Volunteer Commissioning Service, Thursday Oct. 6th, 2022, Mt. Vernon, Ky
Nick Hites, Volunteer Life Coordinator
Today, after much time of discernment and prayer you have agreed to answer the call to serve as volunteers for the Christian Appalachian Project. A call that so many before you have answered and a call that many will answer in the future in the name of providing relief and a life-giving hope to the very least of these here in Appalachia. In answering this call to serve your fellow human being you are committing yourself to a season of life that will hopefully be led by the foundations of mercy, charity, and love and by our program pillars of community, spiritualty, and service. The Scottish scientist and theologian Henry Drummond once said, “The words which all of us shall one day hear sound not of theology but of life, not of churches and saints, but of the hungry and the poor, not of creeds and doctrines, but of shelter and clothing, not of bibles and prayer-books but of cups of cold water in the name of Christ.
The Volunteer experience here at CAP is an experience like none other. Having the opportunity to serve some of the very poorest population of people in the mountains of East Ky is indeed a unique experience. We are one of many organizations that work to relieve the blite of poverty that face brothers and sisters, but not only do we get to serve them, we get to live amongst them, see them at the grocery store, out and about in the community where our life truly meets there’s. This can be very rewarding and humbling, but it can also be very taxing and mentally exhausting.
When speaking about the core pillars of the volunteer program there is no set order in which we read them, however, I believe that without strong spirituality and community, our service would be lacking. Lacking in zeal, in passion, and in drive. We all come to CAP with varied understandings of what it means to be spiritual. Some who come to this place are rooted deeply in the Christian tradition in which devotion to prayer and scripture are central to their understanding of this concept. However, others who come find their rootedness through dedication to reading poetry and surveying works of art. No matter where and how we fall into the practices of spirituality, the key is that we are intentional as we allow time for growth and deep introspection. American astronaut and navel officer Sunita Williams says this when speaking on what it means to be spiritual – “it’s only now that I see the bigger picture: our ways to attain spirituality may be different – through diverse religions, cultures, and traditions – but they’re molded on similar principles and ideologies. That’s what ties us all together.”
Coming together from a time and place of individual reflection and solitude is what I believe brings us home to community. The second pillar of the volunteer program is just equally as important as the others, however, community is where our lives collide together with those who have made this same commitment, for better or for worse. In community, volunteers live out their spirituality through means of care and concern for fellow housemates in various seasons of life. Some of you here today have lived in intentional community for some time while others only a short while and you know the pull and tug that can be the reality in living this way. Throughout your time at CAP I truly believe that you will find the balance, the center, of what community means to you personally but also what it means to collective voice. I believe the art of communal living can be summed up in the words of St. Paul describing how one should love – by bearing all things, hoping all things, and enduring all things – creating a community of love that is truly alive for the good of the whole.
The third pillar of the volunteer program that spirituality and community rest upon is service. Let me say that I believe we often describe the act of service as fairly straightforward – building, repairing, taring our wet insolation, re-wiring, and every other act of manual labor in between, and it’s true, it oftentimes is very black and white. However, to the participants whose homes we repair there is nothing straightforward about what we do. Giving folks the ability to live in the home that they have occupied their entire life is a very big deal. Creating an environment that is warm, safe, and dry is a miracle to those who have so little. Providing sanctuary no matter how small.
Departing from this place today you will be sent forth with the task of doing what I believe Drummond would call the essential work of the Gospel and what we at CAP would call the essential work of our organization as we strive to build hope, transform lives, and share Christs’ love here in Appalachia. This work that all of us at CAP are called to is indeed a personal yet corporate ministry. One that is soul stirring work and must be done with great dignity and reverence. Often, when wearing apparel that dons our logo of the Cross over top of the mountains, I am reminded that these are my people, and these are your people now as well. No matter how long your service with CAP is, our people will be your people and you will be theirs. In “Called to the Mountains,” the autobiography of our founder Fr. Ralph Beiting – Father speaks for 11 chapters on the various calls he has had, from childhood, to becoming a priest, to starting CAP. In the 11th chapter of the book, Called to Love, Father says, “We see small miracles often in CAPS work. I believe the Lord is leading us every step of the way – calling us to love His people.” I charge you to Go now from this place today offering love, small cups of cold water in the name of Christ.
