Running, jumping, singing, and dancing amidst a sea of little people. Heat, humidity, freezies, water balloons, and beads of sweat rolling down my face. A cacophony of voices, laughing out loud, and going home every night tired but smiling. If any of this sounds familiar then perhaps, like me, you spent a week at our SummerJam kids program.
When Pastor Linda asked if I wanted to be involved at SummerJam I immediately said “yes”, but I had no idea what I was in for or all that I would experience. If I had to boil it all down, I’d highlight three things:
First, the kids. One of the things that has always endeared me to Jesus is His profound love for children. With needs all around Him, and adults clamoring for attention, the Scriptures tell us that Jesus would pause in the presence of children so that He could be with them and bless them.
Children have a way of seeing the world that never ceases to inspire me. Common, everyday things that have long ago ceased to catch my eye, they behold in wonder and amazement: a bird flying, a flower blooming, the sound a truck makes. The enthusiasm children carry around in their bodies reminds me that life is truly a gift; a gift worth celebrating. I suspect at times Jesus felt the urge to leave behind the adult crowds, so that He could roam the countryside with children: playing, seeing, and worshiping as they do.
At Worship Centre this week, it quickly became apparent that worship would involve my whole body, not just my vocal chords. Our volunteers taught us actions and dance to go along with the music and words. Now you have to understand something, I am quite possibly the world’s worst dancer. Some might say I have two left feet, others might call me rhythmically challenged, but the bottom line is: I’m really bad. If it came down to a dance-off between myself and Frankenstein, I have no doubt I would be eating his proverbial “dust”. And yet, I have never felt so free in worship as I did among the children at SummerJam. Together we attuned our hearts, our voices, and our bodies to the worship of God and somehow it didn’t matter how spastic I was; what mattered was that God was watching and listening while we gave our best to Him.
I spent the past week as the leader of the “Mighty Moose” team, alongside 11 children. Each of the 11 are special and unique, each one a little image-bearer, each one a gift from God to this world, and to me. And for a week, it was such a privilege to be with them, to listen to them, to treasure them, and I trust, to bless them.
Second, the volunteers.
I had so much fun being a part of a team of 100 or so volunteers that worked together to make SummerJam happen. As I interacted with other volunteers, what struck me again and again was the diversity of the team. We had 12 year olds volunteering alongside grandmas and grandpas, and every age in between. We had counselors, and musicians, and organizers, and actors. We had people who made breakfasts and snacks, people to welcome kids at the door, people to run games in the parking lot; we had dancers, people to run crafts, and people to run sound and video.
SummerJam reminded me that it is possible for the entire church to function like a body; each member of a body (or church) is important and valuable, and each member of a body (or church) has a significant role to play. This understanding is at the heart of what it means to foster a “shared” life together. This past week I saw the value of interdependence; both in principle and in practice.
In a week’s time, I met dozens of volunteers who are committed to God and to kids; I found myself saying “thank you” again and again as I encountered their willingness to serve God and others. And I trust in the course of last week, they met a pastor who is maybe more “like them” then they realized.
Finally, mission.
Over the course of the week, we were challenged with the idea of “mission”. “Mission” is not something that happens on the other side of the world; “mission” happens whenever and wherever we love, bless, give and serve in Jesus’ name. There were plenty of opportunities for mission to be lived out during the week, and we were taught in our Bible Centre that we can live for Jesus wherever find ourselves.
It just so happened that Geff and Christine Harada, and their four kids, Jacob, Nathan, Elliot, and Grace were the focus of our missions giving this past week. Geff and Christine and their family are heading back to a remote area of the Philippines where they will be living among a tribal group and sharing the good news of Jesus. Our kids took on the challenge, raiding piggy banks, mattresses, and even mom and dad’s wallets in order to give to a very special project. All the money given will be used to put on a SummerJam experience for the tribal children; altogether, our kids raised over $1700.00. I’m not sure how well a “Mighty Moose” will translate among tribal children from the Philippines, but I trust they will have as much fun as we did.
Hats off to Pastor Linda, Simon Koldyk, and David Macgregor; each one did a fantastic job of organizing a week I’ll not soon forget. For those you who are wondering whether participating in SummerJam is worthy of a week of your life, trust me, take the plunge and your life won’t be the same.
For the past two months we at NorthShoreAllianceChurch have been walking through a sermon series entitled “Life Together”. We have heard and learned the theory of what it might look like to be a people who do life together. The topics covered expressed our desire to be a people of prayer, of forgiveness, of spiritual friendship, of the Spirit, of holiness, of interdependence, of healing and of submission. (All of these sermons are available online, just in case you missed them!)
I feel as if this week God was saying to me (and maybe to us), “Linda, what you have heard and learned these past weeks of this theory of life together, you need to put it into practice.”
This past week I had the opportunity to be a part of several events happening here at the Church. As I have been reflecting on these; I realized that God was providing us opportunities to practice doing life together. It’s exciting to stand back and see how God has been bringing everything together, how God is bringing us together!
On Thursday night, our church family gathered for an evening of worship and prayer – with a specific focus on God’s healing power. We had the chance to come to God with our requests, to believe in faith that God heals and walk through life together with our brothers and sisters in Christ. As we prayed for healing - for our bodies and our hearts, I saw that we were a people of prayer, a people of the Spirit and a people of healing.
This Sunday June 14th, we took a break from our traditional worship service and our Church gathered at BoulevardPark for our 3rd annual NSAC BBQ.As I stood at the top of the hill and looked out over the crowd I was delighted to see our church growing together as a community and a family. There were people of all ages and backgrounds getting to know one another, working together, growing relationships, sharing a meal, playing games and having lots of FUN!! This Sunday we were a people of spiritual friendship and a people of interdependence. A people who do life together!!
We have wrapped up this sermon series and will be moving into a new series for the summer, but let’s not forget all that we have learned. Let’s continue to grow together, to share with one another, to pray for each other, to do life together. With God’s help let’s take this theory and put it into practice, so that we can become a people, a church, who does life together!
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned”. (Exodus 3:2-3)
It is entirely possible to miss what is happening right in front of us. The hurried pace that we keep in the West enables a life of constant distraction: too many signals, too much stimulus, and a decreased capacity to see and respond. It is tragic how often we wander through life, wondering where God is, what He is up to, and what He wants to say to us. The practice of paying attention is a neglected art.
Moses was a shepherd, leading a group of wandering sheep when God got his attention. True, Moses saw something out of the ordinary, but it was his willingness to turn aside that prompted God’s revelation. Exodus 3:4 says, “When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush”. There is a direct connection between our willingness to pay attention and God’s willingness to speak and reveal.
Ruth Haley Barton, in her book “Strengthening the Soul of Leadership”, writes: “If spiritual leadership is anything, it is the capacity to see the bush burning in the middle of our own life and having enough sense to turn aside, take off our shoes and pay attention.” I would suggest that this practice of paying attention is not reserved for leaders alone; this is a function of what it means to be followers of Jesus. We are to cultivate a responsiveness to God.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote,
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
and every common bush afire with God;
but only he who sees, takes off his shoes--
the rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.
These days, Jesus has been reminding me that following Him requires an attentiveness, a responsiveness, that cannot be cultivated without a commitment to quiet places. Running a hundred kilometers an hour isn’t conducive to paying attention to much of anything. As I slow down these days, and settle into rhythms of rest and solitude I am finding that there are bushes ablaze all around me, as well as words from Jesus that are burning within.
May God give us eyes to see, and hearts eager to respond.
