Mueller Community Church

We All Belong

Jenny Billingham — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 06:25:23 +0000

I spent a lot of my life feeling as though I didn’t quite belong in any of the groups of people with whom I was involved. On the outside, I don’t think anyone else noticed it, but I sure felt it within me. I’d be around people, but still feel as though I was an outsider. I felt it as a child, teen, young adult and into my thirties. From my perspective, it was as if everyone else belonged, but I didn’t quite fit.

A sense of belonging is the degree to which students feel respected, accepted and supported by their adults and peers. Mueller staff try hard to communicate to students how much they are valued here in the Mueller community, however, statistics suggest that one in five teens may feel as though they don’t belong. As parents, how can we help our children if they don’t feel that sense of belonging?

Supportive parents play a huge role in providing emotional support for our children. True belonging is where a person is appreciated for their ideas, thoughts and values. Do you let your child know how much you value his/her ideas and thoughts? Do you encourage him/her to be the unique and amazing person God made and provide reassurance that it’s okay to be different?

Belonging starts with self-acceptance – believing you’re enough. Many students (and I believe this was my issue) feel as though they have to hide their true selves in order to fit in. A person belongs where others accept them for who they are. It also involves accepting others, even though they might have different views from us.

God has created us as unique individuals and accepts us as we are. Since He values us so much, surely, we can accept both ourselves and others. We all belong here even though it will feel different for each of us. Own your uniqueness and encourage your child to do so too.

Uncertainty – Our New Normal

Jenny Billingham — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 06:24:02 +0000

In recent days, our lives, plans and agendas have been dismantled one by one. Things we’ve long taken for granted in our day to day living feel like they’re being pulled out from under us. We’re obsessively checking news feeds and then feel disbelief as we hear of the latest restriction. For me, one that particularly struck home was that I can no longer jump on a plane at short notice to visit family members interstate if they need me. Neither can they come here should the need arise. What’s going on? Our society has become chaotic and unpredictable. The world has become chaotic and unpredictable. We have never experienced anything like this.

Uncertainty is one of the biggest fears we face, and we humans like to know exactly what we’re up to. Even though we Christians say we trust in the Lord for everything, I would suggest that we live (and I include myself) as though we are self-reliant. One verse from the Bible that is particularly relevant in these days of uncertainty is from James 4:13-16

Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. (New Living Translation)

One thing I do know is that God is unchanging and He sees the big picture of what’s going on in both the world and our individual lives. When I went through a particularly trying time several years ago, it was only faith in God that saw me through. He sustained me and helped me get through each day, and at times each hour. As we are fast learning, we can’t control everything in our lives.

Can I urge you to take some time out to listen to Mueller Community Church’s sermon on this past Sunday “An Eternal Perspective to a Temporal Pandemic”? https://soundcloud.com/mccmedia-1/2203-an-eternal-perspective-to-a-temporal-pandemic-wayne-kuypers-peter-connor

I’d like to share the following poem “Lockdown” by Brother Richard Hendrick which he shared on Facebook on March 13. I found it to be a great encouragement and hope you do too.

The One Anothers

Peter Connor — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 09:00:02 +0000

Philippians 2:3-8 ESV – 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Many of you may be aware of what we call the “one-anothers.” This is a collection of exhortations found throughout the New Testament. This list, I hope will be instructive and also encouraging. Feel free to read or download. We would do well to look up these scriptures, and meditate on them.

Colossians 3:16 ESV – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.