Time with Sharon: Risk-taking Adventure

Recently, my family and I took a vacation to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park in Tennessee. We stayed in a cabin there, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of a beautiful forest. We also did what I will refer to as “The craziest thing I may have ever done in my life”. It has a name. ZORBING.

Zorbing is when you dive head-first into a giant rubber ball that is suspended inside another giant ball, and then topple down a hill while sliding around in about 10 gallons of cold water inside. You bounce and slosh, and find yourself swishing around like you’re in a washing machine set on the “super turbo” wash cycle. And yes, you pay for this experience.

While I was on my downhill ride, thoughts went screaming through my mind. Mostly, it was “YIKES! WHAT WAS I THINKING?!” But it was exhilarating too, and I felt so alive! When I reached the bottom, the attendant opened my zorb, and found me laughing with delight (ok-and a little relief). What an adventure!

You know there just seems to be something both scary and wonderful about adventure. We sometimes take all kinds of risks in our pursuit of experiencing something new and life affirming. That’s what risk-taking mission and service in the church is about. Stepping out, taking a risk, putting ourselves in a new place, with new people, doing something that we’re not all together sure about. Our bishop, Robert Schnase, wrote about it in his book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. He said risk-taking ministry “moves us beyond our comfort zone, and presses us to follow Christ into more adventurous encounters with people. As we do so, God’s Spirit changes us, changes others, and changes our church.”

“Adventurous encounters with people”. Lafayette Park UMC engages in “adventurous encounters with people” when we build houses in Juarez, Mexico, send emissaries to build relationships in Mozambique, feed hungry people at The Bridge, and offer our Hands In Mission rehabbing buildings in our local community through the United Methodist connection. But there are also less physical ways that we embark upon mission adventures. When we devote 45 minutes a week to read with a child at the elementary school, or we tell funny stories to children in our Pumpkin Patch, or we assist underprivileged folks as they pick out presents at the Kingdom House Christmas Shop, we are stepping out of our daily routine, and offering ourselves to another, not knowing what will happen, but trusting that God will make something good of it. We can find ourselves feeling closer to God, emotionally exhilarated, and freshly alive! Now that’s an adventure!

This September 26th, we will be stepping out in risk-taking mission and service again. As part of Mission Blitz, we will join a vision for 10,000 people of faith to reach out to their community in big and small ways, making a difference for Christ’s sake. Unlike my experience in the zorb, you will be more than just wet and giddy. The adventure of loving God through loving others will leave you drenched in God’s Spirit, filled with wonder, and changed forever.

Look for more information for how you can jump into Mission Blitz on September 26th. I hope you will join me in a new “adventurous encounter”!

Peace,
Pastor Sharon