since her parents had left the store. She was halfway there when her parents found her. When I asked how old she was when this happened, the answer was 2. Life is a brilliant gift, but it’s not easy. I’m so humbled and challenged to be serving. And from what I’m starting to hear from our youth as they rush off to showers, they’re experiencing their own challenges and blessings.

On Thursday, we had our talent show with the junior high youth at camp. I always really like talent show, even though it means a late night, because by this point of camp, the audience is the best. They receive the gifts as they are intended, not judged on their perfection. And the perfection, really for me, is in the spirit in which they are shared. To see a shy young man that I’ve seen coming to camp for 3 years now get up in front of his peers and lead a song while girls dance behind him is amazing. Then there are the shockingly wonderful God-given gifts that many of our campers bring – singing, playing instruments, creating origami, dancing, and acting just to name a few.

My favorite part of the night was the emcee crew. This team of youth entertained their peers by spoofing directors and senior counselors. The young woman who played me was so funny. She had sunglasses on her head, her hair in a ponytail, the first aid kit on her shoulder, and often greeted the campers with “May the Lord be with you!” And, in the team’s quest for the holy chicken, she was the one who captured it. I couldn’t help but heckle at one point, calling out from the back, “I need a band-aid!” 

Another great part of camp has been the worship. All week we’ve had amazing worship, with many campers sharing testimony about the struggles in their lives and the place of God and community in helping them through it. On Thursday we had our call to discipleship service. We don’t do it on the last night, intentionally, because usually emotions are already high as campers realize that they’re going to be going home soon, leaving behind some of the magic of camp.

So there we are at vesper point, hearing amazing testimony and then we were asked to say yes to God, for the first time or to recommit ourselves to being God’s people in the world. The senior counselors created a ring around the worship space, inviting campers to come to them for prayer as they shared their decisions. It was a beautiful way to be church. That should be us all the time – a community of faith encouraging one another, praying with and for one another, and looking toward how we can impact the world.

Tonight was also wonderful. To address the high level of sadness that often goes with the last night, we decided to really celebrate communion. An SC and I had noted that we use those words to describe what we’re doing, but the energy is low as we approach the table. We confuse reverence with being somber. So we decorated the altar and benches with streamers and balloons and, during communion, had the same SCs who had prayed with and for our campers ring the space with sparklers and bubbles. It was amazing. We expressed what we were grateful for before we all joined in the great thanksgiving. It was a wondrous way to close our week worshipfully.

Tomorrow we send our campers home. We send them back to the joys and struggles of everyday life. And, after hearing their hurts, sharing their dreams, and drawing near to our God together, I will continue to pray for them.

I’ve come to the conclusion that camp is amazing, exhausting, wonderful, challenging, and transformative. There are endless bumps, bruises, and bug bites. But there are also endless opportunities. And a lot of what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. I know that for a lot of campers, they are at a liminal moment, a threshold time between where they are and where they are going.

Yesterday at dinner we had a hunger banquet. At the door, all 225 campers along with the 30 senior counselors were given a ticket at the door that directed them to an upper-class section (with tables and chairs), middle-class section (with chairs), or lower-class section (on the floor). We embodied the reality that the earth’s resources, which are sufficient for everyone, are not fairly distributed.

The 15% in the upper-class enjoyed a 3 course meal served to them in their seats, with two people nearby to get them whatever they wanted. The middle-class folks received rice and beans on a plate as they went through a buffet line. The lower-class folks were given a pot of rice and a large bowl of water on the floor. There were not enough bowls, cups, or napkins for all of them so they had to figure it out. You can learn more about hunger banquets at Oxfam.

I had never attempted this sort of experiential activity with so large a group. I was apprehensive about whether or not the campers would embrace it or just try to ignore it. Many of them asked me, “Is this all we’re getting tonight?” My response, “This is dinner.” It was a statement of fact to let them live in the moment without comforting themselves that there would be pizza later in the evening.

It was startling to see how quickly the folks relegated to the lower-class group turned on each other and their fellow campers as they tried to get food. Some chose not to eat since they didn’t like rice, which is not an option for folks who are truly hungry. And when the upper-class got cheesecake for dessert, there was an audible outcry from the other parts of the room.

It was a great social experiment to bring these things together in one room. In our debriefing, we noted that most of the time the poor are invisible because we push them to the margins, out of our sight so that we are not bothered by our self-indulgence and waste. One of the girls who was sitting in the upper-class said at the end of the meal, “I feel bad throwing away this food.” The impact of seeing many of her fellow youth go hungry had hit home. I nodded and asked, “Did you throw away any food at lunch?” I saw her eyes go wide as she realized she had, but she had been unaware of the impact that had made.

We also noted that they are junior high youth and they may not get much say in what food their parents buy and how resources are used. But they are not powerless. There is always something we can do. When we imaginatively perform small acts, the world can be transformed. Glory be to God!

Today I walked into Kiker, the main gathering building at Bridgeport Camp & Conference Center, and, for the first time this year, had the moment that said, “Wow! I’m at camp…” The room was full of bodies – short, tall, male, female, younger, older. It’s an amazing moment when you realize all of these youth and adults have decided to spend a week at church camp. Sure, there’s going to be fun, but there’s also going to be invitations to deepen faith, recommit to the way of a disciple, and consider what might be risked to respond to God.

That’s our theme this year – Risk the Response. I’m excited. Last night we met with senior counselors (SCs) and junior counselors (JCs) and I was so encouraged to see their leadership and faithfulness in offering their time and talent to serve in this way. It’s good news in a world that increasingly presses us to do otherwise. Setting aside a week – away from televisions, computers, and the usual routine – is a huge deal. To offer to lead youth, whether they are your children, your church members, or your peers, is exceptional.

I’m so glad to be here, although my heart broke a little on leaving my family for a week. But as I crested the rise on the little FM to see the lake sparkling in the sunlight and camp spread out like a playground for the faithful, I felt ready for a week of camp. Camp is an amazing ministry. It’s more than playing games or swimming or worship. It’s set aside time, so I guess, in a way, it’s sabbath. It’s set aside time to draw closer to each other and to God. And it’s a thing we’re reluctant to do most of the time, in the “real world.”

But somehow, this feels more real. It feels more solid, more grounded, more tapped into the great fount of creation. So even though I’ll miss lots of sleep as I solve challenges in my work as a director and I miss my family something terrible and one of my co-directors became my hero by killing at least 4 monsterous bugs in my room before bedtime last night, I am deeply glad and grateful to be at camp.

Today is/was the last workday of the middle school mission trip to DOOR (Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection) in San Antonio. It’s been amazing to get to know our youth better and serve in the city. Reflecting with a couple of our girls, we came to the conclusion that breaking free of our routines helps open our eyes to new things. When we are locked into our routines, as healthy and wonderful as they may be, we often miss the challenging and godly opportunities right in front of us.

I know it was definitely a challenge to explain why there are homeless, why workers at a center for developmentally challenged persons may get short with their clients at times, or even just the bus system as we took public transportation. I found myself often encouraging our youth to be flexible and positive as we sought to serve. And, honestly, those aren’t bad qualities to cultivate even in the midst of my ordinary life.