My Aldersgate Tapestry Experience

by Rev. Elizabeth S. Tapia*

My mother Lydia S. Tapia use to say, “Di baling mabasa ang saya, huwag lang mawala ang pananampalataya.” This means, “never mind if your clothes get wet, keep up your faith.” She would say this to me over and over again as we treaded knee-deep through flooded streets in my village in Bulacan, Philippines. She and my grandmother Julia taught me how to pray and to sing Methodist hymns whenever I got afraid of the night, or while waiting for rice and milk rations.

During my upbringing as a Methodist in a family of ten, I attended Sunday school, post-Christmas Institute for youth, met missionaries, worked as a deaconess, and later served as pastor and seminary professor, which all became distinct parts of my Aldersgate tapestry experience. I cannot single out an experience, nor can I give a specific date of my spiritual conversion.  All I felt was a continuous flow of God’s grace in the ups and downs of my life. Praying, reading the scriptures, selling fish in the public market, organizing youth and women in the church, visiting the sick and those in prison, surviving poverty and martial law regime, and later in life, migrating to the United States— shaped my faith and commitment to serve.

One item in my “bucket list” is visiting the Wesley Chapel in London. When I worked at Drew Theological Seminary, I used to visit Wesley’s statue on Fridays and theologized with him in my mind! In the seminary I read some journal entries of John Wesley. Fascinating! If he were alive today, I think he would blog or tweet with gospel aim. He would probably be engaged in innovative ministries with immigrants and refugees; leadership formation; opposing war, making peace; abolishing human trafficking, as well as other types of slavery, and call for economic, racial and ecological justice in the public square.  Are these not expressions of “social holiness” today and of people’s participation in God’s mission?

Now that I serve in the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, I realize more and more how our churches and faith-based communities are keeping true to John Wesley’s advice: “Go to the people in need, especially those who need you most.”

Praise God for God’s mission and heart-warming grace!

 *Rev. Elizabeth S. Tapia, Ph.D. is the director of Mission Theology (Mission Theology and Evaluation unit) for Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church in New York City. She is an Elder in the Bulacan Philippines Annual Conference. 

May 24, or the nearest Sunday, is Aldersgate Day or Aldersgate Sunday. This celebrates our founder John Wesley's life-changing experience at a meeting on Aldersgate Street, London, May 24, 1738. The World Methodist Council commemorates the 275-year anniversary of John Wesley’s Aldersgate Experience by inviting readers to share their stories of faith.

Photos: (top) Girls in the Philippines by Lisa Jackson; (below) John Wesley gives money to the poor in this artist rendering. Drawing courtesy of The United Methodist Commission on Archives and History. UMNS1176.

Children Shine in Grenada

Anna Gill, a young adult missionary serving Grenada through Global Ministries, shares how extremely proud she is about children in her Sunday school class.

by Anna Gill

I like to think that behind every child is a community of people who are exceptionally proud of his or her achievements. Whether from family, teachers, churches, neighbors, or any others, children need to hear affirmation. They need to know that they are special and loved, just as they are. They need to hear the “You is kind, you is smart, you is important” mantra so often that they really believe it and live up to it. Now certainly, people often take this too far, as can be evidenced by “my child can do no harm” and “everyone is a winner” attitudes that don’t serve kids well in preparing them for real life. That said, I stand by my belief that when a child is doing something awesome, they need to be recognized for it!

Grandparents are some of the best people for doing just that. Ask almost any grandparent about their grandchildren and they will happily spout off all sorts of wonderful things about that child. Some grandparents even carry around a “brag book,” a small photo album that fits easily into a purse or bag, allowing them to show off their grandchildren to anyone and everyone who will listen.

I may not have a physical “brag book” to carry around, but I do have this blog, and for this entry it is my way to brag about “my kids.” I should probably note that I am quite happy not having children at this point in my life, and will likely remain so for some time. But here in Grenada, I have built close relationships with many of the children and youth in my community. “My kids” are my students in the after school class. They are the children in our Sunday School at the Methodist Church. They are the kids from the steel pan band, and they are the crew of boys that hang out at my house every evening. I am so blessed to have good relationships with so many young people here, so I hope you will indulge me and allow me to brag about why they are exceedingly awesome. =)

My kids are smart.

Marissa is better at Concentration than I am.
All photos in this story by Anna Gill.

My students playing “Around the World” with the multiplication tables

Omari has a steady hand in building a card house

They are helpful.

Orion and many other kids help me with my baking and with my other chores.

They are funny…

What adolescent boy wouldn’t find this funny?

… fast…

My friend Azaria is one of the fastest runners in the 200 meter sprint on the island!

…and adorable!

I will challenge anyone who thinks they can find a cuter baby than Keyon.

They are hardworking. (Okay, some are teenagers with obligatory lazy moments, but isn’t that normal?!)

During the trash clean-up we did with the after school class, 15 students picked up over 2,200 pieces of trash in 90 minutes!

They are considerate.

When Kenrick returned my colored pencils he’d borrowed for a project, he had hand-sharpened each one using a knife.

They love being silly for the camera.

This picture came from a series of the boys arm wrestling, which they wanted me to photograph.

And can we just take a minute to talk about how creative these kids are?!

Omari is a talented artist- he freehanded this drawing of SpongeBob!

Kenrick built this cart out of wood and salvaged wheels from a baby stroller. He has since added solar-powered headlights and wired an on/off switch to it!

He also made a kite out of bamboo, thread, and a KFC plastic bag. Many children are in the business of kite making/flying at this time of year.

Xorion posing in front of the “gallery” of artwork in my kitchen.

The boys have come up with a way to play soccer on the tabletop using playdough for the ball and the containers as goals.

Painting Easter eggs in Sunday School

Love with some of the talented pan players

I could go on an on about the awesome kids that have become my friends. However, I also don’t want to pretend that things are always perfect or easy with these kids. I love them all, but sometimes they drive me crazy. It’s taken time to teach the boys about how they should (and more specifically, SHOULD NOT) behave when they play at my house. One of my cutest little boys has very stinky feet. Sometimes the kids leave “surprises” in my bathroom (like toilet paper rolls dropped in a dirty bowl) and muddy footprints in my house. I went through some real trials with one child in our Sunday School because she were testing me and didn’t trust me right away. Not every piece of artwork hung on my wall is a masterpiece- quite a lot of it is rather mediocre. Sometimes my students are rude, and sometimes I lose my temper with them. They are not perfect, and neither am I.

I am learning many lessons about patience and unconditional love– lessons I hope to carry over into parenthood someday. I’m also beginning to see how God must view Christians. It is as if we were little children, running around thinking that our best efforts are masterpieces that will make God proud. And then we show off our work to him, and what God sees is the equivalent of macaroni artwork in comparison to all that he has created. We want to dance in from of him, just to make him happy, not noticing all the things we knock down in the process. God tells us we are beautiful and precious, even when he smells our stinky feet. Oftentimes we stubbornly choose not to obey when God is showing us a better way, instead creating bigger messes of our lives. We don’t like to listen to our spiritual teachers when the “lessons” are difficult. God celebrates each small achievement in our faith life, but still knows that there is so much more to learn.

The amazing thing about our God is that even though our best efforts are like child’s play to him, he still delights in those things we do out of love for him. We can never match up to the awesome, inconceivable greatness of God with our human efforts. Yet we shouldn’t stop trying. We should continue to work and create things for God’s glory. We should go to him for our affirmation. We should listen when God calls us his beloved just as we are, but also listen when he disciplines us so that we mature. May we fully embrace the knowledge that we are God’s beloved children, and strive to do the things that will make God proud.


Anna Gill is a mission intern with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, initially serving with GRENCODA, the Grenada Community Development Agency, on the Caribbean island of Grenada.

This post originally appeared in Gill’s blog Use the Faith You’ve Found. All photos by Anna Gill.  

“What you are before God, that you are and nothing more.”

by Elaine M. La Van

Elaine M. La Van, a US-2 missionary, shares her views on what it means to have relationships that God intends for us.

This past week, like many of you I’m sure, I was glued to the TV to see the unfoldings of the tragic news from Boston. Since most of my week involved working with our tea project, I was able to have the news on in the background. Now, this is not a post about those occurrences, because let’s be honest, I know relatively little about the event. Only the news stories that spun on every news station, which cannot lead me to claim any knowledge whatsoever. My personal ties to Boston are also very few, although I do feel a connection to my fellow runners. What the events in Boston have to do with this post is that they have been a push for me to travel a path that I have long been destined to explore.

While watching the events, again, as I’m sure many of you were, I found myself praying for those affected by the bombings. I suddenly felt convicted to pray for those responsible for the bombings. After I did as much of a double take as you can while you’re praying, I stopped to ask, “why?” I received the response of, “Because, they are still Mine.”

Now, in addition to this, as a single gal I have also recently felt convicted to examine what it means to have the kind of relationships that God intends for us to have, with not only a significant other, but with people in general. This includes family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances, strangers, etc. But most importantly, how to seek God out to have the kind of fulfilling relationship we all crave with our creator. Through a series of fortunate events I have come to be reading a book on the life and love philosophies of St. Francis. After only a few hours I have made it about half way through the book and I am already completely floored by what I have been learning.

Art by Elaine La Van

In Daniel P. Horan’s book, he states, “although the times have significantly changed…the human condition remains strikingly unchanged. Our human brokenness and sin continues to affect our outlook and daily encounters, but that intrinsic capacity to desire and know God remains.” How true is it that we seek companionship and fulfillment not only from other people and hollow things, but now also from hoping for connectedness through social media and impersonal interactions. More and more things are being added to our lives daily that only make me feel more and more alone. In all transparency what I have been seeking is an explanation of worth and purpose. It’s somehow easier to get lost in a world that claims to all be connected. Although logically, I know where to find what I need, I have not known with such deep conviction as I have lately while beginning this recent journey. It has been difficult to express my jumbled feelings lately into words but one of my favorite things that Horan says in his book is, “…we usually don’t know what we want—at least not at first.” And I love that. It’s such a simple statement, but so profound at the same time.

I know what I want, an even deeper relationship with my Creator. I don’t want to get one kind of fulfillment from Him, seek another with a friend, seek another at work, seek another from Facebook, and so on. “We must communicate our whole selves to our Creator.” Through this kind of relationship we have, “the potential to turn our whole life into a living prayer.” What a beautiful concept. This kind of relationship also has the potential to give us a whole new confidence in ourselves that no other can give. Compliments and pats on the back soon fade and lack meaning, but God’s very cause for our creation gives us a whole new understanding of purpose and value. God doesn’t love us because we are human, “God’s plan for my existence centered on me, just as God’s plan for bringing you into the world centered on you.” We have worth in us simply because God desired us to be in the world. We are, “unique, irreplaceable, unrepeatable, and individually loved by God.” Now, if we can take faith in the fact that God loves us so incredibly much to put so much individual effort into our creation, then we must take comfort and truth in knowing that He wants to continue to know us deeply and intimately. Another line that I love from Horan is that we are, “individually loved into existence.” Horan goes on to explain that without knowing this raw truth of our creator, “what can we bring of ourselves to the relationships?” If we don’t know who we are, who’s we are, and why we are, then how can we share ourselves with another?

Now, however long it takes someone to come to terms with the depths of our Creator’s love for us, we can then move on to explore, how selfish and misguided we could be to think that God would not love another just as much? The recent events I discussed at the start of my post were like a smack in the face. How could I disregard my own personal mission statement? I wanted to be a part of the work that I do exactly because I want others to know the profound love that can be found through a relationship with Christ. How could this be that I could be so stunned to think this really did mean everyone. When spiritual gifts were being handed out, “judge” was not amongst mine. But mercy and empathy were. And I need to continue to practice them.
“No one is, at the most basic and human level, better or worse than another. Every life is sacred. It is only in embracing that image of ourselves and others that we are able to in turn embrace God.”

Life occurs every day, from the earth shattering and devastating events that call for all media coverage to the little things that some don’t even see as worth gossiping about. But, in embracing who we are in Christ and what others are to God we can learn to connect with others and God on a whole new substantial level.
Seek comfort in knowing your value lies in your very creation, friends. “What you are before God, that you are and nothing more.” -St. Francis

Blessings to all of you in your daily mission fields. Until next time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-sigUxXsAA

*All quotes came from Dating God: Live and Love in the Way of St. Francis by Daniel P. Horan.

Elaine M. La Van is a missionary through the US-2 young adult program of the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. Commissioned in August 2012, she is assigned as an advocate at the Women’s Shelter at the Navajo United Methodist Center in Farmington, New Mexico.

This post originally appeared in La Van’s blog: “To Never Be The Same.”