the seventh one about nyc: final reflection

when I first proposed the idea for GOOTH to go to nyc for a mission trip, I never realized the impact that this trip would have on the GOOTH. I had hopes for the GOOTH to learn, grow, have fun, and be enlightened…but they surpassed my hopes and expectations. you can read all about their experiences in their own words in the previous nyc posts, but no blog can capture the experience of the “emotional devotional,” as chelsey called it, that happened on thursday night.

thursday’s devotion started like any other. we would let someone from each workgroup share their experience that day with the rest of the group. two simple comments were made that caught my attention in huge and complex ways. hannah platt, a graduated senior, commented that while we did a lot of “fun” stuff together as GOOTH, we needed to do more service stuff back in clemmons as a group. sarah hoyle, a rising 9^th grader, said that she and hannah had a deep conversation that day about their experience. sarah said that by working with people this week, it hit her that the once nameless homeless people now had names…and thus made more human in her mind. (you can read their own words in the sixth one about nyc.)

Hannah and sarah thought they were making simple observations…ones that, to them, were now obvious and “no-brainers.” they are simple observations. but, their comments hit me like a mack truck. their simple statements and the reactions, head-nods, and agreement of the GOOTH made me realize that they GOT it. these youth “got” it. there are many ways that youth react to such mission experiences, and many of them are self-centered or my-world-centered. but their reflections were NOT – they were neighbor-centered. since this was the first such experience for many of the youth, I expected to hear self-centered reflections, such as, “I learned that I’m very lucky to have what I have,” or “I learned that I’m fortunate to be born in clemmons and into a stable family,” or “It’s a shame these people don’t have what I have.” but, that’s not what I heard…not a single youth expressed these or similar comments to me or at the devotion. instead, the GOOTH saw Jesus in one another and the people with whom they worked and encountered during the week and their learning was truly neighbor-centered.

hannah’s observation about us doing lots of “fun” stuff was a significant observation, because that has been my plan all along. I came to CPC in august of 2006, but I had started planning for the youth group 7 years ago. in 2001, I learned my biggest lesson about youth ministry: It’s All About Relationships. over the years since, I began to be attentive to God’s leading for youth ministry and to make mental notes about ways that I could build relationships within the “youth group i would have one day.” we find a theological basis for relational theology in the greatest commandment: love God and love neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-31; Luke 10:27). and if you love neighbor as yourself, then it is clear that you are to also love yourself as your neighbor. Calvin says to know God is to know thyself. the inverse is also true: know thyself, know God. GOOTH has spent the last 2 years building and strengthening relationships within ourselves and developing an identity. by knowing who we are, and by loving ourselves – both as individuals and as a collective GOOTH – we can in turn love our neighbors as ourselves, love God, and know God.

only after a group knows and loves itself can meaningful things be born from it. GOOTH now wants to work side by side more often. GOOTH now understands who their neighbor is, and what it means to love them. GOOTH is closer to God because GOOTH knows who they are. this is the point i prayed for over the last 7 years. even before i knew who the youth at CPC were, before i was called to CPC, and even before i went to seminary, i began praying for God’s guidance to lead the youth group i would one day work with. i asked God to help me find the way to build relationships and create a youth ministry program that exemplified relationship theology. God has done that. and the GOOTH are ready to lead themselves on their continued faith journey.

they have reached this point quicker than i thought imaginable. when i heard hannah, sarah, and others talk about their experience with this mission trip, it hit me. i broke down and cried with joy, amazement, wonder, excitement, love, and praise to God for all that God has done with GOOTH. The Spirit was definitely present that night at the emotional devotional. God only knows what is in store for GOOTH, but i am excited to find out what it is!

the sixth one about nyc: the free day

folks, friday was our “free day” to spend in manhattan. we had a blast, but it was a long, tiring day. we left at 7:45am and returned around 9:45pm. it’s late, and i don’t have time to really describe our adventures tonights, but i will do so later this week when i return from vacation. check back wednesday night for an update. i will also post my final reflections on the week later this week…hopefully by wednesday night.

here are two final reflections from 3 GOOTH about their experiences this week. hannah and sarah made some deep connections and conclusions that they shared with the group thursday night…which inspired our emotional devotion that night. they decided to write a blog entry together. i will blog more about it from my point of view in my final reflection, because even though it was not the last night, it was our “final” devotion for the week and we couldn’t top it friday night, so we didn’t try!

Sarah Hoyle (9th grade) and Hannah Platt (College Freshman)

This week has been an amazing experience for the both of us. We worked in a group together with three other youth and two adults. Although riding on all the ferries, subways, and walking everywhere was tiring, the work we did proved to be worthwhile; not only for us, but the people we helped. Working in soup kitchens and food pantries opened our eyes to the world outside of Clemmons. While the two of us helped line people up outside a soup kitchen on the last day, we came to the conclusion that these people we were feeding were more than just those homeless people we’d been seeing on the street. They had names. What was once that random person you saw sleeping on a bench became the Johns, Pauls, and Davids that walked through that door. We also came to the realization that we aren’t doing enough back home in Clemmons. Helping feed over 7,000 people here in New York showed the two of us how much a group of teenagers that get along how much we can accomplish. It’s not hard to help out in soup kitchens and if you’re working with people that you’ve become so close to, the time flies by and you don’t want to leave. GOOTH has grown so much this week; with each other and in our faith.

Brittany McGowan (college freshman)

This week has really opened my eyes as well as many others of the members of GOOTH this week. I spent my time on Manhattan and every day I went, along with 4 other youth and 2 adults. I went to different sites in many different boroughs throughout the week. I spent two days at two different soup kitchens, and two days at food pantries. On Monday I helped to serve lunch to the different people. The one thing that stuck out to me while there was that we served everyone like it was a restaurant. It helped us to actually be able to interact with these people. It made them more real to us than just faces. Another day that stuck out to me was Thursday’s trip to a food bank. We helped to bag food that would be given out to the people coming through later that day. When everyone got to the food bank we helped to hand out the food. We were encouraged to not only hand out the food but interact with the people. We were told to talk to at least say good morning and smile. Not only did I feel like we all benefitted a lot of people here, I also feel like our group itself was benefitted. We learned about a lot. One thing that was mentioned several times was that homeless people are not the only hungry people. Hungry was defined as those people who cannot afford to provide a healthy meal for themselves on a regular basis. We also learned a lot about each other as we spent time in groups with people we did not normally see on a regular basis. We have become stronger as a group. While we were here for others, we also ended up helping ourselves. It has over all been a very rewarding experience, and while I’m happy to be coming home to see everyone I am really going to miss everyone here and the bond that we have created.

the fourth one about nyc: the rainy game

Tonight was baseball night…there was a rain delay, but it was the best part! here are three more reflections from the GOOTH…

Adam Chatham (9^th grade)

Hi, during the baseball game it started raining badly. Lucky for me I was under a roof. Before the rain started we all went and got food and free baseball caps. Some of us went to get them signed but the hat was ruined by the rain. I think after 30 minutes of the rain me and two friends were getting bored. They had to cover the field and wait for the rain to stop. Stephen suggested we take a look in the gift shop. By the time we got there we realized that there was nothing there we could afford and the rain was still pouring heavily. So we played a game where we had to guess the prices of items. We first did the hat. I guessed 30 dollars and Stephen said 20. It was 15. Then we went to the t shirts. I guessed 25 and Stephen guessed 30. Well it was actually 40 dollars. We started to talk about how overpriced things are here. When we got to the jackets we made guesses and we were way off. The hoodys were 80 dollars. Finally we went to the replica Yankee shirts. They were over 200 dollars. We all started laughing. After that we went back outside and the rain had stopped so we took our seats and started watching the game again. The Yankees had a shutout going when we left.

Alyssa Brown (12^th grade)

Today was a busy day; my group went to a clothing bank at an old army terminal in Brooklyn. We sorted through tons of clothes, first men’s then women’s clothes. The clothing brand Chaps (for men) had just donated a boatload of shirts, jackets, sweaters, pants, etc. Most of the clothes that were donated were used as samples and were made in foreign countries such as Korea, China, and Taiwan. In order to get import taxes reduced, the factories cut minor holes in the clothes and we had to throw those clothes away because they sent a message of inferiority to those receiving the clothes. We also bundled a ton of women’s sweaters and on our break, we went down to the pier and saw the Manhattan skyline. When we got back to YSOP headquarters, two social workers talked to us about working with homeless people and how they lobby the NY State Congress to pass laws in favor of homeless/low income people. It was a pretty long seminar but also inspired me to want to help and volunteer more. Then we came home and went to the baseball game which you already read about and now we are about to go to bed to get ready for tomorrow!

Sarah Hoyle (9^th grade)

So, I guess none of you blog readers have heard from my group yet. But Jill, David, Hannah, Katie and our leaders Sam and Jennifer and I are all in a YSOP group on Manhattan. On Monday, we worked in a place called Food Change where we made food to ship out to different agencies that would distribute it to hungry people. Hannah, David and I chopped 250 POUNDS OF POTATOES! It was actually really fun. We also chopped some carrots and onions and celery and other vegetables to put in a delicious pot of beef stew. We had lots of fun. On Tuesday we worked in the Love Gospel Church…yea. It was defiantly a new experience, but there were WAY too many volunteers. 52 in a room half the size of the church fellowship hall. When we prayed as a group right before we served the food, there were lots of AMENS shouted. It was intense. We had the job of resetting the tables after they had been cleaned as the guests were leaving the soup kitchen. Then today our group worked in a place called Furnish a Future. Apparently it was on the Today Show, and for good reason. This two story warehouse building was filled with furniture and other necessary household items that had been donated and would be given to individuals who were starting in a new home from being homeless. I thought it was really great that there was SO much new/slightly worn furniture to give out. We had the job of putting the finishing coat of varnish on about 20 nightstands. During lunch break we walked around the neighborhood and it was very interesting to see the differences between each block we walked. We saw a VERY fresh poultry house that had chickens and rabbits sitting in cages to be slaughtered for meat. You definately don’t see places like that on your average street in Clemmons! This has been such an awesome experience for me and I’m really looking forward to these last few days!