So, the general gist of what I could say goes something like "since the beginning of this year, I felt myself transform into a new person," and so on and so forth. The thing is, though, I don’t think I’m some new person at all. Instead, I am myself. But an upgraded version of myself, as if I was an iPhone and have now transformed to a newer generation of the iPhone. Like most technology, there are still numerous flaws about me. However, also like most technology, I continue to change, to upgrade. Hopefully, it’ll be for the better.
Growing up, it was easy to hear the message of "celebrating differences" and think to myself, "OK, don’t be a bully, don’t be a racist, don’t be a sexist, don’t be judgmental, and I’m good to go!" Right up until I began my year in Service Adventure, I thought this would be sufficient to appreciate everyone in a way that would make myself, my parents, and my God proud. But I forgot about one crucial difference to celebrate: the difference of opinion. Now, a year or two ago, I still might have said that I didn’t care what policies one supports, or what religion he or she follows, or how he or she interprets Scripture. But then, I had not been nearly as challenged in my own understandings, nor had I been truly exposed to such a plethora of different beliefs as I have been these past eight months.
Now, you have to understand that in my house, everyone had the same opinions on the vast majority of topics. And although I had liked to pride myself in not being "as extreme" as my parents in their beliefs, I still found myself generally agreeing with them on most issues. Then I moved to Johnstown.
Johnstown has a very, let’s say, interesting mix of opinions. I would say most of the city itself leans somewhere between left and right, but the surrounding area is fairly conservative, as far as I can tell. I used to think that I had a high tolerance for different convictions on politics, religion, or anything. But when I was told about some of the beliefs of certain supporting churches, when I saw so many signs for a candidate I had always disliked, when I asked what New Day’s official stances are regarding various issues (New Day is my afternoon placement), I truly felt very ugly inside. After all, how could I live, work and fellowship with these people?
It wasn’t easy at first. I didn’t know how to carry myself in conversation, nor did I know what was and was not appropriate to discuss. I wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, but I was almost suspicious of every new person I met while out here, as if I was just waiting for them to make some point that I would hotly disagree with. And every time something like that happened, I could physically feel myself struggling to reconcile my understanding of what’s "right" versus my desire to be friendly and amiable toward others.
As the months progressed, I slowly came to a realization: Before liberal and conservative, before even Christian and non-Christian, we are all people. Our status as free-willed and free-thinking human beings outweighs all of the dividing labels we create for one another.
You might be thinking, "But how did you come to that?" To answer that question, let’s back up a bit and take a look at youth and children’s ministry. The "correct" way to carry out these kinds of ministry has always been a subject of debate. Ideas on what should be taught and what is too controversial can vary widely from person to person and organization to organization.
Now, let’s look at one of my work placements, New Day. This organization runs an after-school program open to students of the first grade up through the 12th grade. New Day offers a hot meal, time and tutoring for homework, gym or outside time, and, most importantly, education about Jesus.
Quickly, it became clear that New Day was interpreting and teaching Scripture in a way that seemed alien and backward to me. I would sometimes listen to some other members of staff leading devotions or teaching a class, with a clenched fist and the words "but that’s wrong!" just barely held back. Then I began to get to know my coworkers. I learned where they came from, why they believe the way they do. And in the end, I found that it all comes back to one thing: They were brought up this way. Much like how I was brought up a different way.
See, celebrating one another’s differences on opinion is a lot harder than it initially seemed. It took me a while to really see people with whom I had disagreements as people first rather than as some arbitrary labels. But my as my time here in Johnstown is short, so is our time on this Earth on a grander scale. The time we have is too precious to not appreciate all of God’s miracles.
I think I’ve finally realized that each and every person I see and meet, as well as those I will never meet, are all miracles in God’s eyes. I hope one day that we’ll all appreciate his miracles the way he wants us to.
