I must confess that my reflection comes from
a sermon my dear priest, Bill Van Oss, preached last Sunday that has stuck with me and caused me to contemplate in the past few days. He spoke on Sunday about his daughter who is around six years old. This amazing little girl, Luisa, was having a conversation with another young girl in the backseat of her dad's car on the way to a birthday party. As they passed a church, Luisa asked her friend what church she attended. Her friend looked a little confused and said she didn't have a church. Luisa replied with a question "What do you do on Sunday mornings then?" Her friend said she did nothing on Sunday mornings. Luisa replied back with yet another astonishing question.
"Then how do you know what you are?"
Now, of course, Luisa was speaking about what denomination her friend was. Being a priest's child and all, I assume she's well aware even at a young age that there are many colors of God's mosaic such as Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, Muslims, etc. But her question floored me. I grew up without a church. In fact, our family was very against the whole God thing, and it wasn't until I was in my early 20's that I felt a longing for a relationship with God. My heart ached for that little girl in the backseat of the car, and it brought me to tears on Sunday. How do we know what we are if we don't have a mirror in front of us to look into? People like Lusia who are bold enough to ask tough questions are such a mirror.
I strongly believe that the
Millennium Development Goals are a defining point in our Christian lives. Our Presiding Bishop,
Katharine Jefferts Schori, sums it up best when she says that the MDG's are our eight promises to a broken world. This world is broken because not enough people are asking the tough questions that long to be answered. "How do we know what we are?" is a question that makes me ponder what is it that defines me as a 25-year-old Christian who lives a decent life and doesn't have to think about things such as extreme poverty, dirty drinking water, or the inability to have an education.
A few years ago, someone asked me in so many words "How do you know what you are?" The question terrified me. However, with a supportive community, and a leap of faith I decided to find out who I was. The MDG's became a very strong promise I've decided to make in my realationship with the rest of this broken world. It has defined how I've chosen to live my life. Who I've decided to surround myself with. Where I've decided to donate time, talent, and treasure. And most important, it has helped me create a life that doesn't have me in the center, but instead has God.
I encourage you all this day to take time throughout your busy schedule to think about what you are. Maybe even be bold enough to ask someone else what they are. I know one little girl who does this. And one day she's going to change someone's whole life with that question.
Laura Amendola is a small business owner in Duluth, MN. Baptized in 2003, she was introduced to the Episcopal Church shortly after she was introduced to Christianity and has "absolutely fallen in love with the Church and the journey it has brought me on." Laura was a delegate to the 2006 Anglican Observer Leadership Conference and official Episcopal Church representative to the Toward Effective Anglican Mission conference -- a worldwide Anglican Communion conference on the Millennium Development Goals in Boksburg, South Africa in March 2007. She is a member of the EGR board.
Our parish, St. Paul's, Duluth Minnesota has taken on the Millennium Development Goals with a vengeance. I cannot believe how one little spark ignites a group of people into a blazing fire. I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to the United Nations in 2005 and then to Boksburg, South Africa in 2007 to study the MDG's with emphasis on political advocacy. I worked hard and came back armed with knowledge. However, as happens with many people who become consumed with a mission I burned out. After being elected in October, 2007, as a Lay Deputy to the 2009 General Convention, I decided it was time for me to take a sabbatical from the church. I have cut myself out of committee meetings, Sunday services, and the like. However, I went to a Sunday service a few weeks ago and found to my surprise the MDGs represented everywhere. There are children's programs taking place to teach the MDGs. We have a 12 Baskets Project that happens every Sunday right before Eucharist to keep the MDGs present. And last week our parish held a phenomenal "Stone Soup Lunch".
