World Missions The Salvation Army USA Central Territory World Missions Bureau
Volume 4, Issue 3 2nd quarter 2011
A Renewed Vigor this Lenten Season by Sarah Kincaid When recently reading up on traditions to partake in during the season of Lent, I more than once came across the interesting phrase, ‘a renewed vigor.’ There are three traditional practices that many Christians throughout the Church world put into practice in order to prepare themselves for Holy Week and the day of Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. These practices to be taken up with renewed vigor during Lent are: prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbor). To me the phrase renewed vigor implies that there was an existing vigorous approach toward these traditions of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in the lives of Christians. To give the word vigor more weight, words used to describe vigor are: intensity, resilient strength, validity and effectiveness. This made me question: are my existing everyday prayers, acts of self-denial, and giving vigorous, intense or valid? Can they even be measured, should they be measured?
World Missions Bureau Staff Chris Shay, Director Kristin Caddy, Asst. Director Sarah Kincaid, Sponsorship & Mission Support Coordinator
Regarding prayer: the Holy Spirit doesn’t necessarily answer our prayers in ways that we expect or in ways that our limited minds can comprehend. Regarding fasting: depending on your act of self denial this might be the most measurable and results based. But fasting in a way that exemplifies that fact that you’re fasting goes against the purpose of fasting. (see Isaiah 58:24). Regarding giving: this practice is personally measurable. You can see the money leave your bank account; you can feel your tired body after a time of volunteering. I find the act of giving to be the most fascinating. Rarely do you ever truly know the measurements of your giving. A Sunday School teacher can often feel ex-
hausted after class and feel that all his/her work was done in vain. Feelings of ‘it seems like they are never listening!’ and ‘half the time I’m asking them to sit back down, and constantly having to repeat myself.’ can be overwhelming. Many of us remember Sunday School teachers and the love they demonstrated. I still remember my first Sunday School teacher Mrs. Kay and how much I enjoyed being in her classroom. The monetary giving we participate in, often feels like a drop in the bucket, especially when giving to the great needs that exist overseas. What you might not know is that a person’s life might be completely changed because of your $50 donation that bought their family a goat. Now that their (Continued on page 2)
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Inside this issue: Sponsorship
2
Love in Action
3
World Services
3
GMT: Haiti
4
Summer Mission Team
5
Overseas Personnel
6-8