Agency

Last week our summer student staff met with the summer orientation staff for one of our regular professional development sessions. The topic was the Reformed Identity of Calvin College, which was established from the beginning as “messy.” One of the foci of our conversation was the question of our agency in the process of redemption, something about which Calvin’s vision statement makes some claim when it says that “Through our learning, we seek to be agents of renewal in the academy, church and society.”

This got me thinking about what it is that we hope for students who go out into the communities of this city/country/world to do service-learning. To what degree are these people agents for God’s redemption in a broken world in the short time they spend serving there? In the four years I’ve worked professionally in the Service-Learning Center, this question has been a compelling one that I come back to perennially. One of the keys here, I think, is the phrase “Through our learning…” which qualifies our claim of agency.

So, what does this mean for students who might spend an afternoon stocking a food pantry for StreetFest? Or a week encountering the complexity of coal mining’s impact on Appalachian communities? Or a semester tutoring an English language learner at an urban elementary school? Or many hours interviewing community members for an ethnographic study in Peru?

My hope is that at the conclusion of each student’s experience, they might view their situation through a lens of shalom. Imagine what this place would look like in the fullness of God’s kingdom. Each person encountered would be living an abundant life, expressing their unique giftedness as an image-bearer of God. Relationships would be restored in such a way that each interaction contributes to the other’s flourishing. The flora, fauna, and built environment would all declare the glory of God. True shalom will be even greater than we could possibly hope or imagine.

But our communities are far from this vision of shalom. They are broken, fallen. Comparing our actual experience to the kingdom can help illuminate further questions: Has my service done anything to alleviate the brokenness here? How are people and organizations working towards renewal? How does the sin that affects all of my daily actions (and inactions) contribute to the brokenness I’ve seen? What is my agency in the fallenness of our world?

We trust that in spite of overwhelming brokenness in the world, Jesus Christ has power over sin. Through his resurrection, he will prevail in the redemption of this world. We may feel powerless, on a tiny boat about to capsize amidst torrential downpours, hurricane force winds and monstrous waves. But if we lift our eyes in search of the horizon hidden behind the storm, we may see a ghostly figure amidst the squall. That person, who with a word from his lips can command the rain to subside, the wind to cease, and the waves to still, beckons us to step out of our boat and walk towards him through the storm.

It is not in our own power to walk on water or to calm the storm, but with the power of the risen king behind us, we can step towards shalom.
-Noah

A Week in Georgia

This past week I spent some time in Georgia with a spring break group from the Service-Learning Center. I went to Americus, GA with only basic information about Koinonia Farm and the history of the area, but I left with so much more.

The difference between this trip (as well as other S-L trips) and mission trips done by many church youth groups is the very prominent aspect of the service-learning relationship. It’s a reciprocal relationship. They received and we received. I not only got to work on a farm for a week (and eat a lot of pecans and chocolate), but I learned a lot about their community and the work they do every day for God’s kingdom. I feel very privileged to have come away with the things that I experienced and learned.

This past week I learned about the importance of setting aside intentional time for prayer throughout the day. The most wonderful times of the day on the farm are at 10 am and 3 pm when someone from the community would ring a bell and everyone on the farm would stop for just a few moments and pray or just be silent. This simple activity challenged me a lot. How many times a day do I stop my work even for just a few minutes in order to pray and talk to God? How often do I say that I am too busy to pray or read the Bible? I should never be too busy for God. Because of this experience I am striving to implement specific time each day to set aside for a time of prayer.

I also learned about the importance of gratitude. I know that may seem childish. Saying thank you is something that we are taught as children, but truly thanking people for what they do for you is something that can be really powerful. This past week we were able to attend Koinonia’s community potluck dinner. They have a tradition at the end of the meal to have a time for gratitude. The floor is open for anyone in the community to express gratitude to anyone else in the community for something that happened the past week. They were vulnerable and open. Through this time of expressing gratitude I was able to experience the powerful impact that this simple act has on someone’s life and attitude. The funny thing is that I personally felt the intimacy that was alive and well in the community and I didn’t even participate in the activity. I was just a bystander. Even though I was merely a bystander to the activity I was still able to experience the change of attitude that occurred after this expression of gratitude. It was truly beautiful, and I hope to implement this into my house dinner time each week as well.

Our hosts at Koinonia Farm spent a lot of time preparing for us to come. We worked hard on the projects they taught us how to do, and we worked equally hard at trying to live well inside of their community. I went into the trip not really knowing what I was going to take away from it. Fortunately I was able to learn not only about farming but community with others and with God our Father who truly deserves more of our time than we probably give. It was an amazing week of serving and learning, and I was so blessed to be a part of it.

Allie

Spring Break 2012: Letting Go and Letting God

That's right, they're off! Spring Break 2012 is officially in full swing and we currently have 13 amazing trips and around 140 total individuals (students of various grade levels, upperclassman student leaders, and staff mentors) who are out serving and learning together in communities across the country. This year we have trips connecting with agencies in:

Americus, Georgia

Baltimore, Maryland

Biloxi, Mississippi

Boston, Massachusetts

Grand Isle, Louisiana

Houma, Louisiana

Kermit, West Virginia

Knoxville, Tennessee

Mendenhall, Mississippi

Mobile, Alabama

North Carolina Wilderness

Three Rivers, Michigan

St. Louis, Missouri

It was so exciting to send off all of these groups On Friday! Yet, as thrilled as I was on Friday I am more excited (excited is an understatement. I absolutely cannot WAIT) to hear the stories they will come back telling - stories of joy and laughter, of painful sights and difficult realities, of all they have learned and encountered. Yet, in the aftermath of Friday's excitement, in back of my head I find myself saying 'what if that doesn't happen? What if they don't learn anything? What if they focus too much on the work and don't see the opportunity to learn? What if the group dynamics aren't good?' What if, What if, What if. Worrying. asking questions. having doubts.

Well that was yesterday. How perfect is God's timing that my devotional this morning was about not worrying, but trusting God to provide for us (check out Matthew 6:34). It was then that I remembered a sermon I once heard on this verse. It was about letting go of our worries and even the smallest of doubts and letting God work - because that's all we can do. We must do all we can, the best we can, as much as we can and then let God do the rest. We have to give it all to him and then leave room for him to work while we wait in expectation that his will WILL be done.

So today, I pray for every single participant this prayer (excerpt from the book of Common Prayer by Shane Claiborne):

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

Amen

Peace and Blessings to all,

Emily

Quantifiable Justice

Can we count or weigh justice? For the purposes of this discussion, let’s first agree on what justice means. How about this: Justice is correcting something that’s not right. Alternatively, justice is giving something what it deserves. Yes?

Consider justice in context. Say you’re driving to office one morning and an elderly lady is crossing the street rather wobbly. (You're actually running late because your dog ate the project proposal that you were supposed to present that morning.) Your vehicle is approaching her but she’s still struggling. Suppose that granny wasn’t using a pedestrian crossing, how would you respond? (a driver’s rights may vary in different jurisdictions, but assume you have the right of way.)

Whatever your response may be, you’d have probably consulted with your beliefs and/or values. Whatever your response may be, it is what you’d consider as a just reaction. Can that reaction, a just act given the circumstances, be quantified in any way?

Perhaps your dorm is serving at one of the local agencies, or maybe you have participated in an ABSL class or have went on a S-LC spring break trip. Can your service -- an act, or a series of acts, of justice -- be quantified? If yes, in what terms?

Or consider from a public health policy angle: Is it just to spend a few million dollars of tax money on a nation-wide vaccination program if it could only save 10 lives?

Want to serve next Spring? How about going on Spring Break Trip?

If you asked me these questions two years ago, I would say why not spend it with your friends and family instead? Don’t you do enough service-learning during your semester for your classes? But surprisingly, going on a service-learning spring break trip was one of the most eye-opening experiences I had last year, which greatly motivated me to do what I’m doing now at the Service-Learning Center.

An attempt to get away from campus and my mundane life brought me to Boston last spring break. In that one short week, I met and learned about the lives of amazing but ordinary people, formed relationship with fellow Calvin students whom I either just met or knew casually through classes. I was surprised by how I enjoyed getting physically tired by the end of the day and yet still feeling excited about working the next day. We were so grateful to be working alongside Boston Project staff members, who shared with us how the ministry came about and what it has done over the years as a part of Boston urban neighborhoods. It was also in this week that I was faced with many questions as we shared in our devotions what it means to do service in such places as Christians. The question of injustice has challenged us to look deeper into the familiar Micah passage and to understand what we were doing there and what we could take out of our service. It was certainly not easy to be dealing with these questions and engaging in honest conversations about privileges, injustices and faith, but it was surely eye-opening dialogues about how God has worked through the brokenness of our world and our own lives. In the midst of the frustration and confusion we felt as we tried to do our short-term service, we realized that there is tremendous hope in God’s word when he called us to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with him. The work of Boston Project Ministries reminded us of this promise. We left energized but also challenged to be aware and involved with our world with humility and faith.

Fortunate to have such great experience with Spring Break Trip, I was also amazed to hear from my friends as they came back from theirs. Now as I work in the Service-Learning Center, I am so pumped to be one of the first people to learn about the new Spring Break Trips. This year our office will have nine different Spring Break Trips that will take place across the nation, from the local communities of Grand Rapids to the urban ministries in Boston, Chicago, Knoxville, and other organizations that are committed in community development through creative means, intentional faith, and disaster relief.

Furthermore, the more exciting news is applications are now out for all students who are interested in being either participant or leader. Feel free to come by the Service-Learning Center to pick up applications or to chat with us more about questions that you have about the specific Spring Break Trip or just the application itself. Visit the link below, which will take you right to our website that includes the applications and more information about Spring Break Trips: http://www.calvin.edu/admin/slc/opportunities/spring-break-trips.html

Spring Break's Here...

... and off they went! Seventy-five Calvin students left to various locations across the country on a mission-- a spring break trip to serve and learn (http://www.calvin.edu/news/2008-09/spring-break/). I am sure these students would gain valuable lessons, experience the local cultures of their service sites, develop closer relationships with those whom they would meet from the trips, and cultivate friendships that would last a lifetime. As I thought about the amazing things they would do and the questions I would ask them (because I figured they would return at least a little wiser), I thought about the many selfless men and women in uniform serving around the world (surely, if there are lessons to learn from reflecting upon one's week-long service trip, there must be even more lessons to unearth from multiple tours of duty that stretch for months). These brave troops placed their limbs and lives on the line so that we could keep ours. These brave troops stood up to defend freedom so that the rest of us could freely do whatever we wanted. Yet, our veterans are not treated with the kind of respect they deserve. Psychologists say that telling stories is therapeutic. I think storytelling has a two-fold benefit: We remember the hardship endured by the story tellers, and we learn about those parts of the world that we would probably never visit. We might surprise ourselves to realize that there are actually many valuable lessons to learn from those humble and forgotten veterans.