Bring it back

As many of you know, 30 youth, adults and myself spent last week in Detroit on our annual summer mission trip.  Upon arriving in Detroit, we were a little disappointed because we found out that we would be the only group on site that week.  Normally, there are 2-3 other churches and 40-50 other youth that we get to know and work beside.  So, while this week began with a bit of apprehensiveness, it didn't last long and by the end of the week, I think many, if not most, of the youth enjoyed the intimacy that we were able to create by being by ourselves.

If I ever hear a criticism of these types of trips (which is rare), it is along the lines of why do we go somewhere else when there is work to be done here, in our own community?  That is a valid question and I believe it is because there is work in our own community that we need to go somewhere else.  Many times in life, we need to be removed from somewhere in order to see it differently.  This is what mission trips do.  You leave home, have your horizons broadened and changed and you come back a different person.  You come back seeing in new ways.  You come back and you are motivated to do something in your own community that you were not doing before.

What these trips should never be about is providing good pictures for facebook, instagram or snapchat.  These trips should not be about simply making us feel better about ourselves and so now we have a better story to tell than other people at a party.  These trips should not be about us being able to brag about where we have been and the good that we have done.  If that is the case, we are not serving another person or community, we are only serving ourselves.  The other person or community becomes an object to satisfy our own needs or desires.

This does not mean that you can't feel good about what we go and do or you can't share stories about your time and how much fun you had.  You can and should.  We simply need to be mindful of why are we sharing the stories and what we expect to get out of sharing them.  Are we bringing awareness to an issue or a community that needs support, or is it our ego that needs support?

I am proud of the group that I went with to Detroit.  We had fun and we laughed...a lot.  We worked hard and slept hard.  I believe we all came back different from when we left.  We learned about privilege and racism.  We learned about being grateful for opportunities and schools.  We learned about love and service and the difference between "needs" and "wants."  We learned to see Jesus in the other person and see Jesus a bit more in ourselves.

Thank you for helping to support our youth on this trip, through financial giving and prayer.  It was worth it.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Tim