Before I get to in depth into figuring out where this first full year of campus ministry has left me, God walked me down a different road. My faith formation director at graduate school suggested that I needed some personal renewal beyond the busy parameters of daily life in work, school, and social stuff. Though I told her I wasn't sure about the spiritual intensity of it, I was headed to Notre Dame Vision for Campus and Youth Ministers, in parallel with the 10 students I was bringing along to the high school conference.
The week was a solid combination of outstanding presenters, capable facilitators, and communal interactions. However, it was definitely not a retreat. People came and went as they pleased, many having been through the conference several times before. And the openness of the schedule left much to each participant's imagination.
I took a bunch of notes, gleaning wisdom from our speakers and discussions. I mixed and matched a bit at different tables during our sessions and meals, chatting with new friends and old. I went for a few morning runs. I even got surprised with an invite down to the stage to show an auditorium-full of teens and college students some old dance moves (bet my students did not see that coming).
One of the bonuses of heading the conference this particular summer is that a former student of mine, now a freshman at St. Mary's College, was serving as a mentor to the high school students. And she was giving her witness talk as part of one of the sessions. To get to see her in action, organizing games on the quad, shepherding her small group, and finally telling her story was pretty sweet. I shared with her how proud I was of her and kept some tabs on her while staying way out of her way. Oh and PS - she got in as a transfer to Notre Dame for next year! :)
What I didn't expect, beyond that, was seeing two of my former mentees from when I was a Vision mentor in 2010 and 2011, now serving as mentors themselves! I knew they were amazing people, and I was super excited and impressed when they got into Notre Dame. Now they were before me with name tags and polos, doing the job - the ministry - I had once gotten to do for them. As much as I loved and admired these kiddos already, it was pretty wild and beautiful to see them now in my shoes.
As I left campus, I left them my phone number to stay in touch. As I conquered the last few miles of my drive back into the city, one of them called with some fun news - the two of them would be partners in leading a small-group for the next week of Vision. Craycray awesome.
Even though the week didn't pack the punch of a silent retreat in a wilderness monastery, the alchemy of presentations (Mike Patin told us we need to make space for encounters with those we minister to), socializing (only with ministers would I end up at a bar 4 nights in a row!), and these surprises left me in a contented place.
I saw ten of my students from my school where campus ministry is but a budding niche take campus by storm and realize a fuller sense of what's possible in spiritual life. I saw a former student realize more of her amazing potential in leadership. I saw two of my former small-group members doing the same. And all the while thinking that some seeds fall on rocky soil and get scorched or eaten while others take root and grow.
In ministry, we have to find peace with doing the best we can to bring people to awareness of God's presence during the times we have with them. Then we have to trust the encounters to God and His other servants, spread all across parishes, schools, and communities throughout our Church. As a Vision mentor, I remember insisting to my often arrogant and always-having-high-expectations self to settle myself into a solid whole and let the members of my groups call out of me what they're needing. I had to convince myself to do my best for the five days God gave me with my kids and entrust the rest to the people who would come after me.
Now, as God is sometimes wont to do, He gave me a small moment of gratification with so many layers wrapped up together. Vision encourages participants to "encourage the storm," to bring all parts of their lives into the experience through activities, reflections, and discussions. My week at Vision happened in just that way. Those I've ministered to in my short time as a full-time minister came together in a beautiful gathering of Church, all to realize different things for themselves and to teach me different things:
- My student from last year showed me the amazing ways God's working through her gifts after my colleagues and I invested so much in forming her, and her forming us, at that high school.
- My mentees from when I mentored Vision showed me that the seeds I sowed in the more distant past were growing all along as others tilled the soil and harvested the emerging fruit.
- My current students stepped up to an opportunity that capped a first year of my effort's to put more invitations to bigger and better things in front of their spiritual noses.
All the while, God kept His hands hard at work, not washing up and throwing a towel over His shoulder, but continuing to dwell among us to facilitate the ongoing encounters that keep building His Kingdom more and more. Surely, more grace in relationship is just around the corner, for grace never leaves us where she finds us. What a joy!
No comments:
Post a Comment