One Thing I Don't Like About YWAM. . .

. . . is goodbyes.

This weekend, we've had many goodbyes.

Kyle and Carson, two of the French students (learning-French, not from France) left this afternoon. They've been here for the past three months, and are practically part of the DTS. We've eaten meals together, worshiped together, prayed together, and dressed up in crazy costumes for theme nights together.

Devon, one of the Compassion DTS staff, also went home this afternoon. He's taking a nine-month sabbatical.

Janelle, another one of the Compassion DTS staff leaves tomorrow morning.

The Montreal Urban Cultures DTS was here all last week. It was fun getting to know the students from the DTS and their teachers, playing games with them, having conversations, and doing mini-concerts with them. They left yesterday and this morning.

Our teacher from last week, Jeff Pratt, stayed and taught the Montreal DTS this week. He left this morning too.

There are so many hellos and goodbyes in YWAM. Our speakers come for a week at a time, and just as we start to get to know them, the week is over and we have to go home.

And about a month ago, the Compassion DTS came back from outreach in East Africa and Mauritius. We had a couple weeks of getting to know everyone from the DTS, and hear their stories from outreach. Then they graduated, and most of them went home.

It's hard, all these goodbyes. It's also tempting to hold back and not get to know people, because I know they'll be leaving in a week or two. I'm sometimes reluctant to really develop relationships ("invest in people", in Christianese), because I know that I'll just have to say goodbye soon.

(I'm not looking forward to the end of DTS. More goodbyes.)

But what is it that people say?

"It is better to love and have lost than to never have loved at all."

This is true. It is hard, loving people and listening to them, giving energy and time to relationships that you know won't be able to continue much longer. But God has been teaching me about living in the now, and loving the one in front of me. It's all I can do. I want to be fully present and love the people who are here now, because they are the only people who are here now. I can't love in the future or love in the past. I can't have conversations in the future or the past. Now is what matters, and God has called me to be fully present in the here and now.

And when it gets to hard, this is where I remember that love does not flow from me; it flows through me. God can give me the energy, attention and love that I need to develop relationships with people, even if I meet many people for only a short time. I can love without fear of running out of love, because God is my Source.

And this is also when I remember that this is just the beginning. Since pretty much everyone in YWAM is a Christian, that means we'll all be in Eternity together. I may see people for only a week here, but later there will be endless time to get to know them better. As Belinda, our speaker from a couple weeks ago said, we're going to be friends for eternity. This gives me hope.

I don't like all the goodbyes in YWAM.

But because of Jesus, every "Goodbye" is actually "Au revoir".

  

Creative Worship

First, a disclaimer: In this post when I refer to worship time, I mean a specific time that we take as community to intentionally worship God, often with singing. I believe that worship should be a 24/7 thing that involves our whole lives and all our actions, thoughts and emotions. But for the sake of easy writing, I'll be using "worship" in a more specific sense for this post.

 

 

Here at YWAM Dunham we have worship times on Monday and Friday mornings. Monday, we come together as a whole base, and Friday we have DTS worship times. When it's DTS worship time, we as students are on four different teams and take turns leading.

 

 

It's been really cool learning about different creative ways to worship. We are encouraged to pray and ask God for ideas, and to try new things. I thought I would share what we've done, and maybe you'll be encouraged to be creative with your worship times.

 



 

 

This picture is from worship time this morning. There were dropcloths laid out in the worship room, with paints and blank canvases, and if you felt inspired, you could go paint something. I didn't; I spent most of my time curled up on the couch talking to God. Other people sang, danced, sat, laid on the floor or laughed.

 

 

We've also. . .

• Gone into the woods (in -20 C weather), and sang songs acapella.
• Sang African songs and danced in a giant circle.
• Had times to just sit, be still and listen.
• Washed each other's feet.
• Waved flags and banners.
• Had "city walls" made of risers, but there were gaps in it, so we stood in the gaps.
• Yelled. "Who is like our God?!" "NO ONE!!!"
• Crawled through a tunnel into the worship room, which was decorated as a "tabernacle".
• Had paper and pencils available to make pictures and paper airplanes.
• Gone into the woods on a different day, to be still, and ask, "God, how do you want me to interact with creation?"
• Sang "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons, which isn't a "worship song".
• Pinned stuff to wooden crosses.
• And made paper flowers, which I'll explain below.

 

Last Monday, Sarah was leading worship. She's a visual artist, and likes to use symbolism and imagery. So, because it's nearly spring, she was thinking of trees budding and flowering. She was also thinking about almond blossoms, which are a symbol that's often used in the Bible (the golden lampstand for the Tabernacle, Aaron's staff, and so on). Almond blossoms symbolize watchfulness, because the Hebrew word for almond flower is similar to the word for watchfulness. It's a reminder that God watches over us.

 

So Sarah brought a tree into the worship room. . . . .

 

 

And then there was paper and fabric and tape and glue available to make flowers. The idea was to write things that we have been worried about on the flowers, and to turn those worries into almond blossoms, as a way of physically saying, "God, I know you're watching out for me, so I trust you and give up my worries." This is my flower below. 

 

 

 

Afterwards we had a tree full of lovely almond blossoms. 

 

I encourage you to get creative with worship times! God is the Ultimate Creator, the Master Artist, and He created diversity. There are so many ways to worship God, that I think it's a bit silly to limit ourselves to just singing and playing instruments. Have fun!