Skip to main content

Come and See Part II


"I think we should stop asking people in their twenties what they 'want to do' and start asking them what they don't want to do."
-Amy Poehler, Yes Please

For the last 14 months, I have had the privilege to "come and see" and learn from the people of Faith Community United Methodist Church. I consider this past year a great journey of learning, development, and growth not only personally, but spiritually and professionally as well. I'm thankful for the Residency experience as it has been integral to my discernment and helped to clarify/affirm my call into ministry. 

After much time spent in prayer, reflection, and conversation with my very patient mentor, Randy Stearns and other trusted friends I am now (again) pursuing a call to Deacon's Orders. The Deacon's Orders to Word, service, justice, and compassion is intrinic to how God has wired, shaped, and gifted me. My niche for over 10 years within the non-profit sector, ministry settings, and corporate world has been working with people of any age who take on the posture of "student".

Jesus had a simple invitation. He always seemed to be encouraging people he came across to "come and see". While a handful of disciples were with him throughout his ministry, I believe there are other people who could be considered disciples who "came and saw", were transformed, and eventually went back to their context in order to create and bring about change. So as I finish the Residency Program and learning from Faith Community UMC - I leave transformed, taking all of my experiences to my next context working with children, students, and families at Peace United Methodist Church in Pickerington, Ohio. 

To the people of Faith Community UMC, thank you. I will remain forever grateful to all of you and will carry with me many memories, interactions, experiences, and conversations. Not only was I given permission to truly be myself, I was affirmed and encouraged throughout my time with you.

Throughout the year, I had a box in my office that I would fill with pieces of paper with memories written on them. As a "goodbye", I wanted to share my top 10, in no particular order:

  • Meeting with the first and second membership class to learn the history of Faith Community and the personal stories
  • Witnessing the power of families coming together to grow in their faith and their relationships at the Confirmation Retreat
  • Getting Randy to break from his "poker face" and laugh for the first time
  • Working with Stephanie to create an experiential Holy Week (Passover Seder for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday Tenebrae Service, Holy Saturday Prayer Stations)
  • Listening to people share their reflections after the Poverty Simulation
  • Being confused at the finance meeting but the team willing to answer "not stupid" questions
  • Ryan parking my car on the sidewalk
  • Hearing stories of what it was like to be a woman growing up in UMW circle gathering
  • The first Saturday Night Worship experiment
  • Seeing how excited the children were to interact with Tinker Bell and Princess Anna
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
It was a pleasure to have you at Faith and while you were here you increased my Faith! Best wishes in your new role.
September 30, 2015 at 8:46 PM
Unknown said…
Thank you for your service, broadening our horizons and sharing with us.
October 3, 2015 at 11:54 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Building with adobe mud bricks in Ohio is not "a thing"

I’m soaking wet, standing in the middle of a field in Dayton, Ohio as rain is pouring down…and all I see around me is mud . It is in this moment that it finally hits me…“I’ve made a horrible mistake...” I am many things, but one descriptor phrase is: "I’m a pusher". Read on to learn how I came about this self-realization in ministry and how I found myself standing in a field of mud. Let’s rewind to the Spring of 2007, a man who can only be described as the jolliest person’ besides good ole St. Nick was digging a post hole in order to build a tree house. This isn’t your typical, back yard tree house, this was a tree house built for a community. The man’s name was David Helmers and he was the architect and designed this tree house. David Helmers is working hard digging his hole for this massive 20’ pole that would be one of 8 to hold up the tree house. This tree house is right in the heart of this community known as el dumpe in Tijuana, Mexico – the city dump. So
Post a Comment
Read more

Lost in the Crowd

Have you ever felt lost in the crowd? For someone who loves concerts, there is always this heightened sense of anxiety for me being in a large group. I constantly catch myself looking around to make sure the people I came with are by my side, I avoid bumping into strangers, and I leave early so I'm not in this rush of people. I've found that being in large churches can feel the same way. Most of my experiences of church is from the lens of the large church context. Before I got connected with any ministry areas when I first started going to church, I found myself lost in this sea of people coming and going. I could easily slip in and out of service without people noticing and I could even miss worship and no one would think twice about it. Reflecting back, I realize that I treated church like a crowded concert that I loved going to, but rarely interacted with others and take advantage of any chance to leave early. It wasn't until I got connected to a small group
Post a Comment
Read more

A Life Full of Care and Free From Worry

My brother and I are 15 months apart, practically Irish twins, and you couldn’t get more Irish with names like "Katie and Patrick" and my brother being born on St. Patrick’s Day. While we grew up in the same household and share the same parents, there are more ways that we are different than we are alike. While we share having curly hair, the same nose, and blue eyes - even standing next to each other people wouldn’t believe we were related let alone siblings. When it comes to disposition, we were on opposite ends of the spectrum as children. Being the older sibling, teachers having my brother the next year were often shocked to find out that we were related. Growing up we both shared a love of climbing any and all things but mostly trees! While we both started out fearless in conquering the scaling of branches and seeing how high we could get, our reaction to getting down was much different. Sure, it was all fun and games when we were climbing and looking out into t
Post a Comment
Read more