In This Month's Issue:
DAILY MISSIONS
Mothering college and high school daughters
An 11th grader will go to his church's national convention
RESOURCES
“Facts of life: The case for sexuality education”
FOR MEDITATION
MM SHORTS
To change assumptions begin with what the other knows and finds important to find a way to “hook” their attention.
– Ann Lynch
At the exit doors of the church or parking lot, put up this sign: “You are entering your daily mission fields.”
– Thanks to Trinity Church, Rutland, VT
The real missionary imperative: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John20:21).
– John R. W. Stott
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June 2012
Member Mission Newsletter #105
For a gracious summer
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Hint – Adapt our purpose for your church?
Why not adapt the purpose of the Member Mission Network, Inc., the tax-free corporation from which we work, as part of or even the whole of your mission statement.
“. . . to provide churches with the strategies and tools to enable Christian living for their members in all of the members’ daily mission fields.”
Mothering college and high school daughters
Marie has two daughters. This Fall, Nancy enters her junior year at a local college with her eye on a doctorate in physical therapy; and Jane enters her senior year in high school with nursing at college or in the service still ahead. Both Nancy and Jane work part-time in a law office.
Both Marie and her husband work. Marie has two jobs – one in accounting full-time for a construction company and one part-time in the same law office.
What are some of the challenges you face in mothering?
Life is so computerized on the social networking of Facebook and Twitter that it seems everyone knows what everyone else does. For kids, nothing is personal any more. It’s easier to be mean to people you do not see face to face. There is little privacy and they do not know what their boundaries are. They meet people you do not know or their parents. You are not sure where they are any more. Things can get out of hand in a hurry. You think you are with a small gathering on Facebook and you end up with a crowd you were not planning on. It’s scarier because a lot of serious things can happen more quickly and they do not understand what is going on – especially for my younger daughter. Nancy does help Jane – which Jane does not always appreciate.
I want to keep them focused on what is right and what is right for themselves and their own future. Here is where the church comes in big-time. It’s like having a whole family of people helping me to raise my kids. Nancy and Jane feel a responsibility not only to make us proud, but also to make our congregation proud of them. They have more to live up to. As for values, I want them to be productive citizens; to realize there is something bigger than us; and they have to have faith in that so that they can reach out for their goals; to know they can be bigger than what they think they can be. I don’t want them to give up reaching for what they want to be and to be happy in whatever they choose to do; and to know they always have a support system of their home, their church, and their community.
What are some of the rewards of mothering?
They keep you young because they are learning and exploring all the time. It also makes you think about things you wanted to do but did not do; so I really encourage them to do such things. Today, kids live longer before they marry and have a family, so they are out there exploring longer and that is huge. They are wonderful people; I enjoy being around them; it’s like having friends living with you.
Contact: membermission@aol.com
An 11th grader will go to his church's national convention
Sam, an acolyte, crucifer, and reader at St. Luke's in Ypsilanti, MI, will join 8-10 other high schoolers to visit the Episcopal Church's triennial General Convention in Indianapolis, IN in July. At a briefing earlier this month, he found they will explore how policy is set for the national church for the next three years. They will follow a piece of legislation from its proposal by a delegate, a convention committee, or a diocese; through its study and reworking by a committee; to decision about it by the House of Deputies and by the House of Bishops. They will also have some time with the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori. Paying all their expenses, the national church sees this program as training leaders for the years ahead.
What led you to accept the invitation?
"Learning more about the church, visiting another state, and meeting new people sounded overall like a fun thing to do."
What are some the values you find in church life?
"Being close to God makes you feel spiritually happy. Through the week, you feel like you are missing something if you have not been to church."
Contact: membermission@aol.com
“Facts of life: The case for sexuality education” In the Christian Century of 6/11/12, Amy Frykholm finds that comprehensive sex education helps to reduce risky sexual behavior. Summer could be the best time of year to discuss adding such courses to health education during high school. Use this article for discussion in your church with an eye on talking it over with your school board.
See http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-05/facts-life. She also describes church-based sex education in “Lessons for ‘Our whole lives’” and courses your church might want to use. See http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-05/lessons-our-whole-lives.
Social justice parenting – Click on http://sojo.net/magazine for these lead articles in the July 2012 issue of Sojourners. From “Breaking the Bubble Wrap” by David M. Csinos and Brian D. McLaren: “We may be tempted to quarantine our children from the scary world out there—but it's better to nurture an incurable, chronic, and healing passion for justice.” From “Croon Her to Sleep with Freedom Songs” by Anne Marie Roderick; “The goal of social justice parenting is not to produce the ‘right’ kind of child—it is to create an environment in which love flourishes.” From “On a Firm Foundation” by Elizabeth Palmberg: “Resources to help you raise happy and engaged kids.” From “Gardeners of Youth” by Catherine Maresca: “Nurturing the life of children, from stage to stage (ages 0-6 and 6-12). For this one, click on http://sojo.net/magazine/2012/07/gardeners-youth.
FOR MEDITATION – From Martin Luther
[For Luther] All Christians, whatever their office or status in church or world, lived out their lives under God's call. Further, church offices were not thought of as in any way superior to secular offices. Each could equally be the place of service to the neighbor, and thus to God. Luther, I think, would have liked the man who, when asked by a fervid evangelist, "What do you do to serve the Lord?", replied without blinking, "I bake bread." Luther's own way of stating the case was, "The housemaid on her knees scrubbing the floor is doing a work as pleasing in the eyes of Almighty God as the priest on his knees before the alter saying the mass."
– Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,
http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Vocation/Ministry-in-Daily-Life/SPLASH/Dive-right-in.aspx
YouTube Brings You Members on Mission
Bill Lippert describes serving in Vermont’s House of Representatives
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For the season of Pentecost
offer gracious courses in parenting
for parents, youth, and children
using the resources above for sex education and social justice.
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God is most interested in how we live from Monday to Saturday.
Sunday – all of church life – helps us to do it better.