On a mission for God

"Who are you, Lord?" And the reply came, "I am Jesus." - Acts 9:5

Wednesday, August 18
Akron, PA
We gathered in the Akron (PA) Mennonite Church to celebrate. More than a 100 young people from all over the world had completed their orientation for short-term service and would be headed soon to locations in North America and all over the world.
Global Service Learning director Chris Landes told participants that we gather together to express our oneness in Christ. Later, he told the youth that he had heard alot about transformation during the week and he recalled the story of the Apostle Paul.
Saul's world was turned upside down on the road to Damascus when Jesus met him on the way. Chris said it would be like that for these youth, too, on their journey. They will be transformed and will have opportunities to help transform others as they gain a fuller understanding of God's perspective of the world.
Priscila from Brazil is going to Mozambique. She said it was amazing to be with so many youth who share the same faith. She urged the youth to let love be their language and peace their tool.
Jordan from the United States is on his way to Syria. He talked about serving and learning and he said it wasn't difficult for him to imagine what God has in mind for His kingdom after spending time with this group.
Jean from Zambia will be working in a Mennonite school in eastern Pennsylvania. She urged her fellow service workers to remember that, no matter where they go, they are on a mission for God.
As I sat among the crowd and sang and worshipped with these youth, I decided that transformation wasn't too strong of a word to describe what is happening. My prayer is that we will all be transformed, across our communities and our churches, and these youth may have a significant role to play in helping that to happen.
Thanks be to God!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

They welcomed us

Image
One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. (John 9:25) She was addicted to drugs for 20 years. She was in prison and her family broke apart. Her child was in an orphanage and her husband died. Because of her substance abuse, she eventually lost her one arm below her elbow. She saw no way out. She had hit the very bottom. When she came to know God, Natalia says everything changed. She found she had a deep desire to help people like herself and she discovered that her life experiences helped her understand others. “I remember what God did in my life and I have hope that God can touch other peoples’ lives and give them new life, too,” Natalia tells me. In Nikopol, Ukraine, she and Olga and Valodya, both of whom have similar stories to tell of their own, began New Life Charitable Fund a half dozen years ago to help people in prison, or who have drug or alcohol addictions, are HIV positive, homeless or for some other reason need a helping hand. Ukraine has
Read more

God multiplies our efforts

Image
Sister Zita at the La Posada shelter with baby Emmanuel and members of our border learning tour. Photo courtesy of Janae Rempel The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail. – I Kings 17:14 Ana Hinojosa remembers growing up on the Texas-Mexico border near Brownsville in the late 80s. Her family’s house was a mile from the border wall and she remembers the extended family gatherings in her back yard. Ana, an MCC immigration staff person, says border patrol agents would rest in the shade of the trees near the front of her house and, in the same day, it would be possible for a family from Mexico to knock on her front door to ask for food or directions. Her family turned no one away. Life on the border can look quite different today. When we enter the Catholic Charities respite center in McAllen, Texas, it is startling to see the contrast from the serenity of the neighborhood outside to the chaos inside. Cesar Matta tells us that, today, the cente
Read more

A river of love

Image
For it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. – Matthew 25:40 “We are happy you are here to see this with your own eyes,” the leader of the Islamic Charities organization in Deir Attieh, Syria tells us, a group of MCC people visiting partner organizations in Syria. “We can’t express enough our heartfelt thanks to you.” Islamic Charities works with 3,000 at risk families affected by the war in the region and relies heavily on the work of volunteers. MCC provides food boxes to Islamic Charities as part of our humanitarian assistance in Syria. When I visit five families who received these food boxes, I recall the heartfelt thanks but feel mostly heart broken.    We visit two families living in a partially constructed apartment complex that stalled when the war began. The first family lives in a small two-room apartment, the mother and her five children and the woman’s father. Her husband is serving in the army. The second family includes seven
Read more