Life Together

Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

One of the things that I love about being a chaplain in the YMCA is that I get to do life with all those that call the Y home. 

I grew up in a small town, and when I say small, I mean SMALL!

I grew up in Kansas, you know, the place where Dorothy grew up, and her little dog Toto (To quote a witch). 

Not only did I grow up in Kansas, I grew up in Cheyenne County Kansas, a part of Kansas that even Kansaner's (Not sure if that is a real word or not, I guess now it is. I feel a bit like Paul, making up new words to make a point), would say, "I didn't even know we had a Cheyenne County!

Cheyenne County, Kansas, was roughly 1020 square miles in size and had about 5,000 people living in it; 2000 people lived in the tiny town of St. Francis, which only left 3,000 people for the rest of the county. To quote Tony Stark, "If my math is right, and it always is." That only leaves 2 people per square mile for the rest of the county! 

My wife just came into the living room (where I am currently talking to you from), and told me that actually it leaves 3 people per square mile for the rest of the county. She also reminded me of why I spent so much time in school to be a theologian and not a chemist; math is hard!

St. Francis was small enough that everybody knew not only knew everybody, they knew about everybody. 

We lived life together in St. Francis, Kansas. 

Being a chaplain in the YMCA is a lot like living in St. Francis. 

I was on a call with YCP, talking with Tim Hallman, and he mentioned how cool it was that I resided in a branch and not the corporate office. 

I said that there are two reasons that I reside in a branch:

1. Residing in a branch gives me more clarity of what it is the staff and volunteers are going through on a daily basis.
2. Trevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvor (our CEO) refuses to tell me the location of our corporate offices. 

Our Association is broken up into 5-regions:

1. North
2. South
3. East
4. West
5. Central

I reside in the North region, and travel to the other regions within our Association. I am the only full-time chaplain in our Association; we currently have 9 volunteer chaplains across the Association in various stages of training. 

Being in a branch allows me and all those that call the North home to live life together. 

We cry together.

We laugh together.

We mourn together.

We rejoice together.

Somebody, in a book somewhere, said that was important to do.

I am busy training up as many chaplains as I can so they can live life together in their branches too. 

I found out early, in my life in St. Francis, that if you don't walk the talk, people know it pretty quickly. 

It isn't any different in our YMCA. 

I always check myself to make sure that I am not missing anything in my walk with Christ and with my fellow humans that I live life with. 

We like to joke in the Y that the Y would be a lot easier place to work if it wasn't for the members; it always gets a good laugh because we know it wouldn't.

Dietrichtrch Bonnehoffer once said in his book Life Together, "A pastor should never complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men."

I like to remind staff and volunteers that they are pastors too; they shepherd those that come to them for help.

It is important for me to remember Bonnehoffer's words. 

As you live life together with those that God has put before you and into your care, are you complaining to others, and to God about them?

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger

1]

---

[1]Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1954), 29.