The past Friday, at my campus fellowship's weekly large group, we had an unexpected guest drop by - MIke, the secretary-general (I think) of Nigeria's IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) branch. IFES is perhaps the largest student-driven Christian ministry in the world, having presence in 160 countries; Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world, and also happens to be a place of incredible explosion of Christian faith in the college community. So to have Mike drop by Northwestern unannoucned on his way to UW-Madison, for a meeting at InterVarsity offices there, was very fortunate for us.
For the beginning of the school year, my fellowship, AAIV, is doing this introductory sequence to introduce to the froshies who we are and what we stand for. This year, we've been doing cute little thing of reading our mission statement at the beginning of large group:
Mission Possible: Identity. Conviction. Compassion
"We are a missional community of Asian-Americans that seeks to understand our full identity in Christ, to overflow with compassion for our campus, and to awaken conviction to carry out God's purposes in our lives and in the world." !!!!!!!!!1!!1!11!!!
As for me, and I'm sure the rest of you too, mission statements are nice to have just for the sake of having a msision statement, but read the words, and they mean almost absolutely nothing to me. Cynicism comes very naturally to me as it does to you; it's not only inbred in youthful behavior, but also because of all the hypocrisy, quackery, and general idioicy that we're confronted with daily. Not only do we deal with potheads and mean girls at school, but we live in a world of ongoing political and social corruption - we'd turn to our faith, sure, but it's embarrasing to call ourselves Christian if we're gonna get lumped together with folks whose mere mention makes us moan in disgust (Hello, Rev. Wright. Hello-goodbye, Jerry Falwell). I've heard this mission statement repeatedly since June and nothing has changed my life. I go to large group, Bible study, get up on stage and play keys the same way as I did before. Sure, I nodded my head in agreement when our core team proudly held up the poster with "I.C.C." written on it; but if you're like me, words aren't really something I can live my life by.
Anyways, Mike comes up to speak for a few minutes. He gives us, in his deeply rhythmic British-African voice (I've always found male African voices in public speakers to be incredibly captivating...no homo), the obligatory stuff about what's going on in Nigeria, thanks for our IFES contributions and prayers, various observations about things going on in Chicago relating to his field of interest, complimenting worship team (woohoo!). And then he jumps the gun, and asks Yuri to pull up the mission statement; yes, that run-on sentence bursting with truthiness and impactfulness-less-ness. And he says (I'm paraphrasing), "This truly touched my heart - you are seeking to overflow with compassion for your campus." And now I'm hooked - somebody so profoundly spiritual is going to say something salient about our mission statement - maybe I do need to pay attention and actually read the words (not just read the words, you know).
Mike talks about how compassion drives his ministry, in a country where resources and support for the Christian university students are scarce, how they must passionately desire, more than anything, to share the gospel with their compatriots. Surely, when the bigwig of a rapidly-growing national Christian movement speaks, the words have more meaning than it can ever have on paper or projector. And in that mesmeric African voice, he said, "Now you, as God has had compassion for the sinners, have compassion for your classmates, for your campus." Wow...chills down my spine, one-year-and-four-weeks of guilt, for not having compassion or caring, crashes down without a moment's notice.
Later that night, I remembered a passage about Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta from a book I'm reading (Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne), about how trained medical personnel went to Mother's ministry to try to heal the lepers, malnourished, and dying...and were frustrated by the total lack of medical supplies and the sheer number of people. But the intent of the Missionaries of Charity was not to heal the dying, but to provide a place for them to die with dignity - living their last days beign given, and giving, Christ's own love and care. And the woman herself said, "We are called not to be successful but to be faithful."
So finally, a two words have been given meaning to me, of which I've been entirely saturated with and jaded from: overflow and compassion. To overflow requires me to have first been filled, to have first been satisfied with what GOD, in His abundance, has given to me. I love to use this analogy in prayer but never have I been able to, you know, do it: for my cup to be so full that when it is poured out to fill another cup, both cups are entirely and precipitously filled. So can I, as somebody who has pledged to follow Jesus and hold the harvesting sickle, overflow for my campus without going first to GOD for my needs? It's like the gas station you never stop at when you're on a road trip - Marathon, Arco, Rotten Robbie - because daddy invests in Royal Dutch and Exxon-Mobil, and they're so much more reputable. Society stops at these stations for their fill - Hollywood, friends, sex, gossip, drugs, food - and we tag along, because we've never seen anybody fill up anywhere else. But like driving a SUV, running out of gas is inevitable, and altogether too fast. But GOD is the free gas card we won at the supermarket (uh, in Texas, Feb 1998...99c a gallon!) and never deigned to use - but once we have, watch out, because it never runs out. And that's something I've really been lacking - because I can't approach GOD with my needs, that's the reason why I can look out with window at the frat houses and not feel anything - I have not been filled, and I have nothing to give.
Matthew 13:12: Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.
We've already been given that gift of salvation, so surely, surely, GOD will give us more when we want more of Him.
So I'd like to ask you to think of where you have been given in abundance; likely, you have, or will be asked to overflow for your little niche in our broken world.
Maybe I'll share some more about compassion later on - I'm sure you're tired of reading me by now. And maybe, maybe, one of those three compassionate sisters can write better about compassion than a stoic, awkward emo-boy can.
Peace and blessings,
Steven
PS. It's really ironic how this weekend, I missed the annual conference that my church puts on - it's called OVERFLOW. Ha. In my defense, I did work the concession stands at the football game today (NU is 6-1 GO CATS) to make help money for the AAIV fellowship...and I have a genetics midterm on Tuesday...so yeah.
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