Full of it

In the past 6 months here at Unity, the primary refrain has been "this place is full," or "our cup overflows"...or as the ever-frantic, anxiety ridden staff like to say it:

"We are completely out of room!!!"

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As our youth group is bursting at the seams and people are frantically trying to find a seat at Sunday Night Live dinner, there is a general feeling of being full here at Unity. We are full of people, true. We are also full of delicious food prepared for us by the wonderful Liz. We are full of love for one another, as I hear folks asking about those in the hospital or who are sick at home. We are full of energy for loving our neighbors and our community. We are full; our cups runneth over; we are richly blessed.

This week in both youth groups we talked about fullness, but in two very different ways.

MSYG: Love is not envious, boastful, or rude

Our Middle Schoolers continued their study of the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians by discussing what it means to be envious, boastful, or rude. We used 2 Kings chapter 3 to exemplify both these negative traits and the positive traits of love. This is the story of the two women arguing over a child who seek Solomon's wisdom. Solomon suggests that the child be cut in half so that both mothers receive an equal portion, and the one who is the false mother agrees to her half of the child. The true mother, however, insists that the other mother take the child, because she is moved by her love for her child rather than her own selfish ambition. Our Middle Schoolers used the false mother as an example of envy, boastfulness, and rudeness and the true mother as an example of love.

In our small groups, there were 3 vases filled with rocks, dirt, and dead plants. These dead and unattractive items represented envy, boastfulness, and rudeness, and we talked about what we are filling our "vase" or our lives with. We completed the small group time by writing down positive things on flowers, to remind ourselves to fill ourselves with love and good things.

HSYG: Do not be lacking in zeal

Our High Schoolers continued their study of the 12th chapter of Romans by discussing the phrase do not be lacking in zeal. Of course, zeal and zealousness are somewhat foreign words to our youth, so I tried to give them an ridiculous example by playing a clip from the movie Night at the Roxbury based on the Saturday Night Live sketch from the late 90s. In the sketch, Steve and Doug Boutabi are extremely zealous for club life and meeting women, and they dance very enthusiastically, providing a great example of being over-zealous.

Shockingly, the youth, who were definitely not alive in the 90s let alone watched SNL during that time, did not get my reference, nor did they find the over-enthusiastic dance scenes as humorous as I find them.

Still, we had a long discussion about what it means to be zealous for God in a way that isn't pushy or overwhelming, but that is true for our eagerness for God's presence in our lives.We talked about how to balance our faith life and our lives as a part of the world. The discussion was focused, "With what do we fill ourselves? And how can we fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit without being a holy roller?"

So back to being full...

A few years ago, I was the youth director at a church and it was January. We had scheduled to go downtown to the ice skating rink on Sunday afternoon, but a quick glance at the weather told us that wasn't going to work. In a weird twist of weather patterns, it was 75 degrees and sunny that Sunday in Pittsburgh, and the ice skating rink, while remaining open, would have been like a slush puddle. I made the decision to cancel youth group for the day.

This was, as it turned out, not a popular decision. I received several email complaints from parents, who angrily could not understand why I would cancel or not reschedule when the weather was so beautiful. Being young and Irish, I can remember sitting at my desk full of defensiveness and the type of ferociousness most commonly associated with a loyal pitbull. It took all of my strength not to respond with PeeWee Herman sass and emails written with capital letters and exclamation points. 

In a mere hour at work, I was full: full of frustration, full of defensiveness, full of bitterness, and full of rage. I'm sure we have all experienced this: we intend for the day to be productive, fruitful and positive, but one incident can fill us completely with a sense of rage and negativity. We often aren't even aware of what is filling us, but we feel that fullness and that spilling over of our emotions.

It seems like an eastern notion that what we put into the world we get in return; after all, that is the true definition of Karma in both Hinduism and Buddhism. However, I believe there is something in what Jesus says that supports the concept of filling ourselves with goodness and inner peace.

"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot."

-Matthew 5.13

If we no longer fill ourselves with the saltiness (the love, the goodness, and the forgiveness) associated with being a follower of Jesus Christ, and we instead choose to fill ourselves with something else, we've lost our ability to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in the world around us. We are in fact called to be salty, to be different from the world, and to be mirrors through which the world can see the love and hope of Jesus Christ. Our Middle Schoolers were challenged to get rid of envy, boastfulness, and rudeness while our High Schoolers were challenged to get rid of self-consciousness and pride, but both were asked to take on an eagerness, a faithfulness, and a love through Jesus Christ that would be evident to the world around them.

And so I challenge you as well: what are you filling your life with that is not salty, that is not of God? How can you get rid of these non-salty things and take on the salt of Jesus Christ, that gives us flavor and richness in God's Kingdom on earth?