PAGES Summer 2002 Editorial
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Editorial, Summer 2002 issue of PAGES:
"Looking Around Me"
The license plate on the van ahead of me spelled out a simple, if unusual, four-letter word: SOUP! Now that made me very curious. I tried to follow. But the driver (invisible through dark windows) slipped in and out of traffic and the catchy word disappeared from sight. Had I even seen it? For a few seconds I considered how the word, "SOOP" would look on the Ford Taurus!
A friend recently told me that Service Opportunities for Older People (SOOP) is "the best kept secret in the Mennonite Church." Secret? I think this man was suggesting, "Get out and shout about SOOP — everywhere!"
How does the word spread about this creative project available to older adults? I notice that not everyone reads those well-written feature stories telling about service with SOOP in the church media. Maybe it would spread with hair-raising stories about hardships endured? Or with claims of lives spared or souls saved? I have heard SOOP shared during a worship service at my home church. One morning we gave the gift of affirmation (time to report) to returning volunteers, Karin and Wally, who communicated their life-changing experiences while serving at Jubilee Partners in Comer, Georgia.
The word does seem to get around. Just so far in 2002, at least 100 of you have communicated your interest in serving with SOOP. These many tell-me-about-SOOP inquiries arrive via letter, e-mail, telephone or in personal conversation: Please send information about SOOP. I am [We are] ready to serve this summer, this fall, this winter. We both enjoy helping with repairs.[Or] Neither of us has fix-it skills, but we will gladly help in a school or a soup kitchen or in a thrift store. I want to serve — will do "whatever is needed" while we are visiting with family members in [location stated].
Last week's mail included a note asking for more information and declaring, "I just want to be useful for my Lord." Carolyn Nance (with MCC Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Arloa Bontrager (with MMN in Elkhart, Indiana) and the director of MARP all work at placing volunteers in a variety of locations.
How do we describe this delectable SOOP? Often the joy comes with the unexpected — someone recently told me that the definition of a good story is "a disaster in retrospect"! A bit scary? Or you can see it as a healthy stretch!
Last year a visit by Martha and John Bergen to family members serving in South Africa included a building project of a large playground unit for the park nearby. Was this SOOP? Two couples teaming up for a week of food and maintenance assisting at one of the dozens of Mennonite camps — yes, that is SOOP. Betty Cannell of Reading, PA, extended her service by creating a huge and dramatic quilted wall hanging for the retreat center where she and her husband, Gene, have served for several summer weeks. Six months of service in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2000 mean a return for a six-week assignment in Fall 2002 for Harvey and Lillian Stoltzfus of Morgantown, PA.
SOOP takes no claim upon "service" by older adults performed in Jesus' name. So much of the same serving spirit is demonstrated by caring people right next door to you and to me every day of the year. The SOOP project offers a new challenge away from home base — also a life-giving venture.
Think it over — Service with SOOP could well be God's challenge for you this year. Expect service to mean surprise! Count on the going to bring growth!
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