Intern-al Communications

I have some reflections as your intern

“They sing of a life free and simple, with time for one another, and for people’s needs, based on the dignity of the human person, at one with nature’s beauty, crowned by poetry. If that dream dies, all our struggles die with it.”

In the early church community, where diversity of religions and peoples were common, all within the confines of the Roman culture of assimilation, the followers of Jesus responded to the invitation to be different. Different than those being forced to live under the Roman way of culture, philosophy and way of being.

These followers of Jesus were free to be people, loved by a God who came down, died, resurrected, and had invited them to a new way of life. This life was free from the confines of Greek or Jew, free or slave, male or female. All were to be welcomed into the Kingdom of God, through Jesus the Christ. In this freeing experience, the followers of Jesus were invited to see this truth within each person they encountered. All are invited into this relationship with God and community.

“They sing of a life free and simple, with time for one another, and for people’s needs, based on the dignity of the human person, at one with nature’s beauty, crowned by poetry. If that dream dies, all our struggles die with it.”

In the early church community, where diversity of religions and peoples were common, all within the confines of the Roman culture of assimilation, the followers of Jesus responded to the invitation to be different. Different than those being forced to live under the Roman way of culture, philosophy and way of being.

These followers of Jesus were free to be people, loved by a God who came down, died, resurrected, and had invited them to a new way of life. This life was free from the confines of Greek or Jew, free or slave, male or female. All were to be welcomed into the Kingdom of God, through Jesus the Christ. In this freeing experience, the followers of Jesus were invited to see this truth within each person they encountered. All are invited into this relationship with God and community.

We express this same truth every Sunday, when we as Disciples invite people in to share our lives with each other in this Great news! To be known and loved because God has first loved us. Our faith journey requires us to resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and lost…because we know that we ourselves have been all of these within our own lives.

I have some reflections as your intern, which you have privileged me to be over this last year, realizing that and being grateful for that. Only because you showed up and I was here could we have spent this year the way we did. You all have offered many hours of your life in my presence as your intern. I respect, admire, and love you for that. To be in your company and learn from you has been phenomenal as well as a privilege.

I wish to quote from Medard Laz from his book Love Adds a Little Chocolate.

I gave you life, but I cannot live it for you.
I can teach you things, but I cannot make you learn.
I can give you directions, but I cannot be there to lead you.
I can allow you freedom, but I cannot account for it.
I can take you to church, but I cannot make you believe.
I can teach you right from wrong, but I cannot always decide for you.
I can buy you beautiful things, but I cannot make you beautiful inside.
I can offer you advice, but I cannot accept it for you.
I can give you my love, but I cannot force it upon you
I can teach you to be a friend, but I cannot make one for you.
I can teach you to share, but I cannot make you unselfish.
I can teach you respect, but I cannot make you show honor.
I can advise you about friends, but I cannot choose them for you.
I can tell you lofty ideas, but I cannot achieve them for you.
I can teach you about kindness, but I cannot force you to be gracious.
I can warn you about sin, but I cannot make you moral.
I can pray for you, but I cannot make you walk with God.
I can tell you how to live, but I cannot give you eternal life.
I can love you with unconditional love all of my life, and I will!

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for your inviting me into your community, to share what I know and who I am, and to learn from you all that you know and who you are as well. I have been very blessed by your life stories, witnessing God’s love manifested in all of you.

Because of your invitation and blessing me so much, I leave here secure and confident to go into my ministry, working with those transitioning from this life to the next.

Humbly, your servant in Christ Jesus,
Lyle