I’m convinced that it’s simply impossible to anticipate the places one will go when God is part of the decision making process. To be honest, I should have known this by now considering I’ve chosen a vocation that necessarily fetters one’s life to God’s intentions. But as I’ve come to expect, I found myself struck yet again with utter disbelief this past spring when I found myself on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, stepping out into the cool crisp air of the Czech Republic with eight of my fellow seminarians and our friend and professor of Practical Theology, Dr. Amy Jacober. From what I have pieced together since I got home, the jist of the story is that the Spirit of God can and will pull you in all sorts of directions, no matter how unexpected.
This unforeseen trek to Western Europe began in the fall of 2007. I had just taken a grad-assistanship as a Campus Minister with Baylor University’s Area of Spiritual Life in the Youth Programs department when asked if I would consider the opportunity to assist in leading a team of Truett students on a mission trip to the Czech Republic in the spring. Of all the possibilities that I can imagine coming my way in life, there was no way I could have anticipated this, and to be rather candid with you, the ten-hour flight that it would take to reach Europe would only be the second time I had been on a plane.
The existence of such an opportunity was due entirely to Dr. Jacober’s extensive involvement in youth ministry endeavors worldwide. We served alongside Malachi Youth Ministries (http://www.malachi.org) and Military Community Youth Ministries (http://www.mcym.org), two organizations dedicated to ministering to teens with parents in active military duty, as they brought over 600 students and adults together in weeklong service projects throughout Europe. Specifically, our Truett team worked with 200 students and adults from military bases in Germany and Spain in the village of Turnov in the Czech Republic. Other service projects took place simultaneously in Opava in the Czech Republic, Ustron in Poland, and Presov in Slovakia. To say the least, it was an interesting experience spending a week of community-oriented service in a foreign country while at the same time working alongside American teens. This mission trip transplanted something like youth ministry that I have had much experience with, and placed it directly in the middle of the dichotomy of the familiar and the literally foreign.
In Turnov, our entire project, including meals, lodging at a nearby camp, a place for evening worship, and every service location, was coordinated in large part by Peter and Petr, co-pastors of a Moravian Church (part of the Jednota Bratrská) located right outside the center of town. With their help, a school (Základní Škola) across the street from the church, which now looks back on our time with them as their “week with the Americans,” allowed our group to serve inside classrooms, in after school clubs, and outside as we created an outdoor learning center and built a regulation size sand volleyball court. As well, our group was able to clear out and construct an outdoor play area and begin demolition on what will become an Internet café and the locale for an English-speaking club at the church, and refurbish the physical education facilities at trade school in town.
Looking back, I am amazed yet again by the brilliant things God can and will do through people who give of themselves and seek after the needs of others above their own. I say this not because I believe I have mastered such a lifestyle, but because I am encouraged beyond belief by the glimpse Christ’s character I saw in and through the actions of people whose lives are so very different than my own. On my part, it was a week spent participating in the ever-unfolding story of my own calling, basking in the reality that the kingdom of God is still bigger than I can fathom, and knowing that I am right where I need to be.
*** Highlight videos of the Turnov Service Project 2008 can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/betterproductions***
Jared Slack is beginning his 6th and second to last semester at Truett Seminary and diligently working toward his Master of Divinity with a concentration in Theology. He calls Waco home, but his mom wishes he would say Lufkin, Texas. He spends much of his time working as a Campus Minister with Baylor’s Area of Spiritual Life, reading for Dr. Ngan and all those professors striving to be like her, pondering the wonder of BBQ, and relaxing with his dog Karis. He hopes to spend his career calling people toward life in community and participating in the missio dei.
This is just an observation, but there’s a lot to be learned at 3 a.m. whilst standing in the pouring rain wearing nothing but your skivvies trying to convince your dog to go to the bathroom. As I’m standing there with my pitiful little dog, both of us drenched, one of us extremely hacked and the other completely befuddled I begin pondering the more perplexing things in life.
One thing I’ve realized: I’m a terribly awkward person. I don’t know if it’s a genetic flaw or a social disorder, but I shouldn’t be allowed to carry on a conversation with anyone. Whether it’s a conversation with a new friend while sitting at Sonic, sharing a meal with Life Group as we talk about life and God or trying to convince a dog to take a piss; there always seems to be the annoying reality of disconnectedness waiting to slap you in the face. It’s such an uphill battle trying to overcome it all. Who has the energy to put in the work? Especially when we always end up getting hurt (or at least incredibly annoyed).
The “tasks” of getting to know a person, pursuing candid relationships with those closest to you or simply trying to decide on a place to eat all get screwed up by the fact that we are such different people with such different backgrounds. It’s when these world’s collide that the aftermath almost becomes too much to bear. There just isn’t enough time to wade through the competing realities present when “two or more are gathered in [Jesus’] name.” Why bother? I doubt we’ll ever really get it right and if we do it won’t last long.
But here is what I decided while standing in the rain with my poor little dog experiencing the gnawing dissonance of the “I-Dog” relationship: It’s precisely our diversity that makes our moments of unity, no matter how few or far between, so incredibly beautiful.
I believe there are times when each of us must admit our complete, incompleteness. No [hu]man is an island I guess. Isn’t that what human sexuality really is? Setting aside reproduction and the whole hetero/homo/bi discussion. Our creation as sexual beings is an ever-present reminder of the fact that we were created “one for the other.”
The truth of the matter is that without social interaction/connection there can be no personality. I have no way of knowing who it is that I really am if I’m too gutless and apathetic to leap across the abyss of human differentiation and step into the chaos of communal life with all the kooks and assholes that I call family and friends.
It is in those times that we get to experience the blessing of distance for the sake of nearness, individuality for the sake of reciprocal love/esteem and otherness for the sake of genuine oneness.
I hope this made sense.
Jared.
So, I have this rather unsettling obsession with texting people the lyrics to a Boyz II Men song. I’m not sure whether it should be classified as a quirk or a complex,but on an alarmingly regular basis this insatiable desire comes over me and I find myself blessing another with a verse or two from Cooleyhighharmony.
I honestly don’t know where it came from. I mean… I was a fan back in the day. Who wasn’t though? Their blissful harmonies and pseudo-erotic lyrical genius were what made middle school dances, mixed tapes and ID bracelets such formative expressions of our pubescent years.
None of us would be the people were today had they not released the II album. Shit, track nine alone deserves credit for 3 out of 5 of the girls I kissed in the 8th grade. I strongly feel that it is incumbent upon us all to keep their songs in circulation in whatever manner possible.
Well anyways, I usually get a mixed response when I bombard a person’s inbox.
It usually goes a lil’ somethin’ like dis’*:
Me: We don’t even talk any more. We don’t even know what we argue about.
Friend: What are you talking about? We talked this morning.
Me: Don’t even say, “I love you no more.” ‘Cuz saying how we feel is no longer allowed.
Friend: What the hell?
Me: Some people will works things out, and some just don’t know how to change.
Friend: I am so confused. I don’t have any idea what you are talking about, and I’m seriously not responding to you anymore.
Me: Let’s don’t wait ‘til the water runs dry. We might watch our whole lives pass us by.
Friend: … that’s not even good grammar.
Me: Let’s don’t wait ‘til the water runs dry. We’ll make the biggest mistake of our lives.
Friend: You’re wasting all my text messages. You’re going to owe me like 70 cents.
Me: Don’t do it baby…
Friend: I hate you.
I’m just trying to do my part.
Jared.
*translation: “It usually goes a little something like this”
May God bless you with discomfort,
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger,
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
My God bless you with tears,
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their
pain to joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness,
to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
Amen.
Some photos from Prague.
jared.
