God Isn’t
Done With Me Yet
Read:
1 Corinthians 12:12-31
This
reading (which was the scripture on 1/21/01) focuses on the different
roles that individuals play in the church community. I’ve played a
few of them, though certainly not as many as some of the saints in
this congregation. Some of my roles were long standing jobs, whereas
others were short-term. Currently I have one such short-term role as
a mentor to a confirmand.
I
have never formally mentored in a church setting before. Wow! In many
ways, this job is scary. I, Vivian Anderson, sinner and slacker of
long standing, am supposed to model Christian behavior and be the
end-all on Christian doctrine. Yikes.
Fortunately,
I have a lot of good news about this position. First, this position
has caused me to reexamine my own beliefs and actions, even in the
light of an eighth grader’s perspective. I have felt great humility
regarding my inadequacies which I admitted to my confirmand up front.
More good news is my realizing that growing in the Christian faith is
an ongoing process. Churches are not filled with finished products.
Daily reexamining of our faith is a life-long process. Thirdly, as
all teachers know, you really learn when you have to teach something.
I’m not exactly teaching as a mentor, but I am doing some long
overdue spiritual “spade work” on my own.
So
have I spent many hours with my confirmand talking about the fine
points of Methodist doctrine, you ask? Actually I haven’t. In fact,
we haven’t talked about 99.9% of the large points. But it has been
wonderful to hear about middle school happenings again. Frankly, I
miss that action, now that my girls are grown. And I’ve had an
opportunity to get to know a lovely young woman with whom I share a
huge number of interests – from writing and good books and biology
to chocolate-covered eyeball candies.
So,
Emily Stowell, as you can see, I am not the writer you will no doubt
be one day. Hang in there. As they say, God isn’t done with me yet,
and you will get through confirmation – even in spite of your
mentor.
Vivian
Anderson
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