As some of you know, I read a lot on Mother Teresa...because I think she is simply amazing. When she wrote letters to God, she signed them, "Your Little One." (which I think is adorable.) On Monday night, I was brought to a tough question for me on how to I respond to those who ask, "Why don't you do something in the U.S., why do you have to keep going to Africa?" Sometimes I find myself being weak in just saying, "because I have a heart for the people" when I know I am saying it to a critic who doesn't understand the mission. I continually pray that I can speak of a call in strength when I sometimes want to say it in weakness. I was reading the works of Mother Teresa today on how she struggled with her critics, judging her in work with the suffering of the poor and building hospices for the dying. She said that this is the answer she had to her critics: "We all have a duty to serve, and I choose to serve God where He has called me. I feel called to help individuals as people, not to interest myself in structures or institutions." (Whoa...Mother Theresa, you are my hero!)
Her words also reminded me of this last trip to Ghana. She was a woman that planted a lot of structures (hospices, orphanages, etc.) but she is known not for the building but for the love of the people housed under the structures she founded. People who met her and people who will know her by name in years to come will know her not for the structure over their heads, but for the love which it was built. There are so many people that will be touched, loved, healed, and know God under the structures all over the world which are founded by her, yet have never met her. Because she went where she was called and was active, she was able to plant places that focused on people and God's love.
I keep looking at the pictures of the church plant in Ghana from the August 2010 trip with the Lutheran Church of Hope team. On every trip for me, I have always thought of Mother Teresa's words, "Don't give them your money, because it can be got, give them your heart because they need your love." Watching the guys work on this new church plant is probably one of the biggest impacts of any of my trips. I've been apart of the relationship building to reach planting a church, seen the given ground, seen the final result, but never witnessed the process from the ground up. I'm so impacted by having this experience a couple weeks ago...I'm so grateful to be a witness. It breaks me down not for the structure, but for what it represents...the people. Witnessing Mark, Cory, Mike, Ebenezer, Kwaku, Richard, etc., building the structure, knowing the faith building, the hard work, and joy that the mission of building it is so amazing. (By the way, strong work guys...bless you!) While we were there, I couldn't stop thinking about the people, and how that village was there working with our team, and the women carrying the rocks, and those that were just there witnessing the foundation of a structure that would house God's love. For me, it was more than watching team Hope and Ghanaians work, it was witnessing God on the move. I couldn't then can't now stop thinking of what is to come for that community and the people that will sit under that structure. I can't stop praying for the people that will be a God community of prayer, love, healing, joy, and grace. I am in such praise and joy for people who I met there in that village, and people who I may never meet, but know that the possibility of the unity of God's people will gather in growth under a structure of a new church plant. God is amazing!
One last Mother T- She also said, "You can do what I can't do, and I can do what you can't do, but together we can do something beautiful for God." That reminds me of the new church plant, too. As much as I would have loved to grab a tool and build a church, I couldn't--and for multiple reasons. Some were called to cut pipes, dig holes, use such and such tool to put together part A to part B, collect rocks, mix the concrete, build the relationships, knock on so and so's door to invite to church, select the call for the pastor, etc. The beautiful thing is that we each have a part to this amazing new body of church, and together we are all doing something beautiful for the unity of God. I'm so moved by witnessing the "planting" part of this church, to be united in a body that does something beautiful for God. God's love. The experience of God's love...now that is something truly beautiful!
What makes this past team of people so awesome is that we are many parts under one body...thank you for being so beautiful for God!
