My great grandmother attended a national youth gathering of the Presbyterian church in Pittsburgh in 1920. Just to get to Pittsburgh from western Illinois would have been quite a trip in 1920. The hard road in the county was not even completed until 1924 so the thirty mile trip to the rail hub in Galesburg would likely have been on unpaved roads and then it would have been a three hour train ride to Chicago and today on Amtrak Chicago to Pittsburgh is nine and a half hours. For a bunch of small town and farm kids in 1920 it would have quite the experience to visit a major city and meet kids from all over the country. Our trip was much easier. Everyone had a short ride to the airport and Delta checked our group in quickly. We had a five hour direct flight and there were one hundred different movies and many television shows to watch. We were even provided with complementary beverages and two snacks. Even though our trip was smooth it was a trip that transformed all of us.
The scripture that was featured for the week in Puerto Rico was Romans 12:9-21. The Lutheran Study Bible labels this passage as “Marks of the True Christian.” In this text Paul outlines in everyday, practical terms how Christians are to live as justified believers. One night we were asked to pick out the verse that had the most meaning to us and to write a key phrase on an armband. There are a lot of different themes which are present in the text. There is a call to let love be genuine, to rejoice in hope, to be patient in suffering, to persevere in prayer, to extend hospitality to strangers, to live in harmony with one another, to feed your hungry enemies, and to overcome evil with good. In short, these are really high ideals which are worthy of emulation but the truth is that we often do not live up to them.
I have to admit that I cheated. I wrote “be transformed” on my armband. The phrase “be transformed” does not appear in Romans 12:9-21 but it does appear in one of my favorite Bible verses which is Romans 12:2. Romans 12:2 according to the NRSV is “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” I think that this verse about transformation really gets to the heart of the Christian life. We may not be able to be perfect according to the standards of Romans 12:9-21 but we are capable of transformation. I grew up in the church but my faith was kind of lukewarm for many years. When I was thirty years old I decided to read the Bible each and every day and reading scripture completely changed my life. Things that had once been important to me no longer mattered and things that I once ignored became meaningful to me. I started to volunteer my time to serve others and in serving others I saw first hand the impact that oppressive and unjust systems have on many people’s lives. I will never be able to help everyone and I will never be perfect but I can be transformed. If we let Christ’s love transform us God will work through us in ways that we cannot fathom. It seems completely crazy but I am pursuing a call to ordained ministry because I believe in this idea that through this transformation of individual hearts and minds God does bring love, peace, and justice into the world.
I was a bit worried about the carbon footprint of our trip to Puerto Rico. The carbon emissions just on the flight down there was for each of us double the annual carbon emissions of the average person in Kenya. However, to grow and to be transformed you have to step out of your comfort zone and this was a chance of a lifetime to experience a different lifestyle and a different culture. I am proud of the kids because they worked so hard and made new friends during the week. Doing manual labor, learning new skills and interacting with the community in Puerto Rico is a good recipe for transformation. I do not know if my great grandmother and her peers did any community service during their time in Pittsburgh but I assume that the experience of those kids in 1920 transformed them in some way. The kids of 1920 helped to create modern society and I think that they left the world a better place. My hope is that God will continue transforming the world through the kids who went to Puerto Rico in 2022.
I am really glad that the Puerto Rico trip came at the end of my internship. I would not have been ready or prepared to go on this trip in August 2021. After a year and a half of working at home and taking all of my classes online it was quite a transition for me to be in a role where I was again interacting with people on a daily basis. In many ways I had to learn how to be a human being again. I am so glad that my transition back into society occurred at Faith-Lilac Way. This congregation has been very welcoming and I really appreciate the hospitality that has been shown to me. I have enjoyed getting to know the members of this faith community. Faith-Lilac Way has been a place where I have been able to grow and to transform. Pastor Pam has given me so many opportunities and she encouraged me to become involved with all areas of ministry here. After online worship for a year and a half I was pretty rusty. During this year I have become much more comfortable being in front of the congregation leading worship. I have also appreciated the frequent opportunities to preach. I am not perfect but I believe that I am becoming a Christian leader who can preach the gospel in a way that inspires others. The twelve mile trip either by bike or by car on good roads from my apartment in St. Paul to Faith-Lilac Way is much less arduous than a train trip from western Illinois to Pittsburgh or the flight from Minnesota to Puerto Rico, however coming here fifty two weeks has been a journey of transformation for me and I thank you for being with me and supporting me during the past year.
- Vicar Kyle Anderson