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From Associate Pastor John Weicher
Friends,
I love so very many things about a mission trip. But one of the less obvious ones is the rhythm of it. It is sequential. Low bandwidth. Analog. We do things one at a time. Now, we work, whether it’s sorting donated children’s clothes or serving a hot lunch to someone who needs one or putting up vinyl siding on a home. When it’s time to take a break to rest and drink water, we do that. When it’s time to eat dinner, we do that. When it’s time to sit together and process our day theologically, we do that. (When it’s time to beat the youth at cards, I do that.) One thing at a time.
In this way, these experiences are quite different from my regular life. Maybe, you’re like me. I answer emails as they come to my attention, in between writing chunks of a lesson plan, or say, a newsletter article. I’m thinking about who I need to call while I’m sorting through receipts and sharing photos. The order of events rarely follows what I imagine it will be when I am driving over to church. Maybe, you can relate.
There are so many ways that serving others reorients our sense of purpose. I have come to believe service also adjusts our sense of time and rhythm, putting us back on God’s beat – serve, rest, reflect, and repeat. Serve. Rest. Reflect. Repeat.
Each in their own good time. Each with as much of one’s full attention as possible. Each worthy and good, the stuff God has put us on earth to do. Each the stuff of Jesus’ earthly life. Each holy.
I wish for such a holy rhythm this summer. You may not have the blessed opportunity to serve on a mission trip on Charleston, SC or Wolf Coal, KY (in Breathitt County), but I urge you to reach to those who did and invite them to tell you the stories of their experiences there. I suspect the different time (for many of us) that is summer allows us to find the beat again. Serve. Rest. Reflect. May we all keep time in this time.
Grace & Peace,
John
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