THE ACHE.

1. I was hit in this chapter by the words of caution against well-intentioned leaders who are “quick to stand up to be a voice for the voiceless rather than being a voice with the voiceless.” Something I must check in on myself with. And something I need to be held accountable for.

2. When I read the words about if anything good could come from Nazareth, it reminded me of a beautiful poem I read last summer around this time that I would like to share with you. I love the way the author writes of the messiness of humanness… and the way the Holy Spirit breathes into our lives.

Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Come and see.

I was at a Christmas party last year.

& it was one of those ugly sweater Christmas parties.

Of course.

I was wearing this reindeer outfit.

Well, it was a unicorn costume originally

but i changed it into a reindeer for the party.

I was standing in the kitchen and this boy leaned over to me

& whispered all soft and romantically in my ear,

“Between you and me, you have lipstick on you teeth.”

I STARTED TALKING IN A REAL LOUD VOICE BECAUSE

I FELT AWKWARD AND EMBARRASSED,

WHICH SEEMS LIKE A SILLY WAY TO COPE WITH THE

SITUATION WHEN ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS

hide.

I went to the bathroom and wiped all my lipstick off.

I have done this a lot in my life.

We all have.

See, we desire to leave our mark.

To be remembered,

To leave our handprint on the wet cement of life proving that we were here.

That we existed.

But as we walk along the sand we drag a branch behind us to wipe our footprints away.

Because BEING A HUMAN IS MESSY.

HAVING A BODY IS MESSY.

EXSISTING IS MESSY.

My friend Abigail came over for a slumber party last week.

And I washed my sheets to be hospitable of course, but also because earlier that week I laid in my bed

& wept for hours

& there was mascara all over my pillow.

I didn’t want her to see that I exist in a messy, mascara everywhere sort of way.

I am a woman

& every month I bleed.

& I am tired of carrying that around like a dirty secret.

Being a human is messy.

Existing is messy.

& I EXSIST.

I am messy.

I weep.

& bleed.

& have boogers that drain.

& sometimes if I laugh real hard I pee a little.

When we are ashamed & despise our bodies & the messy way we exist

we begin to despise the Holy Spirit that lives within these messy bodies.

Just as my womb doubles over in sorrow & pain

& cries tears of blood every month

for not being able to give life,

so does the Holy Spirit double over inside of us in sorrow & pain

for not being able to give us life when we try to be something other than who we truly are.

The Holy Spirit bleeds.

Just as our blood runs blue in our veins without oxygen so is the Holy Spirit turning blue inside us.

We don’t let her give us life.

We don’t let her breathe.

& she is bleeding.

The Holy Spirit is in our messy life.

In the messy ways we exist.

& she wants to ooze out.

In boogers.

Tears.

Sweat.

Blood.

Can anything good come out of this ordinary mess of being alive?

Come and see.

Let the Holy Spirit breathe,

hit the oxygen,

turn red,

IGNIGHT.

& LIGHT US ALL ON FIRE.

- Jacqueline Viola Moulton

3. “As we move closer to the suffering, the problems and struggles become our own. We have come to share the struggles of our neighbors on Potter Street…” Our neighbors are the guys and girls living down the hall from us. What ways can we move closer to the suffering of those near us, so their problems become our problems? So we see the work of Jesus on our campus through an authentic and organic care and compassion for our neighbors.

THE VISION.

Near the end of this chapter, many of the ideas are summed up in this statement by John: ” Proverbs 29:18 says, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’ (KJV). We need a hope for the future. The leader is the one who receives and carries this vision, articulates it and helps people embrace it as their own.”

Our vision in the SMC program is one of Community and the Love of Jesus. Each year, with the different make-up of SMC’s, RHMC’s, CSMC’s and Deb’s leadership the way those visions are articulated vary. Be praying for what comes of our training time in one month. Be praying for the specific visions you all receive for the make-up of students on your floor. Be praying for Deb, Sam, your RHMC’s and I as we continue to help you all on this journey this year. And know we are in prayer for you.

About a week into my year as an SMC I was reading Romans 12 and was hit by the picture of community in those words. That became my vision. To outdo one another in honor. To be inventive in hospitality.

I’m asking the Lord to sharpen our vision and keep preparing us as we get closer to returning to campus.

peace on you all.

hannah.

My hope is that you’ve cracked open this book since leaving campus in June. But if not… don’t worry, you’ve still got a while before we all congregate back at SPU. Personally, I’m about half way through and really have enjoyed the way Shane and John have opened a dialogue on leadership as well as followership… something we don’t always give a lot of air time to.

Over the next few weeks Sam and I will be posting some thoughts and questions on here to enter that conversation with you; hopefully in order to enhance your thought process as you read the words of these two very different men, who are exploring the journey of faith and leadership together.

Feel free to write in the comments section to one another about the ideas running through your head.

p.s. Sam also added all the info you need for coming back to campus on the tab up there ^ titled info for fall, so you can reference it.

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So, I read chapter 1 way back in June, but as I looked back over the pages these are some brief thoughts that stuck with me. I would absolutely LOVE to read yours, and hear a response.

CHAPTER ONE: raising the next generation of just leaders.

* passing the promise is the blessing.
In what ways have I felt the blessing of our Lord, by being passed the promise? That was a big question I began reflecting on. I have felt the blessing best many times when my life has intersected with that of another person following Jesus. How am I best wired to continue the promise? How are we as a program going to be the blessing by passing the promise to the residents this year?

* leadership that reproduces itself.
My guess is that the majority of us in this “leadership” program, whatever position, is partially here because of those in this position before us. In fact I know that’s true after I got the pleasure of reading about it on so many of your applications this past spring. I’m excited about the fact that this program continues to generate new leaders each year… it means we’re on the right path.

* having a dream; having a friend.
I feel like these words from Dr. Perkins couldn’t have been said better: “John: Dreaming big is not just having a good idea. Look closely and you will discover that people who have dreams that will change the world are usually people who are well grounded. When I study what makes a great twenty-first-century leader, I’m always going to look more at content of character than about financial development or fame. Character develops the kind of passion that attracts followers and resources. We don’t have to pull the trigger. We don’t have to wave a banner or grandstand. We need to quietly make friends with people; steadfastly stay the course. Jesus said, in training His disciples, “Go out, and take nothing with you. Go out and make friends! If they don’t make friends with you, go onto the next house and make friends with those people! (Jot down the word “friends.” God is our friend, and we are His friend. A leader needs friends, and followers need a leader who is also a friend.)”
Friendship is SO important. A close friend of mine has taught me an incredible amount on how friendship can literally change the world by “leaking Jesus to people”. I want to continue challenging my idea of friendship as we travel through the year.

I’m really really enjoying this book and could write a ton more but I don’t want to make this first post too long… I’m not a fan of long wordy blogs. (So there will always be pictures!) Has anything caught your heart and imagination in the book so far? Beginning the conversation and stepping into it with us is by no means required, but warmly welcomed!

peace on you all.

hannah p.

“Such, then, is our God: unknowable in his essence, yet known in his energies; beyond and above all that we can think or express, yet closer to us than our own heart.”

“We see that it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery.”

Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way

2. Reschedule the conflicting event.

3. If all avenues of rescheduling have been explored (and exploration proves unsuccessful), an SMC should email Karin, Mike and their RHMC to make Karin/Mike/RHMC aware of the impending absence.

Small gifts and words of praise ease our pain in coping with your nonattendance. Just kidding. Except not.

As the Church Fathers asserted, a self-contained God without need is sterile. For God to be love there had to be a Son, a needy, receiving component within the Godhead. God the Father empties himself into the Son and the Son gives that glory back to the Father. The love, nature and life of God is revealed in this dynamic cycle of emptying and receiving between Father and Son.

And so it is for Christians seeking to step into the life and love of God. Love cannot be from our excess. Love is not giving away the leftovers after we have taken care of our material needs and secured our creature comforts. Recall the observation of Jesus as he watched the people making their temple offerings. Jesus praises the widow who gave two mites because it was all she had. The wealthy, however, gave from their excess. The contrast, for Jesus, concerns self-giving to the point of neediness. The widow, giving all she had, moves into a state of need with her gift. The wealthy give a greater sum but remain self-sustaining and self-determined. They don’t give to the point where, we might say, it hurts. McGill’s powerful analysis on this point is worth quoting at length:

The love which is proclaimed in many churches that worship the [American] dream carefully disregards the outcome of love. These churches speak of love as helping others, but they ignore what helping others does to the person who loves. They ignore the fact that love is self-expenditure, a real expending, a real losing, a real deterioration of the self. They speak as if love the person who is loving had not problems, had no needs…They say to people: “Since you have not unanswered needs, why don’t you go and help the other people who are in need?” But they never go on to add “If you do this, you too will be driven into need.” By not stating the outcome of love they give the childish impression that Christian love is some kind of cornucopia where we can meet everyone’s needs and problems and still have everything we need for ourselves! And believe me, there are grown-up people who speak this kind of nonsense…[all this is the] illusion that some people can give without receiving, can nourish others without thereby becoming impoverished themselves—in short the illusion of perpetual affluence…the dreadfulness of this illusion lies in the fact that it is so inauthentic; it is so phony…If ever you approach a needy person with the illusion that you are a creature of purely bestowing love, then to that needy person you will seem totally alien, totally superior…Active love occurs within the fellowship of neediness, within the neediness of the one who serves and leads, and the one who serves in neediness…Too often we hear the lie that to love is to help others without this help having any effect upon ourselves.

This is the deep reason blindness to our own need undermines a life of mercy. The issue does begin with empathy, seeing my need reflected in the lives of others. But it doesn’t stop there. Mercy is costly. True lovemoves me into need. Which is, admittedly, a scary prospect. It is an act of faith and it requires a community, a “fellowship of neediness” to use McGill’s phrase. And it is within the giving and receiving of this “fellowship of neediness” where the life and love of God is fully expressed and experienced. In this, the life of the Trinity creates the life of the church or, rather, the life of the church participates in the life of God.

Worth thinking about in the midst of your Sabbath week, no?

Many of you, now that you know how much money you have to spend, are beginning to spend it.  That’s great.  Now you need to remember how to get reimbursed.  Here’s the info:

1.  Send me an email with the following information: your ID number, your phone number, what you purchased, where and when you purchased it, who was there (if it’s more than 10 people, just tell many how many there were), and why (be detailed and specific!).

2.  I will fill out a reimbursement form for you (lately I’ve been doing these every Friday, but that could change if more of them start to come in) and put it in the reimbursement box in the upper SUB.  It’s right by Deb’s office and there’s a big sign over it that says “SMC REIMBURSEMENTS!!!”.  Take it out of the first folder, staple your receipt, sign your name, and put it in the second folder.

3.  I will put the form in Sean Lomas’ box (the VP of Finance), and after processing, a check will be issued to you which you can pick up in 3rd Weter.  If you want to save some time and paper, you can also sign up to be reimbursed directly to your bank account on Banner.

Make sense?  If you have any questions, you can leave a comment or ask one of us in person.

Happy spending.

Here is everything you need to know about your budget this year.

1.  Each RHMC and SMC has $50.00 in discretionary funds for the year.  You can use this on your floor, for one-on-ones, for decorating your prayer lounge, or whatever.  Remember that to get reimbursed you have to keep your receipt.

2.  Each staff gets $50.00 for the year to put on a quarterly all-hall event.  Note that, considering you have to put on one each quarter, that this doesn’t amount to much.  You can dip into your own discretionary funds if you want to use that money on your all-hall events, but this is the amount we have specifically set aside for your that purpose.  Be creative: our best events last year in Hill cost the least amount of money.

3.  You each get $10.00 per retreat (at two retreats per year, that’s $20.00 each total).  It’s best to think of this collectively: for example, since Hill/Mo has 15 staff members (including RHMCs), they have $150.00 to spend per retreat, or $300.00 total.  You can spend no money in the fall and blow it all in the spring, I really don’t care.  Just keep your receipts and stay at the limit and you’ll get paid.

4.  I’ll tell you a little secret: there’s more money tucked away in the budget for extraneous things.  It’s not too much, but it’s there for you to use.  If you’d like to take someone on your floor out to coffee, or buy some flowers for someone’s birthday, but you’ve already spent your $50, shoot me a quick e-mail with what you’re thinking and I’ll give you the green light.  RHMCs, this applies to you especially: again, talk to me FIRST and I’ll let you know if it works.  If all of you decide to go nuts, between 45 of you that money will run out by November, but it’s there if you ask politely.  Capice?

That’s all folks.  This money is there for you, but please spend it wisely so I don’t have to explain to the VP of Finance why you needed to spend $150.00 on a basketball hoop for your floor or an XBox 360 or something stupid like that.  Or better, so I don’t have to tell you why I can’t reimburse you for the basketball hoop even though you already dropped $150 on it.  Your spending must be relevant to your work in ministry on the floor or with your staff.