The 12th Sunday After Pentecost:
Scriptures: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14
Key Verse: “Let mutual love continue.” (Hebrews 13:1)
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Hello, This is Jade.
Welcome to Yi.kigai
A space for all to explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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The phrase comrade in arms reminds me of several stories that show the importance of teamwork in overcoming challenges together and celebrating the intangible or tangible outcomes. As I get older, I have come to appreciate the intangible outcomes more, such as strengthened relationships and new relationships, new possibilities and old lessons unlearned. And by God’s grace through faith, greeting the hope in Christ that we can’t fully see yet seems to be a good posture every comrade-in-arms needs to have.
Earlier this year, the church where I am interiming wanted to have a ministry that helped them to address their commitment on combating racism. In the process of discerning, visioning, and planning, a small team of four including myself concluded that whatever we did, we should include children and not just only adults, even though we hadn't had any children participate in church activities since the beginning of the pandemic. We aimed to launch the adult program, called the Awareness of Prejudices and Biases program, as well as the Summer Vacation Bible School for the children around July and August. And thanks be to God, we made it!
Three weeks before the program, we began publicizing the Summer VBS program through our readerboard and emails, hoping we could reach out to the children who attended our church before the pandemic as well as children in our neighborhood. Two weeks before the start of VBS, we didn’t hear any good news in terms of registrations or volunteers. So, you might wonder who “we” is? A family of three and myself were the only ones that had committed to the program. That’s it. This family was my comrade in arms; and I was theirs.
Throughout the week during VBS, from Monday to Friday, from 9:30 am to noon, we accomplished less than what we planned to offer in terms of educational content for both the children and their guardians due to some challenges. Church members volunteered just a few days before the program started. Neither did they participate in the planning sessions, nor could they volunteer every day. And some children could only join at the end of the week. As a result of this, the teaching and leading roles were modified at the last minute each day so that all the volunteers could get to know children and build relationships with them, which was our focus. In the end, there were 28 of us between the volunteers and children!
Who is the comrade in arms for the whole week on our faith journey together? I would say the 28 of us, their guardians who dropped them off and picked them up, and any prayer warriors of the church. If I’m speaking truthfully, I am not sure that everyone can see the intangible outcomes. What I’m certain of is that seeds of faith in God were planted and watered in such a short amount of time in that week. Not everyone’s faith gets to flourish in one week, does it? We can only hope that whatever we have offered in Jesus’ name may please and glorify God. And we pray that our comrades in arms will continue to grow in faith and be a great extension of God’s loving arms in each of their neighborhoods, loving their neighbors as much as themselves.
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May your coming week be blessed by God’s grace
As together we explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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