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Monday, May 29, 2006 Nice Work If You Can Get It I honestly really really love my new job. LOVE it. I work for a church in a sort of “rough” end of town, one would say – but it’s a church that genuinely loves the community it is in, and is passionate about reaching people with the Gospel. My immediate boss, the pastor, is equally passionate about evangelism and just loving people. It’s such a drastic change from my last youthwork job, which was such a burden that I could never carry. I now find myself in a position that I finally feel well-equipped for, with people who are willing to help carry out what needs to be done. My hours are flex (mostly), and I’ll soon have a nice little office in a brand-new church building that was built specifically to be usable for a the surrounding community (the “sanctuary” doubles as a gym/hall, plus we have a café, great kitchen, and several meeting rooms. I was so worried that the job would be like the last one – yet it’s proving to be exactly what I’d hoped for. Additionally, I have the added bonus of working under/for one of the biggest (if not *the* biggest) Baptist church in Scotland (my church is a daughter church of this one), Charlotte Chapel. And that carries a lot of weight, not to mention adding manpower and resources. At the first of the weekly pastoral meetings I attended (which includes me and the pastor at my church, along with the whole pastoral staff the Chapel), I sat there and realized I was finally in a position where I wasn’t being looked down upon, where I wasn’t constantly being criticized, where I was respected as an equal partner in the work that we’re doing. “Exciting” probably doesn’t do the feeling justice. If you’ve ever struggled with getting “plugged in” to a church (which is even harder in Edinburgh, I believe, than a lot of places) – the trick is to get a job there. Honestly, it’s like instant community. This morning I went to the service (my second since being on staff), and really enjoyed getting to know people. Afterwards, a group of us “younger folk” went for lunch at one of the elders’ houses, and ended up just staying and chatting til about 5pm. It was such a great time. From there, I went with one of the girls to the evening service at the Chapel. While I don’t HAVE to go to the evening services, part of the job description sort of suggests that I should make it out there on a fairly regular basis, so that people can get to know me and the work we’re doing out in Niddrie. To be honest, at this point I was pretty shattered and considered going home instead – but decided I should go ahead and make it out there, especially since I had a ride. I was sitting with some folk up in the balcony, and looked down at one point and thought: “Holy crap, is that Tim?!” I probably haven’t seen Tim for about two years. He’s one of those friends that I just knew from kinda…everywhere. We texted here and there, but lost contact at some point. After the service, we see each other: “Michaela!” He goes on to say they announced that I’d started at Niddrie during the morning service, and he had nudged his friend to say: “Hey! I totally know her!” He’s being living and working in London for a while, and we caught up, til he says: “Hey, some folks are coming over to my place, want to come along?” I’ve never been one to turn down a social gathering. Besides, Tim is headed back to London tomorrow night and it’ll be ages before I see him again. And he offered me a ride back home afterwards, because there’s really no good bus to get me back to my place from his. Must have been about 15-20 of us there, just eating pizza and goofing off for hours (In typical church kid fashion, we busted out the piano and guitar…in non-typical church kid fashion, we ended up singing Take That and S-Club-7 songs, and had a free-verse jazz “sing off” in which we debated the pros and cons of fox hunting, and penguins.) By 11 or so, it was only me, Tim, Shauna and Stuart left, with cups of tea, cold pizza, and just good chat (and some more songs). At 2am, we went home, with plans to meet up in town for more good times tomorrow (Mondays are my day off). It almost seems unfair, how easy it is to meet folks and get to know them when “Oh, YOU’RE the new youthworker in Niddrie! Awesome!”. But I missed this, you know? After years of struggling, to find legitimate church community here in Scotland (for various reasons), I now feel like it’s come as an added perk of the new job. It’s almost as if I’m back at YouthFront/Student Life group (except we’re all a bit older) when everything came so easily. I’d missed the community feeling that came with being on the Doulos, or back at college. I’d gone pretty much almost a year without it (save our smaller “American” contingent of the Hayes, Hales, McFarlanes, Urminskys, et al), and even though you don’t sit around thinking “Gosh, I really miss community”, I now realize how much I did, and why God is pretty big on community. After 15 hours of “community overload”, I’m a bit shattered….but happily shattered. So there’s your update. After almost a year, things finally feel like they’re back to normal. And I feel really genuinely grateful for the gift of this job and these people. -Michaela- |
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"In the city you will find that the poor and the broken are often much, much more open to the idea of Gospel grace and much more dedicated to its practical outworkings than you are." (Tim Keller) | |
