Journal of Michelle Smith

Last Sunday I facilitated a meeting of the adults who work with the teens at my parish. Our Teen Ministers are wonderful people with a multitude of gifts, but so many people, as you can imagine, often clash over how things should go for the teens.

I felt it was important to work to bring the group together. I expressed the importance of the goal to model the Black Catholic Christian response to the Lord’s call to love one another and teach the Gospel. I wanted to focus on HUES, which stands for Healing, Unity, Evangelization and Service. I made that up myself.

I invited our Associate Pastor to join us because he is also an elder of the church and he is very wise and calm and I felt like we needed a calming presence to counter the more passionate emotions that might erupt in the meeting. However, those emotions did not take hold because I set the tone early with some gathering music.

As we read scripture that spoke of our many gifts and many parts of one body, I felt compelled to go around the room and ask everyone to share just one gift they felt they brought to the ministry. Each person shared a gift and only one person said she could not think of one. Even the Associate Pastor and I shared a gift with the group.

The beautiful part was that we realized that each person shared something unique and different. I was even able to share a gift that I saw in the lady who could not think of a gift, as well as sharing a gift on behalf of one person who left the meeting early.

I summarized all of the gifts that were shared and I looked around the room and saw smiles as we celebrated the giftedness sitting around the table. It was the first time I felt like we were all on the same page.

In a meeting today, the Associate Pastor had very positive things to say about the meeting and he said that he especially liked the part when I asked people to share their gifts with the group and he commented that he wondered where I learned that, so I answered his question…I learned it at school. I learned it at Aquinas.

It is amazing how much I have learned in less than two full semesters. I have learned so much that I could write an entire blog entry on just that (and perhaps I will when I have writer’s block). The main point is that I am using what I am learning. My parish is benefitting from what I am learning. I know how blessed I am for what I am receiving and I return to my church family to empty myself of that knowledge.

This is one of the best experiences of my life and I am so glad to be able to share it with others.

God bless you…

I apologize if the story is redundant, but I may not have shared it with you in this way…

In September 2004 I began a journey. I left the daily practice of law to pursue what I believed was a calling–Youth Ministry. That decision to walk away from job and monetary security did, in fact, cause a great deal of turmoil in my life. Good!

I had the time to focus on a true vocation in serving God’s children and devoting my work time to that effort. I had hoped for an immediate increase in salary at what was then a part-time job in ministry. However, that increase was not forthcoming. Good!

I had a vision of youth ministry that incorporated “Renewing the Vision”, published by the Committee on the Laity of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and we added some key components from our African American culture. I finally had a team of ministers working with me; only to find ourselves in the midst of more personality conflicts–I hate conflict. Good!

Our ministry worked to overcome the conflict and had a wonderful year, supported by our Associate Pastor, who had only been at the church for about a year. He helped us make sandwiches for the homeless and participated with us in many Teen Ministry events. Well, can you guess what happened? He was transferred after only a year. It felt like he’d been ripped away from us. Good!

After a few tears at the thought of losing our beloved Associate Pastor, we readied ourselves for our Pastor’s vision and dreams for our parish. He was in his third year as pastor and had served as Associate Pastor for more than a decade. Well, we didn’t get to hear his vision because we received word that he was being transferred to Memphis. What?! Good!

Okay, we have a new pastor who brings with him a new vision of how to implement the mission of evangelization. Part of his vision includes myself and other leaders in the parish letting go and entering into true collaboration and utilizing each others gifts. It’s not easy at all. In fact, it’s hard.

In the midst of so much change it’s hard to stay fixed on the Lord and His plan for your life. I am now being asked to do things that I did not envision for myself in September 2004. As we all struggle to do what we believe is right according to God, I am feeling good in the struggle. I have faith that we will all come out the other side victorious, for Christ won the victory for us on the cross.

Change is good. Change helps you grow and if you stay true to God, you will grow in your faith.

Thanks be to God.