From meditation to mission: Postcards from the heart

May your summer be filled with rest, Sabbath, inner discoveries and engagement in different kinds of ministries.  Summer is often a time when churches have a slower pace, or perhaps just a different pace.  The same is true for my calendar in the coming weeks.  I will be taking some of the summer off as a renewal leave. 

During that time I hope to dedicate much time to prayer and contemplation.  During part of the renewal leave I am scheduled to be at the Bon Secours Spiritual Center in Marriottsville, Md., for a silent retreat.  I appreciate your prayers for my discernment, wisdom and a closer walk with the Lord.

During another part of the summer I will teach a course on “Disabilities and the Church” at three of our United Methodist Women's “Mission U” gatherings.  “Mission U” is the new name for what used to be the School of Christian Mission.  Two years ago I was contracted  by the United Methodist Women to write the text for this study, and I am happy to say that a study guide was added to it.  The “Mission U” participants will have an opportunity to study how we as a church can do a better job in ministry with people with disabilities. 

Happy Father's Day

I was visiting Doylestown UM Church recently and Pastor Mike told me that there had been a request by a father in the congregation to have a baby changing table in the men's restroom.  I was happy to hear that. Diaper changing can be done by both mothers and fathers.  

I was flying to St. Louis earlier this week as a dad and his little girl sat behind me.  For the entire two-hour flight this father entertained his child in loving ways, telling stories and playing games. He was immersed in his relationship with this lively daughter. 

Fathers are doing many practical acts of parenting in these present times.  I remember my own father was from a generation that did not change diapers, nor was he present in the labor room. Times were different then, but my dad did some great parenting in other ways.  His wisdom was a precious gift.

I remember there was a stream behind our house, and my sister and I spent hours trying to dam up the stream with piles of bricks and logs.  Somehow we thought we could stop the flow of water by our own efforts, but time and again the water would eventually pour over top of our finely crafted barricades and continue to flow downstream.  

My father took note of this and decided to teach us a lesson.  Instead of a barricade he built us a bridge.  It was a passageway over top of the stream.  The stream could keep doing its thing, and we could come and go on either bank using dad's bridge.

That was a lesson in life for me about managing fast-moving water, and later about managing conflicts.  Sometimes barricades do not work.  Sometimes they're not supposed to.  Dad's wisdom, taught with wood and nails, was this:  It is often better to build a bridge to cross over to the other side or even to meet in the middle, than to erect a barricade and try to stop a moving force of nature.  

This is a good option when conflict and confrontations prove to be fruitless.  Building bridges of understanding is the high road; a road I saw my dad take many times in his life.  He modeled bridge-building in many of his interpersonal relationships.  Romans 12:18 reminds us: "As far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."

Happy Father's Day to all our fathers and father-figures!  Be nurturing, be wise, be role models for your children, for all children.  Build bridges for them, or with them.  And the lessons you teach by your good example could live on for a lifetime--indeed, for generations.

Hope is seeing young people answering the call to missions

Nothing gives me more hope for the future of the church of Jesus Christ than to see young people be involved in mission work. 

Becky Parsons is commissioned
by Global Ministries as a Church
and Community Worker in 2009.

Last week I had breakfast with Rebecca Parsons.  She is a Church and Community Worker with the General Board of Global Ministries.  She works in Roanoke, Va., where she is the director of four after-school programs for low-income children.  They feed the children a hot meal, help with homework, engage in a number of educational programs and also have fun. 

Rebecca coordinates more than 250 volunteers, writes grants, sends kids to summer camp, visits her supporting churches, arranges transportation and helps families in need.  She says that mission work sometimes means standing with a fire marshal and listening to a list of what is wrong with a building so you can make the place safe for kids.  It is also about creating a place where there is singing and clapping and messiness and the church being signs of God’s love in the community. 

Education for Girls

Our hearts were kidnapped on April 14^th along with nearly 300 Nigerian School girls who are being held captive by an Islamic militant organization known as Boko Haram.  The world is crying out for their release and there have been many protests, and cries from the leaders of all major countries are putting pressure on the Nigerian government to do more to bring them home.

Why were they abducted in the first place?  The term “Boko Haram” means “Western Education is forbidden.”  This group believes that girls should not be in school but should get married instead.  They teach that Western education corrupts the moral values of Muslims, especially girls.  

Not long ago in October of 2012 a Pakistani teenaged named Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban extremists who had banned girls from attending school.  Amazingly she survived the ordeal and addressed the United Nations at a youth conference last year.  She said “I am here to speak up for the right of education for every child.  I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all terrorists and extremists.(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malala_Yousafzai).

Honoring Mothers by ‘Heeding God’s Call’

The words of Jeremiah 31:15 came to mind when I attended the “Heeding God’s Call” Good Friday Procession and Vigil:  “Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping.  Rachel is weeping for her children.  She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

A group of about 150 people gathered in Sister Clara Muhammad Park to raise a cry on behalf of mothers and fathers who have lost their children and loved ones to gun violence in Philadelphia this year.  There were over 200 T-shirts displayed around the park, one for each of the slain, many of whom were children and young people.  They stood in a silent witness to us as a number of speakers shared their stories.

One mother explained about her 18 year old son, who was shot to death by mistake when there had been an argument at a party.  She said that this senseless killing has caused her and her family to rise up and do something to encourage citizens and lawmakers to get drugs and guns off the streets. 

Another woman shared that her son had been killed 25 years ago and she still attends rallies and speaks at schools and gatherings wherever she can to help people understand the importance of everyone doing their part to change things not only in Philadelphia but the entire nation.  Still another mother called on people to stop talking and start a movement that will make a difference. 

Africa University’s Good News

It is a joy to be a part of the United Methodist family because together we can do so much good.  Recently a team from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry visited Africa University in Zimbabwe and one board member from our Episcopal Area, Mr. Demetrio Beach, was able to meet the students who received our scholarships. He presented them with Bibles (see photo below) and encouraged them to continue serving the Lord and improving the lives of people in their countries.

Here is one of the “thank you” letters from a student who received our scholarship money:

My name is Banza Mutunda Mimie.  I am female and the first born in a family of seven—four girls and three boys.  My father’s name is Kasongo Ndalamba Kate, and he is a pastor in the United Methodist Church in the North Katanga Annual Conference in Kamina, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I am a second-year student in the faculty of Health Sciences doing management studies at Africa University in Zimbabwe.  My objective at Africa University is to fulfill my dream, which I started in my country at the secondary level.  I have done nursing and would like to continue with the same idea, but majoring in management in order to become a manager in one of the medical organizations in my country (DRC). …(My country) has become vulnerable to diseases such as: HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Cholera, TB and others.  Due to these matters I was inspired to do my studies in the medical area in order to be a part of the development process that aids in the prevention of these diseases.

It is a great pleasure and an honor for me to write to you, my sponsor.  This letter is to inform you that you have made my dream alive in providing me with the scholarship.  Regarding my family possibility, I was hopeless to achieve my goals, but you have made it possible.  For this reason I and especially my family are really grateful for such unforgettable action that has inspired us.  Our prayer is to see God showing his blessing upon you and all your family.  Africa University is a blessing to me and the hope for the best future of my family and my country.” 

'Let It Go'

At this year’s Academy Awards the soundtrack single that took first place was “Let It Go,” from the Disney movie “Frozen.”  This is a defiant song of liberation as Queen Elsa no longer holds back her ice-making powers.  She sings of freedom as she builds a spectacular palace of ice with flicks of her wrists.

Some of the lyrics whisper words of resurrection to me: “The fears that once controlled me can’t get to me at all.”  And “I’ll rise like the break of dawn.”  

The main message of Easter is resurrection, not only resurrection from bodily death but from death to our souls.  It is quite possible to be brain dead and yet bodily alive due to medical science.  It is equally true that people can be dead spiritually and in need of resurrection through faith in Christ. 

Christ not only brings us life eternal in heaven but spiritual resurrection of our earthly souls and minds while we are here walking on the earth.  Paul writes to the church in Ephesus: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.” (2:4-5) Through faith we have the power to be free of sin and the bondage it holds on us.

Like the ice queen in the movie, prior to her liberating change of heart, we sometimes are bound by fear, by guilt, by doubts.  Even those who know the Lord fall back at times into an attitude of worry, having flashbacks to times when we have failed, looking around at friends and comparing ourselves, or casting a judgmental eye on the ministry of others or their theological beliefs.  All of that brings spiritual death, and we so easily allow it to entangle itself around our souls.

Let it go!  Let it go by once again claiming the freedom and deliverance that Christ offers us on a daily basis.  Let it go by giving up the need to “fix” others who disagree with us.  Let it go by living a life of thanksgiving and gratitude for the enormous cache of blessings that God has bestowed on us.   

This Easter as we sing “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” let us also sing “Let it Go!” And then let us go forth and live resurrected lives in Christ.