It’s exciting when we manage to get it right.
Here’s an example: Every Wednesday night, a group from my church works in a runaway youth shelter downtown, serving a meal we’ve prepared and then sitting down at the table to talk with the kids. We all get up from the table satisfied on more than one level.
True, it’s a small gesture, but larger things are at work.
First of all, I’m not sure who’s really on the receiving end of this deal. By talking to these kids, I am not only reminded of all the things I need to appreciate in my own children’s lives, but I’m bowled over when I see a teen in trouble do something nice for someone else. These kids help me remember that mere circumstances are not what make our lives good or bad, but what we do under those circumstances.
Second, and maybe more important, I am beginning to get a glimpse of what it means to be connected to something that extends beyond a single church working alone. Standing in the kitchen serving a meal we’ve made, I’m sometimes moved just by thinking about all the other United Methodists who stand somewhere else, doing almost the same thing. I feel part of a larger whole, connected to other United Methodists, to other people who feel called to make a difference because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Each United
Methodist congregation chooses its own way to make a difference. United
Methodists are involved in so many programs and community efforts by local
churches that they are too numerous to list. We don’t just talk about
changing the world. We send out people to improve their own communities
and to help people in other parts of the world, too.
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