By Andrew Simmons and Jenny Fearnow
One of us was recently in a staff meeting in which a supervisor asked, “Y’all took a N’awlins trip recently, didn’cha? I don’t know why people keep going down there. It’s just gonna flood again.” Yes, people are indeed still going down to the Crescent City after Katrina’s second, and more catastrophic, landfall on August 29th, 2005. So, why? Will our visits realistically change anything?
This thought occurred to at least we two, and likely more, of the Trinity Fellows and U. Va. Students from Reformed University Fellowship who made the trek to the Big Easy from Jan. 3 to 10 of this year. As we both hope to convey, the Lord’s kingdom made strong advances in New Orleans during that first week of 2009.
In addressing change, one must assume there is a pre-existing need. In New Orleans, people are still hurting: emotionally, physically, and mentally. Many have resigned themselves to apathy, tired of the long rebuilding process or extended unemployment. Some are still waiting for their houses to physically come off the 4-by-4 wood blocks that resemble a Jenga game. Driving through the now-famous Ninth Ward, we saw no street signs and no attempts, on the part of the city government, to rebuild; however, people are resettling there, living amidst brokenness.
The combination of compelling, audacious rebuilding and the seeming big-picture futility of it in the face of such wide destruction could cause one to question their usefulness there. And in some sense that is true - God is the only one that will bring about real peace and restore in our hearts a hope for it. In this respect, our very presence was an act of trust in God to work his sovereign good will to restore his people.
But we do get to play an integral part: as believers, we are called to bring peace to the city and reconciliation to hurt and brokenness. “…That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us,” says Paul in II Corinthians 5:19-20. God has made us ministers of his peace for His Kingdom. If we understood anything from being in NOLA, it was that lasting change comes only through the catholic Church. Members of RUF at the University of Virginia along with the Fellows, Redeemer PCA (Pastor Ray Cannata’s church), and the Annunciation Mission joined together to declare the gospel in word and deed within the Broadmoor district of New Orleans. Our short-term work projects meant nothing except in that they were rooted in the local church which could further a long-term relationship with community members.
By tearing up tile, scraping and painting, caulking and gutting, raking and pressure-washing, we participated in incarnational ministry. We did realistically change something. Sure, some benefits are visible even now. We gave a couple from the community leak-proof windows and a pleasant entryway. But some may not be for some time. We helped connect this same couple with the local church. Long-time development practitioner and Vice President for International Program Strategy at World Vision International Bryant Myers says that the Church is critical to genuine social transformation, “It is hard to imagine sustainable transformation without churches committed to soul care [development of personal faith] and social care [helping the poor and correcting injustices].” This truth was borne out in our own experience – the other groups we encountered aiding in reconstruction were, by a huge majority, evangelical groups of believers working in partnership with a local church.
So, to our surprise, there is indeed hope in New Orleans. This hope is found in a personal God who chooses to work through the local church and the Christians there that believe in His promises of restoration. We must remember that this applies not only to New Orleans, but to Charlottesville, as well. The church is the arm of God ministering real and lasting peace to its community. New Orleans, as that supervisor suggested it might, is indeed experiencing another flood – one of vital and engaged Gospel work that labors in the nitty-gritty of everyday life, not in spite of, but because of the imminent arrival of the Kingdom. So when the good times roll, know that the church is there.
If you want more information about the New Orleans trip or other service opportunities the Fellows are involved in please email me at jennyfearnow@gmail.com and/or check out our NOLA pictures on the Trinity Fellows Blog at www.trinityfellowsprogram.blogspot.com. Also check out the RUF website and pictures at www.uva.ruf.org
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Common Grounds Post- "A True Portrait is Never Pretty"
Our greatest desire is to be fully known and fully accepted. Deep down we want someone to see us for who we are- the beautiful with the ugly- and neither balk in disgust nor mistake us for something we are not, something better with fewer blemishes and flaws. And yet, we fear the fulfillment of the very thing we desire. Our greatest fear is to be known, found out, rejected. Out of this fear we build up defenses like walls, hiding our weakness, preventing anyone from really knowing us at all. We are like shopkeepers that put mannequins in the window, clean projections of the person we would rather people see (confident, attractive, sociable, interesting, etc), all the while keeping the shop door locked tight, carefully keeping the ugly reality of our imperfect lives out of sight.
As a portrait artist, the goal of my paintings is to subvert this practice of building defenses, and instead create a conversation with the viewer that is open and honest. You look at the person on the canvas and they look right back at you. Hopefully there is intimacy in that moment of examination. Maybe it is because the person in the canvas never looks away. You can look and look, critiquing every wrinkle and zit, but the subject has no shame.
I recently had a show that consisted of a bunch of portraits of folks I know from around Charlottesville. At one point I stood up and made a brief artist’s statement, which pretty much began like the first paragraph above, talking about lowering our guard and allowing ourselves to be known. I talked about how the bright colors were meant to represent each subject’s character and affirm their dignity as image-bearers of God. A question came from the back of the room, “Why don’t you have any self-portraits up, and if you did, what colors would they be?”
Uh.
Er.
I, uh.
I half jokingly replied that putting a self-portrait on the wall for the entire world to examine would demand that I unlock the “shop door” and let people in. But seriously. It is much easier to talk about not being so guarded than to take an honest look at oneself and stop pretending. I will hang up a portrait of a friend and subject them to public scrutiny long before I will subject myself. Why? Because even if you tell me you won’t reject me, my mind says, “you don’t know what I know.”
So what’s the solution- how do we get over the fear of exposure? The answer is certainly not try harder. Rather, I think the answer has to do with resting, resting in the promises of the God “to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.” This is the gospel: that God walks into a gallery, sees your face on the wall- knows every bit from the surface right on through to the core- and is utterly mesmerized by the beauty. He may as well be looking into a mirror. We are utterly known and profoundly accepted.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
A Fellows Rendez-Vous
by Hayley Taylor & Wilson Whitaker
Location: Revolutionary Soup
Agenda: Celebrate our Two Week Anniversary of Togetherness
An auspicious beginning, to be sure. Yet this anniversary shadowed a different, though no less important, landmark in our year: we have now completed an entire five-day work week with our new employers.
While our soup was full of Revolutionary zeal, we discovered that many of our work lives bear little resemblance to the passionate longing many of us brought to the table only weeks ago: a hope to change the world, a longing to make a difference. Throughout our varied work experiences, one common thread emerged: making a difference is taking a different shape than what we once expected. Instead of idealistic activism, we begin to change the world each morning in front of a filing cabinet at 9 a.m. sharp.
But perhaps this is a chance to remember Who it is we are serving, in both the mundane and the adventureful -- the ordinary and the breathtaking. Just perhaps this isn't about the ideas we can generate or the policies we can revamp but about the people we can serve and the love that we can give. In fact, perhaps it's not even about "we" or "me" but "Him" and "them." Just perhaps.
Happy Anniversary.
Location: Revolutionary SoupAgenda: Celebrate our Two Week Anniversary of Togetherness
An auspicious beginning, to be sure. Yet this anniversary shadowed a different, though no less important, landmark in our year: we have now completed an entire five-day work week with our new employers.
While our soup was full of Revolutionary zeal, we discovered that many of our work lives bear little resemblance to the passionate longing many of us brought to the table only weeks ago: a hope to change the world, a longing to make a difference. Throughout our varied work experiences, one common thread emerged: making a difference is taking a different shape than what we once expected. Instead of idealistic activism, we begin to change the world each morning in front of a filing cabinet at 9 a.m. sharp.
But perhaps this is a chance to remember Who it is we are serving, in both the mundane and the adventureful -- the ordinary and the breathtaking. Just perhaps this isn't about the ideas we can generate or the policies we can revamp but about the people we can serve and the love that we can give. In fact, perhaps it's not even about "we" or "me" but "Him" and "them." Just perhaps.
Happy Anniversary.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:23-24
Monday, September 15, 2008
Transforming Futures for Trinity Fellows
by Reynolds Chapman
When I graduated from college I don’t think I fully grasped how much power had been given to me. In fact, since power was a negative concept in my mind, I probably played down my social, professional, political, and spiritual capacities out of some false humility. And although I had gained knowledge and tools to dive head-first into the “real world,” I lacked a robust framework for engaging with it as Christ would have me. As I reflect on the past year spent in the Trinity Fellows Program, I see how it helped me recognize the power I have been given, and how God is forming me to steward it for His Kingdom.
In his book Power and Passion, Samuel Wells says “…those in power do no good by failing to realize the power they have. Power is not wrong or bad or inherently corrupt; it is given for a purpose – to reflect the truth, to set people free – and only becomes sinister when it is not used for the purpose for which it has been given.” Perhaps one of the greatest challenges of the Church in America is our unwillingness to be honest about the influence and agency we have. We can understand why - a denial of power allows for a denial of responsibility. What the Fellows Program seeks to do is catch Christians at that fork in the road where they can either treat their gifts as inadequate, irrelevant, or even non-existent, or they can use them to engage God’s world.
This vision is built on a theological foundation established in the seminary classes we take. In our Biblical studies courses, the recurring theme of humiliation before exultation was implanted in our hearts and minds. Centered on Christ, who “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross,” we saw how our lives in the Church, our communities, our families, and at our jobs should take the form of service and humility. We saw that our power and privileges are not for our own personal peace and affluence, but are to be channeled as a blessing to the world in the name of Jesus Christ. In our cultural engagement courses we dug deeper into what the world looks like and the specifics about how theology translates into society. These classes challenged our assumptions, and helped transform us to view the world in a Christ-like manner.
Our discussions of theology and cultural engagement became practical in our workplace internships. One of the chief aims of the fellows program is bridging the divide between the sacred and secular – affirming that worship not only occurs when we gather together at the end of Fontaine Avenue, but also when we’ve been sitting at an office in front of a computer for three hours and we still have five hours to go. We saw that in God’s Kingdom, the value of someone who works in financial consulting, or someone who cleans houses for a living, is equal to a pastor or missionary. We were also able to engage our community by tutoring low-income students at Abundant Life, which allowed us a brief departure from our privileged lifestyle and granted us a snapshot into a community neglected and overlooked by most of Charlottesville.
As we affirmed the importance of engaging the world, it was indispensable to see that without the Church, any of our pursuits in this world are meaningless. In America, where we worship the gods of status, wealth, and security, the Church becomes an afterthought. We operate under the rule that when we’re working sixty hours a week, there’s just not time to go to a church prayer meeting or to pursue accountability with our brothers or sisters in Christ. But being plugged into the Church was invaluable this year, especially for many of us who are going into the marketplace. We were welcomed with open doors and open arms by our host families, who were willing to take a stranger into their home for a whole year. We had the opportunity to serve the youth in the Church, while being served in many ways by our mentors and the host of Church members and those on staff who spoke with us and prayed for us.
Before doing the Fellows Program, I would have asked “Wouldn’t a weekend-long conference on faith and work be sufficient and effective?” After doing the Fellows Program, I would answer no to this. This year has not taught me ideas, but has rather given me a community and experiences that have transformed me to see the purpose of the gifts God has given me. On behalf of the 2007-2008 class, thanks to Trinity Presbyterian Church, and may God bless the incoming fellows as they embark on this journey together.
When I graduated from college I don’t think I fully grasped how much power had been given to me. In fact, since power was a negative concept in my mind, I probably played down my social, professional, political, and spiritual capacities out of some false humility. And although I had gained knowledge and tools to dive head-first into the “real world,” I lacked a robust framework for engaging with it as Christ would have me. As I reflect on the past year spent in the Trinity Fellows Program, I see how it helped me recognize the power I have been given, and how God is forming me to steward it for His Kingdom.
In his book Power and Passion, Samuel Wells says “…those in power do no good by failing to realize the power they have. Power is not wrong or bad or inherently corrupt; it is given for a purpose – to reflect the truth, to set people free – and only becomes sinister when it is not used for the purpose for which it has been given.” Perhaps one of the greatest challenges of the Church in America is our unwillingness to be honest about the influence and agency we have. We can understand why - a denial of power allows for a denial of responsibility. What the Fellows Program seeks to do is catch Christians at that fork in the road where they can either treat their gifts as inadequate, irrelevant, or even non-existent, or they can use them to engage God’s world.
This vision is built on a theological foundation established in the seminary classes we take. In our Biblical studies courses, the recurring theme of humiliation before exultation was implanted in our hearts and minds. Centered on Christ, who “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross,” we saw how our lives in the Church, our communities, our families, and at our jobs should take the form of service and humility. We saw that our power and privileges are not for our own personal peace and affluence, but are to be channeled as a blessing to the world in the name of Jesus Christ. In our cultural engagement courses we dug deeper into what the world looks like and the specifics about how theology translates into society. These classes challenged our assumptions, and helped transform us to view the world in a Christ-like manner.
Our discussions of theology and cultural engagement became practical in our workplace internships. One of the chief aims of the fellows program is bridging the divide between the sacred and secular – affirming that worship not only occurs when we gather together at the end of Fontaine Avenue, but also when we’ve been sitting at an office in front of a computer for three hours and we still have five hours to go. We saw that in God’s Kingdom, the value of someone who works in financial consulting, or someone who cleans houses for a living, is equal to a pastor or missionary. We were also able to engage our community by tutoring low-income students at Abundant Life, which allowed us a brief departure from our privileged lifestyle and granted us a snapshot into a community neglected and overlooked by most of Charlottesville.
As we affirmed the importance of engaging the world, it was indispensable to see that without the Church, any of our pursuits in this world are meaningless. In America, where we worship the gods of status, wealth, and security, the Church becomes an afterthought. We operate under the rule that when we’re working sixty hours a week, there’s just not time to go to a church prayer meeting or to pursue accountability with our brothers or sisters in Christ. But being plugged into the Church was invaluable this year, especially for many of us who are going into the marketplace. We were welcomed with open doors and open arms by our host families, who were willing to take a stranger into their home for a whole year. We had the opportunity to serve the youth in the Church, while being served in many ways by our mentors and the host of Church members and those on staff who spoke with us and prayed for us.
Before doing the Fellows Program, I would have asked “Wouldn’t a weekend-long conference on faith and work be sufficient and effective?” After doing the Fellows Program, I would answer no to this. This year has not taught me ideas, but has rather given me a community and experiences that have transformed me to see the purpose of the gifts God has given me. On behalf of the 2007-2008 class, thanks to Trinity Presbyterian Church, and may God bless the incoming fellows as they embark on this journey together.
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