eBrethren, July 17, 2013: Stories of Brethren Stewards in Action

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Sharing inspirational stories of Brethren Stewards in action. Problems viewing this e-mail? View as a web page.
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July 17, 2013   What's cooking? Click here. CONTENTS Love in action An invitation... Hold fast   Worshiping together at National Junior High Conference. "Jesus" (portrayed by Nathan Hollenberg) breaking bread for the community. Sharing love through serving communion. Photos by Glenn Riegel  Love in action “...If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing...” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). “You are loved by Jesus.” It’s a message that we all need to hear. It also provided a great foundation for daily worship at National Junior High Conference at Elizabethtown College last month. Our time together in worship reminded us of Jesus’ love, and then went beyond that message to call us to action. During each worship service a new nugget of knowledge was added: You are loved by Jesus. Now speak! Now give! Now move! “I loved you before you even existed,” said an actor representing God in our opening worship service. “I created you with great care, and made you wonderful. You are unlike any other person, and you have a purpose in life that cannot be fulfilled by anyone else.” The depth of God’s love is beyond our understanding, but participants caught glimpses of it throughout the weekend. It was in worship, and it was in workshops; it was in recreation time and meals together. We even saw it portrayed through some pretty great characters during worship. There were moments that made us laugh, like when poor Lee “lost” his cell phone in one skit and couldn’t function without it. As well as moments that made us stop and think, as when “Jesus” broke bread for us, revealing to his disciples who he truly was. More than 400 junior high students and leaders from all over the country came together for one weekend at National Junior High Conference. We heard God’s call to love, and to let our love speak through action. We had lots of fun, and we also worshiped together. That is what God’s love is truly about: Speaking love in community, giving love in faith, and moving love into action. --Rachel Witkovsky completes a two-year term withBrethren Volunteer Service on July 31. During that time she coordinated workcamps, Christian Citizenship Seminar, and National Junior High Conference. To see photos and a wrap-up video from NJHC, visitwww.brethren.org/njhc . To learn more about and support Church of the Brethren youth and young adult ministries, visit www.brethren.org/yya . Back to top   A group walks near Lake Junaluska at NOAC 2011. Photo by Eddie Edmonds  An invitation...We are people eager to know and do God’s ways… To loose the chains, untie the ropes, set the oppressed free. Yearning for a deeper relationship with God and with each other… To share our bread, extend compassion, satisfy the needs of the afflicted. Longing to respond to God’s call to Sabbath rest and restoration, remembering the One who frees us from bondage… Ready for our worship to be reflected in our lives together. Light breaks out, healing springs forth… Refreshed in the Lord, we experience renewal of body, mind, and spirit. Join us at Lake Junaluska September 2-6 for NOAC 2013. Register at www.brethren.org/noac , or e-mailkebersole@brethren.org .   Patrick reads with foster children. Decorating for Christmas.  Holding to each other at Casa de Esperanza. Photos courtesy of Patrick and Susan Starkey   Hold fast “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good,” (Romans 12:9). Sam was only 17 months old, covered with bug bites, smelling of urine, and frightened. He was entering foster care from the streets. Susan, whose arms seemed a refuge to him, held Sam close in the emergency room, awaiting his intake physical. Sam kept his little arms wrapped around Susan’s neck for six hours, his head pressed against her chest, the two holding fast to one another. That evening, following a bath and application of scabies medication, Sam explored the toy box and played with another child in our foster home. Then, with bedtime approaching, he lay down on the floor to go to sleep, as if it were the most natural place to do so. Susan scooped him up and climbed the stairs to show Sam his room and bed. This heart-rending scene unfolded on just our fourth day as foster parents inBrethren Volunteer Service at Casa de Esperanza in Houston, Texas. Susan and I joined BVS mid-career and one year into marriage. We had a sense that God was calling us to serve, and to explore the Christian values upon which we hoped to establish our home. One of those values was to not hold tight to the things of this world. During our training at Casa, our supervisor used the phrase “holding the baby” to describe all the things we would do to help children who had been previously neglected or abused. “Holding the baby” meant providing the essentials of infancy that we had taken as given: rocking with them, reading with them, providing a safe place of their own to sleep.… As we cared for 12 foster children (four at a time) in our year of BVS, we learned how challenging it can be to provide loving care for a child with a chaotic past. But we found that as we continued to “hold the baby,” as we held to each other and to our wonderful congregation, seeds of Christ’s love were planted in these children. We knew that we too were being held fast by God. Our experience in BVS helps us to appreciate the marks of faithful discipleship in Romans 12:9, and to remember to hold fast to what is good. --Patrick and Susan Starkey were in BVS unit #289 and served at Casa de Esperanza from 2010-2011. Patrick now serves as a Mission and Ministry Board member and pastor of the Cloverdale Church of the Brethren. To support the ministry of Brethren Volunteer Service, or to sign up to volunteer, visit www.brethren.org/bvs . Forward to a friend Back to top  www.brethren.org/messenger “This is our good news: In Jesus Christ,we encounter a God who is compassionately in love with the world.We meet a God whose compassion is not cheap or trite, but rich and life-giving. God in human flesh stands with those who are bruised, torn, battered, and broken. God hears the cries of those who have been broken by injustice, and those who are worn down by evil.” --Chris Keating in “The arms of compassion,” published in the July/August edition of Messenger magazine. Do you have a story about how you or your congregation practice stewardship? E-mail it to mgarcia@brethren.org ! eBrethren: stories of Brethren stewards, is produced every other week by the Church of the Brethren's donor communications team. Send feedback to mgarcia@brethren.org or call 847-742-5100 ext. 361. Thanks for reading!  Watch for our next issue on July 31, 2013!