VT Teen Creative Arts Missions Trip!
6 brave leaders and 18 kids met in Vermont for the first ever Creative Arts Missions Trip hosted by the Anglican Diocese in New England!!! Sean and I wanted to make a creative space to digest God’s promise to redeem all our pain and fulfill all our hopes in Jesus. With kids! We wanted kids to work with their hands to digest these promises through making art, through farming, through serving others and one another. Cell phone and screen free. The Lord answered. Here’s how.
A great team gathered around us: Karen from Holy Trinity NY, Sienna from St. Peter’s Ugandan Anglican in Massachusetts, Beth from Incarnation Anglican in New Hampshire, Deb from All Saints Cathedral in Massachusetts, and Sean and me from Dandelion Ministries in Long Island, NY. They brought wisdom, fun, and competency.
The kids signed up! We brought a group of 6 from Long Island, plus others from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. They ranged from grades 7-10. At the first bonfire, we asked them why they came. Their answers:
To help people, to hang out with friends, to make a new friend, to farm, to help the homeless, it had been a hard year and she wanted to experience God…
The Lord exceeded our expectations. He always does.
We stayed at the gorgeous 7th Seed Christian Farm and Retreat Center, piling kids on air mattresses in their largest rooms. 7th Seed Director, Amy Bowen partnered with us to shape a fun yet challenging experience. She invited us to help their Christian farm camp. I created a mural for 7th Seed, which our kids and theirs helped to finish. That was a favorite of their campers and ours. And me too! My first mural.
Our kids helped with games. We put on a play about how all creation groans for Jesus to finish his promise to make all things new. We used the Tree of Life (started at the Teen Retreat) to help tell the story.
We helped farm. We weeded, picked currants and blueberries and garlic. Garlic! became our mantra. The fruits and vegetables from 7th Seed help to serve the homeless population in Burlington. One team even built a bridge for 7th Seed! They were proud. Amy was blessed because we actually helped her!
We served St. Timothy’s Anglican Church in Burlington. Rector, Micah Thompson and team had us do dirty jobs to help their landlord. They also had us invite the neighborhood to the church block party on August 1 (you are invited!). The kids rose to the challenge. “This is way better than knocking on doors asking for money for our cheerleading team,” they commented! They were bold, respectful, and disarming. Every Vermonter we met thanked them for the invite with a smile on their face. What a good witness to the loving and savvy God we have! Micah also folded the kids into the service on Sunday. They read Scripture. 4 kids gave testimony about their favorite part. They described:
serving the homeless in a way that gave them honor
realizing you can never judge someone by what is going on on the outside
farming vegetables was so unique
and experiencing God in a new way around the bonfire.
The highlight for the kids hands-down was serving the homeless a gourmet meal on Saturday night. Michelin star chef, Dan, and his wife, Katie, run New Moon Catering in addition to being a part of the Cherry Street non-profit. Among their outreaches is the Banquet. Once a month, they spread out white table clothes and silverware and give the unhoused population of Burlington a feast to share the love of Jesus. Volunteers like our group are the servers. Katie trained the kids and also debriefed them. It was a stretch. There were grateful guests and ungrateful ones. The kids were a little nervous. Yet the rose to the challenge. They worked hard for 5 hours straight. They welcomed and took orders and got help to make accommodations. It freed the leaders up to sit with the guests, chat, joke, love, even share Jesus with them. Our Rhyan and Eva had a hard table – grouchy with lots of special requests. One request was for a piece of paper. Rhyan eventually secured a piece of paper for him. As they cleaned up their table, they noticed this note that he left:
As the kids debriefed the night, they could share how hard it was. But also how it was so worth it. They saw that Jesus loved the homeless and addicted. They digested that Jesus loved them too - the kids - and gave them strength to serve others well. They will never forget the strength they were given nor the worth every person has in God’s eyes. The Banquet asked if we could bring our team back every month! We actually helped them too! (I’m sure the kids would love to.)
The book of Ruth was the backbone of the trip. I wanted all of us - kids and leaders - to digest that Jesus is OUR redeemer. I wanted them to see how faithful He is to us at our worst (in Naomi’s shoes). I wanted them to see how he called Ruth into His family and then made her bold, brave, better than 7 sons. She sought refuge under His wings and He did not let her down. I wanted them to see how God blew Boaz out of the water and blessed him beyond what he expected. The kids caught the love story. They put themselves in Ruth and Naomi and Boaz’s shoes. By the end, they each had a testimony of which character they related to the most and how Jesus is faithful to them.
“I am all of them… sometimes I despair like Naomi, sometimes I want more like Ruth, sometimes I surprised by God’s good gifts to me like Boaz.”
“I am like Boaz. I’ve been sinning a lot but God is still so good to me.”
“I am like Naomi… but God has given me a Ruth in my life to help me through.”
“I am like Ruth… I want more from God. I see how good he is… I want more of him.”
Around the last bonfire, we asked how has Jesus shown you his compassion for you, like he did all throughout Ruth?
“I had felt lonely. I had gone to find the horse but couldn’t see him. I waited, kind of yelling at God while I did so, and the horse came to me. I saw the symbolism. Then my friend asked to sing “Waymaker,” which has the lyric: ‘even when I don’t see it You’re working…’” God didn’t have to send the horse. But he did. And I loved it. I know, even when I feel lonely, He’s there.”
“I was tired and low half way through the trip. I really wanted a chocolate chip cookie. I actually asked God for one! Right then, Amy’s mom brought us a container of homemade chocolate chip cookies. It felt like it was for me. I loved it and saw it as a gift from God.”
“I have never ‘felt God’ before in singing or in studying the Bible. I did here. I wanted to show God I loved him so I actually lifted my hands while we sang. I just wanted to.”
“I felt the Holy Spirit as I prayed for the girls. I felt His presence and the girls cried because they were blessed. I was so encouraged!”
– from a leader.
And that’s just a taste of the sharing.
The book of Ruth is a beacon of hope in the midst of the dark time of the Judges in Israel’s history. The whole book works to show that God sends a Redeemer just like us who will restore our life and nourish our souls. Though you don’t see Jesus in the book, he is everywhere. He is calling, he is comforting, he is empowering, he is sending, he is surprising, he is providing, he is solving problems more than we are, he is forgiving, he is giving rest.
The promise of Ruth’s child for Naomi is bigger than that one child – he takes on Messianic proportions and refocuses the hopes of the world on God’s promise through Jesus. This child points to Jesus who was for Ruth, for Naomi, for Boaz… and Jesus is for you:
Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your [old] age…” (Ruth 4:14,15)
Recommended Reading
