What a Small Flame Can Do

Stacey

It was in this room almost 18 years ago that I first witnessed a seven year-old leading worship. I had grown up in churches where children were welcomed, where we were called forward to hear a children’s sermon from the pastor, where we were taught music in the children’s choir which we then got to sing in worship. But it wasn’t until that Sunday in 2001 that I had ever seen a very young child stand up in front of the church and lead the service, starting with the Invocation, and then the responsive Psalm, and then one of the Scripture readings.

She was small, and she had to use a stepstool. She had long, wavy, dark brown hair, big brown eyes, and glasses. She was usually a rather quiet child, maybe a little shy. But that morning, I watched in awe, as seven year-old Marissa Alaniz stepped up on the stool behind the lectern, leaned forward towards the microphone, and said in a very loud voice, “Please stand for the invocation.” And then she prayed a beautiful prayer, the likes of which I had not heard a child pray before. But I have heard many children pray beautiful prayers in worship here since then, because that’s one of the things we help them learn how to do at our church. We help them learn how to pray and how to read Scripture and how to lead, and then we give them a stool and a microphone and let them lead us in worship.

In the letter of James this morning, we heard a bit about what a huge impact certain very small things can make. We can put bits into the mouths of horse to make them obey us, and we can guide their whole bodies that way, he says. Or look at ships: they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the pilot of the boat wants to go…. And think about how even a very small flame can set a whole forest on fire!

Little things – bits, rudders, flames – have the power to cause catastrophe or to create positive change. James, of course, is talking about the power of the tongue – how with this tiny part of our body we can do significant damage or create beautiful new realities. He is talking about the power of our words, but the examples he uses apply to more than just that. Our small decisions, our seemingly small actions, our little lives – do we understand that, in all our smallness, we actually have enormous power? See how the bit guides the horse? See how the rudder steers the boat? See what a small flame can do. And then you’ll understand. A little church can shape the life of a little girl. A little girl can then stand up in front of that church and help lead them in changing the world.

—–

Marissa

I learned the importance of changing the world right here in this building. With coin collections, warm clothes drives for Vespers, calendar sales, VBS, food drives for Hikone, the mission activities of this church truly jump-started my awareness of and interest in supporting others – and I was supported by this church every step of the way.

When I was in seventh grade, the church gave me my first-ever job, as a childcare provider. Around this time, I began to start ushering with my little sister and my dad. In 10th grade, I joined my first church board, and the year after, went on my first mission trip to Nandasmo, Nicaragua. I participated in youth mission activities, like the CROP Walk and the 30-Hour Famine, and felt an innate responsibility to continue to help out with children and youth ministries throughout my time in college.

As a senior in college with an interest in fundraising, I volunteered with this church family at Food Gatherers for the third time, and this time, scoped out their development positions and staff photos on the wall. When I graduated and they had an open development position, I applied because our volunteer shifts had been so well-run, and I was inspired by their mission. Three years later, I can say that that job gave me a depth of experience in fundraising and incredible friendships. But moreover, it intensified my passion for giving back to our community, reinvesting my time and talents into our world, and through fundraising and communications, creating opportunities for others to do the same.

—

Stacey

In the last four years, Marissa has been on four mission teams to work with AMOS Health and Hope in Nicaragua. On the third of those, we were in a very small, very isolated community called La Danta, our second time serving there. On the last night there, we had a community farewell ceremony, and afterwards, I was sitting next to Marissa at a dining table when she turned to me and said, “I want to come back.” There was something in her tone that let me know – she didn’t mean she just wanted to come back on another short-term mission trip. There was a spark in her eyes. There was a flame in her voice as she said, “I want to do this. I want to come back and work with AMOS.” When she said that, I felt my own heart catch fire. I knew immediately that I was going to do everything I could to support her in answering this call. And I knew this church would do the same.

Each time we’ve gone on a trip, we’ve come back and shared with our church family about the incredible work our mission partner AMOS is doing in Nicaragua. Marissa, in particular, has especially ignited the imagination, the passion, and the compassion of our congregation in how she has talked and written about the work being done there. As a church, we have been inspired by her words to support that work at ever higher levels. Her words have also challenged many of us to learn from the people in Nicaragua about the value of community, the importance of spending time on relationships, and the possibility of finding happiness and fulfillment in something other than money and possessions.

When I asked Marissa recently how it was, that night in La Danta, that she came to feel called to go back and serve longer-term, she told me the exact moment. She said it happened at the community farewell ceremony. One of our delegation coordinators, Jilmer, a Nicaraguan who is fluent in English, had served the whole week as the translator between our delegation and the community. Marissa said, “I saw Jilmer up there and he was translating, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish I could do that.’ How cool it is to be able to bridge the gap between us – our church and a rural community. Jilmer was that one person to communicate and allow us all to communicate through that translation.” And she realized she wanted to do that. Not to stand up in a rural community and translate from English to Spanish and back again. But to work in fundraising, to translate the issues, the problems, the challenges, the work that AMOS is doing, translate that back to our church, to our community, to people in the United States. Translate it for people who aren’t aware of those issues, people who could invest, people who could make a difference.

——

Marissa

The prospect of working in fundraising at AMOS ignited a spark within me. This feels like a calling, an intuitive desire, the intersection between my passion, and my talents, and an organization I admire, and helping people. This is my spark, that can ignite and envelop to set a whole forest ablaze.

But a lot has changed since I announced my volunteer commitment to AMOS in early April. Protests began in Nicaragua. My home and family situation changed. I had made plans to leave my job. The political unrest turned violent. Travel advisories were issued. US Embassy personnel were evacuated. I had altered the course of my life to fit this spark, and I had to face the reality that it might not work out.

I’m a perfectionist and admittedly, it scares me when I’m not in control. Seven-year-old me probably rehearsed that prayer 50 times, was shaking in her dress shoes, and second-guessed everything she wrote as she was saying it. Uncertainty and anxiety overloaded my mind. I tried to see silver linings and look towards the light at the end of the tunnel, the light that was and is being able to fundraise at AMOS. But that light became clouded and that future was unsure. I tried hard to put on a happy face even when I didn’t feel that way. When sometimes I had no motivation, was distracted, couldn’t get out of bed, felt shame and guilt.

Sometimes there is that spark within us that feels right, feels essential, feels like hope, feels like the light at the end of the tunnel. And sometimes the unexpected and the unknown cast shadows upon that light. But the light does not dim or go away. When the shadows subside and the light reappears into view, it is brighter.

No one expects to press “go” on a major life decision that would alter the course of what’s expected of them, and have that path be made unclear. But we have faith and trust the spark inside us, because it’s true of life that we only see pieces, not the full picture. I had faith that things would work out – faith in God, faith in the people around me, in supporting my friends and letting them support me. And overall, looking back through that tunnel from the other side, those months seem meaningful and valuable. They taught me to appreciate, connect, learn, and reflect in new ways.

Sometimes we feel small, and insignificant, like our efforts are a waste of time and energy. “I’m not enough.” “I’m not doing enough.” “I’m not where I’m supposed to be.” Someday, somehow, things will get better. So we keep breathing. What we experience shapes who we are. And no matter what we experience, when we come out on the other side of the darkness, we will be stronger.

You are not alone. You are enough. You are loved. What you do matters. There is a spark in you, and it can ignite a fire, for hope, or for justice, or for whatever your spark calls you to reinvest back into the world.

Have you ever heard “The Starfish Story”? Originally by Loren Eisley, the story goes like this:

One day, a man was walking along the beach and noticed a girl picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Puzzled, the man approached the girl and asked, “What are you doing?”

The girl replied, “I’m throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

The man chuckled aloud and replied, “Don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish and only one of you? You can’t make a difference!”

The girl bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the ocean. Smiling at the man, she said, “I made a difference for that one.”

—

Stacey

Do you understand that, though you are just one little life, you actually have enormous power?

I knew a seven year-old whose church believed in her and so when she was asked to stand up in church and help lead worship, she believed she could, too. And she did.

I know a 24 year-old whose church believes in her and so when she felt the call of God to quit her job and move to Nicaragua to do ministry for a year, she believed it was the right thing to do, and she believed she could do it, even when the way hasn’t always seemed clear. And she’s going to do it.

And you? Your church believes in you, too. And what’s more, so does God, who has given you everything you need to do what you’re called to do.

Don’t you know? A small flame can set the world on fire.