Two Jobs: A Mid-Week Reflection

EMILY RUTLEDGE, Youth Minister

Have you ever thought about how we see color?  That the way that you see green may be how I see pink but we were taught to call that color green so that is what it is to us.  We can each be looking at the world and be seeing something totally different but all agree that is the same because we have named it that.

I will never see green through your eyes and you will never see green through my eyes so we will never know what green looks like to anyone but ourselves.  This is one of those 'makes my head hurt' ideas if I think about it for too long.  Each of us is complex and unique.

As we trudge through this election season it is becoming clear how differently people can view the same thing.  The internet is full of articles and videos that are trying to change minds, inform voters, and belittle candidates.  We are classifying ourselves into groups and making judgments regarding the wrongness and rightness of people, ideas, and situations. 

Frankly, it's getting nasty out there.  As a country we are turning against each other in ways I have not seen in my (albeit short) lifetime.  

Our desire to be right is overtaking our desire to be kind.  

As people of faith we have two jobs:

1. Love God

2. Love each other

So simple.  So hard.  

We are citizens of this country but also citizens of the Kingdom of God.  Unfortunately.... so is everyone else.  This loving each other and loving God thing isn't determined by an election but it is challenged by it.  Amy Poehler has an amazing quote in her book Yes Please where she describes women's desires to judge and tear each other down and offers the advice that we should repeat the mantra, "Good for her!  Not for me."  We may need this mantra now, as we walk through the next few months.

We are fighting tooth and nail to make others see the world as we do and in the process we are ripping each other apart.  We are ripping apart the Body of Christ.  We must must must re-member. We must literally re-member; put back together, stay connected, support, the entire Body of Christ. Those we love and those we can't stand.  Those we agree with and those we don't.  We must accept that we can not make anyone see as we see.  What we can do is love.  And love does far more than being right ever will.   

Two Jobs: A Mid-Week Reflection

EMILY RUTLEDGE, Youth Minister

Have you ever thought about how we see color?  That the way that you see green may be how I see pink but we were taught to call that color green so that is what it is to us.  We can each be looking at the world and be seeing something totally different but all agree that is the same because we have named it that.

I will never see green through your eyes and you will never see green through my eyes so we will never know what green looks like to anyone but ourselves.  This is one of those 'makes my head hurt' ideas if I think about it for too long.  Each of us id complex and unique.

As we trudge through this election season it is becoming clear how differently people can view the same thing.  The internet is full of articles and videos that are trying to change minds, inform voters, and belittle candidates.  We are classifying ourselves into groups and making judgments regarding the wrongness and rightness of people, ideas, and situations. 

Frankly, it's getting nasty out there.  As a country we are turning against each other in ways I have not seen in my (albeit short) lifetime.  

Our desire to be right is overtaking our desire to be kind.  

As people of faith we have two jobs:

1. Love God

2. Love each other

So simple.  So hard.  

We are citizens of this country but also citizens of the Kingdom of God.  Unfortunately.... so is everyone else.  This loving each other and loving God thing isn't determined by an election but it is challenged by it.  Amy Poehler has an amazing quote in her book Yes Please where she describes women's desires to judge and tear each other down and offers the advice that we should repeat the mantra, "Good for her!  Not for me."  We may need this mantra now, as we walk through the next few months.

We are fighting tooth and nail to make others see the world as we do and in the process we are ripping each other apart.  We are ripping apart the Body of Christ.  We must must must re-member. We must literally re-member; put back together, stay connected, support, the entire Body of Christ. Those we love and those we can't stand.  Those we agree with and those we don't.  We must accept that we can not make anyone see as we see.  What we can do is love.  And love does far more than being right ever will.   

A Place at The Table: Mid-Week Reflection

EMILY RUTLEDGE, YOUTH MINISTER

You may have seen information about this app floating around the internet the past few days. Its call ‘Sit With Us’ and was created to be a connector for students who are in need of people to eat lunch with and those who want to welcome people to their lunch table.  It’s simple, and beautiful, and it was created by a current high school student who ate lunch alone for her entire 7^th grade year. 

The students who are inviting others to sit with them are called ‘ambassadors’.  The definition of an ambassador is, “an accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country”.

The foreign countries of our lives are vast and expansive.  We are alone as a parent.  We are alone as a caretaker.  We are alone as a widow.  We are alone as a transfer or an old-timer or a leader.  It is easy for us to access the emotion of the student eating alone in the lunch room because we have each been there and continue to be there in some aspect of our lives. 

And, as Christians, even when our lives cause us to feel alone, we are called to be the ambassador.  An ‘accredited diplomat’.  Your accreditation: you are God’s beloved child.  Your worth is beyond measure and your gifts uniquely given so that you can officially represent our loving and accepting God.  We are called to reach out and invite people to the Table.  We are to proclaim Christ’s love through inclusion, invitation, and acceptance. 

My heart breaks to think of that sweet girl eating lunch alone for a year.  It breaks my heart and is happening every day.  In our schools, in our churches, in our workplaces, and even in our homes.  We can be surrounded by people and be so utterly and impossibly alone this world seems nothing but cold and cruel.  We must be the light, the invitation, the warmth that reminds others that we are in this together.  That we are each worthy of a place at the table.