By Kyle Nolen
Even though we find ourselves still in the “Dog Days,” the start of the new school year seems to always mark the end of the summer season for our FCPC Youth. Today’s schedules certainly keep our young members busy with summer jobs, robotics, youth sports, and family vacations. However, the youth of our church continued in their commitment to gathering with each other for fellowship, fun, and study throughout their summer break. As our relationships and connections grow, we become more aware of our shared humanity, and the love that unites us all as brothers and sisters in Christ!
One of the ways these connections have grown has been through our gatherings during Sunday School and youth meetings. Early on, we followed the lectionary and discussed the guidance that scripture has regarding life transitions, loving neighbor, and discipleship. Joe Ben & Charlene Wilson also helped volunteer in teaching roles when Shelley and Kyle were traveling. We’re certainly grateful for their support and contribution. Similarly, this church has shared their time with Meal Prep for our youth nights. Special thanks to Darlene Miller, April Lamb, Shelley Miller, Laura Nolen, Leigh Moseley, and the Good News Class for feeding our kids!
As much as we like to eat, your FCPC Youth follow your example of feeding others by their continued participation in the Mission Meal program. During the Sunday School hour on the second Sunday of the month, the youth prepare their meal for the housing-insecure residents of Minvilla Manor as they’ve done for over 30 years. During one of our devotions during meal prep, we read the passage in Leviticus where Moses spelled-out certain rules designed to help the Israelites live differently than other nations. We discussed that God chose Israel to be “His people” in covenant; not because he preferred one group of people over another, but instead because He’d given them a special role—to live in a sanctified way that pointed other nations to the one true God.
Drawing from one specific example of this Leviticus passage, we talked about God’s command for the Israelites to not harvest all of the food in their fields. Instead, they were to share their abundance by leaving the surplus of their wheat and grape crops to make sure that the “poor and strangers in their land” could glean to meet their own needs. We discussed that this need is still present today, and that Christians—as God’s new covenant people—should live differently in our society today and take care of the vulnerable in our midst. We talked about how the Mission Meal program is a small step to share of our abundance to care for the needy in our day and time. It really made us think about commands in the Bible and how that applies to us.
Over the past 2 years, we’ve begun to see a change with the Minvilla residents as we seek to be faithful in this way. After the disruption of COVID, the residents largely treated these days like a drive-thru. They were polite, but simply received their meals and retreated back to their apartments. However, there has been one special exception—a wonderful lady who we’ve come to know as “Mama T.” Mama T is currently undergoing treatment for cancer, but you wouldn’t know it with her energy and enthusiasm. We noticed that Mama T serves as a sort of mother-figure for the other residents. As we got to know her story, we began coordinating our visits through her. She took this responsibility seriously, and would spread the word to make sure residents would come. They did! She even helped our youth go door-to-door to the disabled residents to make sure they got fed. These introductions broke down social barriers began to help us build trust. Over the summer, more and more residents now come to eat with our youth in the dining hall. They share their stories and ask about ours. It has been a beautiful time of shared humanity that has left an impression on all of us. Mama T has even blessed us with the honor of now introducing us as part of her “family” to her other “brothers and sisters” who live at Minvilla. What a blessing to be reminded of our connectedness that we all have with God as our Father and Creator!
Another way that we’ve reflected on our shared connection and God’s goodness this summer has been with special events outdoors! One of our favorites was an outing on Cherokee Lake hosted by the Miller family. John Miller played the role of boat captain and wore us all out on the tube! At the end of the day, Shelley Miller fired up the grill and treated us to a fine hamburger dinner. As the sun went down over a calm lake, we reflected on one of Jesus’ very own boat stories that involved a much different scene. While the disciples were tossed about in the storm, we learned how Jesus slept. We talked about the lessons from this story that we can apply to our lives. Only someone who has power over all of creation can be peaceful enough to rest while going through a storm. The disciples, many of whom were experts in seamanship, were powerless of their own skill and might. Their manmade boats in which they trusted became fragile in the midst of greater power. We saw them eventually cry out to the Lord who gave them peace and calmed their situation. As we nursed our sore muscles from being “tossed about” ourselves that day, the lesson of our dependence and confidence in the Creator really hit home.
Another of our outings took place on the Holston River at the Robertson farm. The youth enjoyed an evening of floating while Dan Owenby and the Robertsons provided a meal and shuttle service. As we floated, the kids were challenged to think about various stories in the Bible that involved water. We got great answers: the creation story, Noah’s ark, Moses’ deliverence, the parting of the Red Sea, entering into the Promised Land, and Jesus’ own baptism. We then reflected on what all of these stories had in common. What is God trying to teach us with these stories about water? The youth nailed the answer: New Life and New Beginnings. In light of this, we discussed the Sacrament of Baptism and the gift of God’s grace that is given to us through the Holy Spirit in this unique way. Just like circumcision “marked” the Israelites as children of God, we learned how our Baptisms mark us as children of God through the new covenant in Christ. We were all challenged to think about our connections to Christ and other believers through this sacrament, while recommitting ourselves to living our lives to bear witness of our New Life and New Beginnings.
As summer drew to an end, we gathered for one final evening of shared Humanity and Faith. FCPC is blessed to have a community of believers who support one another despite demographics that might separate other groups of people. This fact was on great display when the Good News Class hosted the FCPC Youth for what’s become our annual pool party. Joan Biddle hosted the event and Johnny Biddle made sure the pool was ready for our crew. Meanwhile, the 25+ members of the class prepared an amazing potluck. It was a blessing for us all to make connections across boundaries of age, neighborhoods, and generations. As the night wound down, we finished by reading about the Pool of Bethesda and the encounter that Jesus had with the paralytic. We really paid attention to Jesus’ strange question, “Do you want to be healed?” Would the man really choose to stay in his condition? Why wouldn’t he want to be healed? The answer challenged us when we learned more about the story. After he’s healed, we’re told later that Jesus warns him about not sinning again so that nothing worse happens to him. This seems to imply that there as something going on with the man that had caused him to forget God or to actually rebel. When we thought about this idea, we were drawn to another detail in the story—the man was paralyzed for 38 years. The kids knew their Bible. They immediately drew the connection with the 40 years it took the Israelites to actually cross into the promised land (2 years from Egypt to the border of Canaan, and another 38 years of wandering after they refused to obey and enter). The story now made sense. However harsh it might seem, the story is trying to teach us about staying connected to God in true worship. When we pursue our own idols, our own ways, or other false religions (like the pagan superstition that people had about the stirred waters of the pool) then we’re essentailly choosing to separate ourselves from God and His promises. God is offering us healing, but do we really want it? Are we going to follow God in obedience to His ways, or will we insist on staying in our own “wilderness” existence? It really challenged us to think about who we are following.
Our favorite part of the story was how it ended. We’re told that the man was healed and that he “immediately went to the temple.” We can assume the man was there to finally worship in obedience. That’s where he encountered Jesus again! We loved how Jesus pursued the man first by going to him with an offer of healing. The man couldn’t save himself. After Jesus restored him he could have gone on about his way. However, out of devotion and gratitude the man worshipped God and Jesus shows up right beside him to reveal more about Himself. Talk about a pool party!!! What a gift we have that we serve a Savior who pursues us, offers healing, and then chooses to draw us even closer to Himself when we obediently seek worship of Him and learn to “walk again” in faith.
So that has been our summer! With each and every gathering, we’ve learned lessons about God’s love for his children and the human condition that we all share. We’ve seen how God desires for us to be in covenant with Him. We’ve seen how God wants us to live into our Baptism with a new life of faith that looks different than the world around us. In doing so, we’ve seen how God can change and influence the lives of others in our midst—individuals who share in the same promises and hope of our Lord and who are made in His image.
Thank you for the support of our program and these youth.
