A reflection on ‘Journey To SURRENDER’ Summer Orientation program

By Mel Baulch

The Journey Towards Surrender course has strengthened & contributed to much of what I have been learning over the past few years in regards to God, His great love for the suffering & the marginalised peoples of the world.
The course has given me a renewed understanding of the worth of community, its value in inclusiveness of all people & the importance of living life alongside one another. I have become acutely aware of the undeniable call to humble myself in order to raise up another. I believe that the life of another is worth enough to commit my whole life to love them, in whatever capacity necessitates. I believe this is what Paul means when he encourages us to live a life worthy of the gospel we have received. I have been so inspired & encouraged by the partners of Surrender, who understand that faith without works is dead & constantly endeavour to live not for themselves by gauging their success by worldly standards but make a daily decision to live in the world & not of the world by investing in the lives of others. I have been particularly encouraged by the variety of ways the partners have met the needs of the communities we have seen & have shown that there is no single way to love & serve. I am excited to discover more of what Christ has in store for me, how to live a lifestyle of faith and service by incorporating what I have learnt into my work, rest & play and how His call over my life will move me to respond to His heart.

A reflection on ‘Journey To SURRENDER’ summer orientation program – By Lucy Allan

Lately I have found myself wandering around the supermarket, scanning all the brightly packaged items, I only came for one or two things. But as I think about each item; (Where did it came from, what are all the ingredients? who made it, under what conditions? how did it get here? What is it worth? Is it good for me to buy?) I find myself frustrated and leave the shop empty handed.

My Journey to Surrender can be compared to my shopping predicament in a way, I went into it wanting to walk out having gained something, although I didn’t know exactly what yet. And as I perused the isles of Surrender’s partner organizations I was faced with a number of challenging questions.

Now, many who know me well may know that I absolutely LOVE questions, more so than answers, as answers reduce concepts, reduce God, to limited things which are less complex than our finite minds. (and consequently far less impressive!) What I don’t know about things are much more interesting and compelling than cold facts. I understand this is limited view, and mustn’t prevent one from learning how to DO something.

The first big question I had to ask on my first day was ‘what does it mean to love my neighbor?’ and so I asked a gentleman who had approached our group politely for some spare change. He told us that it is treating others how you would want to be treated, and that your neighbor is everyone, even New Zealanders and Martians. Bam. I don’t know if anything had ever been plainer to me, no questions here. When I was a kid, I thought love was a feeling, but I have learned that it is more about making others feel, and this can only be done through word and action.

And I have witnessed a lot of action (and taken part in some!) when visiting the Surrender partners. Whether it was making free food and conversation at Credo, applying the circle of courage taught at Praxis, painting the brick wall at the Free Burma Café, seeing how you can use your trade to turn people towards God at Handbrake Turn, or writing to your local MP about the issues that are close to your heart at tear, all of it is loving your neighbor.

But what does it mean for ME to love my neighbor, me, a humble student?

At one point, I became too caught up in the big picture. I wanted to be Mother Teresa, and unless I was, I wasn’t doing my best, wasn’t worthy. Moving to a far away slum seemed like the best way to be poor in spirit, and to stop contributing to capitalism, and to escape western pressures of financial security and consumerism. This was my answer! But it took away the question and it took away God. I had been taking the action into my own hands. And this is me, handing it back. God, I surrender my plans, nomatter how much I thought they were yours. I certainly don’t want them! I understand it is your grace that makes me worthy, not my actions. In the meantime could you help me work on communication with you? Ta.

And so thus far in my journey, I have surrendered (how title appropriate) some and gained none but a little wisdom. I leave holding nothing, like at the supermarket. Ah but that was only one of my questions. I hope to see you at SURRENDER and that God blesses you with questions also!