Dear friends and the best Glen Martians I know,
Last weekend was a busy one for your Minister for Youth and Missions. We had the Middle School Retreat taking place at Camp Manidokan, and Mission Ministry Sunday at both worship services Sunday morning. In addition, Glen Mar also hosted a bed build for Sleep in Heavenly Peace in our church parking lot. The theme for the retreat was Up Ended, how God upends our expectations. This felt like the overarching theme of the weekend, and I wanted to share with all of you how I believe it is a message we need to continually hear and experience.
We began the retreat by asking the youth to think of examples in the Bible where God upended human expectations by working through events and people that the world would not expect. Some of the examples were using a youth to defeat a giant leading an opposing army. Nailing the Messiah to a cross and leaving him to die. Being swallowed by a giant fish for three days and then puked up on land in order to tell an enemy nation about God’s love. Being dead in a tomb for three days before being resurrected. Our young people are sharp and have a depth of faith that should inspire all of us, and they recognize how God doesn’t always work the way we want or expect.
The same is true for the message of Jesus. “It’s easy to love your friends, but I tell you to love your enemies.” “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.” “In order to be great you must be a servant and become a slave to all.” The world would have us believe that we are to retaliate against our enemies, step on the meek, and take advantage of those who serve us. The way of God is different from the way of humans and often upends our expectations.
That’s the joy of service. The world would say that serving others is somehow demeaning to us and lowers our status. Christ washed our feet and challenged us to do likewise for the people in our lives. During worship last Sunday we heard firsthand testimonies from people who have found true joy in serving others through a wide variety of ways. Whether it is making beds so kids don’t have to sleep on the floor, to serving meals to the homeless, to sorting and selling jewelry and scarves to raise money for domestic violence victims, buying Christmas presents for families that can’t afford them, serving on home repair mission trips in rural North Carolina or serving the most vulnerable in inner city Baltimore, or helping children in a third world country. God is most present and active when God is working through our hands, feet and hearts in the service of others.
God truly upends our expectations. Thanks be to God that we are part of a church that doesn’t just say the words, but truly lives out Praising God, Growing Disciples, and Serving the World.
Peace, D.C.
