On Being Needy
Ministry at Hancock presents me with such a challenge in light of my well-groomed Cal Poly education. On one hand, I could probably upstage the average student in theoretical or trivial knowledge of many subjects, write a better essay, and comment more eloquently on music. The numbers even say that I will earn far more during my lifetime, and offer my own children an incredible quality of life some day. On the other hand, I have no idea what it's like to have to raise a child while in school, to work full time in the service industry, and to regularly attend night classes at the end. How do I call these students to respond to God' love for them and their campus with authority? What right do I have to lead them?
It is in the places that I lack, these misunderstandings, these frustrations that I have with the students that my soul is renewed daily. I realize I am the one in deep need of what they have to offer me in sharing their struggles. I have never met people more willing to hang out with those who are different than the students in InterVarsity, because at least it means that they get to hang out with someone. I realize my education, temperament, and interests couldn't be more different from the average student at Hancock, but it is in this disqualification that I actually fit right in. They show me how to absorb love and share more than I ever did on my own journey.
Christian leadership is modeled by Jesus as a process of stripping down next to nothing. In John 13 he removes his outer garments until almost naked, pours water in a basin and proceeds to wash the dusty feet of his disciples. Jesus knows they won't understand what he is doing until later (v. 7) It is work unfit for a Rabbi, and challenges cultural norms so strongly that Peter protests with zealous certainty: You will never wash my feet!
I hope to follow Jesus in this way, by stripping myself of what I bring in terms of my authority, my entitlements, education, and privilege. People are not going to understand right away; I don't understand it either.
Paul describes it in his first letter to the Corinthians. The King James version puts it beautifully: God hath chosen the weak things to confound the mighty.
Such is the honor of the kingdom, and I remain in deep need of communion with these students. They show me the way to challenge our versions of heaven that we create for ourselves, when all along it is found in places like Santa Maria.
It is in the places that I lack, these misunderstandings, these frustrations that I have with the students that my soul is renewed daily. I realize I am the one in deep need of what they have to offer me in sharing their struggles. I have never met people more willing to hang out with those who are different than the students in InterVarsity, because at least it means that they get to hang out with someone. I realize my education, temperament, and interests couldn't be more different from the average student at Hancock, but it is in this disqualification that I actually fit right in. They show me how to absorb love and share more than I ever did on my own journey.
Christian leadership is modeled by Jesus as a process of stripping down next to nothing. In John 13 he removes his outer garments until almost naked, pours water in a basin and proceeds to wash the dusty feet of his disciples. Jesus knows they won't understand what he is doing until later (v. 7) It is work unfit for a Rabbi, and challenges cultural norms so strongly that Peter protests with zealous certainty: You will never wash my feet!
I hope to follow Jesus in this way, by stripping myself of what I bring in terms of my authority, my entitlements, education, and privilege. People are not going to understand right away; I don't understand it either.
Paul describes it in his first letter to the Corinthians. The King James version puts it beautifully: God hath chosen the weak things to confound the mighty.
Such is the honor of the kingdom, and I remain in deep need of communion with these students. They show me the way to challenge our versions of heaven that we create for ourselves, when all along it is found in places like Santa Maria.
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