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LOUISVILLE — Forty-seven Young Adult Volunteers — some gathered Wednesday morning at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky, and the rest who joined online — were commissioned for a year of service as part of the ecumenical, faith-based program of the PC(USA) where they will serve God and humanity in one of four national or five international sites.
Watch the 40-minute commissioning service here.
YAVs, many of whom are recent college graduates and all have agreed to serve for a year living simply and in community, employing the principles Jesus laid down for 72 of his followers in Luke 10:1-11, are set to serve in Liberia, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea and the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, as well as the Hi-Line in North-Central Montana, Louisville, New Orleans and New York City.
The Rev. Destini Hodges, who manages the YAV program, preached during Wednesday’s commissioning service, noting that Jesus — whom she called “the original Young Adult Volunteer” — sent out the 72 in groups of two so they, like YAVs do, could form intentional Christian community.
“You will need community when communal living gets a little too communal,” Hodges told the YAVs. “Jesus sent those disciples together because ministry is never something we do alone. It’s about discovering what God can do when we learn to depend on one another.”
Simple living is another YAV core value. “Jesus reminds us to carry no purse,” she said. Another is leadership development through faith in action. “You aren’t being commissioned today because you have everything figured out. You’re being commissioned because you said yes to the call,” she said.
Another core value is vocational discernment. “You may discover a gift you didn’t know you had,” Hodges told the YAVs. “Give yourself permission not to take yourself too seriously.”
Also participating in Wednesday’s commissioning service was the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of Presbyterian Life & Witness, who offered these words as a benediction: “May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may speak truth boldly and live deep within your heart.
“May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work tirelessly for justice, freedom and peace among all people.
“May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy.
“And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.”
“One word keeps showing up: ‘go,’” said Hodges. “Just go. Not when you’re ready or you completely understand. Just go. Find people who are your people. Listen before you speak. Give yourself permission to mess up. Shake off whatever is burdening you and you were never meant to carry and follow the advice of [Old School] Jesus, who told his disciples to go because the kingdom of God is at hand. Thanks be to God! Amen.”
During a reception honoring the YAVs, two spoke to Presbyterian News Service.
Chris Holland III, the 23-year-old son of a PC(USA) pastor, leaves this weekend for a year of service in Seoul, South Korea. Holland, who hails from Philadelphia, holds a degree from Drexel University, where he majored in Robotics.
While serving as a YAV, Holland anticipates working on social justice issues such as household income, and plans to do some street preaching. He said he also hopes to find work there at about the time his year of service comes to a close.
Penelope Hobbie, a 22-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska, completed her degree in Hispanic Studies at Davidson College. She’ll be working with Frontera de Cristo at the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands in Agua Prieta in Sonora, Mexico, a site she visited during her senior year in college.
“I put it in my back pocket,” Hobbie said. “Once graduation came, I said, ‘I don’t think this is my back pocket anymore. I think this is what I’ll do.’”
She’ll teach English at an afterschool program to children ranging from Kindergarten to fifth grade. “I love to sing, and so we’ll include some songs and some nursery rhymes,” she said. “I want to get a feel for their level of English.”
She’s eager to get to work with six YAV colleagues who’ll join her at the Borderlands.
“Church people make you feel at home,” Hobbie said. “In this scary post-graduate world, I wanted to be around those people.”
By Mike Ferguson, Presbyterian News Service
