To Write Love on Her Arms

To Write Love On Her Arms. The name of an incredible organization. The words for a hurting generation. The name of a based-on-true-events movie. A movement of redemption, recovery, and celebration.

Tonight I had the awesome opportunity to invite friends into my soon-to-be apartment and watch the new movie To Write Love on Her Arms which tells the true story of Renee Yohe and the 5 days before entering into Rehab that she spent with Jamie Tworkowski who would then publish her story and start this non-profit. To Write Love on her arms has become a nonprofit which aims to present hope for people struggling with addiction, depression, self-injury and thoughts of suicide while also investing directly into treatment and recovery (twloha.com). This movie tells that tale and for a Hollywood film I felt it was really well done.

I felt it helped to raise awareness of the hidden struggles that are not typically "socially acceptable" to discuss. It showed that recovery is possible, but that rehab does not completely fix everything. This film also captured the beautiful fact that recovery for any problem is not possible alone. This is just another affirmation that we are not meant to be alone in life. The movie showed that it was through mentoring and being surrounded by people that cared about her which brought Renee to recovery.

This movie is an excellent example of our dire need for discipleship. That word is often thrown around in church settings and there are countless books on how to disciple and 5 step formulas on discipling others. It is thrown around, but the sad truth is it does not always happen. Often times many places assume that if we get someone to enter into recovery, if we get someone to say a simple prayer, to follow a simple set of rules, or if we get someone to admit they have a problem that Jesus will fix everything from there and that is where we stop. The thing is that is where we should be beginning. The Great Commission calls Christians to go and make disciples. It does not say to go and fix people, but it says to go and disciple people. The problem with discipleship is, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer tells us, it costs us. It's messy. It's not easy.

Discipleship is what is shown in this beautiful true story of recovery. Discipleship is when Renee's friends let her live with them during the 5 days she has to get clean because the rehab center denied her entrance until then. Discipleship is the one on one time that she had with Tworkowski and Mckenna where they taught her ways to kick her addictions. When they shared with her practices on what to do when it gets hard. Discipleship was then returned at the conclusion of the film when SPOILER ALERT Mckenna relapses and Renee finds him and reminds him of how he helped her.

In an interview with Jamie Tworkowski he says that he wants people to watch the movie and see that it is, "a story about broken people loving broken people. It's about friends trying to be friends in the midst of their pain." He then goes on to explain that in his opinion, "a good story is not one that impresses you. It's one that brings you back to the story that you are living and the stories that you're connected to--and to think differently about those things." This is discipleship. We do not have to be perfect to disciple others. We do have to be present with them in the midst of their troubles. To celebrate their victories and mourn with them in their relapses.

The movie is pretty dark and realistic, but only touches the surface of what many people deal with and struggle with everyday. It shows the hardships of addiction and self-hate as well as showing that rehab does not completely fix everything. It's all about discipleship. It's all about community. It's all about living life with people not just in the happy-go-lucky parts, but in the messy, crazy, unplanned and unscheduled parts.

So let us take time to really get to know people. To disciple people. To give hope to people. To write love on her arms.

Let us Continue the Celebration

The week of missions trips. At least that's what my social media feed is portraying about this past week. The Nazarene Youth Groups are returning from NYC in Louisville, there are many teens and families who have returned from missions trips through Youth Works all over the country, and along with many other groups my youth group of the First Presbyterian church of Mount Vernon has returned from our trip to Wayfarer's Land Camp. Our trip was not your average missions trip, but it filled each of the students in different ways and planted seeds of amazing ideas in their minds.

This trip was the first big trip that I have planned for a youth group and in the past I had been on the other end of this--with Youth Works I was the one planning and welcoming in the youth groups. Since the moment I got hired I spent hours talking about this trip, vision casting, and helping coordinate the many fundraisers we put on. There were many days where it felt like the very point of our meetings was to prepare for this one trip--which is precisely the idea that I do not want to portray to the students. This trip is meant to be part of the normal rhythm of our OUT/IN/UP approach to ministry. Was this trip completely normal? No, but it was a much needed reminder and refresher for all the ministry we can do here in our home community of Knox County.

                                                                       The Group right before the trip to Wilmore, KY.

We departed early Monday morning for Asbury University in Wilmore, KY for a trip where we had little to no expectations and could not have guessed the amazing ways that the Holy Spirit was going to work that week. We had a safe and relatively uneventful drive which was good because once we arrived we jumped right into the crazy schedule of our week. This jam packed schedule seemed to overwhelm everyone on the first and second day, except for myself who has run similar settings through YouthWorks. As a new leader who was still getting acquainted with this youth group family, I was pretty worried about how the rest of the week would go with how drained and exhausted the entire team seemed when we debriefed that first night.

Then we attended our first worship session when we were there and it all came into focus. The students began to relax. Many began to be vulnerable and just praise their Creator as we embraced this theme of celebration and asked the Spirit to fill us with His good and perfect gifts. As the week progressed I was blessed to see students worship through fun water games, crazy running indoor games, through raising their hands and dancing like fools for Jesus more and more each day, through sharing in our church group times,  through serving by helping out at a Shelter for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence, and through seeking God in prayer. Every day I saw the teenagers get more into the different elements of worship and every day I saw God shining through each and every student. Each night when we would share at church group time, through all of our giggles and fun stories, I was nearly brought to tears each time as I reflected on how blessed I am to lead this amazing family.

We did have one incident where we had to rush a student to the hospital, but God was able to use that experience to bring us closer together. The joke has been that since I had a hospital run on this trip I was officially initiated into the group. Throughout each day of celebrating Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost I felt closer to each individual there and by the end of the week I had felt like I knew each of them for many years when in reality I had only been there for around two months. There is something about going through incredibly stressful situations with people that brings you even closer together. It creates a bond that cannot be faked.

As we prepared to leave Wayfarer Land Camp the 3DM team stressed the importance of allowing the celebration from the week to continue on in everyone's lives. There was a story told of when we were all in preschool how when it was our birthday we would bring in cupcakes to share with everyone. The older we get the more we lose this mentality of sharing good gifts with people. The prayer that was left over everyone as we departed was that we would continue the celebration and share our "cupcakes" of the experience with all that we would come in contact with.

I saw the beginning of those cupcakes being shared at our Missions Trip Debriefing night last night at our Youth Fellowship. We had invited out Session members, church sponsors, and parents to hear the testimonies of those who got to attend this incredible missions experience. As I sat there and listened to most of the students stand up in front of everyone and share how God has impacted their lives on this trip, how they want to go back next year, and how they could clearly feel the Spirit within them it filled me with joy. It was not simply happiness, but it was a joy that the Spirit provides. All week as I had heard that "every good and perfect gift comes from the Father" I had been praying for each of these amazing students. I had been praying that the Spirit would work within their lives and bring about transformation where they needed it. So to hear them share of these incredible Spirit-led experiences they had I truly felt like it had been a gift from the Spirit. As I felt thankful for this gift I felt I should do something I had not planned on. I invited everyone attending to lay hands on those who went on the trip and pray over them. I asked everyone to pray that this fire that is burning within those who went would stay and continue to lead them to do amazing things in their very own community.

                              The group being prayed over after we have returned                                     

So my prayer for all those who went on the trip and really for anyone who already went or will be going on a service oriented trip this summer is that it will fill you with the great gifts from the Spirit and prepare you to continue in your own community to do what the Lord is calling you to. My prayer is that everyone who returns from a trip will be empowered to continue the fire, to share the cupcake, and to realize what kind of leader they are. To realize as it is says in Ephesians 4 if they are an apostle, evangelist, prophet, teacher, or pastor/shepherd. I pray that each and every individual who either traveled on our trip, went elsewhere, or stayed in our community will be so empowered by the Spirit they will know how they are to minister, where they are to minister, and what they can do to share that light.

Holy Spirit lead us.
                                         

Jurassic World: Control and Community

In the midst of my busy schedule of this past weekend I was able to take a break and see the new movie Jurassic World and having only seen the first Jurassic Park movie I found that it was a very good film that did a great job at connecting to the first movie by adding to the story and making funny references throughout. Overall I was very impressed with this very fun movie and my fiance and I walked away from it with a deep, philosophical conversation.We felt that the movie did an excellent job at appealing to people's adrenaline rushes they get from a good adventure as well as providing very insightful commentary to our society today. Jurassic World was an excellent reminder to us of how much we, as a society, try to control everything and even at times 'play God'.

We try to control our schedule. We want to control our food intake. Where we shop. What we wear. Who we hang out with. Where we live. Here in the states we all have a set plan that we must follow or for some of us who desire to be spontaneous we have the freedom to control how spontaneous we are. We even go as far as trying to control nature and the animals that God has created; the movie does an excellent job of communicating this very message to us. Although I wonder how many will overlook that for the awesome CGI, epic giant dinosaur fights, and the tiny bit of romance. All of these things are great things, but why is it that we are always trying to control things in life?

One of my favorite lines of the film is when the park owner, Masrani says, "The key to a happy life is to accept you are never actually in control." This is shown all throughout the film that when they try and control the dinosaurs and plan out what will happen, things simply do not happen how they want.

I have noticed this with my own life. When I try and control exactly what will happen and when it will--and trust me, I am a huge planner and often try to do just that--things typically do not go according to plan. There have been times where I have tried to plan a spontaneous, romantic date and it goes no where according to my plan. It still ends up being a fun goofy date but, nothing like I planned. 

When I chose to go to MVNU to study Youth Ministry I had no intention of staying in the same community that the university was in afterwards. I had all these ideas of where I wanted to control my life to be at, however, because I let God have control I ended up staying in this incredible, often overlooked and undervalued, growing, little college town. I never would have been able to plan or control that I would one day end up working part time for a coffee shop where I would meet the most incredible people. There was one day I met an Amish poet who wanted to share his poems with me. Another time I met an elderly woman who I was able to sit with during my break and learn all about her bar tending years in her youth and how she was an american pool champion and had traveled all over the US competing unofficially. I never would have met incredible baristas that are willing to talk theology, religion, and spirituality with me and not try to argue against my more liberal leanings. Life truly does seem more fun when I surrender control and let God lead.

Another beautiful element involving control that Jurassic World exhibited was the idea that those who wanted to seize control were not really the true leaders. It was those who gave up control that ultimately were given the authority to lead. It was those who did not want to control others that were the ones who were trusted to lead. This very idea of control was also very connected to community and our instinctive need for it. In the film (SPOILER!!!) the Jurassic World staff are keeping a new genetically modified dinosaur in captivity and isolation until it is ready to be presented to the public and this creature ends up out smarting them and escaping from its cage in order to reek havoc and kill those who kept it in isolation. Early on in the film they share how they assumed it would be okay to keep the dinosaur in captivity and isolation because the raptors that Chris Pratt's character raised and trained were brought up in captivity. Pratt's character explains that it worked for them because they grew up with siblings in a pack. They had others with them to learn from. They had community. When we isolate ourselves and are forced to be without others we can fall into destructive patterns. When we are completely isolated we are much more susceptible for destruction and our downfall. At the end of the day this is just another beautiful reminder that we desperately need community. We need others. We are made to be with people and not to live alone. Our survival skills will not be enough if we are alone.

Oftentimes in the Christian community it can be easy to fall into American materialism and assume that we need to be in control. I think there are many who identify by the term "Christian" and yet try to live a life where they can control everything. There are those who try to gain the upper hand because they think this title gives them the right to do so. That, however, is simply missing the point. If we look to Jesus, the one we are called to imitate and follow as our Rabbi, we can see that this life is not one of control. Jesus himself, part of the Holy Trinity, did not view control as something to focus on, but instead humbled himself to serve others. That is what we must do. This is so wonderfully shown in Philippians 2:5-8 which says,

  

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

So let's stop trying to play God and control things. Stop trying to fight nature. And stop trying to be alone. Let's embrace community and nature and live life accepting we cannot always be in control and life will still be okay.

Post Grad Community

"We'll see each other again. We're all staying in the Columbus area this is not goodbye." These were the words that were exchanged on the day of my college graduation. It had been an incredible four years journeying with my roommate and crazy awesome friends. We had studied through tons of classes, played many pranks on each other, and went on many adventures. Some would say that I had the best four years of my life thus far at the University. And now we were all graduating and heading out to different parts of the Columbus area of Ohio to pursue careers, relationships, and whatever the next adventure holds. It is crazy to think I started this blog four years ago when I started college and now I am 3 weeks into post graduation life.

Since graduation I have been working two part-time jobs as a Starbucks Barista and as a Youth Ministry Director for the local Presbyterian church (PCUSA). I have had a very flexible schedule filled with interacting with fun co-workers at Starbucks by having talks on the church, theology, and politics; as well as getting to know a new youth group and planning a week long missions trip. My days have consisted of work, ministry, and hanging out with my incredible fiance as well as my new roommate and good friends. I have found that I currently have more freedom in the post grad life so I have been striving to connect with my friends who are in the area. I am quickly learning the intentionality that is needed in post grad life to continue to have meaningful relationships.

Today I was reminded of that intentionality. I had two of my good college friends--one of which was my roommate of four years--come back and visit me. We got to have lunch together to catch up and went adventuring around Mount Vernon. It was such a blessing to get to live life with these individuals for a few hours again today. I know I have incredible friends here, but it is so refreshing to see that those who have moved away are still involved in my life. Then to make matters even better I have more of my former apartment mates and friends coming to visit this weekend. It is a beautiful reminder of what intentional community can look like.

So many people think that once you transition out of a phase in life--like graduating--that you need to just move on and let people go, but I would like to argue that you do not need to do that. True community is one where people stay connected and continue to live life together even from a distance. There comes a time in our lives where we meet people who drastically change our lives. We meet people who have changed our lives so much we do not let geographic boundaries keep us from being apart of each others lives. This is community and yet it is more than just community. Rev. Michael Frost uses the term communitas to describe the sense of community that is achieved when we are in a place of transition--much like college--and these people were a part of my communitas, but they are also more than that. These people are the ones that I want to truly live life with and be a true community. I know, much like in real life, I am saying the word community a lot, but I am not using it lightly. I believe all of creation was made for relationships and community and that when we find those people to live life with in community we are beginning to live life as it should be.

So let us find those people we can best live life with. Let us find that community and communitas we are so drastically yearning for. Let us live in relationships.

Searching for Sunday

As someone who has grown up in the evangelical tradition, had an awesome upbringing, and since I have been in college has found a love for liturgy and the mainline traditions I have found that Rachel Held Evan's new book Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church was an incredible and refreshing read. This was an incredible read that was beautifully written and probably Rachel Held Evan's best book so far! I was not able to put the book down and found myself reading it every where I went. I loved how she so authentically shared her journey of leaving and then finding a church where she can belong and feel loved simply for showing up. Sometimes it can be so easy to get caught up in how the worship is or what kind of music they play, but at the end of the day it is completely about the people there. It is about the community and how loving they are. This past Sunday I visited a church in town and I was overwhelmed (in a good way) about how friendly and welcoming they seemed to be. I could tell that the church knew that my fiance and I were visitors and they wanted us to feel welcomed and as if this was a place we could return to and belong at. From the very beginning people told us that we should come, get involved, become members, and find our niche in ministry. We could tell that this was not a place of just coming to church on Sunday, but that it was a place we could belong to. We could tell all of this just from the people we met that day. It felt like such a blessing I almost cried--which granted is not a big deal for me, but still.

 The book did an excellent job at showing that she still loves evangelicalism and would never completely give it up. I felt this book emphasized the importance of denominations, the sacraments, and unity without uniformity. Searching for Sunday helps one gain a better appreciation for the sacraments of: baptism, confession, holy orders, communion, confirmation, anointing of the sick, and marriage. There were chapters I cried in, laughed at, and underlined in at least 10 times in. Most of the margins have notes and scribbles affirming what was read in the book. This may be the best book I have read in awhile and it is a great one for anyone questioning how they view the Church or even how the church should be. There are examples of so many types of churches. This is a call to not leave the church--or even to leave a particular denomination, but to find the beauty in the Church universal. To realize that the Church is messy, confusing, and ongoing, but it is the Bride of Christ. As Rachel so eloquently writes, "All we have is this church--this lousy, screwed-up, glorious church--which, by God's grace, is enough."

Interested yet? Searching for Sunday comes out on April 14th, tomorrow, so order it now at www.searchingforsunday.com 

Be fruitful and Multiply: The Great Commission

“God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28, New Revised Standard Version).

Genesis 1:28. The Biblical mandate humanity was given in this creation narrative. The Biblical mandate that is so often used to tell Christians why they must have kids. Why it is the duty of good married couples to procreate. This verse has plagued many couples who do not feel a calling to have children or may not be able to have children. This verse has been both a blessing and a curse to people, but I wonder if we have missed the point. Have we viewed this passage in a simplistic way by limiting it to procreation?

I am not in any way saying procreation is not a good and godly thing, but what is truly its purpose? Are we just meant to populate the earth and then would that not make it irrelevant now in our overpopulated world? Or is the purpose to represent the church as people of the Kingdom. When we make a family we are making little Kingdoms. Alexander Schmemman in his book For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy says, “Family is a big part of the sacrament of matrimony because each family is a kingdom, a little church, and therefore a sacrament of a way to the Kingdom (Kindle loc. 1293).The purpose of having a family is to be little churches, but those little churches are not meant to be alone. Those churches are called to minister in their context and also gather together with other churches or families.

In these gatherings we can share what our church has done and equip new people to go out and start their own churches. That does not mean that everyone must go out and have kids to start a family. What it means is that people should go out and be the church. When people start and multiply churches it is the same as starting a family. If we are truly being the church we should be like a family. When we equip and send people out we have reproduced people to go out and be a family in a context we could never reach.

Viewing procreation as a means of creating little churches allows us to see this passage of Scripture in a larger more meaningful way. I wonder if when God created humankind in His image and gave us this command if it was more of a command to be the church. God is calling his people to go out and build the kingdom. We see this mandate all throughout Scripture and we are reminded of it through the words of Jesus in the New Testament when he says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20, NRSV). Jesus is not calling us to something new. This is not a radical new lifestyle. This is showing us what He intended from the beginning. So we are all--married, single, celibate--called to make disciples, to multiply and fill the earth with the love of God which ushers in the Kingdom.

The point of the Church is not to make one little group and leave it in that community. The point of the Church is to equip and empower others in your group to start other groups. If we are to be the Body of Christ, we must be allow the Spirit to work in us and fill us with fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When these fruits are present in our lives it will naturally lead us to go and multiply the Church. To lead others into the life giving freedom of the Kingdom of God.

Sources:

Schmemann, Alexander. For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy. Crewstwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary, 2000. Print.

Be the Change in Your Community.

Since the very first "Bible Lesson" that I wrote myself I have found that I am passionate about the verse Matthew 25:40 and in a larger spectrum I am most drawn to passages of Scripture that proclaim good news to the poor, oppressed, marginalized, etc. It is this very reason that I am drawn to books such as When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, The Hole in the Gospel by Richard Stearns, and A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans to name a few. This is also why I am so often drawn to liberation theology and firmly believe that as those who claim to follow the Resurrected Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we have a duty to love and serve the marginalized, poor, least of these, etc. It is not merely something good we might do, nor a legalistic set of rules, but it is how we live out this lifestyle of the Kingdom. There is so much disunity, dysfunction, and brokenness on this side of the Kingdom and so that alone shows the need for the Body of Christ to bring change in the world.

I bring up all of this because I have found that there are certain causes that people say everyone needs to contribute and be main advocates for. I have often been told that if I truly believed in Matthew 25:40--which I hope I do since I have it tattooed on my wrist--then I needed to put most of my focus on advocating and speaking up for this one certain group. You fill in the blank. Sometimes I wonder if helping the least of these has been used to guilt people into supporting certain causes or advocate for certain groups.

I am not saying that those people are wrong or that those certain groups do not need help and advocacy, but what I want to argue is that not everyone is called to every single group. Some people may feel led to work with promoting a pro-life from birth to death mentality, some may feel led to work with the homeless, some may feel led to work with those marginalized in the LGBTQ community, some may feel led to adopt, some may feel led to foster, and some may feel led to work with providing education to third world countries. All of these are groups and settings that we should support and be in favor of, however, I would say that people should choose where they are being led to put their focus.

In our overbooked, over-scheduled life we cannot take part in every cause and we cannot fully devote ourselves to every marginalized group. I believe that we should always be standing with the marginalized in whatever context we are living/working and that we should focus on ministering to those specifically in our context. It is also important to know where, with the help of the Spirit, we can be most effective with the skills and gifts that God has equipped us with. Instead of trying to tackle every social issue out there, we need to pick the ones we have been equipped to work with and encourage those who are called to other issues to pursue those.

As the Body of Christ we need to follow the pattern of Jesus when He said,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

        to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

    and recovery of sight to the blind,

        to let the oppressed go free,

 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” 

(Luke 4:18-19 NRSV) 

We should be striving to share the good news of liberation from oppression that Jesus provides. We should be striving for a holistic understanding of transformation that cares about each person's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. We need to proclaim this good news to those who are marginalized in our context. We need to use the gifts that we have been given to impact our communities. 

So who are you called to minister and serve? Who needs liberation in your community? What has God given you a passion for? Homelessness? Human Trafficking? Gender Inequality? LGBTQ issues? Abortion? AIDS/HIV? Orphans? Lack of education? World Hunger? Thirst? Whatever it may be, what it is that breaks your heart...go after it. 

Let's stop getting overwhelmed by all the issues in the world and thinking there is not a change we can make. Let's instead act on what we can, live out our passions, focus on the change we can make in our own communities, and advocate for the issues we have been given a passion for, while empowering others to advocate for the issues they feel led to stop.

If we work together, as the Body of Christ, with all of our different passions and gifts, we can truly make a difference and help usher in the Kingdom.