Repairing the World
On the last night of the mission trip, our group gathered as we did every night in the choir stalls of the wooden sanctuary at Church of the Transfiguration in Bat Cave, N.C. Each night we would come together to sing, pray, and reflect on the highs and lows of our day. I asked everyone if they were to look back on this trip in the future what would be the snapshot or image that would come to mind. If they sent themselves a postcard of our trip, what picture would be on the card? What do we want to remember?
Our young people didn’t say going out to eat or getting ice cream or going shopping. They mentioned the people we met, the work we did, and the community we built in doing mission together.
They wanted to remember moving mattresses and heavy doors, working as a team to help an innkeeper salvage what is left of the business she ran with her husband for 35 years.
They mentioned playing with the daughter of the priest there and singing one of our songs for the congregation on Sunday morning. They loved picking ripe raspberries at the retreat house and eating them warm in the sunshine.
We helped a woman clean her shop and help prepare it to re-open in the weeks ahead. Afterwards, she talked to us about the crafts she makes and made custom rings for anyone who wanted one.
We planted flowers and trees in places around the church where Hurricane Helene had destroyed the forest and native plants and especially around the Community Hub – which houses building supplies, and a tool bank and resources for the community as they rebuild.
The memories they treasure are of playing games together and hanging out on the air mattresses in the house where we were staying and on our sweet gatherings in the church at the end of the night noticing where God showed up that day.
The work we did was hard, on 90 degree days, laboring in the sun, and doing more manual labor than most of us do on a regular basis. And yet, I was reminded each day that when we offer ourselves for service and give up our own comfort and self-interest, we find that we are blessed in return.
Many people in western North Carolina feel forgotten, even now almost 9 months after the Hurricane devastated their beautiful mountain communities, they are struggling to have clean running water, safe roads to drive on, and to receive compensation for what they lost. They have lost their homes, their businesses, and in some cases loved ones and dear neighbors. And although we did our part over the days we were there, the most important thing we did was listening to stories and building relationships. Knowing people by name, sharing meals together, playing together (we got to be there for a community fish fry on Saturday night!), and realizing that we were more blessed by the hospitality and kindness of the people we met than we felt like we gave. Several of our youth said they wanted to stay and do more to help. They saw firsthand the impact of being present with people.
I am reminded that all healing is communal. The Jewish rabbis refer to this mission as ‘tikkun olam’ – the repair and restoration of the world. Each of us is called to take part in this work to improve the world and finding ways to bring healing through acts of kindness, service and stewardship. The idea of ‘tikkun olan’ encourages each of us to engage in meaningful activities that contribute to the greater good. I come away from this week more convinced than ever that everyone can do something.
I hope you will join me in praying and working for this kind of repair in our own city and in all the places that are in need in this world.
“Let the time not be distant, O God, when all shall turn to you in love, when all the brokenness of our world is repaired by the work of our hands and our hearts, inspired by Your words of Torah.”
– A Jewish prayer for tikkun olam
