On July 22 nine of us left Adrian for a week long mission trip to Henderson Settlement, a Methodist mission outreach in the Kentucky mountains. Our work included painting a big activity room on the mission campus, working in a thrift store and food pantry, and putting metal skirting on a trailer a few miles away. We also enjoyed a rest day for sightseeing. Our group was made up of three women, three teenage girls, and three men. We saw beautiful scenery of gently rolling mountains, densely forested. We also saw firsthand the poverty of Appalachia. One man told me that the economic downturn of ’08 was simply life as usual for them. Their economic woes are deep and perennial.
On our last evening there, we sat on the hillside devotion area (picture above) and shared our surprises for the week. My surprise was how much I enjoyed the trip. Although I love dearly the people who came on the trip, I was not looking forward to the trip itself, and it was a surprise to me, once I got immersed in it, how much I enjoyed it. Which is a good reminder that my mood is often not an indicator of what is best for me.
There was no cell phone service at Henderson Settlement, so at times I felt disconnected from the world. It is good and healthy to disconnect, I know, and it helped me in a small way to feel the life of the poor, who are disconnected in many ways, but it also meant it was that much harder to make contact with my wife. I missed hearing her voice each day. The dorm we stayed in had wi-fi, so I could contact her through Facebook messages, and I was able to post pictures of our work for my church folks to see. (The Internet connection was spotty, though.) This was the sixth mission trip I have led, and the second to Kentucky. I have always been a reluctant leader; the role does not come naturally or easily to me. Each time I lead something like this, though, I become a little better at it and the role feels like it fits me more. I learned a few more leadership lessons this time. We had free time in the evening, and no TV. I played cards with our girls, and I finished reading John Woolman’s Journal for the third time. The girls were fun to be with. And Woolman was good to associate with; he helps me cultivate silence and models what a Christian life looks like.
I suppose on a trip like ours you are supposed to learn all sorts of important things about poverty. I did not. I am tempted to say with Jesus, “You will always have the poor with you, and you can help them any time you want.” John Woolman analyzed the causes of poverty, but 250 years later it seems we are no closer to ending it. I prefer to think in terms of small acts. On this trip we helped a widow to have a prettier home to live in. That is enough for me.
The best line on the trip came from one of the girls as she enjoyed a vanilla milkshake from a local market one evening. “Heaven in a cup,” she said. I hope she will remember that cup and the mission trip for years to come.
….i think i would enjoy experiencing something like this…The poverty(both financial and intellectual) in Appalachia is so disturbing to me personally..it seems to involve some inescapable cycle or syndrome..a mindset which keeps endlessly repeating and perpetuating itself..and along with the poverty and “backwardness” comes a whole host of dysfunctional behaviors and ‘ways’ of which christianity seems to have little or no affect..As a lifelong native Kentuckian,When i see this misery,I always think to myself how easily I could have been born into this way of life.. and then invariably i always question why i was’nt…..im sorry if my comments in the previous post seemed insensitive and demeaning…..its just the way it is………..Christ have mercy on us all..
The cycle, syndrome or mindset you mention is at work everywhere. We saw it in the poverty of Detroit on our mission trip there last summer. I would not want to romanticize poverty, but Jesus in his teachings did see a blessing in the poverty mindset; to him it opened you to divine breathings. I wonder if having the wealth to provide all your needs has the unintended effect of masking your deeper need for God.
…yeah,i think your right about the effects of wealth Chris..this holds true in my own life..Its interesting how just the right measure of neediness keeps me at or near the feet Jesus where i belong…I was contemplating this afternoon the sad stories i’ve heard about individuals who have lived in poverty all their lives and then suddenly won the multi-million dollar Lottery,..only to eventually end up back where they started or worse,thus proving evidently,that money is’nt always the answer…
Having enough money to pay your bills for basic needs matters. I don’t want to lose sight of that or idealize poverty.
John Woolman became increasingly radical in his social critique as his journal progressed. He noted how the wealthy tend to spend their money not on necessities but on luxuries. Makes me wonder how many things in my life really are necessary. Far fewer than I imagine, probably.
“Your soul,once it begins to turn inward,is brought under this same law of central tendency.It too gradually falls toward its proper center,which is God.The soul needs no other force to draw it than the weight of love.
The more passive and peaceful you remain,the more quickly you will advance toward God.The freer you are from exerting your own effort,the more quickly you will move toward your Lord.
Why is this? Because there is a divine energy drawing you.When this divine energy is completely unhindered,He has complete liberty to draw you just as He pleases.
Jesus Christ is the great magnet of your soul,but of your soul only.He will not draw the impurities and mixtures that are mingled with it.Any such impurities prevent His full power of attraction.
If there were no mixture in your soul,the soul would instantly rush toward the all-powerful,irrestible God within to be lost in Him.But if you are loaded down with many material possessions-or anything else-this attraction is hindered.Many Christians seize some part of this world or some part of the self with so tight a grip that they spend their whole lives making only a snail’s progress toward their Center.
Thank God,sometimes your Lord,out of His boundless love,strikes the burden violently from your hand.It is then that you realize just how very much you had been hindered and held back.Dear Christian,only allow everything to drop.How? Simply withdraw your hands from self;withdraw your hands from every other person and all things.Of course,that is something of a sacrifice.It can even be a crucifixion.but you will be amazed to find that there is only a very short space between your sacrifice and your resurrection!” Madame Guyon:’Experiencing The Depths Of Christ’- pg.56