Providing Christian resources from the YMCA past and present to nourish inclusive, equitable work in our diverse and global neighborhoods that build up healthy spirit, mind and body for all.
If you’re anything like me, sometimes you get in a “woe is me” place and you wonder – does it matter if I show up, if I care, if I put in the effort?
Yes, you matter – it matters how you show up, how you prepare, how you play, and how your pray.
Your loving presence and prayers matter to the children and youth in your life.
Your caring matters.
The attention and attitude, your presence and posture matter to the children you serve before and after school.
Here is a story of Jesus blessing children that reminds me of how much it matters:
“Then Jesus came to Capernaum.”
And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?”
But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.
And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them.And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”
[from Gospel according to Mark 9:33-37 NKJV]
Take a few moments to soak in the loving attention and caring presence of Jesus with the children.
Imagine that is you being drawn close, embraced by the safe and strong kindness of Christ.
And if we take Jesus at his word, when you care for children “in his name” – inspired by his presence in your life – God is present to that little one.
Whoa.
Your caring matters.
You showing up matters.
You being present matters.
You being attentive and safe and trustworthy matters.
Your work matters. The children you care for matter. You matter.
If you’re anything like me, sometimes you get in a melancholy attitude and you wonder – does it matter if I show up, if I care, if I put in the effort?
Yes, you matter – it matters how you show up, how you prepare, how you play, and how your pray.
Your presence and prayers of love matter to the children and youth in your life.
You praying for the kids in your care matters. You praying for their families matters. You praying for your family matters. You praying for your coworkers matters. You praying for your self matters.
If we look around at the world as some kind of guide for how much children matter, how much our caring for them matters, if you based it on wages or prestige or fame, you’d have to conclude that there’s a lot of “talk” but in reality it’s a low value.
But when you listen to the words of Christ, when you see his example, when we believe his instructions, we can conclude that caring for children in the way of Jesus is bring Heaven to Earth, is how God is present to the little ones in our life.
Whoa.
When we care for children with the tenderness and strength with which God loves us, when let children into our life the way we let Jesus into our life, the way we “receive” children is a way for us to “receive” God.
Being with children is a holy, sacred, beautiful, joyous work that requires us to be humble, forgiving, loyal, trustworthy, open, and playful.
It requires lots of love.
St. Paul in his letter to a church failing miserably at honoring each other, he wrote a memorable, provoking, lyrical poem to inspire them to love like God loves them.
It includes this reminder: “love is patient, love is kind.”
It’s a very practical and concrete example.
You know when you have been irritably impatient with a child, when you have spoken unkindly in exasperation and weariness.
It’s easy to defend our impatience and unkindness: if “their” behavior was better, or if we weren’t so tired, or…etc.
But: patience and kindness are acts of love precisely because we are usually irritated by something, generally weary and easily exasperated – it’s in those dreary moments that love is needed most.
When you are at your best with children it’s usually when you’ve chosen patience while still irritable, choosing kind words instead of snapping back – you know when you do it, you sense it in your spirit, and even if no one notices or compliments you on it, it matters, God sees it, and it is significant.
Keep doing the work of patience and kindness when you are tired and stretched thin – it’s good for your spirit, it’s healing for the spirit of the children in your life, and it’s a way that God is present in our midst.
I invite you to meditate on this artistic images of Jesus, to see the patience and kindness in his presence with the children.
See yourself as one of those children, receiving his patience and kindness.
See yourself as being one with Jesus, giving patience and kindness to the children in your life.
Take a moment to text a friend or send a note in the post mail, reminding them that they matter to you, to God, that their caring and kindness to children matters, and that their work matters to families in our community.
May the Grace and Peace of Christ Jesus be with you, always.
While the original “C” was thin – 1840’s British Protestant Evangelical White Young Male – these followers of Jesus took to heart his prayer in John 17:21 and embodied it throughout the world; their willingness to expand the depth, diversity and richness of the “C” thickened it, giving it more weight, more room for unity, and more dimensions of reality.
What can this mean for how you embody the “C” in the YMCA?
Our YMCA mission seems to embody a tension between practicing Christian principles and being for all; yet a historical overview shows a progression, an expansion, a richness, of inclusion.
Not perfect, obviously; a struggle for sure – one that we in the Y get to joyfully and humbly participate in for our generation.
This summary paragraph below comes in the middle of an extensive yet readable dissertation exploring the global influence of the YMCA Paris Basis from 1855 to 1955 – a century of stunning innovations, horrific trauma, courageous love.
At one level it lays out how Faith has been a dynamic and crucial Dimension of Diversity.
It highlights significant historical realities regarding the “C” in the YMCA striding forward into new countries and cultures, new generations, new opportunities.
By remembering our past, our roots, we can more wisely discern what we’ve been nourished with in order to stay engaged as healers and bridge-builders in the way of Christ amidst our present realities.
“The YMCA was a fruit of the Evangelical Revival of the 19th century.
Contrary to several other revival movements, which were separatistic, the YMCA idea was based on a sense of unity among Christians.
This led the YMCA to co-operate – often lead – with the major streams in the Ecumenical Movement of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The YMCA leaders were active in the Evangelical Alliance and Sunday School Movement; they were in the spearhead of the Muscular Christianity and student awakenings; they were inspired by the Social Gospel movement; they led the first meetings of Missionary Movement and the World Council of Churches.
Although the YMCA was Protestant in origin, it also adapted itself to Orthodox and Roman Catholic contexts.
In general, the attitude of Protestant and Orthodox church leaders was positive, while that of Catholics was negative.
In all different religious contexts, the YMCA aimed to lead youth to their respective churches.
Extending out of Europe and North America, the YMCA faced new problems and sought answers to them.
The area that had, along with the two ‘Christian continents’, the most profound effect on the mission view of the YMCA, was Asia.
In the Near East, the YMCA faced Islam and in India, it faced Hinduism and Buddhism.
In both contexts, the movement took the lead in interfaith dialogue with these world religions.
Additionally, in India, the YMCA faced the problems of rural youth – and aimed to adapt itself to their needs.”
How does this expansionist, diverse, “thick C” inspire you?
While the original “C” was thin – 1840’s British Protestant Evangelical White Male – these followers of Jesus took to heart his prayer in John 17:21 and embodied it throughout the world; their willingness to expand the depth, diversity and richness of the “C” thickened it, giving it more weight, more room for unity, and more dimensions of reality.
What can this mean for how you embody the “C” in the YMCA?
With a dynamic and inclusive legacy like ours, who can you be building a bridge of friendship with through your faith, hope and love in Jesus?
Readable and thorough overview with brilliant summaries for inspiring reflections. Click pic to download the PDF.
The Y decided long ago, wisely, not to make religion an expectation or requirement of membership or employment.
Loyalty to Jesus Christ is always about grace, about gifts and blessing, not about coercion.
George Williams and his eleven friends – and later Anthony Bowen, John Mott, MLK, Paul Limbert, Harold Smith, Carlos Sanvee – are evidence of what happens to men who do believe Jesus, who take a leap of faith and pledge their loyalty to the Kingdom of God.
And that is how Jesus is alive and well in the YMCA today, when Y staff and members show up desiring to embody the love and loyalty of Christ to whoever comes across their path.
“I first learned in Bridgewater”, said Williams, “to love my dear Lord and Saviour for what He had done for me…I was on the downward road…I said, ‘Cannot I escape? Is there no escape’ They told me in this town of Bridgewater how to escape—Confess your sins, accept Christ, trust in Him, yield your heart to the Saviour. I cannot describe to you the joy and peace that flowed into my soul when I first saw that the Lord Jesus had died for my sins, and that they were all forgiven.”(7)
It is undeniable, the role of Jesus in the origins, heart and purpose of the YMCA.
George Williams and the eleven Christian friends who founded the Y in 1844 did so out of their love and loyalty to the Lord Jesus.
As an Association it’s impetus for action was Christian love and loyalty to the Young Men in their factories and neighborhoods who were facing crushing inequities, overwhelming temptations to vice, loneliness and purposelessness.
Our history is centered on the real presence of Christ Jesus, a man who figures in the background of the Y and the foreground of our leaders throughout the many generations.
The Y logos since 1881
The “X” and “P” in the background of the original Y logo are Greek letters, religious symbols for the name of Christ in the New Testament, written in Greek and spelled XRIST – Chi Rho Iota Sigma Tau.
Was the simplification of the logo in 1897 a secularist removal of Christ from the Y or rather a pragmatic marketing move?
Considering the Christians leading the Y in those days, men like John Mott, Luther Wishard, etc, their work and words, attitude and lifestyle was the real embodiment of the “C” in the YMCA.
The reality is that Christ is present in the Y irregardless of what the logo looks like, for it is through people that Jesus does his reconciling work, not marketing materials.
It is undeniable, though, that the role of the “C” – of Jesus – has become more complicated and conflicting in the YMCA.
The 1960’s seemed to have changed everything. One could make the case that the Great War of 1914 broke the ecumenical Christian Spirit of the world, that the Holocaust and atom bomb of WW2 poisoned the global Christian Spirit, and that it took decades for these reverberations to unsettle and upheave Christianity in our American culture; the 1960’s were the unveiling of the brewing chaos.
In post-war 1940’s elderly John Mott is noticing the waning of the Christian mission of the Y; in the 1950’s the famous Christian theologian and Y advocate Emil Brunner is calling the Y back to Christ; in 1989 the revered 101-old Paul Limbert laments the lack of awareness of Christian principles and legacy in the Y.
The YMCA was affected by the 1960’s, and all that led up to it, and since then; in some ways the Y embodies the culture of its communities and countries – in other ways we influence it.
One example: The diversity of Christianity in the USA is found in our YMCA staff and members.
This religious inclusion was intentional, hard-fought, often resisted, but crucial to us living out our name.
What the Y learned through religious inclusion has been seeds for greater inclusion amongst our increased dimensions of diversity – not without struggle, obviously.
Christians have always been part of the push for inclusion in the Y; they are also ones who resist it.
That’s been the history of Christianity, it’s attempt to live out Jesus’ prayer recorded in the New Testament Gospel according to John “that they may all be one.”
As Christ’s gospel encountered different tribes and nations, the diversity of the Faith increased, and so did the complexity and conflicts amongst the Body of Christ.
You can see this in the by-laws of the YMCA:
THE YMCA IS UNIVERSALLY REGARDED AS BEING IN ITS ESSENTIAL GENIUS, A WORLDWIDE FELLOWSHIP OF PERSONS UNITED BY A COMMON LOYALTY TO THE PRINCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEVELOPING CHRISTIAN PERSONALITY AND BUILDING A CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. THE YMCA SHALL BE NONDENOMINATIONAL AND SHALL NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ITS STAFF, BOARD, VOLUNTEERS, COMMITTEES, MEMBERS OR RECIPIENTS OF SERVICES BASED ON ANY CHARACTERISTIC OR STATUS PROTECTED BY FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL LAW AND IS COMMITTED TO A CULTURE OF INCLUSION AND UNDERSTANDS, RESPECTS AND VALUES THE DIVERSITY OF OTHERS.
It’s ironic: as Christians strive to bring the peace-full gospel of Jesus to more people, there sometimes ends up being more struggles and even chaos – hence the emphasis by the Y on inclusive fellowship in imitation of Jesus Christ.
The Paris Basis of the YMCA, the original document for framing how different Christians could work together across the globe emphasized “harmonious relations”:
“The Young Men’s Christian Associations seek to unite those young men who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour, according to the Holy Scriptures, desire to be his disciples in their faith and in their life, and to associate their efforts for the extension of his Kingdom amongst young men. Any differences of opinion on other subjects, however important in themselves, shall not interfere with the harmonious relations of the constituent members and associates of the World Alliance.”
What could it look like now it for Jesus to still be part of the Y? Challenge 21 is a compelling strategy and framework, developed in 1998 in reflection of 15 decades of YMCA ministry.
The first challenge is: “Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and striving for spiritual, intellectual and physical well-being of individuals and wholeness of communities.” Read more at https://www.ymca.int/about-us/ymca-history/challenge-21-1998/
Sometimes we think too little of Jesus.
Is Jesus like a little Christmas elf, lurking in our buildings to bless people? Is he a ghost that haunts our facilities with nostalgia for the glory days of Christendom?
Is he a severe judge condemning all the sinners who work out at the Y? Is he a cultural critic of the right or left?
Is he wringing his hands at the mission drift of the Y? Is he rolling his eyes at the crazy Christians in the Y? Is he a timidly permissive of whatever people want to do or believe at the Y?
No.
Whatever Jesus is doing in the Y – in our world – in our communities – in our homes – it is with and through people, for all creation.
And whatever Jesus has done, is doing, and will do, it will often be – to be frank – unbelievable.
Why do I say that?
Because that’s the general experience of people as recorded in the New Testament.
It requires a leap of faith, to quote Kierkegaard, to believe Jesus existed and is still who he claims to be.
On the face of it, there is an unbelievability to Jesus.
But George Williams and his eleven friends – and Anthony Bowen, John Mott, MLK, Paul Limbert, Harold Smith, Carlos Sanvee – are evidence of what happens to men who do believe Jesus, who take a leap of faith and pledge their loyalty to the Kingdom of God.
And that is how Jesus is alive and well in the YMCA today, when Y staff and members show up desiring to embody the love and loyalty of Christ to whoever comes across their path.
The Y decided long ago, wisely, not to make religion an expectation or requirement of membership or employment.
Loyalty to Jesus Christ is always about grace, about gifts and blessing, not about coercion.
History shows that Jesus is not bound to our expectations and will not be manipulated or coerced, nor will he require that of us to others.
The grace of Christ grants us an almost unbelievable amount of freedom – which is why St Paul admonishes us to use our freedom for good “all things are permissible but not all are beneficial.”
At almost 180 years old, the relationship the Y has with Jesus is complicated and conflicted, which ought not to be much of a surprise.
But no matter how many decades have elapsed, life with Jesus always require more trust, which means there always more room for doubt.
Our faith only grows when tested, which means we will face more complicated conflicts which give us the opportunity to increase our hope and reveal the resiliency of our love and dependence on God’s Grace.
Are there still Christians still in the Y? Yes.
Is Jesus and the Y still a thing? Of course?
Do we crave more certainty and security about the “C” in the Y? Probably too much.
Did Jesus come to make people comfortable and happy? Not really.
Jesus did come to be the light in the darkness, to rescue us from evil, to call people to join him in a ministry of reconciliation for the restoration of all creation.
That’s what Jesus is doing in the world, in the Y, with and through and for people – people who can be stiff-necked, hard-hearted, stubborn and rebellious.
Yet he faithfully, patiently, with great endurance overcomes evil with good, redeeming it all by love, for those that believe it, who trust that this is what God is doing in the world through Jesus.
Sometimes Christ is in the background of our Y, like in that first logo; sometimes you can’t see him in obvious ways, like our current logo.
But since it’s by faith, through grace, that Jesus fulfills God’s will in the world, may we choose to believe that Christ is in the Y, that he is mysteriously present in the background and foreground leading us – the complicated and conflicted people that we are – into his promised future, where there is flourishing for all.
Here is how Carlos Sanvee authentically puts it, our World YMCA Secretary-General, in his 2021 Easter message to the Y:
I also realised how my faith in Jesus aligned with my African understanding of Ubuntu: that a person is a person only through other people; and that I am, because you are.
The YMCA taught me triangles and trinities: of the interlinkage of body, mind and spirit; and the interrelation of me, my neighbour and God.
So my work has always been my faith, and my faith has always been my work.
The core of my faith is to endeavour to accept and understand the unconditional love of God, shown to us at Easter. And my work is to try and share that love.
Jesus poured himself out in love and service. He preached and he lived the social gospel. He bridged the divides in society, and he reconciled us to God and to each other.
We in the YMCA are called to do the same.
Carlos Sanvee, https://www.ymca.int/eastermessage/
