We have been training to be United Methodist Missionaries for a week and a half so far. We have left the comforts and quiet restfulness of Stony Point and moved into the loud and constantly busy NYC. At times grace has been hard to share with those around us and some have started to notice a reluctance to talk about certain issues as a group. That being said we are welcome to those conversations in small circles. I titled this post "Tough it out" because we are at a point where we're tired and longing for rest but also because of the hard conversations we're moving into and working through.
Today we spent the entire day talking about community organizing. But perhaps that's getting ahead of myself. We started off with devotions as we always do. But for the first time we didn't come back together as a group to talk but instead met with our prayer partners. Personally I really needed that since I've been awful at communicating with my prayer partner. It's something I want to have down really well by the time we're commissioned because I know I'll need the prayer once I move and I know my partner will too.
On to community organizing. We had a just finishing US-2 who has been working with Interfaith Workers Justice in Chicago with us to talk about what community organizing is. This was especially helpful for Mistead since he will be taking over at Interfaith Workers Justice. But I also found it especially helpful. After working through a semi-serious scenario and then a real life scenario out of Atlanta we moved out into the city. We took the subway down to Union Square and participated in a rally for raising the minimum wage in New York. We heard clergy speak as well as low income workers who have a hard time living on their wages. We heard how they left a golden calf in front of a JC Penny as a symbol of their corporate greed as they practice firing workers and then re-hiring them for lower wages. It was truly an awesome experience.
I also just realized I have updated this blog in a while and that means I haven't had the opportunity to talk about Harriman UMC. I was invited on Sunday and I'll be going back next Sunday, to Harriman UMC. It's quite a ways out of the city and the bus is a long one to sit through but it was well worth it. Harriman has two parts of their service that I instantly fell in love with. The first is "Favorite Hymns" where they start off singing three of four of the congregations favorite hymns. Congregation members just yell out a hymn number and everybody sings it. Truly awesome and inspiring to see. It really touched the Methodist inside of me.
But more than favorite hymns, I fell in love with their "Scripture Shower". They put a five minute timer out and people stood up, one after another, to recite their favorite scripture passages. They do this to encourage their children to memorize scripture so that in times of need they remember them. It sounds like this particular tradition was started by Jermaine Paul who was preaching at the church that week since the pastor was getting licensed. It is his home church as well, he wasn't a guest preacher so much as a member filling in. If you don't know who Jermaine Paul is than I recommend you google him and definitely watch the youtube clips of him. Harriman UMC was so full of the spirit and I cannot wait to go back on Sunday and see all the great people there again.
We might be tired but God is guiding us through this process. Amen.
Today we spent the entire day talking about community organizing. But perhaps that's getting ahead of myself. We started off with devotions as we always do. But for the first time we didn't come back together as a group to talk but instead met with our prayer partners. Personally I really needed that since I've been awful at communicating with my prayer partner. It's something I want to have down really well by the time we're commissioned because I know I'll need the prayer once I move and I know my partner will too.
On to community organizing. We had a just finishing US-2 who has been working with Interfaith Workers Justice in Chicago with us to talk about what community organizing is. This was especially helpful for Mistead since he will be taking over at Interfaith Workers Justice. But I also found it especially helpful. After working through a semi-serious scenario and then a real life scenario out of Atlanta we moved out into the city. We took the subway down to Union Square and participated in a rally for raising the minimum wage in New York. We heard clergy speak as well as low income workers who have a hard time living on their wages. We heard how they left a golden calf in front of a JC Penny as a symbol of their corporate greed as they practice firing workers and then re-hiring them for lower wages. It was truly an awesome experience.
I also just realized I have updated this blog in a while and that means I haven't had the opportunity to talk about Harriman UMC. I was invited on Sunday and I'll be going back next Sunday, to Harriman UMC. It's quite a ways out of the city and the bus is a long one to sit through but it was well worth it. Harriman has two parts of their service that I instantly fell in love with. The first is "Favorite Hymns" where they start off singing three of four of the congregations favorite hymns. Congregation members just yell out a hymn number and everybody sings it. Truly awesome and inspiring to see. It really touched the Methodist inside of me.
But more than favorite hymns, I fell in love with their "Scripture Shower". They put a five minute timer out and people stood up, one after another, to recite their favorite scripture passages. They do this to encourage their children to memorize scripture so that in times of need they remember them. It sounds like this particular tradition was started by Jermaine Paul who was preaching at the church that week since the pastor was getting licensed. It is his home church as well, he wasn't a guest preacher so much as a member filling in. If you don't know who Jermaine Paul is than I recommend you google him and definitely watch the youtube clips of him. Harriman UMC was so full of the spirit and I cannot wait to go back on Sunday and see all the great people there again.
We might be tired but God is guiding us through this process. Amen.
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