Listening & Relationships

Spectacle of Saints welcomes current PULSE volunteer, Anna, to our blog this week. Anna is a graduate of the University of Dayton where she majored in Psychology. Her non-profit placement is with Mission of Mary Cooperative where she has learned a lot about its mission—and herself. She shares with us here some thoughts on discernment, community support, and needing both Marthas and Marys!

“I have so many questions, I am not sure where to begin.” This was me when I was discerning a year of service. It is still me. I am a person with a lot of questions. Like most people, I want to know what I am getting in to, and I want to be right. I want to do the right thing and have the right answer. When it comes to service, I want to help in the best way I can. When it comes to friendship and community, I want to say the right thing and be the best support I can be. I feel a constant urge to dig in and analyze, and to ask questions in hopes of gaining better understanding and direction. It is, as with most things, helpful in moderation.

MP3 Community with Dayton Friends

I have been tremendously blessed to be a part of a lot of communities and friendships where I am supported in my questions. Sometimes that means answering questions, sometimes that means reminding me that it is not possible to have the right answers, constantly it means having the grace to figure things out together.

I have also been blessed to learn from relationships in Dayton and at UD, from mentors to leaders to community members. 

I treasure these experiences and the ways in which they have challenged and changed me. When I think of what I have learned, I often think of the story of Martha and Martha: Mary, toiling away in the kitchen trying to prepare something for Jesus, Mary sitting with Jesus and listening. Martha is frustrated and Mary “got it right” in choosing the better part. It’s easy to be dismissive of Martha, she just doesn’t “get it.” She is caught up in herself and the work. But we need Martha and Mary. We need Mary’s listening. We need Martha’s work. We need them both, together, listening and recognizing Christ, and doing work that reflects that witness. When we serve, it is because we have come to know the people we are serving and we have come to see Christ in them. We have grown in compassion, realizing that it is not a destination but a continuous process of learning.

A MMC Summer Share

I am inspired by the work and history of my service placement, Mission of Mary Cooperative (MMC). MMC is a nonprofit urban farm focused on food access and education in the Twin Towers neighborhood. We grow produce (over 3,000 lbs. a year) and sell it at subsidized prices (people living in the neighborhood or who identify as food insecure pay a portion of the price for a CSA share, while others pay full price to help lower the cost). My day consists of anything from the physical labor of farming to planning workshops to administrative tasks. I love the work I do there, especially the mission that is at the heart of it. 
The mission is sustained through listening and relationship. Like the story of Martha and Mary, the work is born out of love for the people we are working with. MMC's founders sat, listened to neighbors, and recognized Christ in their presence. From this encounter, they were moved into work.

Anna at the MMC Market

Mission of Mary started as a bunch of University of Dayton graduates who wanted to commit to living intentionally in a neighborhood in the City of Dayton. The original communities wanted to respond to the community holistically and from a place of understanding. They wanted to be good neighbors and have strong relationships as a first priority. The garden started as a way for the young adults to sustain themselves, then it became something their neighbors took part in too. The MMC founders had multiple conversations about strengths and needs in the neighborhood, and learned about the struggles the neighborhood has with vacant properties and food insecurity. From there, the farms and outreach of Mission of Mary was born and continues to grow.

I think about Martha and Mary a lot when I think about servant leadership and all the questions I have. I think the work of analysis and soul searching can be a little “Martha,” a little caught up in the work and missing out on being present. It is good, balanced, and important to do this, if we make sure we recognize Christ’s presence in all of it and take time to listen as much as we question.

So, as you discern, be gracious with yourself. 

Anna