Dear Friends, Family, Colleagues, Supporters, and Congregation members,
As another month has passed by I find myself writing about a whole new set of feelings and experiences. I hope that everyone's New Year has been going well and all of the New Years resolutions have been working out as well too. I do apologize for the delay in my January's letter and I will be back up to speed in the coming months.
I can never say it enough but I want to thank everyone for their continued support. Each month I find myself receiving messages of encouragement and support which in the end make a great amount of difference to me and my energy for the work I am doing here.
This month's program focus is going to be about "The Point" who are the Fortwilliam Park Presbyterian Church's youth group. These kids range from 10-15 years of age. They meet every week on Sundays from 7:00- 8:30pm in the Fortwilliam Youth room. These kids are truly fun to work with. After each youth program whether it was a good week or a rough week leaves me feeling like I am having fun. Though there are only, at the max, 10 of them I usually get around 6 or 7 to show up each week. The kids and their families within the group have been really supportive of me the whole time that I have been here which has made the transition for me here that much easier. This past week we started the Preparing Youth for Peace program created by the Presbyterian Youth Board as a response to the need to change attitudes within the church to reflect the true meaning of the Gospel. It is a 6 week program where they will look at what it means to be a Presbyterian, to understanding division within society and then what the Gospel tells us about how to deal with it. We have been fortunate enough to have joined up with the Whitehouse Presbyterian Church youth group for the 6 weeks of the program which will give the normally two small groups more fellowship with other Christian youths. So far this year "The Point" has led one worship service and has another one coming up in a few weeks. The goals of their services have been to incorporate more things that they enjoy from worship but to also still incorporate the things that many of the other members of the church enjoy about the worship too and the outcome of this had been very positive.
I had initially wanted to for the most part in this months letter focus my reflections more on how the work I have been doing has been spreading God's message but I feel that something that I am dealing with is more pressing to share. An event occurred earlier this week that has brought about a wide range of thoughts and feelings. One evening earlier this week there were three tennis ball size rocks thrown through the youth room windows at Fortwilliam Park. Initially this sparked mainly feelings of anger and more anger. Just the night before the same kids had stopped me and bombarded me with questions ranging from "Where are you from in America?" to "Are you a Prod?" and everything in between. (Prod is a derogatory term from a Protestant) I talked with them for about thirty minutes and when I had to leave them everything seems good.
The anger came from inside. In some ways part of it may have been anger at my ego being hurt. Here I was thinking that I was doing great things, breaking down barriers, being involved in the wider community outside the church and having a positive impact in it. Other than the rock throwing incident when I first arrived I have never been part of the target of aggression. I had created this reality where I was protected from the real one. As side note the violence within North-Belfast between the two communities has been much better than previous years. The real reality is that there are still severe problems within attitudes and there are dark undertones still hidden below the surfaces. Also to see the church building being defaced, even after all its attempts to be involved within the community from Alcohol Anonymous programs to the Mothers and Toddlers group to the work it does in the local schools projects.
Feelings of hopelessness arise out of this too. Why bother with it at all? Why waste my time here with people who clearly don't care? Why should I push myself when it is all for nothing? Then my heart comes up out of it all to reveal my innermost thoughts of hope. It is times like these that put my life and purpose here into perspective. Simply "Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." (Luke 6:28) It's times like these that the words come alive.
Once I start listening to my heart and faith then I begin to realize that all of the hopelessness questions I was asking weren't worth the breath I gave to them earlier. The feelings of anger had subsided and a stronger sense of purpose had developed. In reflecting upon this a day later I found a greater importance for me to still be here working. My desire to reach out has not lessened and the desire of the church to participate within the community has not lessened either .The importance here is love and kindness towards those who have shown aggression towards us. This is the Gospel that the church is preaching and it is one that I want to tell the world about too.
I want to remind everyone that these letters are going to be posted on my website http://Brenton-ni.blogspot.com Come see the new pictures I have been promising to upload. I finally was able to select a few to put up from before Christmas. Eventually I will put some new photos up from this year so be on the lookout within the next month.
If anyone is getting this letter from a friend or as a forward and would like to be added to the list of people I sent this to please feel free to email me at Brenton_ni@Yahoo.com to be added.
As I always do I want to thank everyone for your continued prayers and support. Feel free to at anytime email about any questions you have about what I am doing or anything else to the previously mentioned email address.
Peace,
Brenton Thompson